British writer/director Marc Forby’s movie Princess Kaiulani, about the last heiress apparent of the Hawaiian kingdom, has generated controversy in Hawaii and raises a number of complex issues.
What are filmmakers’ responsibilities to historical accuracy, especially when portraying actual historical personages? How obligated are non-indigenous artists to the people they are depicting? What say does an ethnic group have in how it’s portrayed – especially by others from the dominant majority culture?
Even before its release the reportedly $9 million indie co-starring Barry Pepper and Will Patton stirred outrage in the Aloha State, and an outcry from Native Hawaiians forced Forby, who reportedly married a non-Native who grew up in Hawai`i, to change the original title of the film, from Barbarian Princess to Princess Kaiulani....
...Some Hawaiians expressed concern that their beloved royal highness would be depicted by a non-Hawaiian, Q’orianka Kilcher, an actress of Peruvian, Alaskan, Swiss, and other mixed European heritage, who partially grew up in O`ahu. Kilcher portrayed Pocahontas in Terrence Malick’s 2005 The New World, and has participated in Native and environmental protests at South America....
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As crown princess, she had to maintain herself above reproach; under the Consitution, she had to be watchful of her conduct or the monarch could easily remove her from the line of succession should she offend the Queen by her actions. She was schooled to be a princess, a lady who knew proper ettiquette.
Electricity and telephone was introduced during Kalakaua's reign. The palace switched from gas to elecricity and the phoneline went from the palace to his boathouse. Theo H. Davis, her governor, went to Europe to accompany her home after the U.S. invasion and belligerent occupation. On the way back she decided to go to Washington to plead for the restoration of the Kingdom and for the U.S. to reverse its crime. She left New York with a most favorable impression and the people realized that she was a beautiful, civilized, intelligent, well-bred young lady. They fell in love with her.
The powers that be in the U.S. refused to reverse their plot because they needed Hawai'i to gain naval dominance in the Pacific and t0 protect its western coastline.
While back home at Ainahau, she was constantly accosted by curious military troops who would invade her privacy and peep in her windows while making crude licentious remarks about her and at her. These peeping toms were one of the reasons why she sailed to Hawai'i and met her demise. Some suggested that she was poisoned as was typically done by the U.S. Americans. The reason which emboldened them was that she was a threat to their plans and first successor to the throne after they disposed the queen. Some thought she would be more manageable others felt she was a great threat to them who desired to annex the islands to their country. The U.S. military threat was ever-present even to today.
The popularity of the Queen and the Crown Princess was overwhelming; but a few of the subjects and foreigners needed to rid themselves of the block to their ultimate goal. The Princess was romanticized by saying that she died of a broken heart. Some thought she died of pneumonia after riding horseback in the rain. Many knew she was eliminated to the glee of the U.S. Americans, who believed they got away with murder and hopefully weakened the queen's resolve to regain her throne and government.
Tane