Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau

     During the time of the United State's conquering and becoming of an empire during the 19th century they formed a strong trade with the Hawaiians, but that wasn't enough for them. The Americans who wanted more began purchasing land and establishing sugar plantations. When the American's came into settle in Hawaii, they brought devastating diseases with them that destroyed their population by half before 1850 and then again by 1900. Not only did they bring diseases, they also brought liquor, fire arms, and a commercial economy, which completely began eroding the original Hawaiian culture. They had taken over, and in 1898 Hawaii was annexed by the United States.
      The film, Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau provides the Hawaiian's perspective on the 19th century imperialism. The film showed that even though the United States had taken bits and pieces of their culture, their passion for surfing still remained. In the film, imperialism was represented not by the United States, but the Australians. Not over land, but the ocean. The movie talked about how the Australians had taken over the surfing world, and how one year no Hawaiian's were invited to the Duke invitation surfing competition, which was a huge tradition. The Australian's were also very boastful and cocky, infuriating the Hawaiian's for many reasons. But when Eddie Aikau went and spoke with them and reminded them of their culture, everything calmed down. The Hawaiin's had fought for their right and tradition to surf and had won, they eventually reestablished themselves as the top surfers. Then, later on in the movie Eddie Aikau and 10 others embarked on a journey on the Hokulea in order to prove that the Hawaiians had great navigation skills in their past. Basically, everything went wrong and Eddie ended up sacrificing his life to try to get help for those with him. Eddie's continuous dedication to his people as well as their culture represented how strongly the Hawaiin's fought to keep their culture after the American's had taken over.