Amateur travel films of the American Pacific, 1923-1975
Embargo Date
2026-09-06
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
This dissertation centers on amateur films produced by Americans traveling to Asia in the mid-twentieth century. I examine the style and content of these films and place them in conversation with industrially produced media to elucidate their distinct aesthetic and means of production. Examining the amateur travel films of both tourists and soldiers, I investigate to what extent American filmmakers absorbed commercial cinema's racialized construction of Asia and how, if at all, their films depart from or even undermine such constructions. I posit that while these films certainly reflect Hollywood's orientalism, their unpolished, unguided nature also offers limited space for historically underrepresented Asian communities to (re)present themselves. Further, these amateur travel films prove powerful artifacts for exploring contemporaneous American social relations, including early-twentieth century gender roles, the sexual identification and desire of wartime soldiers, and the disillusionment of the Vietnam era. Filmmakers under discussion include an American diplomat serving in China, several women educators, and a number of soldiers who served in WWII or the Korean War or the Vietnam War. Engaging with anthropologists, film scholars (particularly those interested in amateur and ethnographic filmmaking), and cultural historians, I seek to demonstrate the scholarly value of the amateur travel film, suggesting that its polysemy and distinctive style merit further analysis for us to deepen our historical understanding of these films and their makers, but also of the film form at issue and of the cultural image the U.S. held of Asia and the Pacific during the time under investigation.