Читать книгу Empire in Waves. A Political History of Surfing онлайн

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It is not difficult to envision the film’s appeal to those tasked with American cultural diplomacy. In its story of two young Californians who meet the locals while looking for surf in Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawai‘i, Brown’s picture is entertaining, funny, and visually striking. But it is much more than that. Through its protagonists’ carefree travel, The Endless Summer highlighted the freedom afforded Americans—unlike most of those living in the Soviet bloc—to explore and discover the nations of the world. In the stars’ quest for nothing more than good waves and fun, the film illustrated the pleasurable lifestyle promised by the capitalist system that made such leisure possible. And in the visiting surfers’ interactions with the locals—as embarrassingly racist as some of these interactions may appear to audiences today—The Endless Summer painted a portrait of the United States as a benevolent and sympathetic power at a time when, given the escalation of the war in Vietnam, the U.S. image was suffering in much of the Third World. Such people-to-people encounters, for which global tourism played a leading role, were an important Cold War weapon at the heart of America’s soft overseas propaganda.³⁸