Highly Structured Tourist Art: Form and Meaning of the Polynesian Cultural Center

Abstract

The Polynesian Cultural Center in La'ie, Hawai'i, is a popular and profitable ethnic\ntheme park established by the Mormon church. The center's management\nclaims the park is a living museum that preserves the traditional arts of several\nPolynesian societies. But the center's commercial purposes, large tourist audiences,\nand manner of presentation clearly place it in the category of a tourist\nattraction. As such, the center has been criticized by anthropologists and other\nexperts for its superficiality and lack of authenticity. Aesthetic analysis of the center,\nhowever, reveals a theme and variation form that unifies the center's components\ninto a single, complex work of tourist art. When examined as a unified artwork,\nthe center exhibits an aesthetic that is distinctly Mormon. Its messages are\nthe fundamental tenets of Mormonism. Although religiosity is hardly uncommon\nin fine art and even folk art, in tourist art it is remarkable. The present study\nleaves aside the continuing controversy over the center's authenticity versus its\ncommercialism to introduce an aesthetic interpretation of the center's form and\nmeaning. Inso doing, the study offers insight into an unexpected capacity of tourist\nart to carry deep religious meanings.