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"Goona-goona epic" refers to a particular type of native-culture exploitation film set in remote parts of the Far East, Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and the South Pacific. These include documentaries (often of questionable authenticity) and dramas, both of which rely heavily on travelogue and
"Goona-goona epic" refers to a particular type of native-culture exploitation film set in remote parts of the Far East, Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and the South Pacific. These include documentaries (often of questionable authenticity) and dramas, both of which rely heavily on travelogue and stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...
scenes (and sometimes fabricated scenes) of semi-nude native peoples performing exotic rituals and customs.
In Hollywood trade magazines "goona-goona" was a descriptive word for films or photos showing women of color with bare breasts, usually in a supposed spirit of ethnographic interest like ''National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...
''.
The word ''goona-goona'' comes from the 1932 film '' Goona-Goona, An Authentic Melodrama of the Island of Bali'' by Andre Roosevelt and Armand Denis
Armand Georges Denis (2 December 1896 – 15 April 1971) was a Belgian-born documentary filmmaker. After several decades of pioneering work in filming and presenting the ethnology and wildlife of remote parts of Africa and Asia, he became best kn ...
. Supposedly "goona-goona" is an aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior. Substances range from a variety of plants, spices, foods, and synthetic chemicals. Natural aphrodisiacs like cannabis or cocai ...
or "love powder" made from a narcotic plant. In Indonesian, the word actually means a type of evil magic or a love spell cast upon an unwilling victim.Unni Wikan, ''Managing Turbulent Hearts, A Balinese Formula for Living'' (University of Chicago Press, 1990).
Films
See also
*Nudity in film
In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scene ...
References