Making neighbours of the natives: colonial development, political independence, and documentary depictions of Western Samoa

ABSTRACT This article analyses three documentary films that the National Film Unit (NFU) of New Zealand made between 1947 and 1962 when Samoa was administered as a United Nations trust territory by the New Zealand government. I argue that the films display a discursive and cinematic shift over that time: from depicting Samoa as an idyllic paradise that ‘time forgot’ to a more realistic documentary style as Samoa became the first formerly colonised sovereign Pacific state in the twentieth century. While the films only superficially engage with the people and the culture they depict, omitting much that might conflict with positive messaging, and while they largely fail to engage with traditional Samoan mores (these are etic rather than emic depictions), as Western Samoa draws nearer to political independence, the NFU’s representational strategies evolve, transforming erstwhile and mute ‘natives’ into ostensible and voluble ‘neighbours’.