The film, Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau, focuses on the story of a surfer in the mid-20th century, but also provides a more negative perspective on 19th century imperialism. Eddie's family pieces together his story of his powerful connection with the waves, and how he used his success positively. Instead of getting mad at the imperialism that was occurring around him, he just continued to do his thing and helped revive the Hawaiian culture and spirit in the lives of all the people he could reach.
His brother speaks about how Eddie and him were not allowed to go to many beaches, since they became private and for the wealthy people, the majority being non-Hawaiin. his brother started crying when he said this and seemed extremely disturbed just thinking about it. This did not stop Eddie or slow him down at all. This experience was not an isolated event at all as many things began to change. Eddie, who was one of the best surfers and ranked very well and often won competitions, soon began having foreign competition such as surfers from Australia that would beat him. According to the Aikau's, the presence of these new surfers became intrusive and unappreciated by many natives. They were described to be rude and boastful as well as talking down on the Hawaiian surfers. This presence strengthened as the competitions and beaches became more commercialized and run by Americans.
Even though his family did not, it seemed that Eddie remained unfazed by this. When he was lifeguarding, one of the famous Australian surfers who contributed to the unappreciated presence drowned, and Eddie saved him and started talking to him and others and trying to explain his and his family's point of view, which apparently worked.
These were just a few of the encounters that were described, and probably an even smaller fraction of how many the Aikau's experienced daily. Regardless, the point is that this family and definitely most other native Hawaiian's felt like they were being removed and invaded in their own homes, and weren't even able to win some competitions or go to some beaches because of their heritage. This movie represented an accurate idea of what living in the midst of the imperialism must have been like, as it showed how much it affected a family and person. Eddie used the negativity he saw and tried to promote his Hawaiian identity. The story ends on the boat, the Hokolea which Eddie gets on so he can find himself more, but ends up dying which really emphasizes the point of how much his culture mattered to him.
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