NATIVE HAWAIIAN VOICES
Image courtesy of NPR
Hawaiʻi 5-0 (2010-2020)
The ideas and information for this section are attributed to Colby Miyose and Eean Grimshaw and their article, "Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono: Cultural appropriation of the Hawaiian language in Hawaiʻi 5-0," as well as Colby Miyose and Rayna Morel and their article, "Eh ... You Hawaiian? Examining Hawaiʻi 5-0's Hawaiian."
Native Hawaiian Representation
Although the decade-long television series includes actors from Hawaiʻi, most of them aren’t of Native Hawaiian decent. Main characters Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, and confidential conformant Kamekona Tupuloa are classified as Native Hawaiian characters in the series, however Chin Ho Kelly and Kono Kalakaua are played by Korean actors while Kamekona Tupuloa is played by a Samoan actor.
Of the Native Hawaiian characters cast in Hawaii Five-0, Dennis Chun plays Honolulu Police Department member and main character Duke Lukela, while Teilor Grubbs plays Danny Williams’ daughter, Grace Williams, and is a reoccurring character. Additional Native Hawaiian characters are featured in a couple episodes. Despite being filmed in Honolulu, a location with a dense Native Hawaiian population, Native Hawaiians are rarely featured on Hawaii Five-0.
Portrayal of Native Hawaiians
While there are Native Hawaiian characters like Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, and Kemekona Tupuloa, they’re sidekicks to the main hero, Steve McGarrett. Each character was also given a stereotype that is often associated with Native Hawaiians.
Chin Ho Kelly was initially part of the Honolulu Police Department before he joined 5-0, but was released for being a “dirty cop.” Throughout the series, he’s portrayed as corrupt while his Caucasian counterpart, Steve McGarrett, is portrayed as his moral compass, which suggests that Native Hawaiians are immoral and can’t be trusted. Steve McGarrett is often glorified for his law-breaking actions, which he justifies as doing whatever’s necessary to bring the immoral to justice, while Chin Ho Kelly’s law-breaking behavior is criminalized. Chin Ho Kelly reinforces the idea that Native Hawaiians are immoral and criminals, while Kamekona Tupuloa represents the benevolent and ignorant stereotype.
Kamekona Tupuloa is depicted as obese, dark-skinned, and difficult to understand as he mostly speaks Pigin. Kamekona is portrayed as an “authentic” Native Hawaiian, embracing aloha, compassion, and generosity throughout the series. Although Hawaii Five-0 attempts to place Native Hawaiians at the front of the screen, the series contributes to the stereotypes that are often portrayed about Native Hawaiians in the media.
Depiction of Native Hawaiian Culture
Hawaii Five-0 utilizes Native Hawaiian language and phrases in its episode titles; however, the titles often have little to no relevance to the plot of the episode, which appropriates the Hawaiian language into the western representation of Hawaiʻi and changes its meaning. This can be seen in season 7, episode 25 when the series uses the Hawaiʻi state motto, “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina I ka Pono,” as the episode title.
The history behind this motto begins following the brief takeover of the islands by the British in 1843. On July 31, 1843, the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was returned and King Kamehameha III held a ceremony in which he uttered the famous words, “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina I ka Pono” roughly translating to “the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”
In Hawaiian “ea” means the sovereignty of the land, which Native Hawaiians believe they are part of. “ʻĀina” means the land and sustenance which feeds the Hawaiian people, while “pono” means what is good and beneficial for the people. To Native Hawaiians, sovereignty doesn’t mean the freedom and independence of individual people, as it’s understood in an American context. Rather it means that the sovereignty of the land, which includes the reciprocal relationship between the people, resources, traditions, and practices, is what gives Native Hawaiians liberty and happiness. “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina I ka Pono” can be understood as righting a wrong and perpetuating the independence of the land, people, and culture. The famous phrase is celebrated every year on July 31, which is now known as Lā Hoʻihoʻi or Hawaiian Independence Day.
The premise of the episode that used the phrase as its title involves a group of girls who were sex trafficked. Steve McGarrett creates an elaborate plan to rescue the girls with a death-defying stunt off a bridge onto the moving truck that the girls are on. The girls are successfully saved, but the meaning of the phrase is changed for the episode. In a western context, the phrase can be understood as perpetuating individual freedom and justice, closely relating it to the popular American phrase, “with liberty and justice for all.”
This translation connects to the plot of the episode, but also appropriates Hawaiian culture and language. The Hawaiian translation of the phrase has no connection to the plot of the story, undermining the history and complexity of it. Instead, the phrase is transformed to fit a storyline that has little to do with perpetuating the sovereignty of the land, and the people and practices that live off it.