MovieChat Forums > Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012) Discussion > Potrayal of Trinidad and Tobago

Potrayal of Trinidad and Tobago

posted 12 years ago by tishy_tish
11 replies | jump to latest

Here are some things that upset me about the portrayal of the country

1: The country's name is Trinidad and Tobago not just Trinidad.

2: The movie refers to the country as impoverished which cannot be further from the truth. T&T is an industrialized, oil rich country and therefore would not need the help of American teenagers to build our schools(which btw are not built with wood but with steel and concrete). Also we have a modern airport quite unlike the ugly small wooden shack that the movie portrayed

3: The lack of soca/calypso music used in the soundtrack. How can you set a movie during the Carnival season and not include the music that is synonymous with the festival. The pop music played on the boat would never be played during a carnival fete. Heck even reggae/dancehall would have made a better fit.

4: The fact that it took them so long to be rescued. There are only a few alluvial islands of the NW coast of Trinidad where they could have washed ashore. They would have been found in at most a day and a half. Realistically they would have drifted into Venezuelan territory and been captured by La Guardia Nacional.

5: The panther. I believe the geographical impossibility of this has already been discussed in other posts.

6: T&T's ethnic makeup is diverse with 39% identifying as Indian,38.5% Africans,20.5% Mixed race/ethnicity
(Venezuelans, Spaniards, French Creoles, Portuguese, Chinese, Britons, Lebanese, Syrians, Caribs, Italians),1.2% White,0.8% Unspecified. It is a cosmopolitan nation yet the movie portrayed Trinis as being of mainly African descent.

There are other things I could talk about like the horrendous attempt at imitating our accent but I'd rant for days. Anyone else as annoyed as I was?

[–] ThiefOfStars 12 years ago

I promise you, no-one is watching this movie for it's portrayal of Trinidad & Tobago, or forming any lasting opinions of it.

http://www.last.fm/user/DeleriumGirl

[–] tishy_tish 12 years ago

Maybe you didn't watch it for that reason but as a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago I can say that a lot of Trinis who would not otherwise be caught dead viewing a Lifetime movie did watch it to see how our country would be portrayed and were extremely disappointed.

[–] jessica002 12 years ago

What's wrong with Lifetime movies? They're great. But I guess if you're a man, you won't like them. Anyway, I don't think they meant to insult your country. Quite the opposite, actually. I think they needed a third-world country for the story but since third-world countries are usually messed up, they chose a fake third-world country, like yours, so that the scenery would be beautiful. So, you should take it as a compliment.

[–] lizzie2809 12 years ago

what do you mean by fake third world country???? Trinidad is not a fake country we are very much a real country missy....

[–] jessica002 12 years ago

Wait, did you mean that no one is forming any lasting opinions of the movie or of Trinidad & Tobago?

[–] ThiefOfStars 12 years ago

Wait, did you mean that no one is forming any lasting opinions of the movie or of Trinidad & Tobago?

Based off this movie, no.

As long as the location was beautiful, I doubt most people cared that it was accurate or not.

The good news is, the movie was quite popular, so hopefully it will encourage people to learn about the culture (away from the context of the movie) or better yet visit it for themselves.

http://www.last.fm/user/DeleriumGirl

[–] rlslawn 12 years ago

Apparently, the movie makers did a good job of offending many citizens of your country. Their lack of research or minimal verification of accuracy obviously upset many who live there. However, I am quite certain they intended no insult. I am confident if they were to have set the story in any other country, they would have offended citizens there as well, with poor writing and inaccurate depictions.

[–] tishy_tish 12 years ago

Movie makers tend to be better off when the use a fictional location. Less room for error.

[–] Topaz_B 12 years ago

Don't worry. I've had that argument for my country a million times. It's hilarious to see how many movies/shows etc make up what they want in locations, accents, scenery etc about Bermuda.

[–] joekill162 12 years ago

WOW I just came here just to see the reviews, I think I will now have to download the movie and watch it i have been to the small islands around trinidad and also tobago and there are always fisherman all over the place fishing every day I'm from Trinidad and tobago been back there five times, I cant believe that some director would portray a country so negative i mean its the country that Obama visit for For Summit Of The Americas, there is nothing you can really say about the country other than everyone in the country is very sociable and people party to much.

[–] jlam888 11 years ago

Hollywood is not exactly well-known for its realistic depictions of other countries.