Parched from their trip to Arabia in the last episode, Sean and Cody exchange sand for surf in a rare double-header episode examining two different films on the same subject. In 1947, six buff Nordic adventurers set out on the Pacific on a tiny raft to prove a questionable theory about where the original settlers of Polynesia might have come from. The tale of their voyage was chronicled in the classic 1950 documentary and a 2012 Norwegian-made dramatic film, both titled Kon-Tiki. Environmental issues discussed include how the Pacific was vegetated and peopled in ancient times, the mysterious legacies of Easter Island, environmental history vs. pseudohistory, and European revisionism of indigenous origins and history.

What was Thor Heyerdahl trying to prove with the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, and did he really succeed? Why does Easter Island attract so many crackpot theories? What’s “Pacific island chic”? Who’s Velikovsky and what does his infamous book about bad astronomy have to do with the subject of these films? Why did the Nazis want people to believe in ancient aliens? Did J. Edgar Hoover try to tamper with the Academy Awards by loading up one of the categories with anti-Commie propaganda films? Why don’t any real Polynesians appear in a film ostensibly about Polynesia? These multi-varied questions and many more are all part of the adventure in this nautical episode of Green Screen.

Kon-Tiki (1950) at IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042650/ Kon-Tiki (1950) at Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/kon-tiki-1950/ Kon-Tiki (2012) at IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1613750/ Kon-Tiki (2012) at Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/kon-tiki/

Next Movie Up: The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

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