This book seeks to present a scholarly and Africentric viewpoint that answers the question, "why do so-called 'civilized' people behave like complete assholes when they get the opportunity to live in an isolated setting in an apparent island paradise? This book looks at classic novels and several mega-movies and seeks to interject the variable of race relations to clearly show that the European value system is at the basis of the colonialist mentality which, in part, explains their colonizing of this country by removing the First Nation people and their subsequent colonizing of various African nations. It also explains the recent Trump Administration-based call for a "Space Force" which, like "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" before it, will be nothing more than an Anglo extension of the same colonizer's mentality that we will find in the following reviews and analyses. The old saying teaches that, "On the island of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." This is the figurative reality of what you see when these white people realize that they are in a place where few if any whites have ever been before. It seems that their initial reaction is domination and conquest even while they struggle to eke out an existence. There are several twists on the "island colonizer" theme that I am proposing but the fact still remains that the novels and films were made by, about and for white people to promote a white image and conclusion. And that is what all these pieces of literature and the few films selected, share in common. The island setting is one that is not only isolated but also exotic. When you add human beings to nature's beauty, the result is going to be destruction, domination and in some cases, outright doom. Europeans seem to have a colonizer's mentality: they want to direct and control all within a particular domain. They seem to not be able to "live and let live." These stories, on some level, all show this to be the case. Even when stranded on a deserted island, these white people eke out an existence but once they find another human being or living creature that they can control, they immediately become dictators, and the other beings are deemed different and somehow deficient. This is the colonialist mentality at work. Those who end up in these strange "deserted" situations transform those places in their own image and interests. And if there are any other human beings - as there were for instance when the Russians came across the Aleuts in "Island of the Blue Dolphin" and defeated them - they merely use that population as slave labor. That's what these white folks did with the First Nation people here in North America and they went all the way to Africa to fetch a workforce for their southern cotton crops. I have divided the twelve selections into four areas or categories for analysis. They are as follows: (1) Domain Games, which addresses the issue power and activities surrounding territoriality and control ("Lord of the Flies" and "Tarzan"); (2) Island Death Games, addressing truly sick death-related concerns by people on the island waging war with one another or with some other entity ("The Most Dangerous Game" and "Kong: Skull Island"); (3) the Prison Camp scenario where the island is used as a place of confinement and human control ("The Island of Doomed Men," "The Island of Dr. Moreau); and (4) the issue of being Marooned or stranded, represented by "Robinson Crusoe," "Swiss Family Robinson," and "Treasure Island." These are the areas, but what follows are the novels/movies based in chronological order from the earliest presentation to the most recent.
About the Author: Matthew C. Stelly is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee working on a degree in Urban Education and Community Policy. He holds three Master's degrees: Urban Studies (1982), Urban Education (1983) and Political Science (2000). He is working toward his doctorate in Community Policy/Urban Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the former editor of the Milwaukee Courier newspaper, former director of the Great Plains Black Museum and the Plano (TX) African American Museum, and lead archivist for The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) in Dallas, Texas. Stelly has more than 2,500 articles in print and has won two national essay competitions. He is the founding director of the largest African-American neighborhood group in Nebraska, the Triple One Neighborhood Association and Parents Union. He is publisher and editor of the Triple One News, a two-time nationally recognized newsletter. He is the father of five children - Mandla, Malik, Clariece, Charisse and Shannon -- and remains actively involved in community organizing and neighborhood development in several cities, including Milwaukee and Omaha.