As an outside reading/documentary, I chose the PBS film Hawaii's Last Queen as an interesting source to analyze. Christianity played a large part in forever influencing Hawaiian culture and the spread of this religion even altered Queen Lili’uokalani’s identity and values since she grew up with its prevalence in her own society. I personally can see how Christianity could influence the natives so much, since I have attended Catholic school for a good portion of my own education. I can imagine that scare tactics were used by the missionaries in order to manipulate the Hawaiian people, especially those at such a young age. Although I saw great benefit in attending Catholic school as a kid, I constantly considered the ramifications of my daily actions and was scared whether I would go to Hell because an authority figure made me fearful if I ever went against religious rules and doctrine. I believe that fear can be a powerful tool and I assume that the missionaries used it to become authority figures to the natives, at least in religious functions at first.
Hawaii's Last Queen. PBS Documentaries. 2007.
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