War and Surfing
The War's Effect On Surfing
World War II affected the sport of surfing in California and Hawaii as soldiers were deployed in the islands, they got a glimpse of Polynesian culture that Californian style surfing found its roots in. Hawaii served as the cultural melting pot of Americans and Eastern culture as California serve as the inlet for this infusion of culture. It was only a matter of time that before culture traveled over the Pacific ocean just as culture had been flowing over the Atlantic from Europe to the East Coast. Of course this would happen because American foreign policy has always tried to make us the center of the world.
However, it wasn’t just the culture of surfing that came with World War II, because it had already made it’s way to the United States, but rather a change in the way people surfed and the boards they rode. While during the war most materials and manpower were put into the war, after the war, surfing took a turn from a rebellious teen hobby, which it still partially is, to a soon to be professional action sport fueled by technology and growth.
As wooden boards were now seen as a post-war technology of surfing, formerly strategic war materials such as Styrofoam, resin, and fiberglass were implemented into surfboard technology. However, the materials themselves don’t really matter, but rather the effect they had on surfing. Lighter and shorter boards allowed for moving the board more easily through the water so surfers could add more style and finesse to how they rode waves.
Consequently, these new technologies and materials allowed for the standard chip shaped board to be perfected by surfers in Malibu, CA. Through the use of new materials making production of surfboards more efficient and the new ease in riding waves, surfing as a whole was allowed to become romanticized through the movies and marketing as a staple of Californian life. Yet another change after World War II that allowed for youth to dominate surf culture was the growth of the suburbs, where rebellious youth felt contained and as a result would surf to leave the suburbs and enter the city with all of its corruption in crime, but unreal sense of freedom.
As wooden boards were now seen as a post-war technology of surfing, formerly strategic war materials such as Styrofoam, resin, and fiberglass were implemented into surfboard technology. However, the materials themselves don’t really matter, but rather the effect they had on surfing. Lighter and shorter boards allowed for moving the board more easily through the water so surfers could add more style and finesse to how they rode waves.
Consequently, these new technologies and materials allowed for the standard chip shaped board to be perfected by surfers in Malibu, CA. Through the use of new materials making production of surfboards more efficient and the new ease in riding waves, surfing as a whole was allowed to become romanticized through the movies and marketing as a staple of Californian life. Yet another change after World War II that allowed for youth to dominate surf culture was the growth of the suburbs, where rebellious youth felt contained and as a result would surf to leave the suburbs and enter the city with all of its corruption in crime, but unreal sense of freedom.
In the film Big Wednesday, directed by John Milius, we see how the Vietnam war is a set back to the young surfers of the film as conquering the giant waves of the pacific coast is more fulfilling than serving their country; however, they obviously don’t believe in the war and its justification.
"One of the most poignant things of the film is how many California surfers went to Vietnam, and how many didn't come back," said Milius, 64, who learned to surf while growing up in Southern California. One of the reasons I put surfing in 'Apocalypse Now' was because I always thought Vietnam was a California war." (John Milius, CNN interview)
"One of the most poignant things of the film is how many California surfers went to Vietnam, and how many didn't come back," said Milius, 64, who learned to surf while growing up in Southern California. One of the reasons I put surfing in 'Apocalypse Now' was because I always thought Vietnam was a California war." (John Milius, CNN interview)
When The Waves Go Flat
Skateboards were first developed in the late 1940s to early 1950s as surfers looked for an alternative to surfing when the waves became flat and unrideable. Just as surfing was a way to escape the suburbs after World War II, skateboarding became a way to bring surf culture to the land and reinvent areas on the land just as surfing was a way to reinvent and conquer the waves. Skating also served as a way for youth and young adults to conquer the suburbs as surfing had not previously allowed them to do. As the Vietnam War took into full affect, skating served as another escape from the fear and hatred that the war brought. With the draft taking away teenagers feeling of freedom, surfing and skateboarding allowed for a reemergence of this lost freedom and fun that society and the world couldn't provide.