Come a Long Way: Bob Marley, Reggae, and Aotearoa / New Zealand Popular Culture

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article addresses how representations and reception of Bob Marley and reggae in Aotearoa/New Zealand have changed, with special reference to recent local films and TV. Marley and reggae in New Zealand have always been identified with resistance to colonization by Māori (the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand) and Pasifika (Pacific Island) peoples, but this view simplifies the ways that popular music is mediated and remediated. In 2013, Māori made up 15% and Pasifika 7% of the New Zealand population. Examples include recent film and TV texts by Māori and Pasifika that feature Marley and reggae, none of which highlight protest. Does this change reflect the “mainstreaming” of a radical figure, or something more complex? This essay analyzes Marley as a “star”, as a set of media texts and discourses, and examines how he is currently being remediated, as older electronic and print media interact with digital media. It also looks at how these films position Marley and Māori/Pasifika in relation to New Zealand culture and the history of popular music and film in that country.