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Jonah From Tonga. 2014. Television series, 180 minutes, dvd , color, in English. Written by Chris Lilley, produced by Chris Lilley and Laura Waters, and directed by Chris Lilley and Stuart McDonald; distributed by hbo. us$19.99.
The television series Jonah From Tonga was released to low ratings and accusations of racism. Originally presented in Australia, where it was produced, it later premiered on hbo in the United States. It features Australian comedian and show-runner Chris Lilley, who is white, as Jonah Takalua, a fourteen-year old Tongan high school student. Lilley's use of makeup and a limp frizzy wig-what might charitably be called "Polynesian face"-are easy targets for criticism, if not outright dismissal, of the apparent minstrelsy that at first glance seems to characterize the six-episode series. And if one looked no further than the phenotype of the main character, certainly this show would not be worthy of discussion. However, for those who sit through all three hours of the show, a much more complex and uncomfortably important genotype emerges, one that forces viewers to contend with issues that go beyond superficial representations of Islanders in the contemporary media landscape.
It is necessary to situate Jonah within the cosmology of actor and creator Chris Lilley so that one who is not familiar does not get the impression that this character, or Lilley's portrayal of him, is an isolated incident or occurring in a vacuum. Jonah first appeared as one of three characters played by Lilley in his 2007 series Summer Heights High. That show, filmed in the now ubiquitous mockumentary style first popularized by the British version of The Office, followed Mr G, a drama teacher; Ja'mie King, an over-privileged private school student spending a year on exchange at public school; and Jonah. The series spawned two spin-offs, Ja'mie: Private School Girl, featuring Lilley dressed as the title character in drag, and Jonah From Tonga. It is interesting to note that Lilley's portrayal of Jonah in Summer Heights High did not engender the same type of critical reaction that this latest series has, despite Lilley's consistency between the two series.
At the end of Summer Heights High, Jonah is expelled from the school and sent...