South Pacific

South Pacific’s creative team was very brave indeed to address themes of cultural understanding and inter-racial partnerships in the black days preceding the “witch hunt” instigated by McCarthy. They addressed the taboo theme of societal prejudices through the two relationships central to South Pacific: that of Emile De Becque and Ensign Nellie Forbush, who questions her affection for Emile because of his marriage to a Polynesian woman, and that of the Lt. Joseph Cable, who loves a Tonkinese girl named Liat but ends up rejecting the idea of marrying her. We have these two young Americans at the center of the plot— Nellie and Cable. If one young person has a prejudice, it might be a character flaw; but if two young people share that prejudice, it tells us something about the society in which they grew up.