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A Pop Cultural History of Alaska
Yes, it’s a U.S. state.
Alaska has gained somewhat mystical status among many of us continental Americans, some of whom show an embarrassing lack of knowledge about one of our greatest states. For example, did you know that Alaska is the largest state geographically? It’s damn huge, in fact. And did you know that people regularly go to work and school via dogsled?
No, that’s not true. (Although that would be awesome.)
Alaska has been portrayed in pop culture as both an astounding winter wonderland awash in the Northern Lights and flocked by dancing polar bears, and a desolate, dangerous wasteland plagued with frostbite and potentially vampires. As continental Americans tend to gleefully exoticize anything with a markedly different climate, this isn’t surprising. Let’s take a look at some of Alaska’s biggest pop culture moments.
The People with the Snowshoes
In the early 1930s, MGM Studios co-founder Louis B. Mayer launched a spared-no-expense film production in Alaska, focusing on Inupiat culture. The film, titled Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent, made its lead, Ray Mala, a star, and the film garnered critical praise.
Since then, the term “Eskimo” has fallen out of favor due to its dubious etymology, while the indigenous peoples of Alaska have not enjoyed many other Hollywood explorations.
Rather, films have focused on the adventures of white people in Alaska.
In The Proposal, Canadian ice queen Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) bullies her assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) into marrying her so that she doesn’t lose her green card. He insists upon taking her back to his home state of Alaska for the wedding. In this film, Alaska is not given its usual snowy treatment, but rather portrayed as a lush, gorgeous setting suitable for a romantic comedy.
That said, the most compelling cinematic portrayals of Alaska revolve around one of its unique features: the eternal day or night. As you probably know, the parts of Alaska above the Arctic Circle experience “30 days of night”…
