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The Dutch scholars, cultural anthropologists, artists and the first tourists didn't notice the deep changes Bali's culture and people underwent. They were too preoccupied with their exotic image and didn't see Bali's ongoing impoverishment (To this day tourist tend to forget that Bali is part of a very poor country). From those colonial days the image of Bali as a paradise on earth has simply lived on. Only a few people have ever questioned it (among them Adrian Vickers in his book Bali - a Paradise Created, a great source for this article). So in the silent days of 1998, Bali's Gods and people were still dancing. They danced like they did in the early days of the Dutch colonial times and in those busy times of mass tourism, in front of the camera's eye. Some of them were smiling and some were not. |
