'Thunder Down Under' and 'Pacific Dreams'
Maker
Dvb Art
Date1981
Object number00017317
NamePoster
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 480 x 313 mm, 0.018 kg
Display Dimensions: 480 x 312 mm
Display Dimensions: 480 x 312 mm
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis promotional poster was printed for the two surfing movies 'Thunder Down Under' and 'Pacific Dreams'. It features an illustration by 'Dvb Art' of a surfer surfing across a map of Australia. The poster lists film screening information for the Santa Cruz Civic on Saturday 27 June, 1981 in Santa Cruz, California. 'Thunder Down Under' was shown in Australia in 1982.History'Thunder Down Under' and 'Pacific Dreams' were surfing movies produced by Chris Bystrom about surfing uncrowded waves in Australia. Bystrom, a Californian, began filming surfing at the age of 17 and produced 27 surfing films and three documentaries during his career. He is credited with helping to resurrect the longboarding scene by filming a number of influential longboarding movies such as 'Blazing Longboards' and 'Longboarding is Not a Crime'. Bystrom relocated to Australia and opened a surfshop and museum in Coolangatta called Retro Groove.
Hollywood began producing surf films in the late 1950s as the first generation of post-World War II War baby boomers reached adolescence. Surfing and the beach symbolised the idealism of carefree fun and freedom. Surfing films have been a critical ingredient in the popularity of surfing culture and have helped to popularised surfing and beach fashion. In the 1960s surf art moved off the covers of surfing magazines and onto film poster promoting movies featuring surfers riding large waves in exotic locations. By the 1970s surfing films had shifted from 1960s Hollywood beach party musicals produced for the broader community, to the 'soul-surfing' exploration of counterculture lifestyles. During this era films were either created in a documentary style, which targeted the surfing enthusiast, or as a fictional feature film with the focus on the reality of surfing.
Surfing films provides an insight into the surfing lifestyle and have become part of surfing popular culture. They reflect the internationalism of surfing in their content an appeal. Surfing films provide the opportunity to watch talented and often high profile surfers catching waves that every surfer dream about riding.SignificanceThis poster is an example of the types of material produced to promote surfing movies in the 1980s.
