How do depictions of the underlying spiritual pursuits of the surfing experience motivate surfers to consume surf tourism?
Image credit: Billabong
Methodology
While investigating the history of surfing culture, its experiences of liminal or subliminal states of mind, the addictive pursuits of the risk taking involved, and the use of idyllic surf imagery as channels of desire to act as catalysts for further exploration, my intention to study further the resounding evidence that surfing is a transcendental, spiritual and even a voyeuristic practice emerged. My intent is to explore how surf consumers are marketed to and what this does to affect their desires to embark in surf tourism. By conducting a visual study utilizing semiotic analysis of promotional video for a surf travel company, my aims are to illustrate the surf consumer experience as molded by representations of relationships with places and spaces within landscapes through a surf tourism branding analysis.
With this method I will identify common themes and representations expressed across the various platforms of communication. As a member of the surfing subculture myself, I have the advantage of having an embedded understanding of the vernacular codes involved with surfing culture and surf related consumption, as well as a visual fluency attributed to my background in graphic design and fine art. My methodology is weakened by a subjective viewpoint and generalized subcultural study. This study could be further elaborated upon with more in depth and long term ethnographic research by ways of participant-observation and interviews with core practitioners of specified regional subsets in order to gather a better understanding of the ideas and personal experiences within surfing spaces as well as their motivations for embarking on surf journeys.
Introduction
Surfing is a transnational lifestyle culture that exists all over the world. Within each country, surfing subcultures exist regionally (geographic locality), communally (micro or niche groups) stylistically (short board versus longboard, retro soul versus high performance), and professionally (competitive versus free surfing). Not limited to coastal areas, the idea of the surfer's lifestyle has permeated into mainstream culture globally, as well as having created divergent lifestyle activities such as skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding and bodyboarding. This study though, is based on the core surf culture— the established and committed practitioners— those of whom can argue that the practice of surfing is, in fact, a religious pursuit. In the process of forming world views, consulting lifestyle imagery and partaking in transcendental quests, the consumer culture involved with the surfing belief system is a major player to be studied and considered.
Literature Review
Spirituality & Transcendence
Surfing as a lifestyle has evolved from an ancient practice from the Polynesians, known to Hawaiians as the sport of kings, which was endemically imbued with a spiritual connectedness to the ocean and nature (Taylor 930). The early twentieth century's modern revival of surfing was globally spread in large part by Hawaiian, and Olympic swimmer, Duke Kahanamoku. Kahanamoku is still considered to be the messiah, or embodiment of the purity or, "Aloha Spirit" of surfing's core values (Taylor 928) with "aloha" meaning "the breath of life." Kahanamoku, along with Tom Blake, another surf prophet and revolutionary, set the stage for surfing's evolution into a religious pursuit, characterized by self-realization and transcendence through achieving liminal, zen-like balances with a higher force– Nature (Taylor 925). Blake is credited with bringing surf culture to California and creating revolutionary, lighter, more user-friendly board designs. With this he also spread his surf spirituality through published writings, offering simply that, "Nature = God" (Taylor 930). This cardinal premise underpins the sacredness of the ocean and the environment to surfers, as well as being the fundamental aspect of why the interplay with nature brings about nirvanic, zen-like or transcendental experiences for core practitioners.
Spirituality in surf culture intensified during the 1960's with the advent of new religious, political and anti-establishment undercurrents aided by psychedelics and Asian influenced religious ideologies (Taylor 931). During this era, the surf films and media that were produced "depicted surfing as a mystical, nature-bonding experience" (Taylor 932). Spearheaded by Bruce Brown's 1964 film, The Endless Summer, the subsequent films of the surfing genre aided to vicariously convey surfers' personal quests in idyllic waves and reinforced that surfing induces liminal experiences of harmony with natural forces, while also contributing to a sense of social order, a "collective identity," or a communal church of thought (Ponting 45-46, Congdon & King 52, Taylor 932). The influence of surf media, as well as notoriety within competitive arenas embraces this "collective identity" while establishing a social hierarchy among high level and low level practitioners— those who are portrayed in surf media versus those who emulate what they see in surf media. In that sense, with the onset of surfing's popularity, local surf breaks became crowded and the paradisical imagery of perfect, uncrowded waves prompted surfers to embark on their own spiritual pilgrimages (Ponting 47, Taylor 934). Embarking on these journeys of seeking liminality endows practitioners with levels of social capital among others of the same belief system (Ponting 141), thus returning as shamans with stories and advice for those also seeking transcendence through surfing (Ponting 47, 50).
Transcendence. Nirvana. Zen. The Sublime. Escape. Liminality. These are words and ideologies used by core practitioners and academics to describe the feelings associated with the act of riding waves and lead to the collective conclusion of spiritual experiences. "Soul surfers talk in mystical terms about being one with the wave and feeling as if... they were no longer spectators of the ocean, but part of it" (Taylor 936). It is this notion of liminality, the transitional moments of harmony with the ocean, a feeling of oneness with the environment, the loss of self, and an intense awareness of the moment (Stranger 268) that offer a 'dreamtime' experience that resonate with spiritual rebirth, transformation and recuperation of the participant (Preston-Whyte 350).
The levels of surfing experiences vary widely from surfer to surfer. Within the global core surfing community there are the highly trained, death defying, big wave specialists, the highly technical and progressive, professional and expert surfers, and finally, the experienced recreational surfers of all styles (longboard, shortboard, retro or alternative shaped boards). Despite the ability level, wave size or board selection, core practitioners report feelings of generalized transcendence through their gliding interplay with nature regardless of risk factor. It is argued however that an increase in the thrill of pushing personal thresholds of physical challenge provides a more entranced state— an intense awareness of the moment that leads to greater moments of self-transcendence (Stranger 267). Balint (1959: 87) calls these risk takers, 'philobats': 'In order to regain the illusion of friendly expanses, to experience the thrill, [the philobat] has to leave the zone of safety and expose himself to hazards representing the original trauma (Stranger 268). Stranger also cites Csikszentmihalyi's concept of 'flow' to explain the process of transcendence as being understood in terms of a harmonious match between challenge and skill, where there is a 'merging of activity and awareness' (Stranger 268), and a necessity to take on a slightly greater challenge to develop slightly greater skills (Stranger 269). Theorists who cite Csikszentmihalyi claim the 'true' self is manifest in the experience of flow and 'because the tendency of the self is to reproduce itself... To keep on experiencing flow becomes one of the central goals of the self' (Stranger 269). This explains the widely expressed sentiment that surfing is also an addictive pursuit (Stranger 269, Congdon & King 49, Preston-Whyte 354).
Tourism & Consumption
Surfers explore and travel to participate in surf tourism as an extension of crossing another type of liminal threshold, a personal quest or spiritual pilgrimage. Additionally, the risk taking pleasures that are inherent to the surfing lifestyle permeate into travel and consumer choices, as practitioners choose to venture into unfamiliar and mythical environments. Pilgrimages to places of virgin remoteness, Edenic paradises or Meccas of surf culture are perpetuated and encouraged through the surf media's portrayal of these idyllic surfing locations through films, magazines, advertisements, professional competitions, art and photography as well as websites and social media platforms— which always include visuals of optimal wave shape and quality regardless of geographic location. Through the global dissemination of idealized surfing destinations, surfing practitioners are inspired to follow and seek out their own Nirvanic discoveries (Ponting 55). It is suggested that the media provides pre-departure repertoires of imagery, narratives and discourse which shape tourists' experiences (Ponting 142). These features promote the pursuit of harmonious relationships with the people and habitats (Taylor 933) and depicts them as sacred places where a practitioner can discover's one's authentic self (Taylor 934) and gain cultural capital with fellow practitioners by communicating one's aptitude and social stratification by having experienced surfing in such revered spaces (Ponting 141). This element of spiritual consumption is a process of communication that is encoded to other members of the same cultural competence (Bourdieu 85). This consumer behavior of accumulating possessions or attributions— in this case of transcendental discovery— functions as one's position on the hierarchal ladder (Baudrillard 70).
Regardless of the level of enlightenment as surfer may or may not experience is due in great part to the landscape's temporality. In surfing especially, there are myriad factors that have significant affects on the qualities of one's experience in specific surfing spaces (known to practitioners as surf spots or surf breaks) such as: swell size and direction, wind and weather conditions, tidal sensitivity, bathymetry, crowding and social behaviors, accessibility factors or methods of arrival and mythology. As explained by Bender, the same place at the same moment will be experienced differently by different people; the same place, at different moments will be experienced differently by the same person; the same person may even at a given moment hold conflicting feelings about a place (303). Surfers with different ability levels or equipment will experience surfing the same spot during the same session differently; one may be frightened, the other at ease. A surfer can return to the same spot days, months, years, or even just hours later to have a completely different experience based on swell changes, weather or tidal conditions, and crowd factor. These constant changes in surfing conditions can also give a surfer conflicting feelings about a place; one may love surfing a certain break because of its quality, but may harbor feelings of hatred if crowding makes it nearly impossible to catch waves. As the surfing population grows, surfing space becomes a scarce resource leading to pockets of spatial territoriality against low level practitioners and outsiders (Preston-Whyte 354). According to Ponting, excessive crowding and aggressive localism was also a contributor to the rise of surfing tourism as surfers traveled to rural regions in search of uncrowded waves (47).
The added elements of risk, and even danger, to the search for perfect, uncrowded waves embodies surfing's spirit of adventure and hedonistic quests for personal transcendence (Ponting 50). Modern surf tourism, as it stands today, is commodified by the ethos of those early surf explorers, but combined with the new commercialized form of escapist surf tourism for the 'business class' surf tourists with disposable income and only limited vacation time to experience what is promised by 'Nirvanic marketing' (Ponting 63). This marketing strategy, formulated by the pervasive images of surfing's idealism, excites the memory and stimulates the desire and aspiration for the ecstatic experiences achieved from the act of surfing, much like erotic images (Stranger 272-273). The ever changing narratives about surfing spaces are inherently known, understood and forecasted by core practitioners through the process naming them. By creating memories, stories and mythologies around named places, people create a sense of self and belonging (Bender 306). The process of naming, or even just by photographing surfing places and spaces in turn, enacts a manufacturing of landscapes that creates the needs or desires to experience them.
Regardless of economic capital, surfing practitioners are motivated by a hedonistic consumption linked to free, informal and wild practices (Augustin 589). Surfers are a society of consumers in pursuit of happiness within their said or unsaid spirituality, baited by marketing campaigns aimed at boosting their willingness to part with their money— an appropriation to the self (Bauman 37) by indulging in a pilgrimage to a famous surf Mecca or to the Paradisical secret spot.
In the 1980's 'postmodern surfing' took shape in that as well as a functioning professional sport it became commodified into a fashion-lifestyle industry and incorporated into the capitalist consumer regime with the focus upon consumer lifestyles through the consumption of goods as signs (Ponting 62). In addition, contrasting to the personal pursuits of escapism and freedom, surf explorers and their subsequent stories of adventures have lead to the demise of certain regions' unspoiled surfing spaces by increasing interest in formerly unknown regions. This has also had positive effects, being that the spread of surfing culture has now increased acceptance and has bolstered local economies. Surfing's popularity as an activity and as a lifestyle have become advertising assets used to promote certain regions for tourism (Augustin 590). Some may argue that formerly virgin terrains that now have fully functioning surf resorts and charters is a detriment to the ethos of the original surf explorers' anti-establishment motivations for surf travel and discovery. This can be attributed to the modern surf tourist's desires putting pressure on the industry to come up with 'new and improved' products (Bauman 38-39); improving upon the old idea of feral road trip discoveries to now the remote island getaways on chartered yachts and perfect surf breaks in front of a luxurious bungalow. Does this evolution of surf tourism's increase in spiritual efficiency decrease the value of the quest itself? Are the more naturalist explorers more apt practitioners, or is it all in the honing of skill or perception of subliminal experiences despite the difference in actualization methods? I think this is answered by Bender's aforementioned concepts of landscape experience, as well as Bauman's explanation that sentiments of happiness or its absence are derived from hopes and expectations as well as learned habits which are bound to differ from one social setting to another. If person A were transported to conditions known to make person B feel happy, person A might feel miserable and vice versa (43). With that considered, it is important to note there is a wide variance within the scope of surf tourism consumers, ranging from those who prefer the feral, unguided and unscheduled surf trips, to those who prefer the luxurious, charted and efficient surf trips. With this range of interests, there is a plethora of consumers to attract, all with the same common goal— to leave their home breaks and experience surfing in an idylic environment of their choosing.
Analysis
The current landscape of surf tourism is still primarily based on the hedonistic pleasures associated with channeling the transcendental and nirvanic experiences of surfing, particularly in the promise of perfectly shaped and uncrowded waves. Tropical, palm fringed beaches framing surfing spaces will always be the ultimate ideal in surf tourism, however the notion of the typical ideal surfing location has a broader range of variances, with core surf consumers taking strides to be increasingly culturally savvy, and to experience more remote, untouched and virgin locations that many others have not yet or will potentially never experience in their lives. These bragging rights contribute to a surfer's aptitude and level of devotion within the surfing community. In this consideration, locations such as Peru, Canada, Namibia, Iceland, and even North Korea have become surfing destinations in addition to the perpetually visited surfing meccas found in Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, California, France and Central America. Contemporary surf tourism agencies offer a multitude of surfing locations and accommodations for the variety of consumer the industry attracts. The surf tourism industry relies heavily on surfwear companies and professional athletes as icons in advertisements. Not only are they promoting specific consumable items, they are also utilizing surfing spaces to validate their products. In this visual media dispersal, the desire for consumers to emulate them by buying the product or traveling to similar locations to surf is constantly perpetuated.
I believe that surf tourism companies should utilize promotional video in addition to still photography for company brand image. I have chosen to analyze the promotion video for the European surf and ski travel agency, LUEX: Line up Explorers. In their promotional video (https://vimeo.com/66673310), the signs utilized include environmental beauty, progressive surfing performed by professional and advanced recreational surfers, unique cultural and auxiliary activity experiences, accommodation options and services provided, the concept of being stoked, or the emotional excitement of surfers, is expressed and built up in the chosen music and in the encoded mannerisms of the featured surfers, claiming waves ridden as well as in the portrayal comradery and happiness. Additionally, the text, font choice and verbal communication of the company is related in a casual and cool style, using codes and language that core practitioners will understand immediately, such as their prime premise of, "Plenty of sick trips." The term, sick, is a connotative social code, has a positive meaning to a surfer or skier, but if not understood within this context, could be mistaken for the generalized notion of its negative connotation within mainstream understanding.
In the first thirty seconds of the video, the viewers are shown tropical, palm forest beaches, beautiful sunset scenery and the first impression of surfing is a performance of an extremely progressive surfing maneuver called an air, where the surfer launches himself on his board above the lip, or crest, of the wave. This maneuver is an iconic signifier which is only performed by the highly experienced surfer, and thus sets the tone for the projected ability level by signifying the type of client they would like to attract. Encoded in that type of imagery though, does not exclude surfers of lesser ability levels, because these lower level practitioners imagine themselves going on surf expeditions as way to increase their own abilities. Not that it's a promise that they will come home from their trip performing airs if they never had before, but the symbolic presence of progressive surfing encapsulates emulation desires for attaining more experience as a traveled surfer.
Another important factor in the video is the prevalence of natural environmental beauty shown to the viewers as exotic sunsets, perfectly shaped waves, untouched snow for skiing, vast mountain landscapes, tropical beaches and dramatic aerial footage. This again reiterates the common theme of the paradisical and ideal locations for partaking in such adventurous and risk taking activities while achieving hedonistic pleasure. These meanings are transferred to the viewer predominantly from a participant-observer point of view. Most of the scenes are shot showing the video participants from the back, as if the viewer is following them throughout their adventures. By portraying a primary demographic of young, physically fit, bronzed skin, male participants in the video, the target market of the promotional video is clear.
Also in the first thirty seconds we hear a narration of a young Australian man saying, "As a boy, I would look at all these pictures and videos and think, 'How cool would it be if I could be on that trip?'" This discourse, concurrent with footage of a surfer getting barreled in an almost dreamlike state of slow motion with picturesque clouds in the background denotes an ethereal quality of a surfer in the most coveted of surfing maneuvers— riding the barrel, or inside the hollow tube of a breaking wave— which continues to play upon the subcultural codes of the advanced surfer achieving the liminal state of the sublime, or transcendence. This tourism agency's campaign is to attract and personalize trips for the core surf consumer, and with the narration statement reiterating the claim that surf consumers use aesthetic imagery of other surfers and surfing to motivate them to conjure interest in embarking in surf tourism.
Conclusion
Based on the academic research and selected analysis of a surf tourism promotional video, the premise that surf tourism is motivated by images of the sublime is continually solidified by the underlying spiritual premises of pilgrimaging to idyllic locations. Not only are these surfing spaces the tropical Edenic paradises that are a staple of surf tourism, but these notions of the perfect surf trip have branched out into the self fulfilling journeys of discovering new, uncrowded and remote surf breaks of surprising and unique character. Not only surfwear and surf equipment companies, but also surf tourism marketing campaigns use images of empty, perfectly shaped waves, uncrowded locales and the hedonistic pleasures associated with emulating professionals to promote their products and services. By utilizing methods of photography and cinematography that enable the viewer to place themselves into the scope of the advertisement, a desire and a need to achieve the same social capital is created within the viewer. I feel that surf companies utilize the male demographic more often, but are missing out on the growing side of female surf consumers as well. There are plenty of ways to initiate the female demographic into surf tourism advertising that would appeal to both a predominantly male consumer as well as the female consumer using body image and emulation for the voyeuristic motivational factors in surf tourism advertising and consumption. Moreover, these syntagmatic signs are encoded with the underlying transcendental experiences and images surf tourism consumers are inspired by to engage and initiate in overall consumption. ❂