Bali Videos: Bare Boobs & Cockfighting
Feb 27th, 2009, in Society, by Patung
Videos of Balinese life in early 20th century: fields, ceremonies, cockfighting, and bare breasted women.
Four documentary type videos of Bali in the early 20th century:
44 Comments on “Bali Videos: Bare Boobs & Cockfighting”
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Patung if like me you grew up in the seventies and eighties listening to crap heavy metal LP’s or just browsing them in the record store then you might recall an album by the band Scorpions called “Virgin Killer” from 1976, I vaguely remember the cover but as Scorpion were not a band I was into (I never liked German rock bands, they just tried to hard) I never gave it much thought.
Good thing I never bought it as I might now be facing child pornography charges if the peelers ever decided to go through my dusty old record collection. The album cover in question has led to Wikipedia being censored in the UK.
In 1976 I was much too young to be thinking about ‘virgin killers’ alas…there’s plenty of that image on Google images though, I won’t copy it in here because it is creepy, this is also creepy but in a diffferent way, the Scorpions…
Nothing much to do with anything but while we’re on hard rockers….I’ve been listening to this song on video repeatedly for the last week, from ACDC’s early glam period, at minute 1.13 when he
gyratesmoves his body/hips I’m kind of fascinated by it, – at this point Diego might start talking about repressed homoeroticism, don’t know about that, I don’t think I find it arousing but it’s just so cool….anyway… -
Oh and Timdog….about the dates, I’ve got no idea what they should be, I notice the guy who uploaded them to youtube has changed their titles to get rid of the years, as have I …he’s got a lot of Bali videos, here’s one just for you.
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TheWrathOfGrapes says:
I suppose things would have been similar during the good old days of mojopohit era.
sput – things were not only similar in those good olde days – they were HOT.
good old days of Majapahit Mojopahit (at Assmad’s insistence), Mojopohit Mojopohot era
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Janma says:
Funny thing is in Jakarta you can see a fully naked woman walk through a bus station or down a busy street and not get any attention whatsoever
What!!!??? Where!!!?? Are you in some imaginary jakarta???? That’s just mental!
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Burung Koel says:
What!!!??? Where!!!?? Are you in some imaginary jakarta???? That’s just mental!
Mental is probably the right word. I work in Yogya from time to time, and on the street where our office is located, I often see the same completely naked man walking along the footpath, with no-one paying any particular attention to him. His hair is matted, and he has a wild look in his eyes.
I once asked the staff about him, and was told “Maybe we are the ones who are all crazy, and he is the one who is sane.”
Love it.
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Berlian Biru says:
It is my experience that on every main road in Indonesia there is at least one crazy guy with wild matted hair walking along stark naked. This is actually so commonplace and it is something I have never experienced anywhere else that I have come to the conclusion that there’s nothing actually wrong with them, they are simply exhibitionists who have “dropped out” as it were.
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schmerly says:
Patung.. I noticed in that AC/DC vid the lead singer has a pair of socks stuffed down the front! à la, Mick Jagger or maybe I’m just jealous!!
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Patung…
Some of these pictures would not only seem to be in breach of the Pornography Law (or is Bali exempt?) but might in fact now be considered child pornography…Although, as a lawyer I would be willing to make many arguments in defense of these pictures as legitimate art.
Big Brother is always watching! 😉
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ET says:
Rob
Although, as a lawyer I would be willing to make many arguments in defense of these pictures as legitimate art.
These pictures aren’t art, legitimate or not. These pictures are real life. The way it was meant to be.
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ananda says:
The best outfit for human beings is their own skin. But religions came and think that one should be covered with garments. Even a religion, Islam, thinks that every inch of human body should be covered with clothes; this is particularly applies for women, where even no single inch is allowed to be seen. What a shame! One will only think about nudity as a sin when his / her mind is full of sinfulness. That is why the problem is not in the nudity itself but in the mind of the people who adhere such a religion. Or perhaps, the problem is in the religion itself which has brainwashed the minds of the followers with such a foolish dogma. What should be wiped out is not the nudity itself but the mind of the followers.
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Oigal says:
Actually Assmad to be fair..didn’t you once declare you were riding on both sides of the fence?
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donthebeagle says:
Ah yes, I remember my misspent youth in Sumbawa dreaming of when I would see the naked Balinese ladies. Then I did and there wasn’t really any allure any more. I agree that it is the older folks who are not so concerned with the flesh that tend to go around uncovered up.
I always believed in the notion that “if someone saw something that they hadn’t seen before, they would throw a shoe (or a flip-flop) at it” when responding to nudity. Us Westerners are so obsessed with nudity that we forget that everyone comes into the world the same way: naked. It is our attitudes that are developed by the culture that we grow up in that determines whether nudity is natural or forbidden.
I enjoyed the historical videos of Bali (I could do without the narration though) as it depicts a time and place that will never be see/encountered again. My last visit to Indonesia (albeit Bandung) pointed out to me that the Indonesia of my youth has transformed into something parallel to the bland Western culture; I’m not so sure that is such a good thing but who am I to tell a culture how to evolve.
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Jakób Skrzypski says:
Fashion from before the Middle Eastern monotheism….
Comment on “Bali Videos: Bare Boobs & Cockfighting”.
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Why did it come to an end? Increased engagement with the outside world, and, at least in part because prurient, mastabatory outsiders failed to make the intellectual leap of understanding that a relaxed attitude to nudity didn’t mean that Bali was not at the same time a deeply traditional and conservative place.
It was nothing unique to Bali btw; not so long ago you would have found topless ladies in some rural Javanese villages; you’ll still occasionally -ahem – come across them in remote corners of Sumba, though invariably it’s only the withered, betel-mouthed old crones who still do it – you won’t find a buxom young beauty with them out for the lads…
The dates on those clips are all way out – I recognised a few folks in “1910” from the photos in Covarrubias’ “Island of Bali” which dates from the 1930s…