Krakatoa in media and popular culture
The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, has inspired several books and films (in most cases, with limited understanding of the location or nature of the explosion). Many examples are based in the culture of expression and have no connection in any way with the explosion at all.
Fiction
Print
- In Pudd'nhead Wilson (published 1894), Mark Twain compares the changes in Tom Driscoll's moral landscape when his mother Roxy informs him that he was born a black man, with the changes in Krakatoa's landscape after the explosion.
- The novel Krakatit by Czech writer Karel Čapek, was inspired by the name of the volcano. Krakatit deals with the invention of a substance known as krakatit, so named because it is so highly explosive that it rivals the energy output of the Krakatoa explosion.[1]
- The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois tells of an explorer from San Francisco who takes a worldwide trip on a hot air balloon in 1883. A seagull puncturse his balloon and he falls into the waters off Krakatoa. When he swims ashore, he finds a village of 80 people. They are a secret society who make their living from diamond mines in the volcano. When the volcano erupts, all 81 people pile into a platform lifted by 20 balloons and fly across the world, where they drop off with parachutes.[2] This book won the Newbery Medal in 1948.
- In The Cowboy Captain of the Cutty Sark, Chapter 3b of Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Scrooge McDuck witnesses from a distance the eruption and rides out the tsunami of Krakatoa, using the entire titular ship as a surfboard.[3]
- Fantasy author Graham Edwards' Stone trilogy begins with the eruption of Krakatoa.
- The novel Blood Rites of Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, Ebenezar 'Blackstaff' McCoy, claims responsibility for the eruption.
- In Clive Custler's novel, Lost Empire, protagonist Sam and Remi Fargo discover the CSS Shenandoah burried under the volcanic ash from the eruption of Krakatoa.
Film
- The eruption is the subject of a 1969 Hollywood film starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith, which was titled Krakatoa, East of Java [4] — even though Krakatoa is in fact west of Java. Perhaps Krakatoa was confused with the 1815 eruption of Tambora (on Sumbawa, which is east of Java). There was a novelization with the same title by Michael Avallone.
- The 1953 South-seas pirate adventure Fair Wind to Java concludes with an escape from the exploding island.
- A TV movie made in 2008 called Krakatoa, that starred Sasha Waddell, Nick Ewans and Pavel Douglas.[5]
Music
Television
- Krakatoa was the setting for a Mighty Mouse cartoon that featured the song "Krakatoa Katie."
- In Time Tunnel episode #6, "Crack of Doom", Tony and Doug try to convince a scientist that the volcano will soon erupt violently.[7]
- In the Doctor Who serial Inferno, the Third Doctor implied that he may have heard the sound of the eruption. In the episode "Rose", a sketch dated 1883 was said to have washed ashore following the eruption; it showed the Ninth Doctor in front of the volcano.
- In the sitcom Seinfeld, Jerry was audited for claiming a donation to a fraudulent organization helping "Those brave Krakatoans".
See also
References