“Cannibal Tours” is a quasi-documentary film by Dennis O’Rourke produced in 1988. The film follows some affluent European and American tourists taking a tour of the Sepik River in Papua, New Guinea. It illustrates the nature of the area and the dominant culture before the native people and the tourists. It is clear from the documentary that there are contrast perspectives of how each group views each other and the realities of this village. This is evident from their personal view, their actions, interaction, images used, and the food they consume. Through this interaction, the western tourists emulate their whiteness and privilege in a way that sees the New Guineans as a primitive group.

First, we see dominant European tourists over the villagers when they are depicted in a luxurious cruise ship on their tour during the vacation. The picture is entirely different when it comes to the villagers who are shown using the boats as their tools of transport. The tourists further are painted as an arrogant and intrusive western group with ethnocentric judgment upon the way of life of the Pan-Sepik people. From the style of interaction, Western tourists are embarrassing and uncouth where they get local people to pose and smile for photographs. This in a way indicates how dominant the way of life of the tourists is compared to the villagers. At one point, the tourists seem to insist on bargaining for the lowest prices for the handmade carvings. The bartering for the lowest price indicates that it is only through the sale of the handmade crafts that the native villagers can afford the materialistic culture which they have brought to these people. However, since the tourists have money, the local people have no option of living outside the cash economy as the tourists only recognize the cash economy.

The act to offer the local people lower prices and have them pose for photographs is what makes tourists perceive them as primitive and comfortable with the environment that gives them basic life needs. While the villagers appear with no clothes on and using boats with no modernized way of life, we can see a different case with the tourists. The European tourists appear interested in studying the actions, beliefs, and traditions of the villagers as they take pictures of the environment using camera lenses so that they could document the same. Often, the tourists find the way of living of the New Guineans strange from their own which they perceive is the modern way to live. Even when the villagers appear confused, the tourists continue to take the picture in a way that makes them look as if they are part of the museum unlike what we see with the camera in the film focusing on the tourist. They are dehumanized to appear more superior and human that the rest of the villages carrying all forms of modern tools needed for the tour including food.

Thus, it is evident that all the events within the film depict an idea of the European tourists perceiving their culture and values as superior to that of the villagers. From the way they talk to villages, the cruise ship they use, the lower prices they offer for handmade carvings, and taking them photographs using the camera lens. The tourists are merely treating the local people as the second-hand human beings whose culture is primitive and backwardness.

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