ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the “discovery” of the sea in the 1950s and brings Jacques Cousteau’s National Geographic articles into conversation with Esther Williams’ affinity with water and Rachel Carson’s almost religious description of the sea. It is about how popular stories about the sea in the 1950s altered viewpoints and opened for the 1960s’ environmental movements. The sea surface was popularised during the first half of the 20th century with Heyerdahls’ Kon Tiki expeditions as the climax. In the 1950s, technology, popular culture and science was instead directed to the abyss, exploring the deep sea in magazines, film and popular science. The chapter investigates water as a connection between the aesthetics of 1950s Hollywood productions, scientific advancement and the beginning of the movement for protection of the environment.
