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The island started branding itself as an exotic holiday-island paradise in the 1920s, when the ruling Dutch colonials lured the first tourist to the island with tales of coconut cocktails and cockfights. Early documentary films were spiced with orgiastic dance sequences and shots of bare-chested maidens; the title of one of the documentaries, Goona-Goona (the Balinese term for “magic”), became New York slang for sexual allure. Soon the West had dived headfirst into a love affair with exotic Bali, its appeal strengthened by Hollywood stories of unfettered romance in a tropical paradise.






