Lesson 3 - Whale Rider

This week, we took a trip to the Southwestern Pacific Ocean, 

to the beautiful island country of scenery, 

sheep and kiwis, New Zealand.

Today's lesson was interesting as most of us are not very familiar with New Zealand culture. Dr. Goh, having studied there himself, was able to give us a little bit of 101 on some of the culture there.


New Zealand posses a very distinctive Māori culture, and Dr. Goh used the show, "Once Were Warriors" (1994), to give us a background on an aspect of the culture there that is, for lack of a better term, undesirable. 

 

Above: Poster of "Once Were Warriors" (1994)

"Once Were Warriors" depicted a society in which drinking and violence is rampant. The story focuses on a family of 7, which includes 
Jake, a violent and abusive father, 


Beth, a mother whose marriage was not approved by her own parents ,   




 

(Jake and Beth in high spirits, literally)




a daughter, Grace , 


the upright moral character who becomes the factor of change in the family, 

and a son, Nig , who is joining a street gang. 

Showing us short clips of this movie as well as more explanations, provided us with a bit more knowledge on  Maraes (an enclosed area where a meeting house stands as the centre for mush of the community life in a Māori community). In "Once Were Warriors", Beth, the mother had left her Marae, (which ultimately led to a very sad life),  and at the end, decides to return to it. 


In the subsequent movie, "Whale Rider" (2002), we actually had the privilege of seeing a marae and life in a village. we see the efforts of a chief to preserve the Māori culture in his Marae, in which the leadership role is traditionally to be assumed by a male. 

Above: The statue commemorating the legendary Paikea, 

leader of the village, 

who is said to have come riding on a whale.

In this movie, we see 12 year old Paikea Apirana (Pai), a girl who was born into a family with unfortunate circumstances, namely a father who does not want to take over the leadership of the village as per tradition, a mother who dies giving birth to her, and a twin brother who also dies at birth. The main story-line is how Pai's grandfather, Koro, has to let go of the fact that there are no more male suitors for position of village leader, and how he subsequently has to accept that the next leader is none other than his granddaughter, Pai, who loves the culture, embraces the traditions and shows qualities of a leader at a young age. 


We see a lot of cognitive dissonance in this film especially when it comes to the relationship between Pai and Koro. On one hand he loves his granddaughter, on the other hand, he despises the fact that she is a female. He has many inner fights and conflicts with himself on this matter. The show initially shows how Koro picks Pai up from school each day on a bicycle, however subsequently there comes a time where Koro resents her so much that he refused to go pick her up without informing her first. Poor Pai had to walk home because she missed the bus, having so much faith that Koro would pick her up as usual.  

 

Above: Koro taking Pai home on his bicycle

Above: Koro angry with Pai when she won a 

taiaha (fighting stick) match against a boy, 

probably he was angry because Pai, a girl, 

was better than the boy. 

Above: Koro and Pai on the waka (canoe) on its maiden voyage, 

upon Pai's initiation/ celebration of her leadership status

Another character who played a big role in terms of being influential to the other characters, and also in filling the movie with dry humour, would be Pai's grandmother, who went by "Nanny" throughout the movie. In a male dominated society, it was interesting to see how Nanny played a big part in being the "middle-man" between Koro and Pai. It was Nanny's blunt statements and daring attitude that made her the neck that turns the head (Koro). However, she does all that with a sense of wisdom, as in one part of the show, she shares with Pai that she has to make Koro think he's the boss. She also knew her husband very well as she could gauge when it was time for him to face the truth. What I liked was that her character was a spunky little old lady who laid out her piece of mind when necessary, but ultimately she knew when to submit to her husband.  

Above: Pai and her grandmother, Nanny

Overall I thought the show was interesting as it exposed us to a different culture. It show cased a lot of gender roles, which is an issue not only in the Māori culture, but in many other cultures around the world as well. I love shows about girl power! Go little Māori girl !!!


In my opinion, this show was also very spiritual in nature as there was a lot of chanting and in many instances it was as if through this chanting, Pai was able to communicate with the spirit of the whales. 
Yeah.
That did creep me out a bit. 


=p


For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOBvABpfeeY