In the film “Whale Rider”, we explore the traditions of the Maori tribe located in New Zealand. This tribe holds their traditions very high and only direct descendants of the Whale Rider himself can become the chief of the tribe. The main character in the film is a twelve-year-old girl named Paikea. Her twin brother died during childbirth, leaving Paikea as the only child. Because Paikea is a girl, she cannot be the leader of the tribe. Since there is no one in his family to become the next leader of the tribe, Paikea’s grandfather, Koro, is very upset about the death of his only male grandchild and becomes worried about the tribe’s future after he is gone. Paikea is caught in the middle of this and desperately wants to be included in the …show more content…
However, Paikea was not allowed to sit in on these classes and was always watching from the side. She was even better at learning the cultural skills than any of the boys attending the classes. She kept sneaking around the school, teaching herself the tribe’s songs and everything else that Koro was teaching the boys. Paikea wanted to be included and accepted, but Koro always believed that only males can be the leaders and kept ignoring Paikea’s attempts to be a part of the class. Sometimes Koro even got very upset with Paikea, saying, “You don’t mess around with sacred things!”, thinking that she is just doing so to be rebellious, and certainly disrespectful of the traditional patriarchy. To convince her grandfather that she can do everything the boys can, she took action to prove herself. One of these times the boys had to swim after a whale’s tooth (symbolic of tribal leadership) that Koro had thrown into the deep water. None of the boys could bring the tooth back and that is when Koro realized that he might have lost the tooth that had been passed down to him forever. After hearing of this, Paikea decided to dive into the deep water and get the tooth herself, “I’ll get it”, Paikea said, and to everyone’s surprise, she succeeded. This just shows that this little girl can participate and keep up with Koro’s challenges. Paikea also has a way of communicating with the whales in the deep, dark ocean, much like
For the kid who might be the chief" (Whale). Paikea turns out to be strongly fascinated on this legend because of the way that she is the latest of the bloodline descendant, which implies she is prepared to make every one of the basic decisions of being a chief other than the reality of being female. The youthful heroic girl refers to the legend when contrasting with herself as an approach to empower her rising as the current bloodline descendant. She keeps on participating in the myth all through the movie with a specific end goal to express her enthusiasm for her way of life (William, 3).
Niki Caro’s film, Whale Rider, beautifully captures the small village of Whangara, which is located in the northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. The film portrays a Maori tribe that tells the story of a long-held tradition. This film is rich in symbolism, which is easy for any viewer to understand. Whale Rider does a wonderful job of capturing the attention of the audience because of the intense and close relationships between the characters, the way Caro conveys the movie’s message, and the features the movie offers.
When choosing a film for this assignment, my original choice was Bend It Like Beckham because I had heard of it and I had a general idea what it was about. I then decided that I wanted to take on a more challenging film, one that I had never heard of, and one that I would really have to study to understand its full meaning. After looking into a few of the listed movies, I ended up choosing Whale Rider, a drama filmed in New Zealand in 2002. After watching the movie two times, I feel that I now understand some of the more drastic cultural and gender based problems that are occurring today.
In the film 'Whale Rider', by Niki Caro which follows the journey of a young girl named Paikea Apirana and her struggle for acceptance as a leader of her Māori iwi, and especially her grandfather. An important character in this film is Pai herself. This character has significant importance as she is used to portray numerous important ideas and themes throughout the film. Pai helps me to understand and appreciate that women can also be leaders that are equal to men if they have the right attributes. The director Niki Caro uses numerous different film techniques to convey this idea, such as; the camera shots and camera angles when Pai is giving her speech to Koro, the use of camera angles and props in relation to the dialogue when Pai if fixing the motorboat engine, and the use of props when Pai is teaching herself to use the Taiaha.
John Longridge agrees to take care of his friend’s three pets, Luath, a young Labrador, Bodger, an old Bull Terrier, and Tao, a Siamese cat while the family is out of the country. Everything is fine until Longridge lives on a trip and the pets decide to find their way home on their own through the outback of the Canadian wilderness. Each of the pets faces an almost life ending peril during the trip. Bodger is attacked by a baby bear, Tao almost drowns in a river, and Luath suffers from severe infection from porcupine quills. Along the way the three friends encounter many different people, some are helpful and others are downright mean to them. But at the end of the story, they are reunited safe and sound with their family. The themes of
It is after she awakens from unconsciousness that she is finally able to confidently state, having earned Koro’s approval, “My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs, stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider … I know our people will keep going forward … with all of our strength.”
A young boy sits on the floor gazing up in amusement as his parents tell him stories that have traveled from generation to generation. Whether it be a tale of malicious war or brave acts of heroism, the little boy will always remember the impactful tales. But what about the parents; what is their motive for telling tales to their child? People tell stories for different reasons; a best selling author may write his story to sell books. While a parent tells a story to set their child straight, others simply want the thrill of telling tales of their adventurous life. For The Tao Jones ,or TJ, in Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk, the most impactful story he will hear and tell is his own. Someone might not solely tell their own story but, are also able to tell the story of those around them. Superficially, TJ’s story is one of brutal negativity and oppression. However, beneath the surface TJ and other peoples’ tale, is one of the unbreakable bond of brotherhood, unique self identity, and last chance at redemption.
For years the killer whale, also known as Orcinus orca, has been drawing the attention of the public through the entertainment industry. These marine mammals have been bringing in billions of dollars to amusement parks such as Sea World, but at what cost? An idea that these killer whales can live happily and content while in captivity may be going through the minds of the public, but this cannot be further away from the truth. To have such complex creatures in captivity is not morally correct and there are many points against it, such as their level of emotional competence, violence between the killer whales, violence of killer of whales towards trainers, shorter lifespans, physical harm, and their level of intelligence. After taking a look at how these creatures function and the conditions they are put in while in captivity, there is no question about whether or not these mammals should be kept in captivity; an experience such as this affects these marine mammals just about the same as it would affect a human because of their high highly developed emotions and complexity. Since these industries do not have a natural authority over these creatures no matter the cause, the best thing they could do for these killer whales is to stop capturing them and return those who are capable back to the wild.
With success come some of the greatest stories of how people got to that spot. If you do try for something almost never will you be rewarded for that particular thing. This plays a role in both of the following books. In Whale Talk TJ must give this team and swimming his all to get what he wants in getting his team a varsity letter. When new requirements set back the team from getting their varsity letter TJ take it upon himself to lead and set an example for the rest of his team. Notably, in the book Summer Ball after Danny finds out about what people actually think about him. He takes accepts it and goes harder in camp. He takes nothing for granted anymore.
The Whale Rider by Niki Caro is a film about a young girl, Paikea’s journey to acceptance from her grandfather. This film explores many themes such as feminism, family and conflict. One of the main conflicts explored throughout this film is the conflict between Nanny Flowers and Koro, Paikea’s grandparents. Conflict is an important issue in this film because it causes rupture among an already fractured family.
She had to work for what she got though. Right from the moment she was born, she was rejected by the members of her tribe. This was the result of her mother and twin brother both dying during the delivery, leaving Paikea. She was not liked immediately because her twin
Paikea is trying to learn the ways of a leader and a chief but Koro keeps shutting her off and getting mad whenever she does. He would always say, “She is no good to me.” Even when Paikea is learning to spar with the fighting sticks, Koro immediately yells at her and scolds her. All of these put-downs and constant public humiliations by her
Rawiri plays an important role in the novel which helped unfolding the events, ranging from minor to significant ones. He relates the events in the ‘Whale Rider’ as the role of the narrator, allowing the readers to form judgements and learn about things such as the Maori way of life and the characters through his eyes. He also give us his insights as he highlights themes and issues mentioned, like racial discrimination. Besides that, he is the one who sees the many signs of Kahu’s destiny as the leader of the tribe, piecing up a complete picture of her eventual rise as the leader. Additionally, he is her guardian, always protecting and looking out for her. With his carefree personality, he often provides comic relief especially in times of
Kahutia was thus renamed Paikea and known as the whale rider (“Maori Mythology and Legend of Paikea”). In the movie’s timeline, Pai is a descendent of Paikea. Ironically, Pai became the new chief and whale rider, by almost drowning herself and riding the whales.
This book really grabbed me right from the beginning of the story. The story begins with the birth of fraternal twins, with the grandfather patiently awaiting the birth of the son. Right away I felt sadness when the mother and one of the twins die. The boy dies and the girl survives. The grandpa seems to not care about the girl who survived . He was longing for his grandson because he is from the Maori tribe and the tribe is waiting for the sign of a new chief to be born . The chief would lead the village and its community to greatness. Many elders have been born but none with the strength to be the next chief. The little girl was named Pai. The grandma of Pai took her home to raise her along with the grandfather. The grandfather showed