Universal Themes In The Movie Whale Rider

Alistair Macleod is a famous Canadian author that wrote stories about small towns in the east coast. His stories have been praised for the emotional impact they have on the readers. Macleod’s stories focus heavily on gender politics, geographical settings, and following in the examples of superiors among other things. “The Boat” is a short story that focuses primarily on gender roles and how it affects both the men and the women in the story. The two main male characters in “The Boat,” the father and the son, are both characters that are forced into their roles as men that work in order to fend for their families. This specific story resonated with me because I have rarely seen a narrative where male characters are controlled by their female

The main topic of Whale Talk is violence/ abuse. Chris Crutcher shows this through his imagery, symbols, and theme. He shows this theme vividly throughout the book. Chris also uses many real life references such as people from his life. He also provides some accuracies to his own life.

Many voyages that heroin’s encounter are regularly identified with the four mythical functions. In the film, Whale Rider, through mythical creation powers, the hero endeavors to save her dying culture. The creation myths power permits the courageous woman, Pai, to find her actual calling as a real leader of the Maori tribe. By utilizing the myths, she dynamically finds her legend 's adventure by breaking down the images throughout her life. "According to Campbell as discussed in Indick article, this model “The Monomyth” has different functions" as he clarifies the sociological, mysterious, cosmological, and mental elements of myth (pg, 2). Campbell depicts the vital capacities including myths as "legendary or traditional story, typically

Oftentimes, when burdening or stressful circumstances begin to generate strain on an individual, they find themselves turning to literary art as a form of mental relief. This deliverance applies, in particular, to the narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and the father in “The Boat,” by Alistair MacLeod. In both short stories, readers can pinpoint several instances in which these specific characters seek solace through differing formats of written language. The function of the father’s books in “The Boat,” and the narrator’s diary in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is to serve as an instrument of escapism, rebellion, and self-expression, within the controlled existence of

The film “Whale Rider” is an example of gender discrimination. It is a story about a girl, Paikea, who wants to be the new leader of her tribe. Paikea Apirana is the female protagonist of the film. She is an 11 year old girl, who was born into the Whangara patriarchal tribe. But Maori tradition states that only a male can carry the knowledge and be the leader of the tribe. Because of this, her grandfather, Koro the current leader, does not allow her to join in the leader training. She never gives up. And finally, she becomes the first female leader of the Maori tribe.

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.

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.

In society, constructs of correctness have been formed on the basis of expected, gendered behavior. Individuals have traditional roles that they play which are based on the historical performance of their gender. Although very rigid, these traditional roles are frequently transferred, resulting in an altered and undefinable identity that exists beyond the boundaries of gender. These transgressions into the neuter role are characterized by a departure from the normal roles of society which, if successful, complete the gender transference and allow the individual to live within a new set of boundaries. The Female Marine, or the Adventures of Lucy Brewer is the

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.

Men and women have been subject to certain stereotypes throughout the ages. The gender roles of different societies transcend age, race, and location and affect us all. The Odyssey by Homer, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson explore the phenomenon of gender biases that many, if not all, societies deal with. At one point or another, it may become true that when men or women cross the threshold of prescribed gender roles, they are often belittled or ridiculed.

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

The meaning of sexism in the oxford dictionary is ‘Prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination on the basis of sex’ (Oxford Dictionaries). Being a teenager from a liberal society, I think of sexism as when either of the sex is being considered inferior to the other and is not given equal opportunities to earn a place in society. A few decades ago such discrimination was experienced by women when they had no rights to pursue their passions or create their own identity in society. In India, parts of East Asia as well as in New Zealand women were even not allowed to decide on own marriage, which was a monumental event in their lives. In my view, their lives at that time had no difference from the lives of a servant. When they came to their husband’s

The key themes and issues can be a criticism of the Australian society’s actions against Aboriginals. It can be about prejudice, simplistic generalization, racism, race supremacy and assimilation. For the most part, the film’s theme and key issues circles around how the Lost Generation of Aboriginal children were treated through the film, how they were neglected, threatened, spoken of and forced into the Australian society as servants and maids.

Throughout “Whale Rider” Paikea is expected to listen to what her grandpa tells her to do and say. Personally, Paikea feels conflicted and under pressure to stick to her grandpas rules, as she wants to go her own way. Her grandpa finds it hard to see Paikea as her own person and can’t accept modernity, which he is not used to. He also stops her from learning the ways of a Maori chief, which is something she still tries to do in secret with the help of the rest of her family. Koro sometimes fails to see what Paikea can do, as he feels very strongly about old traditions, but other times he sees what she can do and fails to appreciate it. Paikea just wants to be loved and accepted by her grandfather and her strong sense of leadership and determination to get that from him leaves her as a role model to others to be brave and to never stop until they get what they want.