Whale Rider

Whale Rider is set in a small New Zealand coastal village inhabited by Maoris who claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. For 1,000 years a male heir of the Chief has become leader of the tribe. At the beginning of the film, the wife of Porourangi, the Chief’s eldest son, dies in childbirth along with the male twin she was carrying. The surviving child, a girl, is given the name of Pai, the traditional name given to the male child.

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).

Witi Ihimaria's novel, The Whale Rider is a novel around Maori family with traditional customs. It is set in a whangara and focuses on gender stereotypes that begin after a baby girl is born in the family , aggravating his grand-granddad in light of the fact that the introduction of a girl breaks the ancestry.

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.

Someone’s destiny may be known from the moment he or she is born; however, how that person will reach his or her’s destiny is unknown. The way someone can achieve their dream can be vastly different or very similar to another. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya follows Antonio Marez’s coming of age. He experiences loss of innocence, curiosity, and is torn about what his destiny is: be a Luna, a person of the earth, or a Marez, a person of the llano who is free. Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera is a film that tells the story of Paikea Apirana, a girl who is interested in becoming leader of her clan, but is rejected by her grandfather due to her being a girl. Paikea manages to prove herself to be the true leader through to her risks and hardships.

The psychological part of this film is when she wanted to show her grandfather that she can be the next chief in town, even if she is a female. She was trying to show her grandfather that gender does not matter in order to be a chief. Pai really valued the community. When she was about to leave with her father she heard the whales

When Linda enters into society in Malpais, a “Savage Reservation” she is not used to the more traditional views on sexuality. She is shamed, beaten and exiled by the women of the city. Linda is lost in this new culture. She is unable to adapt and idealizes life in the New World. Linda secludes herself with her son. Linda is an outsider in ideology and habits in Malpais, but has nowhere else to go.

“Well, it was about a year ago,” Arai started. He went on to explain how they were talking about her taking the entrance exam at Ouran, but he wanted her to go to a different high school so they could be together. She mistook this as him also wanting to attend Ouran, so when he asked her out immediately after, she thought he wanted her to go see their guidance counselor with him. While Haruhi looked mortified, in all honesty, I would have made the same mistake. It was hard to completely tell what he

Jayanti chooses to disregard her uncle which shows that all she wants is everything to happen the way she imagines.

She was just about to state her appearance when Eri told her that they were being watched. She followed her gaze out the window and saw a intrigued girl hugging a stuffed animal. The girl turn around and began to walk away. Then Eri said she wanted to meet her.

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.

Given these facts, the film can be seen as a cautionary tale considering the present-day homogenization of culture. With an increase in social conformity comes a decrease in personal morality. This is shown by the

She learns from watching Papa Nnukwu doing his morning prayer (p. 167 – 169) that his traditionalism is a very spiritual thing for him and something that made him happy; happiness her family doesn’t feel after saying their prayers. This is a breakthrough for her as she makes the conclusion for herself and understands herself that there is an important something in Papa Nnukwu regarding his beliefs that is missing in their own lives which revolves around their religion. She also understands her grandfather better and sees and experiences that her father is wrong. This matures Kambili greatly and contributes to her independence of her father.

The story of Whale Rider takes place in a Maori village in New Zealand. The main character is a 12 year old girl name Paikea “Pai” Apirana and her ambition to become the next Chief of her village. Along with following on Pai’s story, the movie showed a great number of local Maori religion and culture. Some of the things I will explore is the Maori religion, gender roles, and a personal reflection on what was learned through the movie.