Whale Rider

            The film Whale Rider is a story of leadership, sacrifice, family, and the role of women and the culture of the Maoris. The movie is depicted through the eyes of Paikea, a strong and intelligent female with the potentials of a leader, a view not shared by other characters in the early part of…

Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by language, religion, social habits, traditions, stories and music. “A nations culture resides in the heart and soul of its people”- Mahatma Gandi and this culture is kept alive by what they do. The texts we have studied in class “Yolngu Boy” and “Whale…

The film centers on Paikea Apirana, a 12-year-old girl known as “Pai,” who is the sole surviving child in her tribe. It is her duty to carry on the lineage of succession, yet her mother and twin brother passed away during childbirth. According to custom, only the eldest son, who must be a direct descendant…

Coming of Age Across Cultures in Film: Whale Rider and Rabbit-Proof Fence. Whale Rider: Themes and Cultural Issues The Whale Rider is a film adaptation of Witi Ihimaera’s 1986 novel, set in the year 2002. The story centers around the Maori culture, an indigenous group of people in New Zealand, and the Whangara community where…

The movie tells the story of Pai, a twelve-year-old girl who is the only remaining child in her tribe’s line of succession due to the deaths of her twin brother and mother during childbirth. Tradition dictates that the tribe’s leader be male, so Pai’s grandfather, Koro, is unhappy about her birth. Despite forming a somewhat…

Whale Rider, the movie, showcases Joseph Campbell’s Four Functions of Myth, namely mystical myth, cosmological myth, social myth, and psychological myth. In this film, Pai reimagines the Maori tribe’s creation myth and, in doing so, rediscovers her own identity while also preserving the fading culture. The mystical myth featured in Whale Rider is when the…