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’s plot follows the story of Paikea Apirana (“Pai”)[In the book, her name is Kahu, short for Kahutia Te Rangi], a 12-year-old girl who is the only living child in the line of the tribe’s chiefly succession following the death of her twin brother and mother when she was born. By tradition, the leader…

The movie is about Pai, a 12 year old who is the only living child in the line of the tribe’s chiefly succession because of the death of her twin brother and mother during childbirth. The leader is usually a male, and because pai is a female, her grandfather, koro is unhappy about her birth….

            Coming Of Age across Cultures in Film: Whale Rider and Rabbit-Proof Fence Whale Rider: Theme and Cultural Issues             A film in the year 2002 the Whale Rider is an adaptation of the novel by Witi Ihimaera in 1986. The story focuses on the Maori culture an indigenous group of people in New Zealand….

In the movie, Whale Rider, there are great examples of Joseph Campbell’s article, Four Functions of Myth, which are: mystical myth, cosmological myth, social myth, and psychological myth. In the film, Whale Rider, Pai discovers her sense of self as she reinvents the Maori tribe’s creation myth to save the dying culture. The mystical myth…