Analysis of the Whale Rider - 1485 Words

THE WHALE RIDER The films 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 tribes chiefly succession following the death of her twin brother and mother when she was born. By tradition, the leader should be the first-born son a direct patrilineal descendant of Paikea, aka Kahutia Te Rangi in the book, the Whale Rider he who rode on top of a whale from Hawaiki. However, Pai is female and technically cannot inherit the leadership. Pais koro, Apirana, or Old Paka as his wife Nanny Flowers calls him, the leader of the tribe, is initially angry at losing his grandson and being left with a worthless female. While he†¦show more content†¦Most heroes are big strong men, or mythical creatures that have thousands of stories and tales written about them. This hero is an unlikely one, a small girl, from a small tribe, in a small village in New Zealand. Paikea is a small girl that is 13 years old, and is a direct descendant of Paikea, the original whale rider. On her journey to become the leader of the tribe, she comes across numerous amounts of challenges from her grandfather, Koro. In the Paikea tribe, only the first-born son should be the leader of the tribe, which proves difficult for Paikea, since she is a female. Her journey begins when she does not even know anything about becoming leader; she is living a normal life, doing her school work and living with her grandparents. At school, she is the most interested in Paikea culture and origins, unlike the other boys. Eventually, her birthfather, Porourangi, comes back and describes his current situation in life; how he lives in Germany and has a great life with a new woman, who is pregnant. This upsets Paikea’s grandfather who out of anger says that he does not need Paikea, and that she is just a hassle. She leaves with her father, but on their way to the airport, she suddenly decides to turn around and return to her grandparents, for she cannot leave them. When she returns, her grandfather acts as if nothing has happened, and focuses more on the task at hand, finding somebody to lead the tr ibe. HerShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Whale Rider936 Words   |  4 PagesIn the film â€Å"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 leaderRead MoreAnalysis Of Whale Rider939 Words   |  4 PagesNiki Caro’s highly commended film, ‘Whale Rider’, tells the story of a young Maori’s girl’s effort to prove herself to her grandfather, the Chief of Whangara. Her grandfather has traditional attitudes that blind him to see his granddaughter’s potential as chief and it is only when tragedy strikes that Pai (K eisha Castle-Hughes) can prove to Koro (Rawiri Paratene) that her community’s link with the traditions and culture of the Maori lives on. The film is set in the small New Zealand seaside villageRead MoreCritical Analysis Of Whale Rider1990 Words   |  8 Pages The New Zealand film, Whale Rider (2002) directed by Niki Caro is an extraordinary example of the feminist literary theory. The visual text follows the journey of a young eleven-year-old Maori girl named Pai, shorten for Paikea who believes she is destined to be the next chief in line of the patriarchal Maori tribe she is part of in the east coast of New Zealand. No matter the circumstances her traditional, stubborn grandfather named Koro refuses to accept that a female could possibly lead and guideRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Whale Rider Essay1265 Words   |  6 Pagess miracle. Legend is often inspirational, because with spiritual power, or implied some kind of mystery. If some kind of legend with its inherent rationality, will produce a good story. The Whale Rider is such a good film, the open sea, the distant shout, an island Maori, their ancestors are riding a whale come. Certainly, an ancient village has a traditional parents, the system must have an elderly management of t he entire village. Inheritance and development into a mission. Opposition and frictionRead MoreWhale Riders Film Analysis Essay1382 Words   |  6 Pagesabout. 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 films plot follows the story of Paikea ApiranaRead MoreThe House On Mango Street And Whale Rider Analysis796 Words   |  4 PagesThe 1984 novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and the 2002 film Whale Rider by Niki Caro shed light on the stereotypical roles females are expected to fulfill in many different cultures. Esperanza comes from an immigrant Mexican family that resides in Chicago and is the typical minority family. Paikea, on the other hand, comes from a long line of Maori people and lives in Whangara, a small village in New Zealand. Even though the girls are separated by thousands of miles, they both areRead MoreThe Four Mythical Elements Of Whale Rider1456 Words   |  6 PagesMany 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 a ctual 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, thisRead MoreWhale Rider891 Words   |  4 PagesMovie analysis The Whale Rider Together with Yavaraj Athur Raghuvir I watched the movie called The Whale Rider which deals with the issue of cultural restrains both as an individual and as a society. The story takes place in New Zealand where the Maori people of a small village claim descent from the Whale Rider, Paikea. By tradition the heir to the leadership of the Maori tribe has to be the first born son- a direct patrilineal descendant of Paikea. The Maori people faces a crisis as the currentRead MoreAnimal Cruelty: Dog Fighting1869 Words   |  8 Pagesinstead the animals are put into dangerous situations because of the greedy and selfish nature of humans. We want to be entertained. What better way to entertain ourselves than to watch an animal struggle through trying to get a rider off of its back while we commend its rider for how long he stayed on? There are plenty of other ways. People can get hurt in these rodeos as well but they live for the thrill and do not always think about the possibility of hurting themselves as well as the animal. TheseRead More The Style of Beowulf Essay2172 Words   |  9 Pagesout with investigating common Germanic features. On the other e nd of the scale, attention was given to a possible Latin influence on the poem’s style. Recently, there have been reconsiderations of authochthonous traditions linked mainly with the analysis of larger narrative patterns (105).    Beowulf ‘s stylistic features will be examined in this essay, along with the perspectives of various literary critics.    T. A. Shippey in â€Å"The World of the Poem† expresses himself on the subject