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Whale Rider

Pai is a 12-year-old Maori girl in New Zealand who believes she is destined to become her tribe's first female chief, but must overcome the rigid gender stereotypes of her traditional grandfather Koro. Koro excludes women from positions of leadership and power in the tribe and refuses to teach Pai the ancestral skills taught to boys. Throughout the film, Pai consistently outperforms boys but Koro refuses to see past gender. Eventually, Pai succeeds in breaking down the long-established gender barrier to fulfill her role as chief and shifts her culture's balance of power to one that is inclusive of people regardless of gender.

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Wayne Godio
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140 views2 pages

Whale Rider

Pai is a 12-year-old Maori girl in New Zealand who believes she is destined to become her tribe's first female chief, but must overcome the rigid gender stereotypes of her traditional grandfather Koro. Koro excludes women from positions of leadership and power in the tribe and refuses to teach Pai the ancestral skills taught to boys. Throughout the film, Pai consistently outperforms boys but Koro refuses to see past gender. Eventually, Pai succeeds in breaking down the long-established gender barrier to fulfill her role as chief and shifts her culture's balance of power to one that is inclusive of people regardless of gender.

Uploaded by

Wayne Godio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Whale Rider

The fictional story of Pai, a 12-year-old girl who lives with her grandparents in
the little town of Whangara on the coast of New Zealand, is presented in the movie
Whale Rider. Since Paikea’s time, the Whangara people have lived in a patriarchal
structure where tribal chiefs can only be first-born males, Pai believes she is destined to
become her people’s first female chief, but she must overcome the rigid gender
stereotypes set forth by her traditional grandfather, Koro, and prove to him that she can
learn the ways of her ancestors.

In Whale Rider, Pai’s resistance to assume her people’s traditional female gender
roles clashes with Koro’s ideas of the masculine qualities needed for leadership. While
analyzing how gender and specifically masculinity are depicted in Maori culture
through the relationship between Pai and Koro in Whale Rider, it becomes evident that
the strict separation of gender roles actually serves as hindrance to the wellbeing and
progression of the tribal community as a whole. When Koro decides to open a boys-only
school to teach the young men in the village the ways of ancestors, Pai and her
grandmother, Nanny flowers, are only allowed to participate by reciting poems as part
of the opening ceremony. When there was an international sports competition aka Haka,
that was held at Koro’s school for boys, where he teaches the village boys the art of the
performance. Pai was excluded from the lesson by nature of her being a girl, but she
hides off to the side in hope of secretly learning from her grandfather. As a female, she
was also excluded from learning about weaponry, another important aspect of Maori
culture. As with the haka, Koro refused to allow Pai to participate in learning martial
skills at his school. Pai knew she could be a great leader for her people, but she was
frustrated not to be receiving the same teachings as the boys at her age. Koro’s
masculine idea for his people disregards females by automatically excluding them from
the scope of leadership and other positions of power within the community. At the
beginning of the film, it is clear that his strict views on separate gender roles have
influenced Pai. When Pai walks into the house and sees her grandmother and her
friends playing cards and smoking, she states “ Maori woman have got to stop smoking.
We’ve got to protect our child bearing properties”. This line of thinking is in stark
contrast to her views later in the film, where she repeatedly defies the gender limitations
set forth by her grandfather. Throughout the film, Pai consistently outperforms her male
classmates in one challenge after the next, but Koro’s traditional beliefs will not allow
him to see beyond the rigid gender stereotypes engrained in their culture. As the film
progresses, Pai moves from a position of acceptance of her status in the tribe to one
rebellion. Pai eventually succeeds in breaking down her culture’s long established
gender barrier to fulfill her role as chief.
The film entitled Whale Rider, shows that Pai rejects the gender expectations
imposed on her as a female and denies the gendered stereotypes established in her
culture. Instead, she upsets the norm as she constructs her own identity and place in
society as a female leader. Pai shifts the balance in power from a hegemonic masculine
ideal to one of shared power and inclusively among all people, regardless of gender.
She successfully creates bridge for all of her people to come together, share in their
combined knowledge and power, and move forward to a hopeful inclusive future. She
thereby also proves that cultures are not stable, but subject to constant change.

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