The Character Paikea (Keisha Castle Hughes) was born in family from generation to generation of
the chief of tribe, but not all the people expected her birth as her parents because of her gender. Her mother passed away when she and her brother were born, and her brother died while Paikea got survival. Her grandpa Koro considered that Paikea was infelicity and never thought Paikea could be the chief of tribe as she was a girl, but the young girl got all the individuals' approval for the position of the leader at the end of the movie. In the twentieth century, many female directors appeared, but they did not be treated equally as the male directors. Moreover, the female directors were the people who understood women best spent most time to produce the film but earned fewest amount of money. Thurs, the director of the movie Whale Rider is a female called Niki Caro who did not win all attention at her first product, but she succeed by the work for both her writing and directing. Nowadays, women produce the films themselves, and the audiences accept all the movies for not consider about the gender of the directors. As the article said, women can make the great movies.
2. How is Whale Rider a statement of empowerment for women and girls? How does Paikea challenge gendered expectations? Use scenes/characterization/dialogue from the film to give examples.
Firstly, the movie Whale Rider shows to the audiences how the women built their own rights at the feudal society that women were for have child for men and cooking in the kitchen. Even the girls got the opportunities to study in the school and perform on the stage, they still could not be treated equally. Paikea was the granddaughter of Koro- the chief of a tribe. She expected to inherit her grandfather's position, but Koro continued to stop Paikea and blame her, only one reason Paikea could not be the chief of a tribe was she was a girl which could not be qualified in this position. Next, Paikea asked her Uncle Rawiri taught her and she has been successful to defeat a boy for this skill. She was not allowed in the school to learn all the abilities and skills, but she could find the method to know these techniques and studied perfectly. All the boys in the shool could not found the plankton of the whale which was thrown in the sea by Koro, but Paikea discovered it. Finally, Paikea wanted to sacrifice herself to save the whole clan. She became the Whale Rider and roused the whale went back to the ocean. She said "It's okay, Papa. I wasn't scared to die." She demonstrated her courage, determination and her love to her Papa. Until her Nanny gave back the plankton of the whale to her papa who finally realized that his granddaughter was the best one to be the chief of tribe. At the end of the movie, Paikea was found and Koro changed his decision that to let Paikea inherit the leader of the clan. The ultimate dialogue was " I'm not a prophetic, but I know is that all my people would go forward, all together with all of our dream." by Paikea.
3. How is Whale Rider an example of “counter-cinema” and the “female gaze”? Use the 1990’s Lecture notes in Week 11 Module to help with this answer and the “Hollywood” article by Kord and Krimmer in the course package.
The Whale Rider is the female movie persisted in the point and view of the women to be regarded for the self achievement. All in all, at the earlier Hollywood movies which demonstrated the female heroes already, and at the 1990s the roles of the actress in the movies became more essential. The revolution of the films brought the best and worst to the performers and the moviedom. The movie Whale Rider performed the version of the counter-cinema that no one was expected a girl could be a leader in the clan, and the selection happened around boys while the girls did not have chance to compete with boys. Koro was a traditional thought that Paikea could not be a leader because she was a girl. However, the girl conquered the whale, the people, and her grandpa. She obtained not only the position of the leader but also the equity for the women. Therefore, the female gaze in 1990s intent on changing women's lives for the better, strive to present the challenges and problems of today's women. In the Hollywood movie, audiences were not only just watcher the movie, the directors should sent more positive information to the audiences, and then the audiences could concern and understand for what they were watching.
Reference:
Kord, S., & Krimmer, E. (2005). Hollywood divas, indie queens, and TV heroines: Contemporary screen images of women. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 1-13.
http://www.salon.com/2002/08/27/women_directors/ By Michelle Goldberghttp://media.georgebrown.ca/media/film/Whale_Rider_a/Whale_Rider.html Directed and Written by Niki Caro ( a female director)
Starring Keisha Castle-Hughes ( nominated for Best Actress Oscar)
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