Week 6 - Whale Rider

Whale Rider

Plot 

This film touches on the troubled times of when the Maori tribe faces many social issues as they look for a new leader to lead them out of the darkness.

Cognitive Dissonance

One of the recurring psychological phenomenon throughout the movie is Cognitive Dissonance, and we can clearly see it in the Apirana family. Cognitive dissonance is when there is conflict of two opposing views in the mind, both being present at the same time. It is easier to see it happening when someone has a specific belief or attitude about something or someone, but behaves differently.

Porourangi Apirana 

It can be seen that Porourangi loves his family and his tribe, but he does not stay and lead his people. We can see loving and affectionate moments between Porourangi with his parents and daughter, it was portrayed that their bond goes deep and they really do care about each other. 

He loves his father, but at the same time, he also despises how desperate he wanted an heir to save his people. Koro came off as being cold and unsympathetic towards the death of his wife and son as he tells him to “try again” and I can imagine the amount of stress and hope that Koro has placed on Porourangi’s shoulders.

We also see that Porourangi loves his Maori tradition and art, and keeps his roots close to heart.

Though after the death of his wife and son, he decided to leave Whangara and goes around the world to showcase Maori art instead of staying and taking over the role of being the leader of his people. He came home with a slideshow of his work to show his family.

He also left his boat half done as he travels and creates at the same time. Maybe he used his current work as an escapism for the conflicts that he is facing at that point of time, with his father and also with his love for his people.

Paikea (Pai)

When presented a choice to stay or go off with her father, she is also conflicted because she loves all of her family and culture. She loves her father, and wishes to go off with him after Koro told Porourangi to take her away. She felt hurt, but at the same time, she still loves Koro.

When she was leaving with her father, as they travel through the lands of Whangara, Pai saw the ancient whale that once belonged to her ancestor of the same name as her, Paikea, and she decided to stay. 

At this point, she probably felt deep in her heart that she was meant to be the next leader of her tribe, despite being female. As much as she loves her father, she decided to stay. As much as Porourangi wants his daughter to go with him, he respects her decision to stay.

Now she faces the inner conflict of leading her people and respecting her grandfather’s dedication to tradition. Deep down in her heart there is this calling, to be the next person who leads her tribe, but according to tradition, the leader has to be a male, and Koro follows the ways of the past very strictly. Koro didn’t prohibit Pai from coming to the school for boys, but he has many restrictions on things that she can or cannot do. Some completely sexist.


Koro prohibits Pai from learning how to use the taiaha, but she learns it in secrecy despite her love and respect for Koro.

Koro

Now Koro is a very complicated character who we know is loving and kind, but he too often stresses himself out and often robs himself of his own happiness, he doesn’t express himself much and bottles many things up. I guess that’s what it means to “be a man”?

He loves his son, and eagerly wishes for him to have an heir at the same time. When Porourangi’s wife and son passed away, he was heartbroken. He projects his emotions on to his son, and tells him that it’s okay, and he can try again.

At the same time, he puts a lot of hope and expectations on his son’s shoulders, and when he does not get the result he wished for, he robs himself and others of happiness.

In the beginning, he wished that Paikea had never been born, but he changed his mind. He loves Paikea, but also doesn’t really show it. Deep down, he still has some conflict about not having a grandson as an heir to the family bloodline, but having a lovely granddaughter that he loves.

He loves her, but at the same time denies her of the chance and opportunity to lead the tribe because the leader HAS TO BE male. This belief is one that hurts him and Pai the most, causing the most conflict and anguish within Koro himself.

At the end of the movie when Pai rides on the back of the original Paikea's Whale, Koro finally let go of his belief that the new leader has to be male, and realized that Pai was meant to be the next leader all along. 

After finding Pai, who got off the whale's back in the ocean, Koro asked for forgiveness by her bedside as he expresses that he acknowledges Paikea as the wise new leader he has been looking for, the one who will later lead his people out of the darkness.