1. How is Paikea a female counter-stereotype? Use the "female gaze" theory to describe how the film and the character fit this model of the female perspective and female “voice”. Use the web link provided in Week 11 module on the Female Gaze (the Rubaiyat Hossain article, “Female Directors, Female Gaze”).
Since mainstream thinking stereotypes of women is this: the weak and passive man's attachment, in the movie " Whale rider", the protagonist Paikea definitely portrayed a counter-stereotype of female. First of all, from her appearance, she looks like a stubborn 11-years-old young boy, with short hair and a non-traditional “little girl” role. Then she is determined, confident, intelligent, diligent, and fearless young girl who defied the odds against her of succeeding in a traditional patriarchal culture. Actually, we consider she is just a kid who has been pining for love, acknowledgement from her grandpa, so she would gain the sense of identify and ignore her fatherless life after her mom died.
According to Rubaiyat Hossain’s article, “Female Directors, Female Gaze”, she states that" from the vantage point of a woman, reality is not the same episteme we see in the mainstream world of representation around us. Men and women don’t live the same reality."(Hossain, 2011, para 4). In the movie, if you are a boy, you will an inborn leader responsibility, no mattter how you will be; but if you are a girl, you would never have the equal chance to compete with boys, even you are so talented, like Paikea.
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.
According to the movie Whale Rider, Paikea is an understanding child who has compassion. She knew her Paka(grandpa) has been loving her deep inside even he underestimated and treated her differently than other boys. Paikea said to her father:" It's unfair. (be treat differently between boys and girls)", and when she was dedicating to her Paka on the school concert, she said:
" I was not the leader my grandfather was expecting and by being born I broke the line back to the ancient ones. It wasn't anybody’s fault. It just happened. But we can learn. And if the knowledge is given to everyone, we can have lots of leaders. And soon, everyone will be strong, not just the ones that’ve been chosen. Because sometimes, even if you’re the leader and you need to be strong, you can get tired."
She understood her grandpa was a very responsible Maori's leader who is always value the ancestral tradition and keep trying to revitalize the Maori, so she didn't sink down or get lost when she was been mistreated, ignored. She learned how to use the fighting stick from her uncle secretly; She dived into the bottom of the sea to recover her grandpa’s whale tooth necklace, while some boys dared not and other boys failed to do so; she rode on the back of giant whale dashing back into the ocean for rescure the whales, and she soliloquized:" It's okay Paka, I'm not fear of death."
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.
Counter cinema is defined as “non-mainstream visions, that stand in opposition to the dominant forms of
The female gaze is defined as work that is presented from a female’s perspective and it focuses on the female’s attitudes, desires, feelings, and actions. A film is usually labeled a female gaze film because of the creator’s gender (the director being female herself) or the film was geared towards a female audience. In movie Whale Rider, the little girl Paikea unexpectedly” (to Paka) becomes the Moari's new leader, because of her brave, determination, intelligent. We can see she will be a true leader and heroine after she grows up. In fact, we sense the feministic elements in this film but we don’t think it is the theme of this film. In our eyes, this film expresses Moari’s unique culture and the will of going back to tradition.
PS: From this film we saw for the first time the Moaris’ weird habit of greeting by nose-touching. Their concept of the relationship between human and sea set the founding of this film—the ancestors of them are whale-riders; in the modern days they should go back to find the lost spirit of their ancestors. So returning back to tradition, back to the original simple and local life seems to us the focus of this film. In the last part, all the people gathered on the shore, singing and dancing in Moari, performing traditional ceremony their ancestors might do... We enjoyed the movie tremendously.
Reference:
Danilovic, S. (2012). Hollywood Toronto , ON : George Brown College New York , USA
Hossain, R. (2011, May). Female Directors, Female Gaze: The Search for Female Subjectivity in Film. The Daily Star. Retrieved from: http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2011/May/female.htm
Kord, S., & Krimmer, E. (2005). Hollywood Divas, Indie Queens and TV Heroines. Pages 1-13. Rowman and Littlefiedl Publishers.
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