Weekly Film Blog (#7)

Whale Rider. It was made clear in the beginning of the movie that Koro, the grandfather and leader of the tribe was displeased with the birth of a girl as the firstborn. Koro displayed no joy in the human life was brought into the world, but sadness and mourning (singing the Maori chants) to the still born twin boy. He continues to deny Paikea of her rightful position as the next chief because of her gender. In many parts of the world this format of leadership is preferred. Males have been dominating the command center right from the earliest of history. The long lines of pharaohs of Egypt were men (with the exceptional of a few women a thousand BCs later). The Malay Peninsula had a history of male dominated positions such as Laksamana, Temenggung and Bendahara. This exemplifies that the male was considered to be the superior gender and females were a lesser importance. From a psychological evolutionary perspective, the core assumption is that the human mind is the product of evolution through natural selection. Our ancestral leaders assumed the role food hunting and food sharing practices and men often take such positions (Vugt & Ronay, 2013). It is no surprise that Koro also seeks a male leader to represent the next tribe chief. It is a global phenomenon. It has been ingrained within the culture of Maoris through decades of social learning. It was passed down to the tribe just as Koro's lessons towards the firstborns of the tribes. The boys learned that certain traits are needed to become a strong leader just as Paikea was constantly reminded that it was not in her position to meddle in men's affair. This is how gender roles are learned, that is through these repeated social learning. Despite that, Paikea was not the typical tribe girl that follows orders. She has determinism, a strong drive to learn to achieve her goals. She knew how to take advantage of the situation around her, for example, to ask for Rawiri's help in the taiaha lessons when a angered Koro dismissed her off the marae grounds. She did not 'sit at the back' as ordered by Koro during the ceremony and this shows that is does not conform to the cultural norms. She is seen giving the Maori entrance chants (which are typically done by boys I'm assuming by how Koro's reaction when Nanny asked her to do it). She also led the first culture concert at the beginning of the movie, surrounded by all boys on the stage.

Koro's constant displeasure with Paikea seem to fuel her drive even more. This could be because Paikea was in her identity vs role confusion stage of Erikson's stage of development. She is trying hard to hold on to her roots despite being denied several times. In multiple occasion, she displayed talent, patience and understanding of her whole situation. It was probably because she felt a stable self-efficacy, believing in her competence enough to succeed. In a scene, she did not hesitate to jump into the depths of the ocean to retrieve the whales tooth which can only be explained that she knew she was confident enough to get the pendant (with an additional lobster!). On the other hand, Koro's self-efficacy was stable during the course of the lessons. He feels competent and believes he can find the next leader within the first born boys of the tribe, even seeing Hemi as a good potential, but declined as the last test of leadership was a failure. He turns depressed and calls for the ancient whales to guide him in his quest. From here, we can observe that the people of Maori believe in an outer force in shaping their destiny. In a way, we can say that they have an external locus of control. Especially when the beached whales turned up. Koro believed that they were a sign of a bad omen and maybe a sign of his failure. 

A theme that I relate on a personal level is the struggle of being recognised as a successful female in the eyes of a male. Being in a Malay culture, it is similar yet not completely parallel to Paikea's situation. We are expected to be the supporter and not leader of the family. To understand and act our roles out as the females that take care of the family. Even outside of the family, men expect a certain kind of attitude and behaviour from girls. I admire people, girls and boys, that can stand out and proceed not to live the stereotype despite the backlash they receive. Leadership is an admirable trait that left me in constant awe throughout the whole film, especially more from a culture that I am new to. I find it surprising to see that even thought they are very rooted into their culture such as they speak the native language, follow through rituals and traditions and are close knit within the community. However, they are still modern enough to be able to adapt to the community outside their culture. By this, I mean in comparison to the Orang Asli that are living secluded from modern world. There is one Orang Asli community smack in the middle of the metropolitan Kuala Lumpur yet they do not adapt well ie choosing to still cook using actual fires rather than technology. 

In conclusion, we should always try to give people a chance to prove themselves first before going with our preconceived notions regarding a matter. Sometimes it may surprise us and sometimes it will have us go through cognitive dissonance and deny any of it just like Koro did, but at least if we even consider to open up the possibility of something new, then it is a step towards a better and positive personal growth.

Reference:

Vugt, M. V., & Ronay, R. (2013). The evolutionary psychology of leadership: Theory, review, and roadmap. Organizational Psychology Review, 4(1), 74-95.