Whale Rider Essay

The setting of the movie is in a small village in New Zealand. The people of this town have a strong belief in Paikea who is said to be “The Whale Rider.” In each generation, a male born to the Chief will take the title as Whale Rider. The film starts out in a hospital where the Chief’s oldest son, Porourangi, welcomes twin boy and girl into the world. Sadly, the mother and one of the babies die during childbirth. The baby that survived is a girl and her name is Pai. Porourangi is so upset and in such grief that he leaves Pai to be raised by his parents. At first, the grandfather Koro has a very hard time loving Pai because he does not want her to be the inheritor of the title of “whale rider.” The grandmother, Flowers, believes that she is just a sweet child who

Then Porourangi decides to come home after multiple years of being gone. Koro believes that everything is going to work out perfectly, and that Porourangi will become the infamous Chief and the new “whale rider.” Well Koro could not be more wrong, he did not want to be the new Chief at all. Koro and Porourangi got into a bit of an argument, and Porourangi suggests that Pai should come and live with him now. Pai thought it might be a good idea. She decided to try it out, but did not last long. She swiftly returns to her grandparents because she believed that Koro needed her to become the “whale rider.” However, Koro was convinced that he would find a male to fulfill this position. He started holding a training school for 12 year old boys so that he could teach them the warrior techniques and chants of the tribe. As a result, he believed the leader would be absolutely obvious to him. Pai wants to be involved in this training so bad that it hurts. Koro plans an activity in hopes that it would show what young male would be the new leader, but none of them succeeded. Nonetheless, Pai has been doing ritual chants or calls to the