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Whale Rider Reviewed by Qiu Jin Some movies are good for revolutionaries to learn from even if they have a reactionary take-home message for most viewers. An example of a movie that MIM has recommended for Maoists to see despite misleading content is "Blue Kite." Other movies are good for oppressor nationalities to see even if they offer nothing new to oppressed nationalities. And some movies such as "Whale Rider" are good for oppressed nationalities to see even if they are appropriated by imperialism for its own purposes. Essentially, "Whale Rider" impacts two audiences: oppressor nationalities living in Australia, New Zealand, the u.k., the u.$., etc., and oppressed nationalities, including and especially the Maoris. In this context, the background behind "Whale Rider" is important because there are some things that Euro-Amerikans might not get (whereas the Makah Tribe in the u.$. might). Obviously, any movie's audience has people of different class origins, genders, and national origins, with different perceptions of the same movie (depending on position, not origin), but differences within a country are not as intense. This is not made clear in the movie itself, but "Whale Rider" is set (and actually shot) in the fishing village of Whangara in New Zealand and meant to depict the life of the Ngati Kanohi tribe, a part of the larger tribe of the Maori Ngati Porou. Pilot whales beaching themselves are a reality for these people, not a myth. However, "Whale Rider" is a modern-day version of the Ngati Kanohi's legend that with every generation, there will be a new leader who will guide the tribe. Thus, the movie's ending, which seems ambiguous, is actually significant. The girl, Pai, is truly Paikea in her destiny, and despite her grandfather's opposing her learning the skills of the chief, the ending represents that she succeeds. Despite the level of integration in New Zealand, Maoris have among the highest disease, incarceration, official-poverty and unemployment rates in NZ; substance addiction in general is also relatively widespread. Their conditions are similar in this respect to the conditions of First Nations in the u.$. They are the conditions that Pai would be leading her tribe out of. Pai's own uncle is depicted as being an intravenous drug user, and another character is depicted as being a gang member. These issues are glossed over. So, Euro-Amerikans may come away from this movie with their lopsided views of indigenous peoples, and drug use and criminality, intact and reinforced, but these things are daily realities for many oppressed nationalities, and the proletariat will have to deal with these conditions in their own ways. Orientation toward subjectivism Contrary to MIM's subjectivist critics, Pai is right to criticize her friend Hemi for smoking cigarettes, and even her aunts. Again(1), we have a young persyn depicted as being capable of criticizing adults and people of her own age, and thinking about how to change the world, or at least her environment. In this case, the movie can be accused of less utopianism, but more sub- reformism. However, Pai's sub-reformist practices are aimed at her immediate environment and acquaintances. She is not going around organizing to ban smoking in her community, and she is under no illusion that she is going to defeat u.k. imperialism by changing people's substance use behavior one by one. Pai's thinking about substance use that is harmful to the people, and their struggle against oppression, would serve as a basis for the proletariat, after the seizure of power, to ban the for-profit production of cigarettes and develop large-scale programs to eliminate nicotine addiction. A family movie? The imperialist bourgeoisie have pigeonholed "Whale Rider" into the genre of "refreshing universal coming-of-age" movies. Also, the feeling that it is somewhat feminist, but not "too" feminist, is typical, and the subdued feminism is considered a positive element of the movie. So, not only has the interpretation that "Whale Rider" has to do with national struggle been suppressed, the movie's potentially liberating content for gender-oppressed people has been squashed, too. Consequently, "Whale Rider" is advertised as a movie for Euro-Amerikan girls to help them grow up under patriarchy without adjustment problems, content. To the extent that "Whale Rider" raises awareness of wimmin's oppression among Euro- Amerikan girls, lack of imperialist-country privileges is equated with wimmin's oppression. Admittedly, Pai's story is not too feminist at all, and this is a negative element of the movie. Sure, Pai's father names her "Paikea," her legendary ancestor, but this comes off more as a way of saying "fuck you" to Pai's grandfather, the chief who was expecting Pai's twin brother to survive and who initially disowns Pai as his granddaughter. The grandfather comes off as a patriarch(2), but largely and effectively only by definition of his cultural practices. (It is common in the u.$. for any dominant "ethnic" man to be described as a "patriarch," and a dominant "ethnic" woman a "matriarch," while a white man spanking his own child is just "parenting" and a white man who sexually assaults his own child has just made a "mistake.") Meanwhile, Euro-Amerikan gender oppressors are let off the hook. Additionally, Pai's Maori father brings his pregnant German girlfriend to NZ, and we are supposed to defend patriarchy elsewhere under the pretext of interracial unity. "Whale Rider" does a lot to depict patriarchy-- Pai's grandmother is under the impression that the kitchen is her own domain--but this is another case of just depicting patriarchy and not really dealing with it or providing a solution. Pai's success comes only after proving herself to her grandfather. Other children and wimmin are left in the dust. Pseudo-feminism in the guise of non- feminism Pai seeks equality with the boys who are trained and tested to become the new chief, but she seeks equality under patriarchy and under the class system. In fact, she aspires to join the ruling class of her nation. MIM would call this out as an instance of pseudo-feminism within oppressed nations and ask what Pai is doing for children and wimmin who aren't interested in just changing places with exploiters and oppressors. The only other girls who are depicted in "Whale Rider" are her classmates, but Pai is not shown interacting with them outside their normal activities. It is not surprising that Pai has been described as a tomboy, as if she had no interest in ending gender oppression because she was growing up to be a socially constructed man herself. It turns out the otherwise disparaging tomboy description is actually not too far off them mark when it comes to describing the nature of this movie's so-called feminism. While pretending to support both, "Whale Rider" opposes wimmin's liberation to anti-imperialism. It is as though we must choose between Pai's grandfather not being a patriarch, and Maoris leaving their oppressed conditions. Without a respectable, effective chief to guide the Ngati Kanohi out of its conditions, Pai's tribe is in danger of being devastated by imperialism. However, the real choice is not between pseudo-feminism and no "feminism" at all, but between patriarchy for a really long time, and a communist program that seeks to end gender oppression forever. That is Pai's real choice. Pai doesn't need to become a gender oppressor to end gender oppression. In a version of "Whale Rider" made in a socialist people's republic, Pai uses her influence at the end of the movie to educate her people about imperialism and how it benefits from drugged and imprisoned Maoris. She reluctantly accepts the position of chief, but then makes self-criticism and ends the form of government based on lineage and persynality, without replacing Maori culture with Pakeha culture. Rather than seek for Maoris to become imperialist-country parasites, Pai agitates against imperialism in the Third World and seeks to hasten the defeat of imperialism in the Third World and other exploited regions. Secondarily, Pai organizes to improve the conditions of exploited and gender-oppressed Maoris(3), including those doing prison labor in New Zealand, in preparation for overthrowing imperialism in the belly of the beast. And Pai consciously rejects Liberalism and criticizes smoking, while upholding Marxism-Leninism-Maoism at the same time. Looking past the romantic, feel-good mood of the movie and considering its extensive misuse by the imperialist and comprador bourgeoisies, it's hard to give "Whale Rider" a positive rating. But when Pai defies her grandfather on several occasions, this may be something useful for girls and wimmin in oppressed nations to see and remember when factory managers are dictating to them. Also, the movie demolishes the idea that the cultures of oppressed nations have no place in modern times. "Whale Rider" deserves a neutral rating that reflects the net change to the status quo: 0.
Notes: 1. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/movies/long/payit.html 2. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF- 8&q=%22whale+rider%22+patriarch 3. Maori wimmin's conditions may have been worsened by British colonization. See Annkie Mikaere's "Maori [wimmin]: caught in the contradictions of a colonised reality." http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/wlr/1994/article6-mikaere.html
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