Whale Rider (2002): An Intergenerational

Whale Rider (2002): An intergenerational ethnography of Maori gender relations The conflicts between the young New Zealand Maori girl Pai, and her grandfather highlight the problems of intergenerational communication that can occur, even between persons of the same culture. Pai's grandparents are her primary caretakers, and she grows up on tales of her grandfather chief Koro's feats of bravery. However, there is no male heir to take on Koro's role after he dies.

PAI wishes to succeed the man she admires, but her grandfather does not believe a woman can or should assume a leadership role of the tribe, because this means that she must be a leader of men, and give orders to men. Masculinity and fierceness are intertwined in the chief's mind, as is seen when he attempts to educate the local boys in the ways of the Maori.

Even children barely old enough to clutch a spear are taught how to grimace menacingly and mimic the stance and actions of warriors. Koro's public education of the local boys, even though this is male-to-male dialogue, further underlines the nature of generational conflict in an old tribe that is being confronted with new ways and attitudes about individualism and personal choice. The young boys enjoy playing like warriors, but they do not view what Koro is teaching them with the same degree of seriousness as he does.

Furthermore, they have been exposed to a modern culture that deems them still in a state of childhood. Fighting is play to these boys, not preparation for a larger duty that will encompass most of their daily existence, like defending the tribe from outside intruders or hunting, and they seek personal enjoyment from education, rather than a way to prepare for a public role of responsibility.

The boys, Koro's pupils, also do not always listen to him attentively because they have grown up in an independent modern environment that stresses that children should think for themselves, rather than obey adults unquestioningly. Koro's inability to tolerate dissent is seen early on in the film, when he grows openly angry with his son in a hospital room, because his son will not agree to marry another woman, and have another child to 'replace' Pai's twin brother, the child that dies along with his mother during her labor.

Only Pai survives, which might be seen as a sign of the girl's strength, but is instead interpreted by Koro as a kind of curse or at very least an unfortunate event for the Maori tribe's future. In the hospital room, while his son is still overcome by grief, Koro can only think of his public role in the tribe, as is typical from someone from older generation.

His more modern, independent, and individualistic son is still too overcome, psychologically, with has transpired, to tolerate the older man's different generational perspective. This conflict between individualism and collectivism is at the heart of Maori intergenerational conflict. Koro's granddaughter wishes to realize her own dream of becoming a leader, which she believes is her birthright.

Her grandfather puts tradition ahead of such individualism, as can be seen in his schooling of all of the local boys in the same fashion, without regards to their own, individual needs and desires, as might transpire in a modern educational setting. Even within the context of his own family setting, he cannot put the concerns of the tribe to the.