If Whale Rider Was Made by Hollywood

My out of class screening last week was the movie "Whale Rider." I absolutely love this film as well as the positive message it sends to young girls and women. The film takes place in New Zealand and it is a narrative about the Indigenous people in the country, the Maori tribe, and their culture. Paikea, or Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is the main character of the story, and through out the whole movie she fights to show her grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene), the Maori Chief, that she can take his place as Chief, even though she is not male. When she was born, she was born with a twin brother, and he was seen to be the future Chief, but he died with their mother during birth. Her grandfather saw her as a curse to their tribe. He wished that she had died instead of her brother, and he lost hope of there being a Chief to take his place in honor of their ancestor Paikea. Her father on the other hand decided to name her after their ancestor, despite her grandfather's wishes.

In the very next scene though, Pai is older, and she is riding a bike with her grandfather, and you can tell that he loves her very much. She in turn loves him just the same, and it is easy to see the admiration she has for him. However, he only changes his mind in loving her as his granddaughter, not as a future Chief. It is from this point on that you really see that he sees her as a girl, who cannot do the things that boys and men can do. In one scene she gets a motor on a boat to work, and she calls to her grandfather to come and see. He walks over very upset, turns off the motor and very aggressively tells her to never do that again, because she could get hurt. It is when her grandfather believes that she is going to live in Germany with her father, that he decides to create a school where he can teach young boys how to be Chief, in hopes of finding a new leader, since Pai is a girl, she could never be their leader.

In the scenes where he is teaching the boys what it takes to be a Chief, you really see the Maori culture, and how they really embrace it. It is never a joke to them, and they do not take it for granted. The movie showcases Maori songs, chants, stick fighting, traditional canoe riding, and war dance. I couldn't help but think how culturally rich this movie was. It felt very authentic and powerful because it was completely made by and starred Maori people. I also loved how strong Pai's female character was. She stood up for herself, and found her own voice, even when her grandfather told her she couldn't be their leader. She is not the typical actress you would find in a movie made in the U.S. by Hollywood. Tracy Rector from Longhouse Media, also came in last week and talked to us about Native Americans in cinema, and how out of the 4,000 movies that had been made, (i.e. written, directed, produced and starring) by Native Americans only 1 has been theatrically released and seen major credit.

This really got me thinking... What if Whale Rider was bought out by a major Hollywood production company, and it was made and released in America? How would it have been different, and how would it have been the same? Well, this is what I came up with...

Hollywood bought the rights to a script and made a movie called "Whale Rider," written by Niki Caro, based off of the book "The Whale Rider," by Witi Ihimaera. The story is about a twelve year old girl named Pai, who tries to gain acceptance from her grandfather, who does not believe she can be their tribal leader. The movie was originally going to be made by all Maori people, but a major production company in Hollywood loved the story so much, they were able to pay a price and buy the rights. They filmed the movie in New Zealand, as well as cast Maori people in minor and major roles, as well as extras. However, the role of Pai has been debated over, and the company decided to cast a young Hollywood starlet. Whom you ask? The oh so talented Vanessa Hudgens. Producers really wanted someone who was sexy, beautiful, not afraid to show some skin, and who looked "ethnic" enough to be Maori. Since Hollywood really had their sights set on this young Disney star to play the role of Pai, they had to change the age from 12 to 17, to make it more believable. They also distanced her more from her father in the film, and his role is to be hardly showcased. The producers also had a problem with the fact that there was not any love interest in the film. To solve that, they got rid of her uncle's character completely, and they created the character of Jude, who will be played by the very sexy Robert Pattinson. He will be a foreign exchange student from England. He is there to be the "White Messiah" for Pai. As much as the producers loved Pai's strong, independent voice, they felt it would be more believable to audiences in America if there was a man to do all of that for her. He is going to be her voice and tell her her worth. He will tell her how important she is and to never give up on her dream as a future Maori leader. He will also be battling it out with her grandfather to win his respect, and to show him that he loves, respects and truly cares for Pai. All of these new changes to the movie will make the movie a huge Hollywood success when it is released next month, and to hopefully make it more "white friendly" for movie-goers. So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, soda, and I will see you at the movies! Hopefully the movie will sweep the Oscars this year! So to tide all of you who are eager to see the movie, here are some stills the production company released!






Photos were photoshopped by Me; however, I obtained all of the original photos courtesy of Google Images by typing in Whale Rider, Vanessa Hudgens, and Robert Pattinson