Whale Rider Essay

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The movie Whale Rider is a great tale of the religious journey of a young girl. It shows the struggles of women in cultures where they are not free to perform all the religious practices they wish. The movie tells the story of the Maori people and their efforts to find a new prophet to help lead them to a better life. The film was a great look into a religious community struggling to keep traditions alive. The religious quest is shown very clearly throughout the movie. When the main character Paikea is born, no one is glad. Her people had been waiting to celebrate and follow the first-born son, but when Paikea’s twin brother dies these hopes die too. The movie shows two different kinds of religious quests, one quest is Paikea’s and the other is of her grandfather, Koro. Paikea’s quest is more personal and direct. Paikea feels in her heart that she is meant to be a spiritual leader for her people, and we see throughout the entire movie the challenges she faces on this quest. Her grandfather Koro’s quest is different however. Unlike Paikea, he is not struggling to find himself as an influential religious leader for his people; instead his quest is to seek out a new prophet to lead the people. This is still a very personal quest for him. He feels as if he will be a failure to his people if he does not find the next young boy to step up as chief and lead everyone to a better life. In this way he has made himself responsible for the well being of his entire tribe by believing they are unable to prosper without him finding the next prophet. Throughout the movie we see his quest which starts with hope in that by opening a school for the boys in the tribe he can help one of them realize their potential and find their strength in being a prophet. We then see his disappointment after the final test where he sends the boys into the ocean to retrieve his important whale
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