Themes In The Whale Rider

Throughout the film The Whale Rider, the director Niki Caro uses film techniques to convey the theme of expectation and disappointment. In the film, we are introduced to the character of Pai, who sets out to break Maori tradition and become the next leader of her tribe, while bringing her family and the community closer together, much to the displeasure of her grandfather Koro. Koro is an important figure as he is used by the director throughout the film to convey the theme of expectation and disappointment to the audience, using film techniques such as dialogue, camera shots, sound effects, and symbols.

Within the theme of expectation and disappointment, Caro conveys several different ideas. Firstly, Caro conveys to the audience how we should
Koro’s first words convey many things about his personality to the audience. Firstly, it shows how Koro cares only for the son of Porourangi. This is reinforced by Porourangi’s response; “All you want is your boy”. This introduces Koro’s first expectation; that he will have a grandson who he can raise to become the leader of the community. The use of the word ‘boy’ instead of ‘child’ shows how Koro follows Maori tradition, wanting a male leader instead of a female leader for the community. Koro’s personality traits conveyed through this dialogue also help to create the basis for other themes in the film (e.g. gender roles and culture). Porourangi then goes on to say, “I’ve got a child. Her name is Pai”. This dialogue shows how Koro’s expectation to have a grandson has not been fulfilled. Caro uses a medium shot while Porourangi is saying this, so the audience can see his body language (which is open, suggesting that he expects Koro to accept this news). Caro then uses a close-up of Koro’s face so the audience can see his reaction to this (we can clearly see in this shot that Koro is upset and
Caro uses camera shots and symbols to convey this idea to the audience during the final scene of the film. In the closing scene, we see Pai leading the waka and the community with Koro sitting next to her. Caro uses a two shot of Koro and Pai to show how the relationship between them has changed since the start of the film, and how they are now sitting side by side as equals. Caro also uses the symbol of the whale tooth necklace, which was originally introduced as a symbol of leadership (and was originally worn by Koro). In the two shot of Koro and Pai, the audience is shown how the responsibility of leading the community has now been passed down to Pai, as she is now the one wearing the necklace. This conveys to the audience how even though Koro’s original expectations that were shown at the beginning of the film were not fulfilled, he has become more open-minded to new perspectives (such as a female