only one who survived the birth was the other twin, she was a girl. Third is the climax. The climax appears in the middle of the movie. The girl who survived is named Paikea. The grandpa teaches boys on how to become chiefs and one day he took them out into the water. The grandpa threw his necklace in the water and told the boys to retrieve it, none of them succeeded. Fourth is the epiphany also known as the falling action, when everything starts to calm down. The epiphany was when the grandpa realized his mission was hopeless, his mission to create a new chief. The grandpa stayed in his bed for days. Fifth is the denouncement, the final steps before the resolution. This step occurs when the granddaughter, Paikea, saves a whale from dying when it was stranded on the shore of the beach. No one else could aid the whale. However, Paikea tried and she moved the whale back into the ocean by sitting herself on top of it and riding it. After that event her grandpa realized she was the one destined to be the next chief, even after him telling her she couldn't be one. The Resolution is the final stage of the plot. The resolution takes place in the end of the movie when Paikea is the captain of a boat of men in the ocean. She leads everyone in singing a chant as they paddle away.
The major characters in the story are; Paikea, the grandpa, grandma, uncle, and Paikea's father. The protagonist of the movie is Paikea. The antagonist is her grandpa, Koro. The minor roles are played by the grandma, the uncle, and Paikea's Father. They are crucial to the story, but are not the main characters in the conflict. The grandma and uncle, and father are flat characters, they don't change throughout the movie. However, the grandpa is the most round character meaning he goes through the significant reform. His entire mindset of leadership and who can hold the role changed completely. Pikea is also round because she accepts a calling. Pikea, even though shut down multiple times by her grandpa, grows in a way that makes her unstoppable. She was determined to prove her ability to be a leader. In the beginning of the movie she would sit in the back and listen, but as the movie went on she grew in a way that pushed herself. The main character is Paikea, she is a little girl who takes a calling to leadership despite opposition. Paikea used her willpower to fight for the position she was determined to get. Her grandma moved her out of the house and she still seeked to learn. Paikea used resources, like her uncle to help her grow in her skills. Pakies passion and motivation is to make her grandpa succeed. He succeeds if he find a leader, but she is the best one for the position. She worked hard to become the best even though her grandpa rejected her and was her main opposition. One of Paikea's flaws is that she took no for an answer. However, as the movie went on she grew to ignore the opposition. When her grandpa told her to leave, she would. When her grandpa told her she could not learn how to fight she did not take no for an answer and she simply went to her uncle to help her. Her flaw was something she grew out of. Paikea, the main character, is extremely relatable for one main reason. Paikea stood up to the mindset that a woman could not hold leadership roles. Woman not getting certain positions because they are deemed inferior is still a problem today. Paikea is relatable because she found the sexism to be wrong and she fixed the mindset her grandpa held.
The broad setting of the movie is that it took place early 2000’s in New Zealand. The specific setting is that the movie centers around a rural town, in most likely early spring. The social structure in the town was different than other places. The town's social norms were that men were leaders and women did not hold positions of the sort. Whereas, in America during that time women were holding many leadership positions. In the rural town girls were not taught specific skills like the boys. Everyone essentially accepted this mindset. The grandma seemed as if she was becoming more modern with her mindset when she demanded she was the boss in the home. The grandma was taking up a form of leadership. Where a person lives told people whether they were loyal to their community or not. Paikea's father moved to a European country, where he started a new family. Indicating he wasn’t loyal to his community. The setting is extremely crucial for the plot of the movie. The setting included a sexist mindset, a struggle to find the right leader, and having no motivation to grow. The grandpa was the only one striving to find a leader. Without any of these settings the story would not exist. Pakiea wouldn't have to fight to become chief, the grandpa would not struggle so much to find a leader.
Paikea plays the role of the hero in the film Whale Rider, she did something of extraordinary actions.
Paikea sacrificed her life and even planned to die as she made her journey. Paikea did not have a mentor, her grandma motivated her and never shut her down, yet, she did not guide her. The lesser thugs were the boys who were taught by Koro. They too shut Paikea down and excluded her from learning the ways of a chief. The shadow in the movie was the grandpa, Koro. The definition of a shadow is; the dark side and the suppressed monsters. However, the grandpa did not exclude Paikea because he had evil intentions yet he did it because he thought it was best. Even though his intentions were right the outcome was very wrong. The outcome was restricting the destined chief from becoming chief. There is no prominent trickster in the …show more content…
film.
There are twelve main stages that take place during a hero's journey. The ordinary world is the beginning of the movie. It is everything at its normal pace, there is no conflict a this stage point. The call to adventure stage is when things start to stir up, this stage takes place when Paikea is rejected by her grandpa when he tells her to leave while he was in a meeting. Refusal of the call occurs when Paikea is rejected from learning with the boys and she complies with her grandpa's orders to leave, she does not fight the command. She ignores her inner calling to stand up to her opposition. Meeting with the mentor does not exactly exist in the movie. The only mentor like figure Paikea had was her ancestors. She often sang to them throughout the movie. Crossing the threshold is when Paikea started to act in more rebellious ways. Paikea began not obeying her grandpa and started testing boundaries. Test, Allies, and Enemies is most prominent when Paikea found outside resources to help her prepare for chief. Paikea jumped over obstacles and an example was when she approached her uncle about learning to fight. The approach to the innermost cave happened when Paikea called her ancestors and they sent whales on the shore of their beach. The ordeal is when Paikea went through a near death experience and sacrificed herself for the entire community. Paikea rode the whale back into the ocean. Paikea thought she was going to die but offered herself up. The reward is when Paikea lived through the ordeal and concerned what she wanted to do. The road back is when Paikea is recovering in a hospital bed. The resurrection is Paikea leading the men into the ocean at the end of the movie. Her grandpa finally accepts the fact that she was the chosen one. The return with the elixir takes place when Paikea is riding into to ocean just like her ancestor the whale rider.
5.
Joseph Campbell describes a hero's adventure as someone doing something that is beyond the normal. The opening scene of the movie is a clip of a mother giving birth as well as a clip of a whale swimming in the ocean. The hero must doing something that is not normally done. The opening scene pointed towards that adventure, it pointed towards the whales. The whale Paikea had to ride. Riding the whale, happened to be very much so beyond the normal.
The main character, Paikea, exemplifies Campbell's understanding of a hero in which he said “leaving one condition for another”. Paikea literally left her entire life behind her as she rode the whale into the ocean, she sacrificed her life. Paikea left her normal condition and environment on land to be on in the ocean on the back of a whale.
Campbell said a serendipitous adventure is a trip one is ready for. However, Paikea did have to learn skills before she rode the whale. Does that mean it was not serendipitous? No. Paikea adventure was a serendipitous one, she was mentally prepared from the beginning. Paikea learned skills from her uncle but she had always been ready mentally. A serendipitous adventure is more random than a calling, however, the hero is still prepared. A heroic adventure can occur either way.
The physical deed performed by Paikea, the hero, was when she was trained in the art of fighting by her uncle. The spiritual change Paikea went through was learning how to accomplish something beyond her normal reach. Paikea learned sacrificing oneself was sometimes necessary, and she learned the importance of fulfilling a calling.
A trial or revelation is losing yourself and giving to another. Paikea gave her grandpa the ultimate gift she could deliver him, she sacrificed her life for his happiness. The grandpa thought the community was lost without a leader and that Paikea only brought a curse. He thought Paikea was useless, he thought the whales were a bad sign. So Paikea did was she thought was right for him, she rid of the whale by sacrificing herself. Paikea gave herself for another person.
The mentor in the movie is Paikea's ancestor, she sings out to them when she needs help. Multiple times throughout the movie different people of the community, including the grandma, cry out to the ancestors. The impact the mentor had is that Paikea believed they could help her, meaning she thought they had power. If Paikea thought the ancestors had power then she believed in an alternate power. Paikea felt safe because the ancestor were always there for help, waiting to help. Paikea did not mind sacrificing herself because she believed the ancestors would watch over her.
Paikea does the one deed done by many. Paikea just does it differently. The one deed done by many means that many people are heros and many do things that define them as hero, they just do it in different ways. Paikea is a hero, like many people are, she created and fulfilled her own heroic journey in a unique way. The dragon is represented by the grandpa. A dragon is someone who binds himself to one's ego. The grandpa believed he had to find a chief or he was a failure. Koro, the grandpa, was so focused on his own image he did not bother to think about the effects of his actions
The belief in Maori was the dominant religion in the community in Whale Rider. The people believed that several gods controlled each of their lives.
In the Indian story told by Campbell he said the Indian was in the water in the land of unconscious and had been rescued by the upper powers. Paikea let herself go and she became unconscious when she went under water on top of the whale. Paikea relied completely on upper powers to rescue her, and she was saved.
The belly of a whale transfers a person to where they need to go.
The belly of a whale forces someone on an abnormal adventure and journey one must take in order to accomplish a goal. The belly of the whale is represented when Paikea rode the whale. When she rode the whale it transferred her to her final step in the heroic journey. Paikea’s final stage in her journey was when she took the chief position. However, she would not have received the position if she had not gone through a belly of a whale to get her there. Paikea’s grandpa only realized she was the destine chief after she rode the whale. The whale transferred Paike to her last
step.
6. There are three father figures in the Whale Rider; Paikea’s grandpa, her father, and a boy in the communities father. Paikea’s father left when she is very young, he made an appearance when she was older but left just a couple days after arriving. Paikea’s grandpa was very devoted to Paikea, but developed into her biggest opposition. The last father figure was a boy’s father, whom the grandpa was instructing. The boy’s father went to watch him perform something he had rehearsed. The father stayed for a few minutes but left with his friends, from the boys face you could see that scene had probably happened multiple times. The last father figure seemed somewhat relatable to Paikea because her father often abandoned her as well.