The beginning of the film Whale Rider (2002) does not only tell the story of the beginnings of the Maori people, but it also lays out a theme that the rest of the film follows. In the first scene of the film, the voice of main character, Paikea, tells the story of her people. She is not revealed to be the main character of the film until after this first scene. Paikea’s voice-over and the editing in the first scene establishes how influential of a character she is the story, at the same time, shows her as insignificant in the eyes of her grandfather. The utilization of the main character’s voice, the editing, sound and mise-en-scene in the beginning of this film drives a theme of cultural …show more content…
In the voice-over, Paikea explains the story of how her people are led and the importance of the whale rider in her tribe. While she is speaking, the film repeatedly cuts between the footage of a whale swimming in an ocean to Paikea’s mother giving birth to twins. The voice-over begins with, “In the old days, the land felt a great emptiness, it was waiting to be filled up. Waiting for someone to love it, waiting for a leader. And he came on the back of a whale, a man to lead a new people, our ancestor, Paikea. But now we are waiting for the first born of a new generation, for a descendant of the whale rider, for the boy who would be chief.” After this dialogue, there is a shot sequence at different points of view to depict how much Paikea’s mother is struggling giving birth. This shot sequence involves the …show more content…
“Paikea, Paikea,” she said softly with the camera centered on her lips. The film then cuts to a narrow focus shot of the alive newborn crying with the camera also centered on the newborns lips. This editing establishes the Paikea as significant by showing her as the child after her mother’s last words. The mother’s last words were the supposed to be the name of the male child who would lead the tribe. This editing from the narrow focus shot of both of her mother’s final words and of her female child show Paikea’s name is meant for her. She is the child who lives and who will lead the tribe. The fact that the name is for her is proven later in this scene and the final part of scene gives context to why she cannot be tribe leader at as a woman at this point in the film. The ending of the scene also shows how she has no worth to her