Zach Fehrenbach

Dr. Schmidt
CO 200-52
10 December 2015
Movie Analysis Assignment
Whale Rider (granddaughter/grandfather dyad)
1. DeVito differentiates between three types of family relationships:
traditional, independent, and separate. He describes these types in
terms of couples. He categorizes traditional couples as interdependent.
They sacrifice their independence and are highly responsive in
communication. Traditional couples have few power struggles or
conflicts and they normally take on traditional gender roles.
Independent couples value individual identity over their relationships.
They dont ritualize their time together and they have few power
struggles or conflicts. They tend to combine gender roles. Finally,
separate couples view their relationships as matters of convenience.
They have little desire to be together and usually only do so during
ritual functions. Separate couples tend to have traditional values and
beliefs about gender roles. In my opinion, Koro and Nanny are an
example of a separate couple. They never show affection for each
other throughout the movie. Also, when Paikea asks Nanny what will
happen if Koro fails at finding a successor, Nanny says, If he fails, I file
the divorce papers. She could still be happy if she wasnt with Koro. In

terms of cohesion and adaptability, Id say that the Apirana family is

fairly rigid. They have rituals that they honor, like eating meals
together, and they expect one another to be at those rituals. It is a big
deal when Koro comes late to Porourangis slide show showing his art
to the family, and it is also a big deal when Koro misses Pais concert
and speech near the end of the movie. I think that Koro believes he can
miss these rituals because of his status, but it still makes others upset
when he misses their big moments.
2. The main currency that I observed was recognition. It is very hard to
impress Koro, but when someone does impress him, he gives them
recognition. The best example of this is when Pai actually rides the
whale at the end. That is when Koro comes to the realization that Pai is
a special leader. He gives her recognition and at the end they are seen
in the boat together. I think that a big part of this currency of
recognition is also the lack of recognition. Porourangi is very upset
when Koro doesnt recognize or appreciate his art. Also, Pai tries to do
a few things during the movie to gain Koros recognition, but he
oftentimes ignores or scolds Pai for doing these things. One example is
when she starts the boat engine. She is expecting Koro to be please
with her, but instead he scolds her and tells her it is dangerous. My
simile to describe the Apirana family, and actually the Whangara
people in general, is that they are like a hereditary monarchy.
Hereditary monarchies have one individual in charge, who rules until
they die. After they die, the crown is passed on to another member of

the family. In Whale Rider, Koro is Chief of the tribe, and metaphorically
he is the king or monarch. He has authority over everyone in his
family and in the tribe, and his struggle in the movie is to find a
successor. In every generation for the past thousand years, a male heir
born to the chief takes reign over the role, but Koro cant bring himself
to see his granddaughter, Pai, as the next chief. The motto I thought of
for the Apirana family and the Whangara tribe is blood runs deep.
They choose the next chief strictly based on genetics, and they take
their family and tribal roles very seriously. The main conflict in the
movie derives from Koros strict adherence to the motto that blood
runs deep.
3. The tribes cultural characteristics were fairly easy to recognize for me.
I think they are collectivistic because they put a focus on community
and seem to act based on the good of the group. For example, when
the whales all become stranded on the beach, Koro is very worried
about it signifying the end of his tribe. He is worried about the group.
Also, Pai decides to try and ride the whale, which she does
successfully, to save her people. She sacrifices her own wellbeing for
the good of the group. Although Koro learns to love Pai, this collectivist
characteristic affects the Apirana family when Pai is born because Koro
thinks that her birth signifies the end of his tribe, and he is more
worried about the group than the birth or his granddaughter or the
death of his daughter in law. I also think the tribe is a high context
culture because they are a close-knit community and they put a high

value on interpersonal relationships. There are many examples of this

throughout the movie, one being the close relationship that Pai
develops with her uncle Rawiri as he teaches her how to use a taiaha.
Another way that they are a high context culture is that Koro doesnt
say much when talking to people. He is usually very direct and only
says what he needs to say. The high context characteristic of the tribe
affects their family life because Koro is very blunt when he speaks to
Pai and Porourangi. Koros directness and pride drive Porourangi to
leave the family and live his life elsewhere. Pai and Koros relationship
ebbs and flows throughout the movie, usually due to his meanness and
bluntness to Pai. I think the Whangara tribe is also a masculineoriented culture. Power, which is a masculine desire, is one of the
central themes of the movie and is what the main conflict stems from.
Also, Koro stresses competition when he realizes that he needs to train
a successor. He brings together a group of boys and teaches them
different things, with all of it being a competition against one another.
The masculinity of the Whangara culture affects the family because
Koro resents Pai at first because she is a girl and he treats her
differently and wont let her participate in the trainings because she is
not a boy. Koros masculine pride keeps him from seeing Pais skills and
potential as a leader. There is a high power distance in the tribe.
Everyone knows they are below Koro and no one really tries to
challenge that. He makes all the calls, including when he instructs

everyone to work together to help move the biggest whale. Everyone

complies because they respect Koros word, even though they are all
exhausted. The high power distance of the tribe correlates with the
collectiveness and Koros absolute power makes his family sometimes
grow tired of his dominance. The tribe also has a low ambiguity
tolerance, in my opinion. The best example of this is how stressed out
Koro is about what will happen next. The status of the next successor is
ambiguous and Koro cannot handle that well. This affects the family
because Pai is trying to ease Koros mental struggles about the
ambiguity of the next successor, but Koros unwillingness to consider a
girl for the role overcomes his want for the ambiguity to come to an
end. Finally, the tribe has a short-term orientation in some ways but a
long-term orientation at the same time. They consider the past very
important, as the next successor is always a descendant of the original
Whale Rider. However, they also think a lot about the future, as they
struggle to determine who will be the next chief of the tribe.
4. There are many examples of stereotyping in Whale Rider. The most
prominent is the frequent stereotyping against women. In fact, this is
the main theme and motif of the film. Koro refuses to allow a female to
be the chief of the tribe because of the tradition that it has always
been a male. One example of gender stereotyping was early on in the
film when Rawiri brings his new girlfriend to meet the family. The girl
kisses Porourangi on the cheek, and Nanny says, How many of my
sons do you need? Go do something with the food, make yourself

useful. Another example was when Pai sits down with the other boys
in front of Koro when they are assembling to be trained for the first
time. Koro is astounded that she is sitting with the boys, and tells Pai,
Youre a girl. Go to the back. When Pai refuses to move, Koro makes
her leave. One final example of gender stereotyping was when Koro
breaks a dish because he is mad at Pai and Nanny starts cleaning it up,
but Koro tells her to let Pai clean it up. Nanny says, You might be the
boss out there, but Im the boss in the kitchen. This is a different spin
on a classic stereotype that women belong in the kitchen, in that
Nanny is proud of her place in the kitchen. There is also culture
stereotyping in the movie. Tribes like the Whangara are typically known
for their rituals and chanting. The Whangara tribe does a lot of
chanting in the film, and I think that plays into the general stereotype
that already exists about tribes like them. Finally, there is age
stereotyping in the movie. One example is when Koro is trying to fix
the boat motor but cant. When he walks away and Pai successfully
fixes it, I expected Koro to be proud of Pai. Instead, he scolds her and
says, Dont do that again. Its dangerous.
5. In the dyad of Koro and Pai, I noticed that their communication patterns
vary depending of the type of conversation that they are having. When
the conversation wasnt serious and there was a playful tone in the air,
Pai would often speak first, whether it was asking Koro a question or
just a statement. However, when the topic of conversation was serious
or Koro was mad at Pai, Koro would instigate the conversation and Pai

would have very short responses. I observed that Koro and Pai never
explicitly discuss Pais desire to become chief. Koro is definitely aware
of her dream, but the two never directly speak of it. The nonverbal
communication aspect of Koro and Pais relationship also changed
based on the context of the conversation. For example, when they
were having a good time together, Pai would not shy away from eye
contact with Koro and there would be a lot of touching. They loved
riding Koros bike together, which was a fun activity and resulted in a
lot of touching between them. However, when the conversations were
sour and Koro was angry with Pai, Pai would drop her head to avoid
Koros gaze. Also, the physical distance between them would increase
if the interaction was like that. When Koro scolds Pai for using the
taiaha, Pai looks at the ground the whole time and gives very short
responses to Koro. It is interesting to examine these interactions while
keeping in mind the tendencies of the Whangara culture. I noticed that
most of the people in the film were very touchy, especially when
greeting or saying goodbye to one another. For example, Porourangi
greeted both Pai and Koro with hugs and by affectionately touching
their noses together. This goes to show that even in a culture that
tends to touch one another more, when the interaction is one that has
a mean or angry tone, there tends to be less touching. Koro and Pai
exemplified this tendency.
6. Many conflicts arise between Koro and Pai throughout the film. From
my analysis, they never really do a good job of handling their conflicts.

The first example is when Pai starts the boat engine and Koro gets
angry at her. Koro says Dont do that again. Its dangerous. Pai
doesnt say anything in return. This is an example of a win-lose
strategy and an example of avoidance because Koro obviously wins the
situation and Pai doesnt have an opportunity to voice her opinions or
thoughts. The next example of conflict I will analyze between the two
of them is when Pai waits for Koro to pick her up after school, and he
doesnt come. When Pai shows up at the house and sees Koro there,
waiting to start the class with the boys, neither of them say anything.
Koro had picked Pai up from school everyday and then just assumed
that day that she would know to take the bus home. Furthermore, they
avoid the situation and dont talk about it, which I think adds to the
hostility during their conflict about a minute and a half later. This is
when Pai sits down with the boys for the class, and Koro says, Youre a
girl. Go to the back. Pai continues to sit there, and Koro says, What
did I say? and then repeats himself. Finally, he makes Pai leave and
she leaves the scene, obviously upset. Koro uses a few ineffective
conflict management strategies here. First of all, there are many
people watching, so the setting is not appropriate. Also, Koro uses the
win-lose strategy again, and also uses face-attacking and verbal
aggressiveness. He calls her a girl in a demeaning fashion, which is
face-attacking, and uses verbal aggressiveness by calling her out
forcefully in front of a lot of people. The next conflict between the two

is when Koro finds Pai fighting one of the boys in his class with taiahas.
He scolds her, once again in an inappropriate setting because all of the
boys in the class are watching. The boy tries to stick up for Pai, but
Koro dismisses him. Koro makes Pai apologize to all the boys three
times and then says, Ill deal with you later. This is yet another
example of a win-lose strategy by Koro. Also, it is an example of force
because Koro controls Pais behavior by making her apologize, but it
doesnt actually gain agreement. Also once again, Pai and Koro use
avoidance in putting the conflict off until later. The final example of
conflict I will analyze between Pai and Koro is when they are examining
the biggest whale surfaced on the beach. Pai reaches out to touch the
whale, and Koro says Dont touch it. Youve done enough harm
already. This is an example of three ineffective conflict management
strategies that Koro had already used previously in the film. It is a winlose situation because what Koro wants to happen, happens but what
Pai wants to happen, doesnt happen. It is also face-attacking because
Koro is insulting Pai, and finally it is verbal aggressiveness. Koro could
state what he wants to say in a non-aggressive manner, but does not
do so.
7. I think that we see five different relationship stages between Koro and
Pai throughout the film. The initial contact happens right at the
beginning of the film, when Koro meets Pai as a baby in the hospital.
We dont really see the involvement stage of the relationship, but it
definitely happens. We see the intimacy stage when Koro and Pai are

riding Koros bike together and doing other fun activities. The majority
of the movie focuses on their deterioration. They face many conflicts
and they dont handle any of them appropriately. They seem to grow
further and further apart until the very end when they are going out on
the ocean in the boat together. This is the repair phase of the
relationship. I think that Pai tries to use a few compliance gaining
strategies to convince Koro to consider her as the next chief, but none
are very successful. Pai tries to use the tactic of scarcity when she
dives in the ocean to get Koros necklace. She knows that all of the
other boys tried to do this and failed, so she was trying to show that
she has unique skills. Pai also tries to use the tactic of making herself
likeable when she prepares a speech for Koro after receiving an award
at her concert. However, Koro doesnt come to the concert, which
makes Pai very sad. Finally, Pai uses liking and authority when she
learns how to wield the taiaha. She is learning to use the fighting stick
to make herself likeable to Koro and also to show him that she can be
authoritative and vicious. Pai also uses various affinity-seeking
strategies to try to make Koro like her more and consider her a capable
leader. One of these is trying to be of help to Koro. She does this when
the whales surface and she tries to help Koro get them back in the
water. Another affinity-seeking strategy that Pai uses is demonstrating
that she shares significant attitudes and values with others. She does
this by trying to take part in Koros different classes with the boys,

although Koro will have none of it. Koro has a lot of power over Pai. He
has referent power because Pai wants to be like Koro when she is older.
He also has legitimate power because he is the chief of the tribe and
therefore has legitimate power over everyone because of his position.
Finally, Koro has expert power because he is seen as the most wise and
knowledgeable person in the tribe. The relationship management
between Koro and Pai is affected by their culture by a few reasons. The
Whangara tribe is a masculine culture, therefore Koro has a lot of pride
and isnt willing to consider Pai as a leader for almost the entire movie.
Also, there is a high power distance in the tribe. No one really has the
ability to stand up to Koro (except for Nanny sometimes) and this gives
him a lot of power and dominance, which makes his relationship with
Pai worse.
8. I anticipate the relationship between Koro and Pai to flourish now. I
think that Koro finally truly realizes that Pai is the next in line of the
chiefs. It took a lot of convincing, but the fact that she was able to
retrieve his necklace and that she actually rode a whale deep into the
ocean were enough to convince him. Koro and Pai have been through a
lot, but that is how things go sometimes in long relationships. The
relationship stages in the text show that sometimes relationships
deteriorate or terminate. Koro and Pai have already gone through
multiple stages of deterioration, and I think they have finally reached a
point of mutual understanding and respect.