Beginnings: Mana Wahine
I have chosen to look
at the representation of Māori women in New Zealand cinema.
There were two criteria
I set down for myself when choosing the films that I wanted to study. 1) That
the character identified as Māori. 2) That these female characters were an
integral part of the story.
Using the term Mana
Wahine:
Mana, described by
Mason Durie as having “both worldly and ethereal meanings” (1998, p.2) has many
meanings in Māori, including: authority, charisma, prestige, integrity,
spiritual power and strength.
Wahine/wāhine at its
simplest and most common understanding means woman/women, female, wife.
The combination of the
two: Mana Wahine, is both potent and full of possibilities.
I have set out to
explore the relationship between the various representations of Māori women in
New Zealand cinema.
Using the following
films Once Were Warriors, River Queen, Utu and Whale Rider as the basis of my
research; I have also looked at some half a dozen other New Zealand films to
give me a bigger picture of the type of characters our film makers are
portraying.
I will use the term
'mana wahine'' throughout as an alternative and more defined term that in my
mind invokes strong Māori women.
Exploring the
Relationships behind Mana Wahine
Simmonds (2011) states
that “Mana wahine, as an extension of Kaupapa Māori, is located in the wider
indigenous struggle that has emerged because ‘we’ were unwilling to continue to
try and ‘find’ ourselves in the words, texts and images of others.”(p.13)
I believe that mana
wahine characters in our cinema, like that of our culture in Aotearoa/New
Zealand, have been inherently influenced by the colonisation of New Zealand and
in particular the adoption of Christianity.
Mikaere (2003) as cited
by Simmonds (2011) "...the marginalisation of Māori women’s reproductive
processes and practices had a direct impact on mana wahine wairua knowledges.
...with the introduction of Christianity...colonisers were quick to impose shame
upon the reproductive roles of women, thus disregarding the power and tapu of
whare tangata."
Before European
settlers arrived on these shores, Māori society was not a staunchly patriarchal
society like some believe it to be. Men and women each had their roles, but
neither were superior to the other. Traditionally it was whakapapa or lineage
that mattered in Māori society and who and where you were descended from was
and continues to be a unique and valued aspect of Māori culture. But with
Christianity came patriarchy and the roles of women were swiftly altered.
“Historically, our
difference(s) has been defined for us, usually by non-Māori men but also by
others, and has been defined predominantly in negative terms. That is, that
Māori were/are different, and therefore somehow lacking, because they were/are
‘not white’...Mana wahine, as art, as theory, as method, and as practice,
recognises and provides for this in-betweeness and enables the exploration of
diverse Māori realities from a position of power…” (Simmonds, 2011, p.13)
Simmonds (2011) further
suggests that “the distinguishing features of mana wahine...locates it firmly
in the wider social and political fabric of New Zealand. Colonisation has
attempted to disrupt the balance between mana wahine, mana whenua, mana whānau,
and mana atua. Mana wahine is but one space within which we can critically
analyse the impact of colonisation on all of these institutions – there are
many others.” (p.14)
Johnston & Pihama
(1998) as cited by Simmonds (2011) "Christian missionary discourses
ascribed the cultural mores of European women to Māori women from very early on
and the effects on mana wahine knowledges, particularly spiritual knowledges,
was immense. These discourses portrayed Māori women as wanton, immoral, and
undisciplined."
Long after the
Christian missionaries had left their mark on Māori society, the government was
still working to assimilate Māori storytelling. Johnston (1998) as cited by
Simmonds (2011) "The 1907 Tohunga Suppression Act was perhaps one of the
most aggressive assaults on wairua knowledges. At its very core, the Act was
about defining what was considered important and legitimate knowledge. Māori
spiritual knowledges were viewed by colonisers as superstitions or tales on the
pathway to reality."
Eva Rickard in Mauri.
Where does cinema fit
in with the ideas of mana wahine and Māori representation?
Pihama (2000) talking
about Jane Campion's The Piano says “…for Māori people, The Piano offered
little more than a 1990s expression of colonial ideologies and the
reinforcement of limited representations of Māori people.” (p.1) In her essay
Ebony and Ivory, Leonie Pihama goes on to say that “The invisibility of Māori
in the quest for ownership of The Piano is itself a sign. Māori are not
involved in the debate about who owns The Piano. Why? Because there is no
benefit to Māori in claiming the film. Māori debate has been centred more
firmly on the ways in which Māori are represented in the film and on the
discourses that inform such representation. As Marcia Langton has argued, it is
crucial that filmmakers are conscious of what actually informs their work and
the ways in which they construct images and texts, in order to reveal the
assumptions upon which the visual constructions rest: That is, we must identify
how and by whom our work is informed.” (Pihama, 2000, p.3)
“It is important that
Māori women take control of spaces where our stories can be told. This includes
theoretical space. Our voices have been silenced for too long. The silencing of
Māori women’s voices has meant the silencing of our theories, worldviews. It
has meant that Māori women’s stories are able to then be defined as ‘myths’,
and therefore some figment of the cultural imagination. The marginalisation of
mana wahine has meant the Māori women are constantly having to try and ‘find’
ourselves in the images created by the colonisers.” (Pihama, 2001:240)
So how did an
indigenous culture, which was traditionally seemingly equal and complimentary
(tapu and noa -like ying and yang), end up taking on the characteristics of its
colonisers and in particular the patriarchy of Christianity? What effect has
this had on mana wahine? And how can we as storytellers create characters that
defy these roles dictated to us from our colonial past?
Storytelling and Mana
Wahine on Screen
“Colonisation has not
ceased; it continues through the capture of our images.” (Pihama & Smith,
1993, p.52)
This idea of the
ramifications of colonisation, patriarchy and the effects of Christianity on
Māori culture, and the representation depicted on screen, I believe helps me to
examine and begin to understand what the representation is of Māori women in
our cinema and ask the question: Is this who we really are? Or, are these
stereotypes that challenge us (the audience) to think about our unique culture
and the problems and barriers we still face?
Are our filmmakers
using these representations as a way of pointing out our faults, or are they
simply being lazy storytellers? Of course there will always be multiple layers
to any society. New Zealand's population is as diverse as it has ever been and
continues to change and morph into something new and multi-cultural. But at our
roots, laid down on the foundations are stories of our past - stories about
Papa-tū-a-nuku and Rangi-nui; Maui fishing up the North Island and stories of
great men and women and how the world came to be.
Somewhere along the
line, Māori myths were manipulated into Christian Ideals; the stories of strong
and spirited men and women became tales of adventurous heroes and seductive
women who were punished for their sins and fierce creatures of the underworld
(hell?).
It is this
representation of Māori women that I am interested in and I draw parallels with
these Christianised myths and the tales woven on screen -at least in the early
days of our cinema. But it is the films of the last 30 years that interest me
-as our cinema has grown out of its infancy -has our storytelling matured? Are
we more comfortable confronting social issues embedded in our society? What
part does our collective past play? What is the role of women and in particular
Māori women in these stories?
These are questions
that I've been asking myself. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where do we go
from here?
For me this question
feels natural to ask, but complicated to answer.
Some what
controversially I have chosen Sarah (Samantha Morton) in River Queen (Ward,
2005). An Irish immigrant who lives on the Whanganui river with her half Māori
son. They live a life wedged in between two worlds -that of the local Iwi and
the Colonial army who are preparing for battle against chief Te Pai Ko. When
her son is taken by his grandfather, Sarah ventures up river to find him.
Skilled as a surgeon, she is captured and taken to help cure the ill chief Te
Pai Ko. When she succeeds, she earns a new level of respect that previously as
a pakeha woman she had not had. Later, Sarah reunited with her son, escapes
from the ensuing battle between the tribe and the Colonial army; her son Boy
tattoos a moko on her chin to help her blend in with the other Māori women.
I would argue that
Sarah like that of Banes (Harvey Keitel) in The Piano is a kind of hyrbrid
character -European in descent but identifies and assimilates themselves with
Māori. I include her, because, I believe, that despite Sarah's heritage, and
the fact she sits on the edge of both cultures, she does in fact embody the
values and integrity of Mana Wahine.
Utu and the seductive
Māori maiden
Of these four films
only Utu (Murphy, 1983) has no main Mana Wahine character. Kura (Tania
Bristowe) is like a femme fatale -the temptress flits between her attentions
for Lt. Scott and his scout Henare. When Henare shows signs of being conflicted
about his allegiances she dares him with the line "Are you chasing me or not?"
-a reminder that he is fighting for the enemy. Later after they've slept
together she burns Henare's Colonial uniform cap while he sleeps. Te Wheke's
people then kill Henare and injure Lt. Scott. Kura as a character is there to
serve the men and act as a temptress to all sides. She is as flat and storybook
like as any run of the mill femme fatale character and I include her in this
list not because she embodies a mana wahine spirit, but as a challenge to be
weary of the 'seductive Māori maiden' that in our early cinema we relied on so
much.
Other examples of the
seductive Māori maiden is Moana (Laya Raki) in The Seekers (Annakin, 1954). A
seductress to Jack Hawkins' expeditioner, with her interesting modern dance
spin on traditional Māori song and dance and sneaking around behind her
husband's back. Of course eventually she pays with her life. What I find
interesting more than her so-bad-it's-funny-performance, is the casting choices
made. Laya Raki is German and granted she does look exotic, but I don't think
there's anything about her that looks Māori. However this publicist for
Pinewood at the time disagrees saying in The Australian Women’s Weekly, 03
February 1954:
"Laya has a strong
Polynesian cast of feature. We had tested several Maori girls, some of them
beautiful, but somehow the cameras didn't take to them. You know how people
photograph differently from the way they really look... Well, when we stumbled
across Laya Raki and tested her, she photographed ideally for the part. She
looks more like a Maori than a Maori."
Māori women evidently
were not good enough at the time to play Māori women, and yet the entire male
cast of the Māori tribe in The Seekers were played by Māori.
Paikea (Keisha
Castle-Hughes) in Whale Rider (Caro, 2002) represents the perceived patriarchy
in Māori culture and what one young girl is prepared to do to prove to her
grandfather that she is the next leader of their family. What's interesting
about Whale Rider is the ingrained sense of patriarchy and subservient role
models Paikea has around her. No one challenges Koro except Paikea and she does
it out of an unbreakable love and admiration. Whale Rider doesn't explore why
patriarchy exists in Maori culture, but it does try to break the mould by
saying a girl can lead her family.
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