General Subject: Evolution of Communication: Focus on Folklore
Requirements: 5 pages, double spaced, 12-point font, MLA format with cover sheet. You must use quotes and/or paraphrases from your sources, and each one must be documented according to MLA. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling should be your best effort.
Research: Use of primary source (the film) and 3-5 secondary sources such as articles, books, folklore collections, credible internet resources, etc. all documented in MLA style with in-text citations and works cited.
Possible Topics to Explore:
Both of these films feature the loss of a child – in Whale Rider, Pai’s twin dies at birth. Examine how this event affects the family who is left behind. What changes in the family dynamic are a direct result of this loss, and how does it impact the outcome of the story?
For further research: It was not uncommon in generations past, before the advent of modern medicine, for those who lost a child to cherish a belief that the baby had been carried off by benevolent fairies or some other character out of the pages of folklore. A bereaved mother might believe that a sick or dying child was not hers at all – it was only a “changeling” – a baby who had been put in the place of her own healthy baby, which had been stolen away by malevolent fairies or spirits.
Explore the relationships between humans and animals in these stories. In Whale Rider, you might want to watch videos and read about the phenomenon called “cetacean stranding” in which whales and some other species come ashore and often die without human intervention. Likewise, there are many stories about whales saving humans from sharks and drowning. You could compare these accounts to those referenced in the folklore (and in the film) Could the early tale-tellers have had similar experiences?
Think of the origins of the folklore and its evolution, recalling that these stories told around the fire would have been vastly entertaining, especially in the absence of any modern convenience like electricity or readily available transportation. From the oral tradition, they were finally written down – in the indigenous language: Gaelic/Irish or Maori. It may have taken many years for them to be translated into English, but now much about folklore has become part of modern culture (anyone ever dress up like a Leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day?!)
For further research: Find the origins of the stories told in Whale Rider and Secret. Some of the theories are not all that mystical: early people in Ireland may have seen Norsemen seated in sealskin kayaks and thought they were actually seals!
Here is the link to the movie: https://tubitv.com/movies/466271/whale-rider
Other resourceful links: https://sacredland.org/whale-rider-2002/
https://www.maori.info/maori_history.htm
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