Who's the Outsider?

Personally, non-conformity has meant that a person is different from the majority. A person can make themselves an outsider either by nature or by choice. Sometimes people are made to be outsiders by others based upon petty characteristics such as ethnicity or gender. The disscussion fueled by the movie focused mainly upon Pai's desire to gain her grandfather's acceptance, but failing to do so because of her own inate character that 'bucked the system' so to speak. Initially Pai was made an outsider because of her gender but as she got older her non-conformity was increased by her stubborn nature and this is what made her a true outsider to the tribe. Conformity is measured by how well a person identifies with the cultural bounderies of the community. Our discussion about Pai's non-conformity to her tribe's cultural traditions held that she did it in an effort to gain the favor of her grandfather. But in reality Pai could never be truly satisfied in this vain venture because pleasing someone else can never bring happiness when it is the motivation for person’s lifestyle, beliefs or actions.


One view that was discussed was that Pai's intention in making herself an outsider was that she was trying to assume leadership and change the role of a woman as defined by the tribe. She continually overstepped the social gender bounds by participating in strictly male dominated activities such as fighting with the taiaha and sitting in with the men at the warrior ceremony. This view of Pai’s intentions was not shared by many because Pai's behavior and stubborn personality was thought to be the primary reason she was an outsider and not because of any active plan to assume leadership. Pai only ever wanted to bring unity to her tribe and relieve some of her grandfather’s stress; the last thing she wanted to do was displease him. But her grandfather, Koro would not recognize her desire to unite the tribe; he could not see her as a leader by any stretch of the imagination. To Koro she was just a useless girl; the one who killed his grandson and the future chief of the tribe.


The deep-rooted traditions that were held by the Maori people so long seemed to be breaking and unraveling like the rope that Koro used to describe the tribal line to Pai. Twisted and woven together with care, the tribe’s line still broke, demonstrating its weakness. Only Pai could repair it and make it strong again. Pai's destiny and will for the tribe was that they be a team and work together. She didn't want the leader of the tribe to carry the weight of the tribe alone as she had seen Koro do. This belief in teamwork set her apart from her people, who were used to having one supreme leader who was male; they did not approve of female leaders. Time and again she proved by their standards and traditions that she was worthy to be chief, but tradition would not allow them to stand up and take notice until their traditions nearly cost her life. After this incident Koro and the tribe began to see and recognize that their gods or ancestors were telling them something new and changing the traditions.


The customs held by a culture or community determines whether or not a person will fit into that community. If they do not assume the traditions of the community they will be outcasts, unless by some miracle the community changes to accommodate new traditions and beliefs-which is not very likely. The film depicts non-conformity winning out in the end with the tribe accepting Pai for who she is. Unfortunately this doesn't occur very often in real life. If one lesson could encompass the message of this film it would be that cultural defined roles and traditions change and so we should not marginalize people because of them.