This paper takes as its theoretical perspective Julia Kristeva’s reading of the Freudian myth of origin to explore the themes of exclusion and revolt in Witi Ihimaera’s emancipatory narrative. In Kristeva’s reading, exclusion and revolt are human mechanisms that inevitably occur in social situations of hierarchy and tradition. This paper explores these mechanisms in Ihimaera’s re-creation of the myth of Paikea in the film Whale Rider and dramatises the particular ways in which exclusion and revolt function in a Maori community. Ihimaera’s rendering of his iwi’s myth of origin suggests a renewed understanding of past traditions, and presents a vision of present-day reconciliation and future survival
