The movie Whale Rider is a very symbolic movie. Throughout the entire movie there are many parts that display symbolism and motifs, for example: Towards the beginning of the movie, Pai's grand father tries fixing a boat motor with a rope and he explains that the rope is like all of Pai's ancestors, all tied together, and then the rope breaks but Pai fixes it. The rope at the end of the movie breaks as well when everyone is trying to save the whale and pull it back into the water. The whales represent Pai's ancestors and that scene symbolizes Pai reuniting with her ancestors. The rope is not only represented as a symbolic figure, but it also displays a motif because the rope seems to show up more than once in the movie and the symbolism of the rope is reoccurring.

Another example of symbolism in the movie is when Pai rides the whale into the water. Pai comes back out of the water after saving the whale which represents rebirth. After Pai saves the whale, Pai's grandmother tells Koro, her grandfather, that Pai found the whale tooth and soon after, she becomes the new cheif. Pai leads a boat at the end of the movie as the new cheif which represents a connection to the past, and I think that scene connects well the her ancestry because the old cheif was also named Paikea. When Pai leads the boat at the end the movie, they show Annah's pregnant belly which I think was also a symbol of rebirth because her belly wasn't shown until the end of the movie and after the "rebirth."

In addition to the symbolism, the whales in the movie represent culture, heritage, ancestry, tradition and religion, which all played in a huge part in the movie. I thought the movie was a great movie and I would definately recommend it to anybody.