A Sting in the Tale: Quirky New Zealand Films

Abstract

New Zealand films face the dual pressures of succeeding internationally while satisfying the cultural criteria imposed by state funding agencies. In an attempt to reach larger audiences, one response has been to adopt Hollywood models of storytelling. The genre constraints, goal-oriented protagonist and restorative narrative structure that these models demand are at odds with the specifics implied by the term ‘a New Zealand film’. Local filmmakers favour the contrary elements of open-ended narratives, eccentric protagonists and paradoxical endings. This paper compares the structural elements of four New Zealand films — Smash Palace (Roger Donaldson, 1981), Utu (Geoff Murphy, 1982), Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994) and Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2003) — and explores the innovative and sometimes unconventional narrative solutions reached by filmmakers while negotiating a Hollywood paradigm within a local context.