Journal of Literature

Closing the Gaps: "Once Were Warriors" from Book to Film and Beyond Author(s): Ruth Brown Source: Journal of : JNZL, No. 17 (1999), pp. 141-155 Published by: Journal of New Zealand Literature and hosted by the University of Waikato Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20112315 Accessed: 11/01/2010 11:32

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http://www.jstor.org CLOSINGTHE GAPS: ONCEWERE WARRIORS FROM BOOK TO FILM AND BEYOND

Ruth Brown

Alan Duff's novel Once Were Warriors, first published in 1991, made an more immediate and profound emotional impact, for its perceived realism than for its literary merit.1 It is about the Heke family, poor an Maori living in urban ghetto. Jake, the father, is often unemployed a and violent. Of the children, Grace kills herself after being raped by man she thinks is her father. After this tragedy, Beth, the mother, is shaken into taking control of her life and the lives of her remaining a family. With help from respected Maori elder she sets about trans to forming her community, encouraging them take pride in them to to success some selves, and aspire the and wealth which Maori have is not in achieved. This scheme the only resolution the novel. Vio lence as a motif is never on recurring entirely discredited: the contrary, it is a source of racial The of a pride. regeneration the ghetto includes of fierce a of a once were resurgence pride, come-again people who a warriors' (p. 127). The description of haka evokes vividly an encrazed and atavistic urge to 'RISE UP! RISE UP AND FIGHT! AND FIGHFI? (p. 128), showing that the educational activities encour Beth are not the means of racial aged by only restoring self-respect. an extra out There is dimension, left of the film and of subsequent novels by Duff, which transcends the ghetto problem and possible to to a solutions it, and points fundamental human condition. Jake Heke becomes 'just child weeping for another child' (p. 198). He is excluded from the present because neither Beth nor the old admirers of 'Jake the Muss' will tolerate him after the rape of Grace, and he is excluded from belief in a past inwhich he would have been slave, not is to warrior. He apparently beyond hope, reduced begging and sleep In he reacts with He cares ing rough. extremity, however, compassion. a for whimpish street-kid, 'drawing the boy closer to him, sayin noth same ing' (p. 187). Grace had done the for her seven-year-old brother was when he frightened by the adults' drunken raging. She cuddled to on up him, 'feeling the damp of his tears his pyjama top, the wet 141 142 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

and then familiar stench of his piss' (p. 25), and later, after she has been raped, her only comfort is that her friend Toot holds her hand in the cobwebbed miserable car-home where he shelters while his par enrs get drunk inside the house. Amongst the enabling conditions in this far from simplistic novel is the vision of civil intimacy among are to those who reduced the thing itself, unaccommodated, poor and bare. It is no solution in itself to poverty, but it is a view of human to one. goodness that makes imperative the need find In the film version of Once Were Warriors (directed by , 1994) the script, written by Riwia Brown, dramatises the Heke family predicament, straying from the original mainly in the way that it is resolved. Instead of trying to join the Pakeha system, Beth leaves the town and goes 'home' with her remaining three children (and Toot) to her ancestral where remains of a sense of Maori territory enough strong and to a much neater community spirituality suggest happy ending, than the unresolved possibilities put forward in the book. Whereas an the book ends with evocation of basic human worth (even Jake's), in the film he is left unredeemed and apparently irredeemable. Out side the of Maori he his mates seem not to pale tradition, and matter, as a if lifetime of boozing and fighting is all they're good for. Social realism is an element of both book and film, but the shift to a from book film marks movement away from realism, and away a a from connection with New Zealand life, to being celebration of New Zealand art. For one it was an success in thing overwhelming box-office terms, as the biggest box-office film in New Zealand his tory, surpassing 's Jurassic Park (1993). In their book on New Zealand film, Ian Conrich and Sarah Davy comment that the film refocused international attention on the small but very successful and competitive film industry of New Zealand.2 It is the inter-relationship between New Zealand national life and national arr which Iwant to explore in this essay. Iwrite it from the UK from an at a time when and, therefore, off-shore perspective, and means to or increasing globalization that the degree which either life ever art can be quarantined from outside influences is less than it has are a been. The conflicting agendas of life and art shown in review in the British Independent of the film Once Were Warriors? The reviewer nores that it was the worst for the ever 'perhaps advertisement country on to that it is a of 'to made', going say triumph art, demonstrating Closing the Gaps 143

miracles this is of. the world what underpopulated country capable notes how life art seem to be at Rena Owen, who plays Beth, also and odds. She is aware that the film might be considered damaging be cause audiences would believe allMaori are like that, but with a shift in similar to the she dismisses fears of a bad na register reviewer's, tional image as 'small minded and invalid', and equates 'reality' with Maori participation in artistic triumph. Anything that puts the body on of Maori writers, actors and directors the international map has to be for us. It our them good empowers people by giving self-respect'.4 a ? These quotations from people with stake in the film industry ? a an actor successful national art academic writers, reviewer, place a above negative portrayal of national life. Diplomats, however, have two different priorities, and successive High Commissioners for New Zealand to the United Kingdom (John Collinge in 1996 and Paul East in 1999) introduced conferences I attended in London about New Zealand culture with the hope that ex-patriate New Zealanders to correct the inaccurate of Maori will be able negative and image portrayed in Once Were Warriors. To the extent that New Zealand as a small nation has always been concerned to attract investment sometimes (and immigration) by pre a favourable of itself there is new about senting image overseas, nothing a globalization. Diplomats with stake in 'selling' their country will naturally be concerned about any negative images, and the New Zea sense at land of itself, propagated home and abroad, has always stressed its egalitarianism, its opportunities for the 'fair-go' for all its citizens. This is not to say that poverty has never existed, but that its existence or has tended to be denied played down. When John A. Lee wrote in a Children of the Poor (1934) about New Zealand with class divisive ness one reviewer was 'There is no and widespread poverty, appalled: hint to the overseas reader that the conditions described were out of as the ordinary'.3 Here, with the High Commissioners' worries, the concern so some is not much that there is poverty, but that people a overseas might get the impression that there is lot of it. It is not that New want to conceal simply Zealand publicists pov or that the national of is a scam. as erty, self-image egalitarianism If, we to are have been lead accept, all nations imagined communities, then the way a community imagines itself to be affects the way it is, and the sort of poverty portrayed in Once Were Warriors carries with it 144 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

a conviction that such deprivation is indefensible and that there has to a be way out. Early on in the film version, Grace asks her friend Toot, 'Do you think we'll ever get out of here?'. Toot lives in a derelict car, and his best out hope of'getting of here', he thinks, is fixing his wreck of a car is to on when he old enough be the dole, and driving away in can it. Grace asks if she go with him and they know it's just a dream, but her question reflects the sense of outrage in both book and film that such conditions should affirms to rem exist, and the imperative edy the situation. Mark Williams has suggested that in the past there was a srrong connection between national art and national life, in that narratives trauma of social (like Lee's Children of the Poor) did more than cause concern about con negative images: they awakened the even sciences of their readers and changed social policy:

The progressive and humane traditions of New Zealand's social life have been and deeply positively influenced by depictions of wronged ? innocents or in children, Janet Frame's case, the mentally disturbed.6

at a Speaking meeting in the British House of Commons inApril 2000, Prime Minister Helen Clark was at pains to stress that those humane and were was progressive traditions still intact, and that it her intention to 'close the between rich government's gaps' and poor brought about by years of neo-liberalism. Clark has also argued that are more egalitarian values deeply ingrained in New Zealand than in Britain, say, where traditional values emphasise hierarchy. If this is answer to indeed the case, then the Grace's question, 'Do you think ever out to a we'll get of here?', has be resounding YES. But in the progression of Once Were Warriors from book to film and beyond, the to idea that something needs be done about poverty in life elides into its resolution in art, rather than in life. Hence Rena Owen's comment that it is involvement in film that will restore Maori self-respect. Faith is lost in the possibility of structural change for the better in life itself. the humane and tradition that Against progressive gross inequalities must set a new in society be remedied, is kind of national pride in the art effective portrayal in of the results of gross inequality. Violence connected with poverty in Once Were Warriors is not unequivocally deplored. I have already suggested that inDuff's novel, condemnation of it is balanced its as an a of by presentation art, sign masculinity and Closing the Gaps 145

a way of re-uniting with a proud past. The last chapter of the book is entitled, 'So life, It Is for Those Who Fight'. Beth's self-help scheme is one of but the novel's resonance values the war way fighting, equally men once were like prowess of who warriors. In the film version, it is hard to that violence is when such care is taken accept being deplored a to do itwith skill and artistry. In review in Sight and Sound Lizzie Francke notes both the off-shore cultural milieu of which Once Were a Warriors is a part, and the way that violence is given burnished, rich appearance:

... recent In terms of genre it fits neatly with Afro-American urban in a films dealing with community disenfranchised through race. a economics and Rap music and punchy credits sequence indicate that for director, Lee Tamahori, the genre connection is set important. Quick-fire editing and ornamental stylishness the film far from the sober, social realist tradition that the subject matter

might ordinarily suggest.8

The comparison with Afro-American urban films is an instance of art is to At same how any national subject off-shore influences. the a time the film has distinctive national flavour, probably necessarily for any film from outside Hollywood if it is to compete on a world market dominated by Hollywood, and there is a sense inwhich New own brand of violence least as in Zealand's particular (at portrayed is seen as a matter for national In his art) pride. commentary during the documentary, Cinema of Unease, Sam Neill speculates that the uniqueness of New Zealand film arises from something called 'the dark psyche of New Zealand itself present in the landscape and the as society arising from it.9 Lee Tamahori presents positive achieve ment see as what High Commissioners negative image when he says,

movie to be [The is] designed aggressive and confrontational and never ... to let up. And it works. Youre compelled stay in your seat out and by the end you feel completely smacked around and rung a like dishrag.10 a Comments like these signal confidence that Once Were Warriors gives a terms positive message in of national art, and that the High Com are missioners missing the spirit of the times. It is style in art that on the world rather than a impresses market, positive image reflecting 146 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

actual life. A New Zealand film highlights the birth of Pacific urban headlines an article in The Guardian section tattoos chic', 'Style' about as fashion accessory.11 The saleability of images of national violence on an international market matches a on the home growing acceptance front that authen tic Maori tradition was violent and warrior-dominated. Otto Heim that violence is an essential of Maori cultural argues part heritage, and a source of For this not mean honour and pride.12 Heim, does that violence is to be sanctioned for itself: rather, it is the revived contact with cultural memory that is important, in restoring previously bro a ken links with the past and paving the way for new, spiritually-orien view. Belich two tated world James identifies contrasting understand ings of Maori tradition: 'Red' Maori, with a special propensity for war, and 'Green' Maori, living in harmony with each other and with nature. Belich comments that these are both images 'partly true, partly self-fulfilling and partly deceptive, and both were created by Maori as well as Pakeha'.13

In Once Were Warriors and its aftermath, we see how these contrast relate also to outside as in the connection drawn ing images influences, between Maori and Afro-American urban life. The poet Dean Hapeta draws on 'Red'Maori tradition in his poem 'Hardcore' with a direct reference to Once Were Warriors:

Harder than Jake da Mus I kicked his sorry ass I'm a warrior with knowledge of the past

Non-violence is a choice it ain't no fucken rule.14

Here, Jake Heke transmutes into a hero, neither the defeated, but still remnant as in the nor the nobly-human porrrayed novel, sad loser a from the film. As hero opposed to the evils of the materialist and repressive white man's Babylon, the fictional Jake is linked inHapeta's poem with other freedom fighters, including Crazy Horse, Malcolm X and Steve Biko. The 'Green' image also reflects both indigenous and global trends. The re-assertion of the spirituality of the former-colo nised in contrast to the violence and materialism of the Western way of life is a familiar motif: Australian Aborigines and First Nation Ameri cans a have also been viewed in this way. It is recognisable image of are to seen deliverance internationally, and audiences likely have Dances Closing the Gaps 147

With Wolves ( 1990) inwhich Sioux lifestyle is presented as an enviable alternative to the brutality of westward-expanding white America in or to the nineteenth century, have read The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin's account of in contrast toWestern Aboriginal spirituality materialism.15 resonances The global of violent (Red) and harmonious (Green) Maori in the film version of Once Were Warriors distance the action from its connection with New Zealand life. Violence is stylishly as a art commodified national form, and the ending presents equally an as effectively opposite image of Maori spiritual community. The a art more a to ending is triumph of than realistic solution the prob lems caused by poverty and social dislocation. When Beth takes her to three children and Toot 'home' her ancestral territory, how will they to support themselves? Is Beth's family immune the depression affect ingmuch of the rural economy? And what relief exists for all the other families who do not have connections with ancestral land? The deliv erance is to art rather than to of symbolic, referring any possibility structural And while Mark a change. Williams suggests connection art between New Zealand and life in the past, in that depictions of to seems wronged innocents have lead changes in social policy, this not have been the case where Maori were concerned. In another con text,Williams describes how Maori traditionally have been positioned as exotic and an attraction for tourists. He to points similarities be tween the New Zealand Tourism Board strategy to market New Zea land in 1999 (devised byM & C Saatchi) and the way the country was at turn was promoted the of the last century when it sometimes called 'Maoriland'. Williams writes:

more Nowhere is the 1999 campaign redolent of late colonial themes in on cover than the image the of the promotion booklet in which an old man with full facial tattoos a hongis young girl. The meaning on of hongi is explained the inside page, just as such exotic cultural terms and were in old practices the Maoriland brochures. Images of the and moko were the hongi stock-in-trade of Maoriland postcards from the first decade of this century. In fact, the moko on the cover of the Tourism is more Board's magazine spurious than the self of cloaked consciously staged image and weapon-bearing warriors of the beloved Maoriland period. The Tourism Boards moko was a to a applied, seemingly with felt-tip pen, model located in South 148 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

the the Auckland. Particularly significant is representation of old man as part of a traditional culture; on the inside cover pages he wears a as at splendid feather cloak, though Maori the end of the are not a 20th century still essentially modern people.16 or are All this is not to say that either the 'Green 'Red'Maori images a scam: is not to so as to an merely my point deconstruct images expose but to show that in the interaction between underlying 'truth', complex life and art, between national image and international trends, what tends our to happen in postmodern and globalized world is that image-pro or on a takes duction, deliverance from poverty symbolic level, prec over done about in terms. edence getting anything poverty practical Like the 1999 Tourism Board's picture of a tattooed Maori in splendid feather the 'Green' to Once Were Warriors diverts attention cloak, ending that Maori are an it away from the fact essentially modern people, and leaves unresolved the problems of poverty inmodern life. A disconnection from reality and loss of faith in the possibility of is often in more marked than is humane progression registered ways the case in the symbolic deliverance for the remainder of the Heke family in Once Were Warriors. Some New Zealand film of the 1990s, a of does not even concerning generation twenty-somethings, gesture a towards hope for change. Harry Sinclair writes (of his film Topless Women Talk About Their Lives), 'Iwanted to present a slice of life that felt real and which reflected the absurdity and the stupidity of real life'.17 If the life-experience of a New Zealand generation who have known but market-driven is reflected in Sinclair's nothing policies it relates to 'Generation X' cultural which mantra, other productions equate 'real life' with absurdity and stupidity. For example, the stories are in Emily Perkins's Not Her Real Name, about young people who are nearly all alienated, lonely and desperately seeking anything that a will avoid tedium and disgust.18 The stories reflect shapeless present, no awareness a tradition ever ex with that humane and progressive isted inNew Zealand, or anywhere else. If there is to be deliverance, it art as is through rather than life: and Mark Pirie has written, the expe at can a rience of modernity large be creatively invigorating. There is an growing ethnic and linguistic diversity within New Zealand, in crease in travel Generation and a of global among X-ers, range styles some to choose from including derived from the eclecticism of tech nology, television, film, popular music and pop culture.19 Closing the Gaps 149

more Alan Duff is traditional, in not giving way to nihilism or anar chic humour and in retaining the idea that something can be done. no even But after Once Were Warriors, he longer plays with the idea of some that would re-structure con community-based project existing nor ditions, does he dwell on the image of the basic human worth of life's failures. IfNew Zealand film since Once Were Warriors has moved the Duff in his has taken the stance ex towards absurd, writing, that structures are it is to isting perfectly adequate, and that up the indi to to them. He vidual adapt suggests poverty amongst Maori would own be solved if individual Maori took responsibility for their plight.20 In this view, he aligns New Zealand with global right-wing agendas. InWhat Becomes of the Broken-hearted? (sequel to Once Were Warri uses ors), Duff the theme of Maori needing to pull themselves to gether in order to escape from their miserably empty lives.21 Instead of Beth trying to lead her community into a better way of life, Duff us own shows Jake turning his life around. So although it is often one noted that underclass ghettos like the where the Heke family live exist in most cities the Western our throughout world, response is directed away from institutional and structural forces that have pro duced such places, and towards individual pathology. The book picks up the story of Jake, as he struggles to find fulfilment and fineness in ? life. From unlikely beginnings he is poor, violent, abandoned by ? his family and often drunk he finally achieves something of what he is seeking. His manliness is directed away from hitting people and towards and instead. He a more rugby pig-hunting develops sensitive to women attitude and finds the self-discipline to keep a job and save His success in old attitudes is a money. overcoming symbolised by to a vase to struggle put flowers in and travel by bus, activities which the old Jake the Muss would never have countenanced. Efforts like on are these the part of the individual apparently what is required for the broken-hearted to be healed, since Duff sees New Zealand in the late a 1990s offering the optimum conditions for fulfilment. Getting to no job, saving money and finding somewhere live pose real prob lems for Jake once he makes the effort to turn his life around. And once he and others like him have made the required effort, presum of innocents ? ably the wronging Beth being beaten and Grace being ? cease. It is to raped would all down the individual. 150 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

So whereas the of an struc plight wronged innocents within earlier ture of feeling in New Zealand was seen in terms of institutional fail ure? to for example it is hard imagine anyone saying that Janet Frame on should have pulled herself together and got with her job as a teacher ? there are strands in us either to contemporary ideology directing the or absurd (Harry Sinclair), towards acceptance of the system and to a the need for each individual find place within it (Duff). on Duff probably had his finger that pulse of New Zealand eco nomic in no life which there is perceived alternative to the omnipo tence of free-market like the weather as a capitalism, operating given. Duff's rise coincided with the ascendancy of neo-liberal policies intro duced from 1984. In his syndicated newspaper columns and on radio, he has en blamed liberal Pakeha and high-ranking Maori leaders for to are couraging Maori believe they disadvantaged, whereas what they to as should be doing, according Duff, is exerting themselves Jake Heke eventually does inWhat Becomes of the Broken-hearted? not a to This is perspective unique New Zealand. Hence not only on did Duff have his finger the pulse of contemporary New Zealand he is in tune politics, also uncannily with propaganda coming from the American Right. In his book The End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza argues that the main problem for blacks in the US is liberal anti which them to believe are racism, encourages they disadvantaged, instead of exerting themselves to compete in the promised land of freedom and equality.22 In other words, D'Souza believes there is no or poverty inequality that exposes flaws in free-market economics ? only individual laziness or unsocial behaviour. D'Souza is a former Reagan staffer. His book, and his Llliberal Education (which popu larized the term 'political correctness') received massive support from the right-wing think-tank, the John M. Olin Foundation.23 Ifmuch of the west now thinks that concern about race or gender-inequality ? ? is just silly faddishness political correctness gone mad we have to D'Souza and his backers thank for it. D'Souza aligns these views not with the American but with an common-sense. Right, apolitical, The End of Racism argues that western civilised values (deemed to include decency, tolerance, appreciation of the finest artistic achieve ment and free-market mean that we capitalism) really have reached rhe promised land and that everyone can have a share in it. Like D'Souza sees no need for structural the out Duff, any change: way Closing the Gaps 151

for the wretched of the earth is to turn their lives around, to stop being wretched, and to join the system. In Both Sides of theMoon sets (Vintage 1998) Duff Pakeha culture (capitalist, civilised, cul tured) against the darker side of humanity, represented by Maori comes to savagery. Some of the novel close what Duff has revealed of his own life: the story-line concerns Jimmy, growing up in the 1950s come to and 60s and having to terms with the Maori part of his can mess heritage before he extricate himself from the of his present life and move forward to the brighter side of the conceptual moon, the Pakeha side. The humane and progressive tradition in New Zealand life faces from the that deliverance from strong challenges assumptions poverty ismore likely to come from art than from life, that life is absurd any or there is the matter with structures as way, that nothing existing long an as people pull themselves together and make effort. IfHelen Clark's to some project of'closing the gaps' is succeed, itwould be helped by rigorous analysis of how the relationship between national life and a national art is developing in globalized world.24 Where art is linked men to life, as in the assumption that Violence' iswhat uneducated do in life as in art (the civilised classes having risen above it), the assump arewe to tion remains largely unquestioned. Why called upon accept this unexamined premise? Alan Duff says it's 'social fact, not anthro to pological speculation' say that,

Maori in their present social situation of being overwhelmingly ? working class, poorly read and minimally educated like working ? class all over the world are more violent than the better educated.25

Lizzie Franck, who the film Once Were Warriors within the places ' genre seem to of recent Afro-American urban films, would agree: Warriors a also shares with such films as Boyz N theHood concern with male codes of behaviour and social emasculation. Physical strength is all that these adult men have left for themselves'.26 causes At least Franck suggests structural for the perceived violence. we a But what evidence do have that it is product of being uneducated rather than it a result of and socially excluded, being social expecta a tions, and possibly means of making money? Maori who acted the roles of males in Once Were Warriors violent gained materially, and probably also in prestige. At different times, it has been acceptable for 152 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

men to to a educated white be violent, and indeed, be good fighter has been an imporrant srrand in New Zealand white male identity. Dan Davin has referred to the 'orgasm' of battle and of the 'social death' to we are now that would be the result of any reluctance fight.27 But to men encouraged believe that only poor (and probably black ones) are violent. Jack Straw caused a moral panic in the UK when he said a that the imperialising English had 'propensity for violence'.28 I'm not at sure men of ever an inherent all that any nationality had and to to irrepressible desire fight and kill, but in view of the numbers killed in the acquisition of the 'united' kingdom and of the empire, it seems to that a for violence became reasonable suppose propensity socially acceptable while itwas happening. Where the so-called Maori am propensity to violence is concerned, I impressed by James Belich's calculation that in the kumara without manure would past, production a have required six hours' work day from the whole community for six months the time for Maori to be consist of year, leaving insufficient warlike.29 But of or of exoticism sell on the cur ently images violence rent world market, whereas Once Were Kumara Growers could never same make the impact. Another way inwhich a link between life and art ismade, but with is in the notion that it is the assumptions being unexamined, exploita a tive for violence in life to be turned into profit in art. It is question sometimes asked of gangster rap and hip-hop music: originally power this music became a mass-market fully subversive, rapidly product, used on movie sound tracks (like that of Once Were Warriors) and spon advertisers such as Coco-Cola. An sored by major corporate obituary of the Lost in the Independent for Freaky Tah (member rap act, Boyz, a in who died in fatal shooting) condemns 'the unsavoury climate street which major record companies exploit culture without thinking through the consequences'.30 With Once Were Warriors, however much a concern about stylishness appears paramount, possible exploitation actor at lingers. , the who plays Jake Heke, is pains an to explain in interview accompanying the video of the film that the violence is limited and in context. It is hard to argue with the moral position that violence and the way it is exploited by the market is to be condemned. Yet if this condem nation comes as 'lower-class' themselves to from only the begin profit of their own violent it is a representations so-called lifestyles, strange Closing the Gaps 153

to point atwhich start worrying about the possibility that market doc trines have unfortunate If the market must might consequences. rule, as then surely it is right, Rena Owen has said, that Maori themselves a should profit from the images for which there is market niche. I have never worked in Film Studies or Cultural Studies within a it seems to me from that the university, but peripheral knowledge to climate in these disciplines is inhospitable analysing the relation art a ship between national life and in globalized, market-orientated con world. Although the brutal logic of the market may be ritually in the it is whenever the social demned academy, tacitly accepted causes is into a of artistic dislocation that it turned triumph produc an aca tion and sold for world consumption. John Frow, Australian now demic based in Edinburgh, has voiced fears that the Humani are their own worst in that have ties within the academy enemy, they as a set up the world of culture distinct and self-contained domain, separate from the world of work and power. This quarantining of culture, Frow argues, has robbed its study of all critical force, 'all its to intervene in the structures that are the ability discursive medium art of work and power'.31 The total dislocation of from life evident in a school of film criticism that rejoices in anarchy is mocked by a Jonathan Coe in his book The House of Sleep, when reviewer praises a film for its 'irreverence, its joyous contempt for its audience, its or contagious hatred for political any other kinds of correctness, its while that some of the shots were more joyous energy', regretting than six seconds long.32 a At national level, the strand of national mythology that claims to not New Zealand be humane and progressive is totally extinguished, as current to is shown by the political project close the gap between a a rich and poor. It is project which is not helped by national culture a a operating in distinct and self-contained domain, by national art which is dislocated from national life. Yet on the other hand, such a a source national culture iswhat global markets require and is thus of much needed funding. Analysis of the relationship between national to to life and national culture needs also relate global trends both in culture and in the structures of work and power, if there is ever to be a realistic answer for the Grace Hekes of New Zealand and of the world 'Do think we'll ever out of here?'. when they ask, you get 154 Journal ofNew Zealand Literature

Notes 1 Alan Duff, Once Were Warriors, (Auckland: Tandem Press, 1991). Further references will be noted within the text. New 2 Ian Conrich and Sarah Davy, Views From the Edge of the World: Zealand Film, (London: Kakapo Books, 1997), p. 8. Ian on 16 3 Pryor, 'Bigger Than Spielberg', Lndependent Sunday, April 1996, p. 26. a 4 Rena Owen, quoted by Minty Clinch, 'Once Upon Time', The Guardian, 12April 1995. in or 5 Quoted by Patrick Evans 'Paradise Slaughterhouse?', Lslands 28, (March 1980), 80. review Woo 6 Mark Williams, of Choo by Lloyd Jones, Landfall 197 (Autumn 1999), 143. for More 16 7 Ruth Laugesen, 'Clark Looking Brit-Flair', Sunday Star-Times, April 2000. 8 Lizzie Franck, 'Once Were Warriors', Sight and Sound (April 1995). A 9 Lawrence McDonald makes this point and quotes Neill in his article, Road to Erewhon: A Consideration ofCinema of Unease", Lllusions 25 (Winter 1996), 20-25 (p. 21). 6 10 Lee Tamahori, 'Directing Wzniois, Midwest (1994), 15-17 (p. 16). 11 Kirsten Warner, 'When Less isMaori', The Guardian, 24 Februaryl 995, 'Style', PP- 4-5. 12 Broken Lines: and in Otto Heim, Writing Along Violence Ethnicity Contempo raryMaori Fiction (Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1998). A theNew Zealanders 13 James Belich, Making Peoples: History of from Polynesian to Allen Settlement the End of theNineteenth Century, (Harmondsworth: Lane, The Penguin Press), p. 75. inNew NeXt edited 14 Dean Hapeta, 'Hardcore', Zealand Writing: The Wave, by Mark Pirie (Dunedin: Otago University Press, 1998), p. 114. 15 Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, (London: Jonathan Cape, 1987). 16 Mark Williams, 'Travels inMaoriland', New Zealand Books, 9, 5 (December 1999): Supplement, 3. in Feature to Premier at New Zea 17 Harry Sinclair, quoted 'Topless Cannes', landFilm 57 (May 1997), 2. 18 Emily Perkins, Not Her Real Name (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1996; London: Picador, 1996). in 19 Mark Pirie, 'Reconstructing New Zealand Literature: NeXt Wave Writing Aotearoa-New Zealand', Kite (The Newsletter of the Association of New Zealand Literature), 13 (December 1997), 10. a with 20 This is view shared by Tamahori: in Robert Sklar, 'Social Realism Style: An Interview with Lee Tamahori', Cin?aste 21, 3 (1995), 25-27, Tamahori are says, 'You what you make yourself in the modern world' (p. 25), and Closing the Gaps 155

a whilst connection with Maori culture is important for Maori, 'it doesn't to economic offer any tangible solutions problems' (p. 26). 21 Alan Duff, What Becomes of the Broken-hearted?, (Auckland: Vintage New Zealand, 1996). 22 Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism, (New York: Free Press, 1995). 23 Dinesh D'Souza, Illiberal Education, (New York: Free Press, 1991), p. 239. in 24 [Since airing the concept of closing the gaps' London and New Zealand, since to mean Helen Clark has abandoned the phrase, it had been taken the was gap' between Maori and non-Maori prosperity, and therefore, racist. now to across races Her government hopes lessen poverty all -Ed.] 25 Alan Duff, letter, The Listener, 16 September 1991. 26 Franck, review of Once Were Warriors. 27 Dan Davin, quoted by Jock Phillips, AMans Country:The Image of thePakeha Male ?A History, (Auckland: Penguin, 1987), p. 202. 28 'Straw Provokes England's Fury', The Guardian, 14 January 2000, p. 8. Kumara is a sweet 29 Belich, Making Peoples, p. 73. potato, staple of Maori diet. 30 Obituary, The Independent Weekend Revieiv, 10 April 1999, p. 9. 31 John Frow, 'The Social Production of Knowledge and the Discipline of Eng lish', Meanjin, 49, 2 (1990), 358. 32 Jonathan Coe, The House of Sleep (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1997), p. 75.