A 210 blog from last year

Boy "scrubbed of culturally specific traits"?
Peter Debruge's review for Taika Waititi's film Boy in the well respected Variety magazine described this film as ignoring important aspects of New Zealand and Maori culture in favour of comedy and nostalgia through the use of costume and art direction to convey the kitch of the early '80s. He claimed the omission of this "culture" caused the film to lack an "arthouse-ready anthropological edge".

This review sparked an outcry from New Zealander actor Tammy Davis (Outrageous Fortune), responding to Debruge asking him what specifically was missing. He compares the issue raised in the review to him saying the short film Zulu not accurately portraying the way they live. He adds "growing up Maori on the East Coast of New Zealand is not all riding whales", suggesting Debruge's cultural knowledge comes from his viewing of Whale Rider.

What is interesting is that a US-based film critic suggests this. With obviously no ethnographic experience of the period Waititi is portraying it is an interesting example of the film exoticism and otherness Maori are perceived through. This can be seen to display the idea of the burden of representation, how Debruge has a limited knowledge of this culture.

It is almost as though Peter Debruge is implying that the likes ofWhale Rider and Once Were Warriors were a more "authentic" rendering of Maoritanga. Speaking to my sister and friends, they encouraged me to see the film because it evoked potent and accurate memories of growing up in that era. One only needs to view the original Poi E video to see Waititi's vision accurately reflected this time period

The domestic reception of the film, albeit tinged with a healthy dose of parochial pride, praises Waititi's authentic imaginings of a childhood in 80s rural NZ.

Variety review: http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_review&reviewid=VE1117941952&categoryid=31

Stuff article:http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/3279688/Munter-lashes-out-over-US-film-review

Poi E music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLUygS0IAQ