Film review: “Whale rider” and “Spring in a Small Town”

Traditional cultural changes and development has always been one of the most popular themes in films. Whale rider (2008), a New Zealand film based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera, describes a contemporary story about rejection, love and achievement as a Maori girl strives to finalize a destiny that her grandfather refuses to acknowledge.

Another film, Spring in a Small Town (1948), is a Chinese film that presents a lonesome wife finds her repetitive life transformed when her former lover returns to town.

The conflicts between traditional and contemporary culture and thoughts is the dominant theme in both films. This essay compares and contrasts the themes of the culture and ideology conflict from the perspective of the behaviours and relations of the main characters in the two films.