Some thoughts on Māori Storytelling
In Māori storytelling of recent years, I have seen a couple of things that are worth noting and offering a comment about. The first is the tendency in some productions (I stress, some) to idealise Māori culture and people, particularly historical Māori culture, ancestors and the like. There is a tendency to see ancestors as all wise, all knowledgeable, as perfect even rather than seeing them as humans who have lived lives albeit, in some cases, extraordinary ones. In some of my classes, I have counselled students not to put their ancestors on a pedestal and have said things like "we are just as brilliant and just as dumb as they were, we are just as beautiful and just as ugly..." The point is that we ought to see our tupuna, and our Māoritanga generally, honestly and truthfully, for the fulness of their humanity. We ought to be honest about their failings as much as their strengths. A second point concerns the preoccupation with outward expressions of our culture rather