'Borrowing'
haka for the commercial use is seen as a disrespect to Maori culture!
This phenomenon
has
lasted for a decade and it is being critiqued by the Maori people.
In
Maori people's way of thinking, from the video of Maori perspectives,
to perform haka is to search for their roots, their ancestors and
their past. In this process, one could find their role in the whole
community and know the relationship with the land. For the
Maori bride whose haka wedding video was published on Youtube, Maori
culture is spiritual and powerful. One could add value based on the
original performance.
Amoama's
statement tells the current condition of Maori culture, “it
has been of deep concern to the Māori that the Māori image has been
used as a marketing tool in the promotion of the tourist industry for
over a hundred years. Māori are also critical of the way they are
stereotyped into guides, entertainers, carvers, and as components of
the natural scenery. This has been done without consultation and with
little commercial benefit to the Māori people”.
So
one could say that the main point here is that the commercial
advertisement which borrows the ideas from Maori culture is not
benefiting the Maori people themselves. Rather, the advertisers are
seen as ignorant and lack of cultural background towards Maori
culture and their spirits.
This
could be confirmed by a piece of news from TVNZ.
We
can observe that haka is borrowed for advertisements from the
European style to Asian – from Italian Fiat and Adidas to Coca
Cola, from directly cutting out the original performance from the
sport game to employing the Asian girls to imitate by their side,
then to inviting European women to perform the haka. From the Maori
point of view, this can be seen as exploiting their treasure.
From
another viewing angle, with regard to Jensen's
perspective which was being taught in the lecture, “at this moment
in history, being color-blind is a privilege available only to white
people. Non-white people do not have the luxury of pretending that
color can be ignored”.
Back
to our story, the phenomenon of European people borrowing haka can be
seen as a white priviledge. They could make their decision whether to
perform indigenous rituals or not. And the media products are being
largely sold in the form. However, one may not imagine indigenous
people representing the white culture. There is rare media product
being made in this format.
Finally,
we are back to the primary question, that is: who has the right to
judge? Who could rule the race?
The
answers will be implicitly presented through the future media
products.
Sources:
Woodward,
Suzanne. "Recap." FTVMS 325. The University of Auckland. 3
Jun. 2016. Lecture.
Being color blind is much easier when it does not directly effect you. Ownership of something is lost entirely once its shared, you loose its exclusivity of it as when someone else is exposed to something eg a Moari tattoo design illustrated by the white tattoo artist we saw on the lecture slide, next to an islander whom had it traditionally performed. The white guy claimed it to be his design. Yes / No .... the point is that i see your concern in that Maori culture is being diluted as its regenerated and recycled through other cultures interpretations of the art (or cultural traditions like haka). Humans see and then we do; our ability to be inspired and claim the product of this without recognition for the muse, is astounding. I would say perhaps the Maori should have kept their culture exclusive but they didn't exactly have a choice, did they?
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