There is a departure in Utu from the traditional representation of women. As outlined in previous chapters, women have been central features in the inter-ethnic love affairs. These inter-ethnic love affairs have been used as a metaphor, in which women represent the opportunity of progress in race-relations. Further, Måori women have been juxtaposed with Påkehå women in films, such as Rewi’s Last Stand (1925/194), where gender roles have been blurred between masculine and feminine acts.148 In Utu, there is a blurring of masculine and feminine acts by both Måori and Påkehå women. The settler Emily Williamson, for example, is depicted as a defender of both her land and her husband in the battle with Te Wheke. This is best illustrated in the scene where Emily takes up arms to defend the farm against Te Wheke, laying down her life to save her husband from Te Wheke’s gun.
Similarly Kura is portrayed as an active agent in the battle between Te Wheke’s men and the Army. Kura is depicted as a femme fatale who seduces Henare away from the Army to join Te Wheke’s group, and engages Lt. Scott in a love-affair.149 It is the relationship which develops between Kura and Scott that ultimately leads to her death and Scott’s moral decay when he seeks to avenge Kura by murdering Te Wheke in a mock military court.
Thus, women are used as a metaphor for sacrifice and vengeance. Women provide the motivation for vengeance on the part of all the main characters in Utu. Te Wheke, for example, seeks vengeance for the death of his wife and daughter. Similarly Williamson uses the death of Emily to try and avenge himself upon Te Wheke. Kura’s death sparks Lt. Scott’s murder attempt on Te Wheke under the guise of civility through the institution of the Court. In this fashion women are used as contradictory objects. While women are portrayed as active agents in warfare and settlement, it is the “corrupting” influences of women which set
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in place the theme of vengeance and violence. In essence, Utu returns to the socio-centricity of men, whereby “real” relationships occur between respective masculinities and women are portrayed as an interruptive or corruptive force.
The sacrifice of women is used as a justification for obsession in the conflict which follows. Arguably, the two characters that best exemplify this theme are Te Wheke and Williamson. Williamson becomes fanatical in his desire for utu against Te Wheke, but in the final scene he cannot kill his “wife’s murderer who sits before him”. Ultimately, Te Wheke’s wrath and desire for justice turns on his own people where he kills members of his group, including Kura. What is seen in Utu is that women cause both Te Wheke and Williamson to lose sight of reason and reality. It is left to the logical and pragmatic Wiremu to end the conflict,
steering events away from emotion and back to reason. In this fashion Wiremu is set in direct contrast to the other characters where he is depicted and is the inverse of Bob Beaumont. Wiremu is characterised as the native with a civilised core which references the stock character of the Måorified-Påkehå as the bridge between the old and new worlds.
There are a number of themes to consider in the interactions between men and women. The first is that men are depicted as irresponsible in the care and protection of women. This is best illustrated in the scene where Wiremu holds Williamson partially responsible for Emily’s death. In the case of Te Wheke’s murder of Kura, there are codes which are reminiscent of the “warrior” as irresponsible with Maori women. Kura is a supporter of Te Wheke, but because of Te Wheke’s increased paranoia toward the Army, he blames her for the “advanced warning” because of her relationship with Lt. Scott. Further, Lt. Scott is implicated in the neglect of care and protection of women due to his relationship with Kura.
While women characters in Utu break certain stereotypes in the cinematic record, for example by being “active agents” in warfare, they also fall into the well-established tropes of femme fatales, victims, sacrifices and love interests. It is suggested that the reason why women are granted agency in Utu is because women were highly visible in the 1980s protest movements in New Zealand. As outlined above, Måori women in particular had a significant presence in the protest movements, but given the fate of Kura it is suggested a code embedded in the film is that Måori women should be guarded in their relationships with Måori men. Conversely, in an interesting twist, Te Wheke’s would-be “executioner” is Mata, Kura’s aunt, who
that Måori loyalties between and within the group, based upon gender lines, cannot be guaranteed in the conflict.
Conclusion
The main focus of this chapter has been the influence of the social context of the 1970s and 1980s on the themes contained in Utu. As has been argued, the social context of New Zealand society had an effect on how Måori and the relationship between Måori and Påkehå were examined in the film. Similarly to Rewi’s Last Stand (1925/194), Broken Barrier (1952) and To Love a Maori (1972), Utu was used as a vehicle to provide a social
commentary about Måori-Påkehå relations at a time characterized by political unrest. As argued, these broader issues in the social context when the work was produced are key thematics which shape the nationalised narrative of race-relations in New Zealand film. While Murphy was more ambiguous in his work, it can be seen that the same set of themes such as the importance of race-relations and national harmony underpinned the representation and interpretation of Måori in film. In this fashion, Murphy joins Hayward and O’Shea in exploring the essential drama of Måori-Påkehå relations, but from a contemporary 1980s perspective. It is argued that Utu is an important work because it acts as bridge in the historical cinematic accounts from the end of assimiliationist-integrationist influenced work toward what could be considered “bicultural” views of New Zealand. What is interesting about the ideological shift in Utu is that the country would not officially adopt biculturalism until after 1984, the year after the film was released. As indicated by the key thematics in the film, the ideological influences circulating in society at the time the work was produced had some bearing on how Måori-Påkehå relations were portrayed in Utu. In the next section, the two films Ngati (1987) and Mauri (1988) are analysed to examine Måori-Påkehå relations once the country had officially adopted the socio-political ideology of biculturalism and before the shift toward the bicultural two world-view model of race-relations.