Representation of Maori in the film 'Crush'

What we learned in the lecture of the Maori in the film, Lynda Dyson noted that ‘the representation of Māori as sexually available, and as engaging in sexual banter that is “raw” and ‘crude”, in contrast to the eroticism of the relationship between Baines and Ada’, I think this statement are also applicable in the film ‘Clush’. There is a quote from IMDB about ‘Crush’:

‘On the way to interview a novelist, Lane and Christina are involved in a car crash which leaves literary critic Christina brain-damaged. Lane undertakes the assignment and becomes attracted to the novelist's 15 year old daughter, leading to stormy emotions.’

The film is constructed with mainly 4 people. Lane, Christine, novelist who named Collin and his daughter Angela. Angela is depicted as an adolescent girl who was struggling between jealousy toward Lane who was in sexual relationship with her father, and a Maori singer guy appeared as a person who made Angela more into confusion. Relationship between Lane and Collin, who are European New Zealander and an American, are depicted as more erotic and as having interactive relationship. Meanwhile, Maori singer, who are called Horse, is depicted as not only a symbol of big happy family for Angela as (what Bell Hook said)‘happy-go-lucky’ person, but also related to ‘raw’ and ‘crude’ sexual things. For example, he was represented as a　promiscuous guy who used Angela as a means of his masturbation in his hospital room in spite of her desire to get contact sense of happy family circle compared to her own family.

Crush was directed in 1992, the year before ‘The piano’ was directed. Therefore, I can assume that these two films are both based on similar notion toward Maori people at that time as ‘happy-go-lucky’ people. Also, between these films, Maori people are both just exist as ‘backdrop’ of the white main characters.

It is interesting that we can find such a similarity in films, which have a very different form. On the one hand, ‘The Piano’ was accepted as a ‘romantic story’, and the other hand ‘crush’ was accepted as a story of ‘revenge’ between two females. However, these difference of the films more emphasized the common representation of Maori people and may be the Leonie Pihama’s statement which is ‘Films are dangerous’ because there are danger to prevail a negative images of Maori through the films.