Prejudice in Hunt for the Wilderpeople Essay Example

Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople delves into the idea of prejudice. The director uses a character's past actions, looks, and personality to influence how they are viewed. Waititi sets the viewer up to judge his characters before slowly revealing their true identity and encouraging  the audience to consider how fair their stereotypes are.

Waititi positions the viewer, both at the beginning and throughout the film, to make judgements based on the character’s past. It becomes clear to the viewer that characters such as Ricky and Hec have made mistakes before. Waititi uses Paula’s actions and dialogue to reveal the bad decisions Ricky had made before , and how Bella should keep this in mind when she is looking after him. She claims “He’s a real bad egg (...)” positioning the viewer to see Ricky as a criminal and the antagonist of the film. She also lists some of the things he did, “we’re talking disobedience, stealing, (...) running away, (...) loitering and graffiti”. What Paula says allows the criminal in Ricky to become more and more evident to the viewer. But Waititi lets the child in Ricky show through his  “Gangsta”  appearance throughout the film, like when he accidentally describes Hec as a pervert. Another example of when characters are judged on their past is when Ricky talks to Kahu about his biological mother. He says, “(His mum) got rid of me when I was little,”  positioning the viewer to negatively judge his Mum to be suffering from addiction, or possible financial instability. Waititi then challenges this perception when Ricky shows Kahu a picture of his Mum when she had him, and it turns out she was just a teenager. Judging a character based on their past actions doesn’t give an accurate insight into what a character is actually like, considering how much change and evolution characters are subject to in the film.

Waititi uses a character's physical appearance to reveal a great deal about them to the audience. Despite this, judging a character based solely on appearance doesn’t provide an accurate portrayal of how the character is as a person.  This is seen most commonly with Ricky and his “American Youth on a budget” style. Waititi uses bright colours and bold logos to create the illusion of Ricky being what he calls  “Gangsta”.  His style is very similar to various hip-hop or rap singers, resulting in viewers comparing the dark topics of the music to Ricky’s behaviours. Another character Waititi frequently positions the viewer to judge on his looks is Psycho Sam. When he is first introduced in the film he is dressed as a bush. “Is it a bush or is it a Man? (...) Bush-Man!” This can bias the audience to believe he is insane, especially after he reveals he thinks he is a “local legend”: “You guys heard of a local legend about a guy who lives out here in the bush on his own? He goes by the name Psycho Sam (...) well my name’s Sam, anyway.” Waititi tests this perception when Sam ends up helping Ricky escape from the authorities. By filming these scenes, Waititi reminds viewers that many people are guilty of unfair stereotyping and judgement.

All of the characters Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople have deep, complex personalities that the viewer may use to make judgements about them. Despite these personalities being so evident throughout the film, there are many opportunities Waititi gives to the audience  to see deeper into the character as a person and judge them more accurately. Paula is a great example of this. Waititi introduces her as rude and cruel, but is careful to demonstrate to the viewer that she doesn’t even realise she is being so ignorant. She has such a straightforward, brutally honest personality that is so evident throughout the film that it positions the viewer to believe she is an awful person.  “Ricky (...) there is no one else who wants you, ok?” Paula states when Ricky gets back into the police car at Bella’s house. Although this might seem an extremely ignorant and cruel comment to make, Paula is simply trying to do her job. Although the viewer may judge Paula as cruel, her brutally honest personality is so evident that it masks any other positive traits she may have.

In summary, many characters in Hunt for the Wilderpeople are judged unfairly by the audience due to their past actions, appearance, and personality. Paying attention to the small details in the character can allow a more accurate portrayal of who they are as a person.