Back from their shark-chomping holiday on Amity Island last episode, Sean and Cody head into the wilds of the New Zealand forest to track down Taika Waititi’s 2016 charming comedy-drama. In Hunt for the Wilderpeople, after the foster mom of juvenile delinquent Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) unexpectedly drops dead, Ricky flees into the bush with the irascible, illiterate mountain man Hec (Sam Neill) to escape the authorities. As they dodge deranged hunters, wild boars and a child services division as heavily armed as Iraq’s Republican Guard, Ricky and Hec find their wilderness odyssey an unexpected bonding experience. Environmental issues discussed include the cultural mythology of the “Southern Man” in New Zealand folklore, indigenous rights and identity in New Zealand, species extinction and more.
What is the “Southern Man” trope and why will most viewers of this film who are not New Zealanders completely miss it? Is the Marlboro Man a symbol of genocide? Was New Zealand really uninhabited by humans until the 14th century? What’s the Treaty of Waitangi and why are the Maori unique in the colonialist history of the British Empire? Is it true you can’t get drunk off Speight beer? When was the huia bird last seen alive? Who’s Crump’s brother? How do you use sex to sell Cadbury flake chocolate? Do child services divisions really have airborne troops and attack helicopters? How many ways can you pronounce the words “Mary McGregor”? All these questions and more are waiting where the earth wets the cloak of the sky in this episode of Green Screen.
Note: Green Screen will be on a brief hiatus for a few weeks in July-August 2021.
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