A young girl named Paikea once said: “Once upon a time, the earth felt a great emptiness. He was waiting. Waiting to be fulfilled. Waiting for someone to like it. Waiting for a leader” (Whale Rider). As Paikea shows, in the movie Whale Rider, a leader is a guide, someone who guides his people in the right direction, someone who does everything he can to improve his land. In the eyes of Antigone, taken from the play Antigone, Princess of Thebes, the leader's rules only seem fair when she believes that they do not contradict the rules of the gods. As she states in this quote: “It is the dead, not the living, who demand the most: we die forever. . . .You can do whatever you want, because apparently the laws of the gods mean nothing to you” (Sophocles 58-60). Conversely, Paikea believes that she is different and that the reign of the gods is different for her. Although these characters have similarities in being provocative figures, the Greek tradition that Antigone believes in and the New Zealand tradition that Paikea follows differ significantly in their beliefs. However, their culture's discrimination against women seems comparable. Although the views on tradition, gender, and challenge are similar in Paikea and Antigone, the differences between them are striking. Tradition is the transmission of statements, beliefs, legends, customs and information from generation to generation, especially through stories or practices. As culture and religion differ among people, their traditions differ with them. In the movie Whale Rider, the New Zealand tradition is to worship whales. Paikea was the first child of Porourangi, son of their chief, Koro. It is said, in their tradition, that the...... middle of paper ......y, affects everyone indirectly. I can never be what I should be. It is the interdependent structure of reality. » (Martin Luther King, Jr.)Works CitedFunke, Conelia. http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3897683-tintentod. Happy reading. Goodreads Inc, and Web. 11.Martin Luther King, Jr..BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2013. November 13, 2013. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth403521.html.Martin, Jose. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/556146-i-don-t-see-why-i-should-bow-my-head-when. Goodreads Inc, and Web. November 11, 2013. Sophocles. “Antigone.” McDougal Little Literature: American Literature. Evanston: McDougal Little, 2008. Whale Rider. Real. Niki Caro. Perf. Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis. South Pacific Images/ApolloMedia GmbH & Co. 5/Filmproduktion KG, 2002. DVD. Newmarket Movies, 2003.