Sione's Wedding and Sione's 2

The infamous Sione's Wedding. One of New Zealand's more popular films. This plot revolves around 4 Samoan boys on the quest to find the perfect date in order to have permission to attend Sione's Wedding. Of the four man characters there is Michael - the leader of the group and the ladies man, Albert - the good mummys boy, Sefa - the party boy and Stan - the weird one. These characters and their stories from Sione's Wedding continue into Sione's 2: Unfinished Business. The Sione's movies cover the biggest events in a pacific Islanders life - Their wedding, and funeral.

Through out these films, something our group identified as we analysed  them was that growing up is the most predominant theme in both films. During the first film this is clearly demonstrated in the scene where the boys are called to the minister's meeting. They sit on the floor resembling primary school children as the minister tells them off and shows them everything they've each done wrong. As the film progresses we see how each character begins to make that change possible.

Michael who has notoriously dated white girls begins to change when he meets Albert's cousin, Princess, and decides she is a good Samoan girl who he'd like to settle down with. It isn't revealed until the end of the film that Princess happens to be a female version of Michael, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Of which he does not like when he reacts badly to Princess feeling up another man at the wedding she was meant to be attending with Michael.

Albert grows up by dating his work colleague, Tania. Giving him the independency he needed from his Mum to solidify Albert's transition into adulthood. Albert had the best head on his shoulders out of all the boys in the group. Being the most sensible it was he that often tried to keep the boys in line and came up with the plan to find suitable dates in order to be able to attend Sione's Wedding. In Sione's 2, Albert and Tania have taken their relationship further and bought a house together. This causes the other boys in the group, mainly Sefa and Stan to criticise Albert telling him he's changed when ironically all of them have. The only difference is Albert's grown up. To which Albert replies "so me and my woman bought a house together. Thats what people do when they, you know, grow up"

Of all the boys in their 'Duckrockers' group Sefa may have the most considerable changes. Sefa is the party boy of the group who is no stranger to coming home in the early hours of the morning with smell of alcohol stron on his breath, waking up the love of his life Leilani, only to frustrate or anger her with each passing weekend until she finally had enough and moved back to her family home. It wasnt until Leilani's pregnancy was discovered that Sefa's change begun to take motion. At first Sefa didnt respond appropriately to the news, too shocked to answer Leilani she closed the door on him once more. In the second film, Sione's 2, Sefa and Leilani have more kids and overcome their relationship issues to wed eachother finally.

Lastly, my favourite character of all, Stanley. Im not entirely sure why Stan was my favourite character. It may have been because he was the odd one out in all of the group. Stan is weird. And it is difficult to understand him, but maybe that is not the purpose of the character, he may only be there to fill in gaps of comedy the Sione's films would not possess without him. I think the main reason Stanley is my favourite is, not only for his humour, but also because in both the films he seems to struggle with his identity. Something I am very familiar with. In the first movie Stan is involved with online dating under his alter ego 'Tyrique' in which he pretend to be a stereotypical modern American Gangster with his attempts at smooth pick up lines to attract females. Ironically, in the second film, Stan becomes a devout follower of a parodic take on what seems to be the destiny church within New Zealand.

Over all I believe the Sione's movies are adequate movies to watch if they are only taken by face value or if there is nothing else to watch on a Sunday evening. Joshua Iosefa write his well known spoken word poem, 'Brown Brother,' in which he says
"...Your words are a mockery to my skin tone or colour. No but Brown Brother youve been doing that since the day you performed Cinderella, or BroTown, Sione's Wedding and do i have to metion the GC? Now i dont mean to condescend, these shows are great dont get me wrong. But can anyone explain, will there ever be a time where our representation goes deeper than putting our own skin to shame? Will the stereotype of an illiterate, unintelligent polynesian still be the same? Will it ever change? Or are we still going to sell ourselves short for a few seconds of fame?"

Sons for the return home

At first I was very reluctant to read this book, and during the beginning i found the structure quite confusing to wrap my head around. However, after persevering I came to realise that this book all too well reminded me of the previous generation in my family and how a majority of them hold the same values Sione and his family possess in this text.

i felt that, if put generally, this text could in fact relate to a majority of the previous generation of Pacific Islanders who, or their parents, immigrated to New Zealand for a better life overcoming obstacles along the way.

I found it quite interesting reading issues that were addressed, such as homosexuality. Coming from an era where it is more socially accepted to be, or know someone, who is gay. Reading the book from the perspective of an older time, where they did not possess the same values or education as we do. I found it difficult to read without feeling a tinge of frustration that at the sight of two men making love the man felt physically ill. However, it does remind me of the lack of tolerance my Dad held for the same issue.

I feel this book does a remarkable job of representing the racism towards Pacific Islanders back them. Students of today, regardless of whether they are familiar with the various cultures, still has some understanding of how Pacific Islanders were treated as being 'dirty' back then. This is illustrated when Sione and his brother try to help a man out of the dump but he pushes them away telling them to get off him and calling them 'Nazis'

Overall, I believe that 'Sons for the Return Home' is a historical text which clearly represents the living conditions of Pacific Island Immigrants to New Zealand in the 1960s so perfectly that it is still relevant today for the use of Students to understand and become familiar with.

I Will Not Make The Return Home

Transcript: 

I am no Son
And I will not make
The Return Home

I struggled
Every day
To love this country

To love the sea
As it embraces me
Keeps me company
From the window

To love the hills
Challenging my strength
Making my legs ache
Making me tough

To love the sun
Sprinkling freckles over white
Blistering my nose
Warm from the inside

I struggled
But I learned
To love this country

I am no Son
But I will not leave this place
That has become my home

Immigrant ≠ Ignorant

Sons for the Return Home

Initially, I was reluctant to start reading Sons for the Return Home. A tale about a Samoan family in the 1960s moving to New Zealand for Economic reasons? Nah, I'll pass.

Luckily for me, I did eventually get around to reading it. I found this book to be a profound look at the struggles of a family who, really, just wanted to go home. Eventually. Well that was the plan. This was always the plan for the family; Move to NZ, make some decent money, return to Samoa, and everything will be fine and dandy!

Well.

Unfortunately, these things don't always go according to plan. The parents' plans of arriving back in Samoa and reintegrating their New Zealand-adjusted sons back into island life was probably a bit fruitful in hindsight.

The book follows the younger son who, as we find out, has some severe identity issues. Is he Samoan? Is he a New Zealander? Is he a real person? You get the picture. Sonny (let's just call him that shall we?) meets a lovely papalangi (white) girl (who henceforth shall be known as 'Missy') with a family that definitely has some issues of their own (mostly in the bigotry category).

Both sets of parents really cannot seem to get along with each other's kids, which really doesn't sit well with either Sonny or Missy. This is just one of the many examples of the theme of prejudice and stereotypes that the novel throws at the reader throughout its 217 pages of general misery.

See, back in those days, New Zealanders were far less tolerant than they are now. Islanders were considered 'dirty' and were generally looked down upon.

This is what makes Sons such a landmark title. Up until its release, a lot of NZ literature was very Euro-centric. Sons offered a very different perspective at the time, and today is still raised for its portrayal of life back in that era. Not only this, but it proved that Samoan writers had something to say, and shouldn't be dismissed by European New Zealanders.

I would rarely call any work of fiction 'important'. Sure, you get works such as Harry Potter which resonated very powerfully on an emotional level and pretty much got me through most of my formative years, but is it 'important'? Not in the grand scheme of things. Wendt's novel is important because it offered an entirely different perspective on life in 1960s NZ. Something which no one else had dared to do. Sons is a brave novel for anyone, even today, to attempt to write.

Sione's Wedding & Sione's 2

I'll admit it. As an upper-middle-class white male, I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable person when it comes to anything Pacific Island culture related. Sure, I've read about it in school, and seen programs about it on TV, but that stuff never really stuck with me. I'm rather ashamed to say it, but if you mention the phrase "Pacific Islander" to me, a myriad of stereotypes will wade their way into my brain. It’s mainly due to an utter lack of knowledge or context when it comes to this sort of thing.

The Sione’s films are interesting because they paint a picture of what Samoan life is like in New Zealand, but don’t make this the crux of the film. So many other films will rely on the character’s ethnicities to draw their comedy from, but neither Sione’s film relies heavily on this. The one exception, of course, is Derek.

Derek is a “white boy from Glenfield” (as Oscar Kightley’s character puts it). Who acts like he is ‘one of the boys’. It’s rather ironic that a white character represents the most stereotypical and offensive view of your average Samoan in Sione’s Wedding, although it’s one of the film’s most brilliant (and funny) aspects. Sione’s Wedding is a film that by all rights gives one of the most earnest portrayals of Samoan life in New Zealand ever captured on film.

Growing up is a major theme of both movies. At the beginning of Sione’s Wedding, Michael (Robbie Magasiva), Albert (Oscar Kightley), Stanley (Iahito Ah Hi), and Sefa (Shimpal Lalisi) are really just teenagers trapped in the bodies of men in their late 20s/early 30s. Throughout the course of the movie they each slowly learn what it means to grow up. Albert and Tania (Madelein Sami) finally get together, and Sefa proposes to Leilani (Teuila Blakely). In Sione’s 2, They further explore this theme with Albert moving to the North Shore. It’s a very relatable theme, especially for someone my age. I think that this is what gives the two films the status they hold amongst my generation. We can all see ourselves - regardless of our ethnicities or economic backgrounds - in these four boys.

My favourite character in these films was always Albert. I’m not sure why. I’ve always thought that it was because Albert was always the sanest out of the bunch of them. He always just seemed to be along for the ride, letting the others do their thing. He’s a thirty-something year old man with a rather boring job in insurance. That shouldn’t be that appealing right? The more I think about it, the more I think that maybe it has to do with his arc in the films having the least to do with his Samoan background. I can relate to Albert more on an emotional level, and not be constantly reminded that we come from completely different cultural backgrounds. I think with the others, they have more quirks that are more specifically Samoan that I cannot relate to.

Michael spent most of Sione’s Wedding convincing himself that he should forego sleeping with white girls and settle down with a ‘nice Samoan girl’. The pressure to settle down with someone from my own ethnicity is something I have never had to deal with from any of my relatives, yet apparently, for someone of pacific descent, this can be a very big deal.

Sefa’s behaviour throughout a lot of the first film exemplifies the classic stereotype of the ‘rowdy Samoan boy’. It’s a very negative stereotype. One that does little to service the reputation of the Samoan community in New Zealand.

I really just don’t get Stanley. That whole phone sex line thing is just so weird and foreign to me. The fact that Stanley is also portrayed as being quite simple-minded puts me off as well, as I think, however unintentional it may be, that is a slightly racist portrayal of a Samoan.

But hey, I’m white. What would I know?

Despite this, I do think that the Sione’s films actually a pretty good job of truly breaking down racial and cultural barriers, as well as subverting stereotypes when it comes to the portrayal of Pacifica in New Zealand. Yes, stereotypically, the Church plays a massive role in pacific communities, and yes, there is a little bit of hyperbole when it comes to how it is portrayed in the Sione’s films, but there is not a single negative way any aspects of the church are portrayed in either movie (unless you count that Destiny Church parody in Sione’s 2, but come on, it’s pretty funny). It’s also nice that at the end of both films, we get to see big community events (a wedding and a funeral) the way the Samoans do them. I kind of want a Samoan-style wedding myself now. They look like fun.

I think what is truly amazing about these films (to me at least) is that even though they are set in Grey Lynn - a 30 minute drive from my house – I feel like I am being presented with a window into an entirely different country. The differences between little things such as people’s body language, the way they speak, what words are used, and how people treat each other are immense. The fact that all this is taking place in the same city that I have lived in for 14 out of my 19 years on this earth is mind boggling. I have clearly been living a very sheltered life.

I think that regardless of how you may feel about the films themselves, these films are an integral part of NZ culture, and should be treated as such.

Colour

You might wonder why i write about the skin colour issue and the language issue. Well like i mentioned that my partner is from India, we talk a lot about how we Indians discriminate against each other. My partner is amazing and he is not that type, but he says that there a lot of Indian do these things.


Colours It creates brightness, happiness and brings things into sight.
Then why? Why do we see skin so differently? And not treat us right?
Am I meant to be a lighter shade to be nicer,
A lighter shade to be attractive,
A lighter shade to achieve something,
A lighter shade to love.
Why am I so different?
I pretend it doesn't hurt,
That you compare me to dirt.
You worry if my kids will be of a different 'colour',
Not if they will be a doctor, teacher or a physco killer.
Beauty is skin deep.
That has no value now
As you have taken it and turned it around,
The things you say make me wana judge you.
Your finger points at me like I'm an outcast
Have you forgotten the three that are pointing straight at your heart. Look beyond the front,
See outside the box,
Step inside the soul and realise that we are one,
The same, with skin and bones.