The notion of the “indigenous aesthetic” is something that came up for me a few times in this class, most recently when watching Te Rua. When consuming indigenously-produced media as a westerner, particularly indigenously-produced art, we have certain expectations. Specifically, we expect the product to possess an aesthetic in some way distinct from what we are used to. I believe this came out in class discussion prior to watching Te Rua, in discussion of the Native American film Smoke Signals. Some people overlook the fact that this is an example of indigenous media because the aesthetic of the film is so familiar to us as distinctly Hollywood. The same statement could be made in regards to Te Rua. Despite the fact that this film is even more removed from Hollywood geographically, it still shares many of the same aesthetics that are so familiar to a western audience. In this way, these movies have the potential to lose something to some western viewers. However, despite the borrowed techniques, there is something distinctly Maori about Te Rua, in the way in which Barry Barclay incorporated some of the aesthetics of Maori weaving.
This also reminds me of the film that we saw regarding tourism and the purchase of indigenous art. When westerners consume indigenous art, they have some preconceived notion in their mind of what it should look like. We both other and homogenize indigenous cultures and their art when we make assumptions and expectations regarding their aesthetic qualities. On the other hand, it should not be disregarded that the influences of Western art and culture are permeating the art of other cultures, as evidenced by films such as Te Rua and Smoke Signals.