E Tipu E Rea - Eel

E tipu, e rea, mō ngā rā o tō ao; ko to ringaringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā hei oranga mō tō tinana;
ko tō ngākau ki ngā taonga o ō tïpuna hei tikitiki mō tō māhunga.
Ko tō wairua ki tō Atua, nāna nei ngā mea katoa.

Grow tender shoot for the days of your world. Turn your hand to the tools of the Pākehā for
the wellbeing of your body.
Turn your heart to the treasures of your ancestors as a crown for your head.
Give your soul unto God the author of all things.

This 1989 series of Māori television dramas, E Tipu E Rea (‘Grow up tender young shoot') takes its title from a statement made by Sir Apirana Ngata (Ngāti Porou) encouraging the daughter of Charles Bennett, Rangi Bennett (Te Arawa) in her education.

Ngata believed Māori advancement would benefit by reapplying learnings from Te Ao Pākehā (the Pākehā World) to Te Ao Māori (the Māori world), ideally resulting in a positive effect on both cultures. 

His words were to influence generations of Māori. E Tipu E Rea presents a series of vignettes portraying that contact and is an attempt to honour on-screen the spirit of Ngata's invocation.  It screened in a late-night slot in November 1989 on TV One. 

The purpose of E Tipu E Rea was twofold: to showcase Māori-driven narrative while creating a training ground for Māori creative talent in the industry.  Aside from some notable exceptions, advocacy for Māori stories to remain under Māori control while creating a Māori industry hadn't fallen upon receptive funding ears. 

It was largely due to the groundwork laid by Te Manu Aute, a collective of Māori in the film and television industry at that time, that E Tipu E Rea was eventually realised. Two of its members Barry Barclay and Merata Mita would direct the first Māori feature films Ngati (1987) and Mauri (1988). Part of its mission statement read:

"Māori control means full control over the conceptualisation, management, execution and distribution of the project in question ... We note that it is very difficult to name a single media project that has been produced under these terms in the whole history of media in the country."

The collective engaged in strategising, intensive lobbying and pulled in various industry representatives to advance the E Tipu E Rea vision. With the formation of a production house, Te Manuka Film Trust, E Tipu E Rea became a reality.

Now, this was trailblazing stuff. Mana motuhake in action. Prior to television series like Koha and Tangata Whenua, Māori were largely an exotic source of cinematic candy. Despite this Māori were very rarely in a position where they could determine Māori ownership and direction of stories.

The description of the Māori presence in The Piano as "the blackground" aptly sums up the representation issue (although it was filmed after the series). All that was to change with E Tipu E Rea.

These are Māori characters determining their participation in the pākeha world. Be it gambling (Te Moemoeā), schooling (Thunderbox, Variations on a Theme) or an unplanned pregnancy (Roimata), Māori are the protagonists. They are not passive, dumbed down, stereotypical self-representations.

The settings are varied. From post-war rural (Eel, Te Moemoeā), where horses and jalopies are the mode of transport, to a contemporary urban classroom where a teenage boy struggles to connect with the education system (Variations on a Theme, Thunderbox). Cross-generational relationships without a hint of impropriety are celebrated (Eel, Te Moemoeā, Thunderbox).

A couple hint at the impact of urbanisation upon Māori identity (Variations on a Theme, Roimata).  Some are serious, others humourous, but all portray a diversity of Māori experience and interaction with the Pākehā world.   

"First and foremost they are good stories," says series producer Larry Parr. "Their strength gives them universal appeal. When I was chosing the stories, the one criteria I used was 'does this appeal to me?'."

This is clean, economic storytelling at its best. There are no dramatic revelations or forced tension. Nor is it a lecture or a condescending reminder of the good old halcyon days, back at the Pā either.

Pākehā are not one-dimensional villains. Instead they exist on the periphery. As expected. As they should. Why would their stories be at the centre of a Māori driven narrative? As a Māori character says to a Pākehā character in Roimata, "just keep your Pākehā nose out of it"

One piece is completely in te reo Māori (Te Moemoeā) and is dubbed in English.

Careers were jump started through E Tipu E Rea. Writer Riwia Brown (who directed Roimata) would re-visit themes of cultural alienation and urbanisation five years later with her script for Once Were Warriors (1994) and join Thunderbox director Lee Tamahori. Thunderbox gave Tamahori his first experience of directing outside commercials. Young actors who began on the series included Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Blair Strang and Tangaroa Emile.

E Tipu E Rea was a training ground for many Māori crew and several would become key figures in the advent of the Māori Television Service, including series producer Larry Parr who would become Head of Programming at MTS until late 2008. 

Writer of Te Moemoeā, Patricia Grace, reflected at the time the series was shot: "if you look at advertisements on television and none of the people are of your culture, or appearance, or language, or background then you don't see yourself at all."

This seres was a chance to help redress that balance.

Parr: "[the series] has given a lot of Māori people their first experience in the industry. It's astounding the level of success many have had since making this series. They are working on commercials or television dramas and making a living out of it."

As the adage E Tipu E Rea shaped generations of Māori so too did the series, by paving the way for future Māori television drama such as Nga Puna (1995 and 1997), Mataku (2002) and Aroha (2001). Building Māori capacity in film and television would indeed fulfil the budding promise of Apirana Ngata's original statement.