Tall Poppies & Cultural Cringes [2004]
If you spend any length of time in New Zealand you hear about the tall poppy syndrome" - as if this is the only country in the world where hubris is punished.
The people who suffer from it believe it exists to bring high achievers back to a level of safe mediocrity.
Actually it's not about your level of achievement, it's about going around thinking you're better than everyone else. If you want to do extraordinary things here it's best to be very humble. Like Peter Jackson and Edmund Hillary.
New Zealand is a small society with a blue collar past. It's like a small business where the boss mucks in and does the same work as everyone else.
Don't confuse this uniformity with mediocrity. In fields where they have developed expertise, Kiwis have exacting standards. In sport, for example. Extreme adventuring. Singing, even.
But in unfamiliar areas such high standards can generate a cultural cringe, which devalues local achievements simply because they don't come from a recognised centre of culture.
We even used to have a compulsion
to ask every foreign visitor ''How do you like New Zilland?' but now we know we have a beautiful country.
To
some extent this is a by-product of an English colonial past. But according
to a leading dancer, Douglas Wright, it's not just a local sensitivity.
Promoting his recent autobiography ghost dance he explained how he realised that most of the 30 European art festivals who turned down his groundbreaking production 'Gloria' just didn't believe that New Zealand could create cutting edge modern dance.
The recent successes of movies like the Lord of the Rings and Whalerider have changed perceptions and opened doors for other New Zealand films and crafts - because there was a perceptual barrier.
It's a fine line. The concept may also be used as an excuse by self-described tall poppies to explain why their work doesn't sell.
But it still pays to take a local film to overseas festivals to win a few prizes before you release it at home. Just to be on the safe side.
* Italicised passages reflect common New Zealand sayings
"Don't confuse this uniformity with mediocrity. In fields where they have developed expertise, Kiwis have exacting standards."
