Moby Dick and Cannibalism?🐳😋

Moby Dick (1998)

I watched the 1998 Hallmark TV series 'Moby Dick' yesterday for the first time in my life and noticed Piripi Waretini playing Queequeg in this TV show, which struck me as strange since Queequeg is meant to be a head-hunting cannibal in the story and I've never thought of New Zealand natives as being cannibals, having a lot of Kiwi mates myself, while growing up in Australia.

Moby Dick (1998)

I knew there were cannibals living in the highlands of Papua New Guinea at one point, but I've never thought of cannibalism being associated with New Zealand.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Then as I'm listening to an Apple Podcast reading of the novel 'Moby Dick' New Zealand is mentioned in chapter 3 where Peter Coffin mentions New Zealand heads being sold by Queequeg around the harbour town on that Saturday night and coming in on Sunday morning carrying a "New Zealand" head:-) 

Saturn Devouring His Son

Of course, Saturday is named after Saturn, so that cannibal reference wasn't lost on me;-) 
I wondered if there really was any cannibalism in New Zealand at any time in history, so looked up "human cannibalism" on Wikipedia and was surprised when reading that whole page just how widespread cannibalism has been in all of human history, never mind New Zealand's history.

I already knew that Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick' novel was based off the real life sinking of the whaling ship the Essex, where tales of survival from cannibalism was involved in that story, which the Ron Howard movie 'In the Heart of the Sea' starring Chris Hemsworth was based on -

Blowholes, Shipwrecks and Hearts in the Sea

"After a whale sank the Essex of Nantucket on 20 November 1820 (an important source event for Herman Melville's Moby-Dick), the survivors, in three small boats, resorted, by common consent, to cannibalism in order for some to survive." 

My fridge magnet of Old Tom the killer whale

'In the Heart of the Sea' was the film that inspired me to take off on a drive to Tasmania in 2016 and to visit the town of Eden, where I learned about killer whales that helped the local whalers hunt whales like hunting dogs for the whalers, so they would be rewarded with the tongues of the whales to eat after helping the whalers round up the whales for slaughter.

I even bought a book about the killer whales of Eden from the Whale Museum when I was there and am yet to finish reading.

The Killers and Whales of the New South Wales Coast

Killers of Eden

I've put off reading 'Moby Dick' for so long, as I thought reading it would bore me to tears, but sounds like I was wrong?

Comes a time that is the right time for us all to pick up a book and read it, and my time is now, I guess?

I was also surprised that one of the producers of the 1998 version of ''Moby Dick' was Francis Ford Coppola, who also directed the 1992 movie 'Dracula' and produced the 1994 movie 'Frankenstein' -

The Hunger and Bram Stoker's Dracula?🧛👽

Frankenstein and The Big Chill?🥶

Henry Thomas plays Ishmael in that 1998 'Moby Dick' TV show and he also starred in 'Fire in the Sky' and some other little alien movie, as I remember;-)

Hugh Keays-Byrne played Mr. Stubbs in that 'Moby Dick' mini-series and I remember the now late actor playing the Toecutter in Mad Max and Toad in the movie 'Stone' and I was surprised seeing him in 'Moby Dick'.

I was also surprised to see Bruce Spence, who was also in a Mad Max movie playing Elijah in 'Moby Dick' -

Sync Degrees of Jackie Weaver

I actually think the 1998 version of Moby Dick was better than the William Hurt version I recently watched, although that version is also worth a viewing -

William Hurt as Captain Ahab and Gillian Anderson as Elizabeth, Ahab's Wife?🏊🐳

It sure is a savage world we live in, and I remember when the Savage Garden song 'The Animal Song' came out and I thought Daz was singing about cannibals, but he was singing about cannon balls:-)

Eden: The Unintended Garden

My copy of 'Moby Dick'

GoT Whale?-)

Everyone who dies in Avatar 2?

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Kicks Off at the International Box Office as the World Cup Final Gets Ready to Kick Off this Weekend?🌊⚽🏆🐳