# Question: Moby Dick -  Why is the Piquod's figurehead that of a Maori ?



## TwistedSuze13 (Jan 19, 2013)

Moby Dick is on a movie channel and I noticed a few details I'd missed before.
Talking about the 1956 movie.

My Question:
Why is CPT Ahab's ship named after an American Indian tribe, but the Figurehead on the front of the ship is that of a Maori ?

I know one of the crew is a Maori (character Queequeg has the facial tattoos), altho' they did Not cast a man with Maori or south pacific islander features, which I think was Stupid.
This character is supposed to be the son of a Maori chief.

Anyway, 
The figurehead on the front of the ship, Pequod, is that of a Maori. 
But the name of the ship, Pequod is an alternate spelling of Pequot - the east coast American Indian tribe.

I know this is really trivial, but if I noticed it.....maybe a few others did.

Maybe it's just a glitch in movie making details.


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## Dot Com (Jan 19, 2013)

link?


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## boedicca (Jan 19, 2013)

Are you watching Quo Vadis now?  That's one of the best movies evah.


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## TwistedSuze13 (Jan 20, 2013)

There is no link.

I was Watching the 1956 movie, Moby Dick, on a movie channel today.

I noticed the figurehead of CPT Ahab's ship was that of a Maori (head and chest),  when the name of the ship is Pequod, which is an accepted alternate spelling for an American Indian tribe.

Why not a Maori name to go with the Maori figurehead of the ship ?


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## ABikerSailor (Jan 20, 2013)

TwistedSuze13 said:


> There is no link.
> 
> I was Watching the 1956 movie, Moby Dick, on a movie channel today.
> 
> ...



Maybe because Melville didn't know the difference, or because possibly he took literary liscence?


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## TwistedSuze13 (Jan 20, 2013)

I haven't read the book, so I don't know if it's the same there or not..

I thought maybe director John Huston or someone else was responsible for the movie glitch.

There's no mention of that here from imdb.com, but there's some interesting info.  about making the movie.

Moby Dick (1956) - Trivia - IMDb

A bit too long for pasting here.


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