Hello, humans.
About three weeks ago, I went to see Moana with a friend, and I absolutely adored it. It is now my favorite Disney movie of all time (Baymax is still my favorite Disney princess, though). In fact, I loved it so much that now, without having read any reviews (only the Christian Spotlight one because that website is crap and I wanted something to complain about), I will write my own small analysis. It contains spoilers, so beware. It also contains Christian topics.
First of all, I'm going to say that the animation was marvelous. The colors, the texture of the water, the night sky, the spirits, everything was so aesthetically beautiful. I also loved that traditional Polynesian art was included. Then, there's the long shot of the scene where Moana is hugging her grandmother's spirit and the beautiful night sky can be seen in the background. That was, aesthetically, my favorite shot of the movie.
Now, let's start analyzing this movie's messages. First things first, Moana was not a traditional Disney princess. She wasn't even a princess at all, as she told Maui. Her body wasn't slim and her skin wasn't white. She had dark, thick hair and dark eyes. Her hair was awesome, honestly. Even though she had that annoying, signature Disney princess face (you know, the one every female lead since Rapunzel has had), she didn't stick to traditional, Western beauty standards. When we were going to watch the movie, my friend told me that she was glad that there was finally a princess who looked like her, with wavy hair and darker skin. That is very important because these characters are what children look up to as they grow up. It's easier for a child to relate to a character if it resembles them.
I don't know how succession works in Motunui, so I can't be sure if Moana was going to become the next chief just because she didn't have any brothers. Regardless of that, she was going to become the chief of Motunui, and she wasn't facing opposition. She wasn't even being pressured into marriage. Men and women alike came to her for advice. People understood that her being a woman didn't make her less suitable for her role as chief and that she didn't need a man to rule beside her. Also, Moana's mom didn't die to give her a tragic backstory; I'm glad that we've gotten past the 'mothers are only plot devices' phase. It looks like Disney is finally beginning to understand that having a wonderful prince to love them is not every girl's ultimate wish.
Moana was extremely brave. When she was a child, she enjoyed her grandmother's scary stories, unlike the other children who burst into tears when they heard them. That courage stayed with her when she grew up. Who would have the courage to set out on a mission on the sea by themselves after they've been told terrifying stories about it all their lives? Only an insane Gryffindor like Moana. She was also incredibly strong. Even when Maui trapped her inside a cave, when some coconut pirates stole Te Fiti's heart, when she was alone and defeated by Te Ka, she didn't abandon her mission. Her courage did falter from time to time, but she always kept going.
I love stories set in the sea because being alone in the sea forces people to pause reflect on themselves, and that allows people to grow personally. Also, this might be controversial, but I liked the role that they gave the ocean. The ocean chose Moana to return Te Fiti's heart and to redeem Maui since she was little. It waited patiently until Moana was ready to set on her mission, and it allowed her to choose whether she wanted to go. Then, the ocean helped her. When a storm came, resulting in a shipwreck, and Moana thought the ocean had betrayed her, she noticed that it took her to Maui. That's an awfully important detail because that often happens to us, humans. We don't know what God is doing and it seems like He has abandoned us when He has actually been with us the whole time and knows that He's doing. We should learn to trust God because at the end He will take us where we need to go.
This movie also taught me that destiny isn't everything. Moana's destiny was basically saving humanity, but she was allowed to choose whether she wanted to follow her destiny or not. She is given many chances to give up throughout the whole movie. Sometimes, the idea of destiny isn't that pleasant. We don't want to be forced into doing something great because we are afraid to fail or because we simply don't want to do it. The truth is that destiny is a choice, and we only follow it if we want to. You shouldn't be pressured into doing something because it's your 'destiny,' but you shouldn't be afraid of it either. Everything will be fine at the end. Seize your destiny.
Maui was also a very important character. Maui was abandoned by his parents as a child, but he was rescued by gods that knew his true potential. This teaches us that some people who society deems as useless are actually very valuable. God takes those outcasts and shows them their worth.
Maui struggled with insecurity throughout his life. He believed that by giving humans everything they asked for he would be loved by them. The problem is that humans are never satisfied, and they will always ask for more. Maui did everything to try to please them; he even sacrificed his own life when they asked him for Te Fiti's heart. When the humans noticed that asking him for the heart was a mistake, they blamed him, making him feel even worse. His desire for admiration was rooted in a deep insecurity that also manifested itself by his need for his hook. Maui thought that without his hook he was no one, but the truth is his worth wasn't defined by what he had; it was defined by who he was. A person is worthy simply because they are a person and not because of anything they have or achieve.
The plot twist at the end of the movie conveyed a lot of meaning about a person's worth. Some people are treated poorly and told that they are a failure and worthless throughout their lives. After a while, they start to believe it. They grow mean and bitter and start making other people suffer. This same thing happened to Te Fiti. When her heart was stolen, she got furious and tried to take revenge on the humans by slowly destroying Earth. Humans ran away from her and feared her instead of apologizing and helping her, and that made the problem worse. Until Moana gave her her heart back and reminded her that that was not who she was, things changed. By remembering who we are, humans who are worthy of love, we will start to treat people with love too.
Don't worry, I won't leave without addressing the elephant in the room: cultural differences. Moana's spiritual content bothered many Christians: the gods, goddesses, reincarnation, the ocean, and magic. First of all, watching a movie with mythology won't hurt your child's faith. If you're bothered by that fact you probably force them to go to Sunday school every week, so what they should believe must be very clear to them by now. We all know that most of the things we see in Disney movies are fictional, and if you say that to your child they'll believe you. News flash: not every culture's religion is Christianity. How do you expect the people of Motunui to know about Christianity if no one had told them about Jesus? Even now, some people haven't even heard about Jesus. Historically, people have always had the need to know how the Universe and humanity came to be, and the story of Te Fiti is just the people of Motunui's explanation. Cultures are different, not everyone is Western and white (not even Jesus), and that is not a bad thing. Deal with it.
Before I end this, I would like to say a few minor things. I didn't like this movie's soundtrack very much, even though I loved How Far I'll Go (I love Alessia Cara). I thought that Disney throwing shade at themselves was pretty funny, like when Moana's grandma said she acted weirdly because that was what the village's crazy lady had to do and when Maui told Moana to not burst into song. Sebastian's revenge was funny too.
Overall, Moana was an excellent movie, even though it had some small setbacks. I would definitely recommend it.
Love,
Nan.
