Critical Film Critique of Moana

Critical Film Critique of Moana

Moana is a 2016 movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The 3-D animation is an adventure musical that tells of the journey of Princess Moana of Motunui. Moana is a strong-willed chief’s daughter from a village in Polynesia. The ocean chooses her to reunite the goddess Te Fiti with the mystical relic. Moana’s journey starts after a blight strike in her village. She sails to search for the demigod Maui with the aim of returning the relic taken by Maui back to Te Fiti. By returning the relic, Moana hopes Te Fiti will be appeased and save her people. As is expected with adventures from the Disney factory, Moana has its fair share of the good, bad, and ugly. This paper will critically critique the film Moana on its anthropology, religion, and theology and also include Moana’s hero’s journey.

Moana’s Heroic Journey

Campbell (1988) states that a hero “is someone who has given his life to something bigger than himself or other than himself.” The story is set on an island in Motunui, a village that worships Te Fiti. The Polynesian goddess is believed to be the source of life in the ocean. Te Fiti used her pounamu stone as the source of the life-giving power and which also makes up for her heart. However, the powerful stone was stolen by a demigod, Maui, thus giving humanity the power of creation. This action causes the disintegration of Te Fiti while another evil force attacks Maui in pursuit of the heart. Te Kā is the powerful volcano demon that will later attempt to stop Moana and Maui from their mission. Maui is blasted from the sky to earth and, in the process, loses the heart of Te Fiti and his magical giant fishhook.

A hundred years later, Moana is chosen by the ocean as the one to return Te Fiti to her heart. However, as little Moana stands at the banks of the ocean, her father comes and quickly snatches her away, causing her to lose the stone in the waters. From that point on, Moana’s parents, Tui and Sina, make a point of keeping her from the ocean. The two prepare Moana to take over her leadership mantle as the chief of Motunui. However, when Moana is 16 years old, a blight strikes her village. The blight causes the fish catch to decrease and also kills the vegetation. Moana suggests that an expedition to the other side of the reef would reveal the reason why the fish catch had decreased dramatically while at the same time bring a new catch of fish back to the village. However, her father Tui forbids such an expedition to be undertaken. Whichever way, Moana attempts to conquer the reef but fails miserably and instead is washed back to Motunui following a shipwreck.

Tala, Moana’s grandmother, shows her a secret cave. The cave holds a large number of ships. Tala tells Moana that the people of Motunui were once voyagers up until the time that Maui stole Te Fiti’s heart. The ocean’s safety has since been compromised. Tala also tells Moana that the island was being poisoned by Te Kā’s darkness. She also tells her granddaughter the cure to the island’s deliberating state lies in Moana finding the heart of Te Fiti and ensuring that Maui returns it to the goddess. Soon after, Tala falls ill, and as she lays on her deathbed, she tells Moana that it is her duty to find the relic stone; hence, she should set out and find Maui.

Moana sets sail on a camakau, which she takes from the secret cave. However, while on sea, a storm stirs the waters, and Moana is caught in the eye of the storm. When the storm finally settles, Moana finds herself swept to the very island where Maui inhabits. Maui goes on to boast of his years of achievements, which he has also imprinted in his skin as tattoos. Moana demands that Maui should return the stolen stone, but instead of complying, Maui traps her inside a cave. However, Moana manages to escape from the cave and finds Maui. Maui lets her into the camakau but with a lot of reluctance. While on the sea, a band of pirates armored with coconuts attacks them. The Kakamora are also after the heart of Te Fiti. Despite being outnumbered by the Kakamora, Maui and Moana defeat the band of pirates. Moana, at this point, also realizes that  Maui is not the hero of yesteryears. After stealing the heart of Te Fiti, thus cursing the world, Maui lost his glory as a hero and demigod. Moana convinces Maui that by returning the heart, he will redeem himself.

To continue with the journey, Maui first needs to travel to the Realm of Monsters known as Lalotai. A giant coconut crab by the name of Tamatoa has Maui’s fishhook. When Moana gets to Lalotai, Moana distracts Tamatoa, which allows Maui to retrieve his fishhook. However, Maui quickly realizes that he does not possess the shape-shifting powers he once possessed. Tamatoa out-powers Maui, however, Moana thinks fast and helps both her and Maui to escape with the magical fishhook. Maui then reveals that the first tattoo he got was when he was an infant. The gods felt pity for him after his parents abandoned him and, therefore, gave him the powers he once possessed. Maui teaches Moana how to sail after much convincing, regains control of his lost powers, and strengthens the bond between the two.

The two arrive at the island where they are to find Te Fiti. Te Kā awaits them and attacks them, and Maui’s fishhook is damaged badly. Moana is not ready to abandon the mission at hand. Maui, on the other hand, does not want to lose his fishhook and thus abandons Moana at sea. Moana loses hope and, with tears and discouragement, asks the sea to choose someone else to restore the heart of Te Fiti. The ocean heeds her plea and takes her heart, and Tala’s spirit that had been accompanying her disappears. Moana is inspired to find her real calling. She proceeds to find the heart and decides to confront Te Kā by herself. At this time, Maui has had a change of heart and returns and takes to fight Te Kā. This gives Moana an opportunity to reach Te Fiti. Maui’s fishhook is destroyed by Te Kā in the fight. However, when Moana gets to Te Fiti’s island, she finds that she is missing but soon realizes that Te Kā is actually Te Fiti, whose spirit has been corrupted because of losing her heart. Moana asks the ocean to make a path for her in the waters, and she reaches to Te Fiti/ Te Kā, and gives her the heart. Once Te Fiti gets hold of the heart, nature and vegetation magically begin to restore to its old beautiful self, including Te Fiti herself. The island is rid of blight, and Maui receives a new fishhook from Te Fiti. The goddess also gives Moana a new camakau to sail back home. Te Fiti then falls into a deep slumber and becomes a mountain full of beautiful vegetation.

Culture in Moana

The Western world has long been intrigued by the Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures. According to Xella et al., (2013). The Polynesians are accredited with the first technology that allowed people to cross the Pacific. The Polynesians crossed the oceans to inhabit the dot lands, which are the islands they inhabit today. However, before setting in the islands, there was a long pause of sea travelers from cruising the waters (Hamacher & Guedes, 2017). This long pause is what the movie Moana depicts. For close to two millennia, there seemed to be no travels from the mainland of Polynesia to the small islands. This long pause has been argued to be due to a lack of boating technology capable of overcoming the natural forces, including the strong winds. However, when the Polynesians finally resumed their water travels, they did so with much gusto. They soon reached the islands of New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii (Xella et al.,2013).

In AD 300-600, the Marquesas’ Islands Polynesians reached the Hawaiian Islands. They settled and began farming near the waters. The Tahitians arrived later after hundreds of years. The Tahitians inhabited the islands for years before the arrival of Westerners in the 1700s (Xella et al., 2013).

The movie Moana brings cultures across the Polynesian triangle into one tale. Motunui, though fictional, appears to be in reference to the entire Hawaiian Islands. However, it is possible that Moana’s village is in reference to Mot Nui that forms part of Rapa Nui Easter Island or the Maori territory in New Zealand (Leslie, 2017). Additionally, Moana emphasizes the culture of the Polynesian by expressing her need to be a Wayfinder. A Wayfinder was a skilled voyager who would find his way on the waters by sight with no help from any kind of instrument (Miyose, 2019). The soundtrack of the movie comprises of some Tokelaun language lyrics. The language is spoken in New Zealand and Samoa. Most of the movie’s cast comes from Polynesian heritage. Further, Maui is a mix of the different tribes of Polynesia’s interpretation of the mythical demigod (Tamaira & Fonoti, 2018).

Tattoos are another symbol in the movie and which are an identifying part of the Polynesian cultures. There are several scenes that showcase tattoos with the most tattooed character being Maui. Moana’s father also adorns tattoos, and so does her grandmother. (Nauta 2018)Points out that in the past, women were as tattooed as much as men were, and it was in fact considered more sacred. In the culture of the Samoans, men were inked from the hip to the knee and full body. Women, on the other hand, were tattoed on the hand, legs or thighs with smaller sized tattoos. Girls who reached the age of 12 years got hand tattoos that allowed them to participate in ceremonies and rituals such as preparation of the traditional narcotic drink or wash the dead. New Zealand women got Moko tattoos beneath their mouths to mark special occasions and rite of passage to adulthood.

Although the movie strived to depict the culture of the Polynesians, it failed in some areas. These areas would raise criticism among the Hawaiian tribes (Lauer, 2017). For example, Maui is indeed a demigod who works to bring good to humankind. He is known to be a teenage boy. However, the movie depicts him as an unintelligent, obese man. This depiction was offensive to the Polynesian culture. The Hawaiians were offended and did not want their children to see such a degrading depiction of their sacred demigod. Additionally, Disney failed to include Maui’s companion, known as Hina (Garcia, 2017). Every god in the Polynesian culture had a goddess accompanying him, and this was a demonstration of harmony in the world. By leaving out Hina, the goddess companion of Maui, the movie omitted a large portion of Polynesian culture. The Kakamora are also wrongly depicted in the movie. They are not coconut-wielding, dirty-looking pirates, as the movie shows. Instead, the mythical tribe is short-statured and hails from the Solomon Islands. They are similar in appearance to the dwarfs in Menehune.

Religion and Theology in Moana

The film Moana begins by detailing the ancient history of how men interacted with gods. Maui, the demigod, interacted with people, and the movie incorporates folk religious elements such as this. The polytheist atmosphere is introduced in the film’s opening scenes with gods being mentioned. These gods are mentioned several other times, thus subtly displaying polytheism.

In Polynesian language, the name Moana means sea. The ocean plays a very central role in the entire movie. The name Moana has a significant connotation for the Hawaiian people because the name Ku-hai-moana is the Shark god, while the word Moana refers to the act of worship (Banh, 2020).  In the movie, Moana, the soon-to-be-chief of Motunui, has an unusual attraction to the sea. The ocean, too, has a similar attraction and calls to her. This strong bond that Moana has with the sea strengthens her role as the ideal person to represent the virtues and culture of the sea-oriented polytheist people (Aronen, 2020).

Further, the film is rife with references and symbolism of modern religions. Some of these include references to an aversion to pork eating, reincarnation, and the sea splitting as it did during the time the Israelites crossed the Red Sea after Moses parted the waters. Additionally, the ocean is also an analog of the God of the Israelites; Moana’s grandmother at the opening of the movie states that “in the beginning, there was only ocean”, while the Bible also states that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (NIV Genesis 1:1-2).” Moana’s grandmother also says that the ocean gave rise to Te Fiti, who is the mother island and who also created all life. This explanation is similar to what some theistic evolutionists ascribe to in relating Darwinian and God’s creation.

However, an under-current that is ever present with Moana is the question of why the sea does not help her more than it does. This evokes the real-life philosophy of why the problem of evil is not solved by a strong god. Simply put, if god (the sea) is so powerful, why did it not solve the problem of evil by itself without having to involve Moana? When the Kamakora surrounds Maui and Moana, she cries for help from the ocean, and Maui tells her: “The Ocean doesn’t help you. You help yourself.” This is an awkward sentiment, seeing that Moana has seen the ocean live and move, but brings the classic argument that “God only helps those who help themselves.” Further, in the same way, God is said to work in mysterious ways even during one’s time of tribulation; the sea does the same for Moana. A storm arises on the ocean, and shipwrecks Moana camakau. She later finds that the waters have washed her ashore at a beach where Maui lives.

Conclusion

The story of Moana is one of heroism and courage. Moana believes in a better world and that only she can make that happen. For years, her villagers, including her father, the chief of the village, had not gathered the courage to change the situation they lived in. Moana knew how to follow the sound and leading of the ocean. This is similar to other religions of the world, where listening to the voice and guidance of a higher being leads one to fulfill their life’s calling. Moana stood against evil even when the ocean seemed not to help her, and this made her a stronger person, confident in the mission she wanted to fulfill. Religion teaches that adversity is allowed on one’s life so as to strengthen an individual’s will and character to become a better person, capable of living out their destiny, for the good of the world that such a person lives in.

References

Aronen, A. (2020). ” The Ocean chose me”: how Disneyfication has affected the Disney movie Moana.

Banh, J. (2020). Moana, which means “ocean,” is Disney’s 2016 “princess of color.”. Recasting the Disney Princess in an Era of New Media and Social Movements, 129.

Campbell, J. (1988). Ep. 1: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth — ‘The Hero’s Adventure’https://billmoyers.com/content/ep-1-joseph-campbell-and-the-power-of-myth-the-hero%E2%80%99s-adventure-audio/

Garcia, M. (2017). From Texas to Aotearoa: the Indigenous Turn to Communal Identity and Respect for Tradition in Disney’s Moana. IU South Bend Undergraduate Research Journal, 17, 48-53.

Hamacher, D. W., & Guedes, C. B. (2017). How far they’ll go: Moana shows the power of Polynesian celestial navigation. The Conversation.

Lauer, S. (2017). Moana: Magical Realism Rewrites Disney Formula. Cinematic Codes Review, 2(2), 68.

Leslie, C. (2017). Island idols: Custom, courage and culture in Disney’s’ Moana’. Screen Education, (86), 18.

Miyose, C. Y. (2019). We know the way”: Culture–nature relationship and Kuleana in Disney’s Moana. Popular Culture Review, 30(2), 157-181.

Nauta, M. (2018). Walt Disney’s Moana,“We are Polynesia”: A CDA of Disney’s representation of the Polynesian culture inside Moana.

Tamaira, A. M. K., & Fonoti, D. (2018). Beyond Paradise? Retelling Pacific Stories in Disney’s Moana. the contemporary pacific, 30(2), 297-327.

Xella, P., Quinn, J., Melchiorri, V., & Van Dommelen, P. (2013). Phoenician bones of contention. Antiquity, 87(338), 1199-1207.

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critically critique the film Moana on its anthropology, religion, and theology

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