Moana Essay 05/28/18
Moana is a Disney movie released on November 23, 2016 by the creators of Frozen and Zootopia. Moana is about a girl that sails out to restore the heart of Te Fiti with the demigod Maui. They both sail across the ocean with some obstacles during the way to restore the heart and get Maui’s hook back. Once they get the hook they later restore the heart after fighting the lava monster. Many viewers were surprised that the creators of this movie were able to almost mimic the life of how Polynesians lived and keep it kid friendly. With all the accurate depiction of this movie, there is some inaccuracy that could have been changed to make the movie more relatable which causes one side to outweigh the other.
Moana mimicked the Polynesian life almost spot on and it had surprised many viewers. Men during that time were very muscular and strong so, Maui’s character was very accurate. In the movie, a man was getting a tattoo on his back from a stick and ink. This is very accurate because back then nearly everyone in ancient Polynesian society was tattooed. These tattoos would show the person’s genealogy, rank in society and sexual maturity. The tattoos told the person’s story of what they have gone through. Maui had a lot of tattoos and each one he had a story for it. Also, The Polynesians also believed in spirits and were told that there was a god for everything like water and a god that was slinging the sun to keeping their days longer and secreting fire to the humans which was supposed to be Maui. In the movie, the water was the god to the people because it helped them give fish without leaving the reef where the danger was. Another Example, Te Fiti was the goddess of giving life and when they restored her heart she got happy and made the life better for the Polynesians and Te Ka was the demon made from magma and lava that was the bad god and didn’t want them to restore the heart. Lastly, In Moana, they wore a lot of ancient jewelry that was made from bones and coconuts while the string was made from human hair, and Polynesians during that time wore a lot of jewelry because it showed their character.
The Polynesians were very advanced in navigation system so, they had very complex boats that helped them make long voyages. In Moana, the boats are the same ones that the Polynesians used back then like the Polynesian Catamaran and this helped the viewer connect more to the culture and also showed what types of boats they used to sail across the ocean. Also, The Polynesians used torches and coconut lamps at night and in the movie when Moana went to hit the drums she was holding a torch to see. The Polynesians are also known for a lot of their traditional dances and they are different dances for different events. In Moana, she was teaching little kids a traditional dance when the little kid started to do...
