Moana
Disney’sMoanawas breathe in by Polynesian myth , history , and culture and has been wide praised for its efforts at cultural authenticity . The film tells the story of Moana ( voiced by Auli’i Cravalho ) , daughter of Motunui ’s chief Tui , who is chosen by the ocean to rejoin the goddess Te Fiti ’s center to her after it was slip by the shape - shifting demigod Maui ( voiced by Dwayne ‘ The Rock ’ Johnson ) and lost to the depths of the sea .
When director Ron Clements and John Musker pitched their thought to then - Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter for a Polynesian mythology - inspired exalt film , the latter send word for the man to go on research trip . Over the five years it lease to develop and grow the movie , Clements and Musker travelled to Fiji , Tahiti and Samoa , and enter expert from across the South Pacific to the Oceanic Story Trust to confabulate on the photographic film ’s cultural accuracy and mental representation . anthropologist , historians , cultural practitioner , linguist , tattoo artist , elders , fishermen , and others were assembledto advise on the film ’s most minute details .
link : Moana : Why Pua The Pig Stayed Behind On The Island
Though the initial pitch centered on tales of the demigod Maui , the level was eventually reframed to secernate that of Moana , a strong - willed girl kept away from the sea by her parents until a blight strikes her island , killing Pisces and vegetation alike . AsMoana ’s opening scenes explain , when the mother island Te Fiti , who yields the power to produce life and bring other islands to world , has her heart - an engraved pounamu ( a stone of great ethnical significance in Māori culture , and which is reckon a taonga , or gem ) - steal by Maui , her island begins to worsen and give out a powerful wafture of dark . Now in ownership of her heart , Maui is assail by the ardour daemon Te Kaand loses both his magical Pisces hook and Te Fiti ’s heart to the sea . The swarthiness is what institute blight to Moana ’s home and what motivates her to defy her parent ’ wishing and venture on her journey across the ocean to preserve her people , a millennium after the heart ’s larceny .
Moana Learns Wayfinding & References The Long Pause
The audience learns thatMoana ’s peoplehave long since halt voyaging and have placed a tabu ( itself a Holy Writ of Tongan origin ) on belong beyond the island ’s reef , which is why Moana ’s father reacts with anger when she suggest fish outside its limits . This source what scholars call the " Long Pause " in Polynesian history . Western Polynesia was colonized three and a half millennia ago by people who travelled yard of miles across the weewee using Stone Age technology and somehow pick up small-scale island amidst the expanse that is the gravid ocean on the planet . These explorers then travelled back and forth to determine their newfound house . Yet while those island in the West , including Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga , were rapidly colonized , it was another 2,000 old age before they settle the island of Central and Eastern Polynesia , including Tahiti , Bora Bora , Easter Island and Hawai’i , a mere 500 to 1,500 years ago .
No one knows why the Polynesians stop voyaging for so long , nor why they decide to once again adventure east after so many years . Migration scholars have suppose on a number of reasons , from ciguatera fish intoxication from toxic alga bloom of youth to favorable nothingness make by a sustained period of El Niño ( a warming of median sea temperatures ) . The enduring closed book of the Long Pause is where Disney find originative freedom withMoana ’s news report . After coevals spent on land because the " wickedness " has made the seas too treacherous , Moana inspires her mass to rediscover the art of wayfinding and to initiate exploring once again .
determine to sail the water prove a pregnant part ofMoana ’s persona arc , and this emphasis pays homage to the cultural significance of traditional Polynesian navigation , method acting which are still taught in Taumako . Polynesian seafaring involved some navigational instrument that long raven those used by European Explorer , but also depended intemperately on observing the star and other sign from the sky and sea and on cognition passed through unwritten custom . Navigation was a exact skill , and its techniques , along with outrigger canoe construction methods , were keep as guild secrets .
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Maui The Demigod Is Assembled From Different Polynesian Myths
Moana is taught wayfinding by Maui , the Polynesian demigod . In the movie , Maui recounts his victories and escapade through his move tattoos ( interestingly , " tattoo " is a loan of Samoan origin ) andthe words of " You ’re Welcome . “Much ofMoanais the resolution of Disney compound aspect of dissimilar Polynesian cultures , and The Rock ’s character is no exclusion . With versions of Maui live in various mannikin in culture across most of the Pacific Islands , to createMoana ’s mythic character , Disney amalgamated many story about the daemon and a serving of creative license , for example in make Maui an orphan to draw sympathy .
In traditional Māori traditional knowledge , Maui , much like his Disney twin , draws much of his strength from his magical fishhook . The stories tell of how Maui used his come-on to pull up the Pacific Islands which make Polynesia . There was somecontroversy about the initial design for Disney ’s Maui , as the terminal look was criticized by some for cause Maui seem obese , which feeds into negative stereotypes of Polynesian men . However , many others found no issue with this look of Maui ’s depicting , argue that the demigod count powerful and larger - than - life history , as one would expect a demigod should .
The biggest variety , initiated by the Oceanic Trust , was to his hair : the original invention hadMaui , much like his vocalization actor , be altogether bald . trustfulness fellow member and Tahitian ethnical practitioner Hinano Murphy explained [ viaVanity Fair ] that when he first check the study , he tell the animators that“we have to put more hair on Maui ’s oral sex because it ’s very important . The mana is in the hairsbreadth , the power of the demigod . It expect just like he was au naturel . For us , it was really important . ”In many Melanesian and Polynesian cultures , mana is the spiritual life force , vitality , or healing power that can survive in objects , place , and persons . Mana is a foundation of the Polynesian worldview , and so to give Maui a full head of curls was a picture of the essence to abide by Polynesian culture .
The Devil Is In The Details
The two most important function of Moana ’s journeying , her take wayfinding and her relationship with Maui , were pull in from Polynesian history and inspired by their mythology . Thanks to the Oceanic Trust however , there are many other item that enrichMoana ’s story . From the traditional fale ( Samoan houses ) , Chief Tui ’s pe’a ( traditional male person tattoo of Samoa ) , the canoes being drawn in intricate detail and base off ancient Fijian - manner boats , and the variety of pit used to cook food in , to Moana ’s wear being made from materials and designs authentic to the time and civilisation , Moanaweaves a rich tapestry of arcminute but deeply precise details . It just goes to show what can be accomplished when creative studio work to consult the right people .
Next : Moana 2 Updates : Release Info , Story , Will It Happen ?
