Moana

Disney’s Moana is a beautiful story of strength and courage, and has been widely praised as the first Disney film to feature a princess character with no love story whatsoever. It is the Disney film that I wish I had grown up with, and has taken Disney forward significantly with their female protagonists. The closest Disney character Moana can be compared to is Mulan, neither are technically princesses, and yet they stand as the princess figures who save entire nations through their bravery, determination, and intelligence. However, there is something refreshing in Moana’s ability to embrace her femininity throughout the film and fight her cause wearing a skirt, whereas Mulan, staying true to the legend the story is based on, had to first prove herself as a man to gain the respect of her peers before being able to be a hero as a woman.

Furthermore, notably, it is one of the first Disney films where almost all of the most important characters are female. It is Moana’s grandmother who saves the heart of Te Fiti from being pulled out again by the waves when Moana is a toddler, educates her on her cultural background, inspires and empowers Moana to believe the ocean chose her to fulfil her mission when she was old enough, and helps her to believe in her strength to face her challenges alone later in the film when Maui has abandoned her. The mother figures in Disney films are often absent or a cause of conflict, yet in Moana the mother is a supportive character who helps her to both understand and navigate around her father’s intentions without demonising him for trying to restrict Moana’s potential. Even the female island goddess that needs saving is not a stereotypical damsel in distress, and is instead portrayed as the most powerful threat throughout much of the film with her true identity hidden, until Moana realises who she is and is able to communicate with her, successfully restoring Te Fiti to her peaceful state. Maui is the one truly essential male character in Moana, and yet it is only in his absence that Moana is able to fulfil her full potential and believes that she can restore the heart of Te Fiti herself, whereas before she believed her responsibility lay in only delivering Maui so that he could be the hero.

Maui is also important in being, to an extent, a mirror of some of Moana’s characteristics, as they are both stubborn and proud, which Moana’s grandmother describes in the song Where You Are, yet in Maui this is shown to be detrimental to his success. He abandons Moana when his powers and, as an extension, how he identifies himself, are at risk, only returning and becoming the hero he wants to be when he lets this part of himself go and embraces his potential vulnerability. Whereas in Moana, these are shown to be her strengths and, coupled with the reassurance and guidance of her grandmother, are the reason she is able to become the hero of her story when needed. Following on from this, in the song I Am Moana, the final line is often misheard as ‘I am a woman’, which although would be an empowering end with the audience having watched a bildungsroman within one song as she begins her verse calling herself a ‘girl’, the true line ‘I am Moana’, is not less empowering. This is due to the fact that Moana sees herself as strong, brave, intelligent, and as a potential hero, without ever losing her girlhood. Maui’s consistent derogatory use of the words ‘little girl’ and ‘princess’ throughout the first half of the film reflects how society treats the feminine words, with ‘like a girl’ and ‘princess’ often being used as insults, yet Moana turns them into positives by finding empowerment not despite being a girl, but in part because of being a girl.

Moana’s more realistic figure has also been a subject of praise for Disney, as she is a step away from the typical cartoonish Disney princess body and instead looks like a real teenage girl, making her more relatable to the film’s younger viewers. This is not the first time Disney has done this, however, with Merida from Brave and many female figures in non-princess Disney films having realistic and diverse bodies, yet with the vast majority of Disney princesses looking fairly doll-like, despite many of them being brilliant female characters with strong personalities, it is still refreshing to see. Moana’s other characteristics that humanise her, such as her humour, quirkiness and clumsiness, are becoming increasingly common in Disney’s female protagonists, but it is the complete lack of a love story or any mention of marriage that truly makes Moana stand out as a Disney princess film. Although there is nothing wrong with creating love stories for female characters, it can only be to Disney’s strength to also present stories where the princess figures can stand alone without the mention of marriage being the norm or needing romance to make their stories complete. Elsa in Frozen is another example of a female Disney royal remaining independent, however her sister’s story largely does revolve around romance, and therefore the film Moana still stands out as being unique in lacking this element entirely.

Additionally, Moana’s beautiful portrayal and celebration of Polynesian culture is, at least from an outsider’s perspective such as my own, wonderful. It embraces what is often overlooked in the mainstream media, with all of the main characters being voiced by actors of Polynesian descent. Followers of Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, and Rachel House’s work will be thrilled to see that they all played important roles in Moana. Clement voiced the comedic and Bowie-esque Tamatoa, with Lin-Manuel Miranda stating that Clement’s song Shiny was inspired by the Flight of the Conchord’s hilarious song Bowie; House voiced Moana’s grandmother, and Waititi was a writer and story boarder in the early stages of the film. Moana skilfully balances adult undertones with humour, a difficult style to do flawlessly, but typical of Waititi’s films as he artfully navigates this into much of his work, making his films stand out as both poignant and humorous, and in turn has made his style well suited to Disney as this approach is also often utilised in their films. The balance of saddening, empowering, and light hearted moments in Moana make the film accessible and enjoyable to both adults and children with its layering of different levels of understanding.

Finally, Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Sherzinger, Temuera Morrison, and Lin-Manuel Miranda all also lend their voices to the film, with Miranda writing much of the music, taking the film to new heights with its remarkable soundtrack. The Oscar nominated song How Far I’ll Go is beautifully sung by Cravalho, and is a credit to Miranda’s musical background as he is able to perfectly articulate and structure a story within the song, allowing the audience to understand Moana’s internal struggle whilst it also expresses that she is not a victim, and instead just needs the opportunity to fulfil her potential. This song is revisited to varying extents twice more in the film, once in the reprised version when Moana sets out on her journey and is guided by her grandmother’s spirit, and later again within the song I Am Moana when her grandmother returns and Moana recognises that the ‘call’ for her to achieve great things has never been from others, but instead comes from within. She also acknowledges that her grandmother will always be a guide and source of reassurance throughout her life. This is reiterated at the end of the film when Moana caresses and gives a knowing smile to a tattooed stingray, and it is unclear whether this is Maui, her grandmother, a deliberate mixture of the two, or just a symbol of her many successes in the film.

To conclude, I think Moana is an excellent film that is dynamic and powerful, and would be an enjoyable viewing experience to all, regardless of whether you have previously been a Disney fan or not. Like all good children’s movies, there are certain jokes and scenes that cater to a younger audience and make the film accessible on a more basic level, however there are also layers of more adult jokes, complex storylines and emotional understandings that make the film interesting and thought provoking to an older audience as well. The film is a stunning and uplifting portrayal of female strength, and I hope Disney continues in Moana’s footsteps to create such interesting and empowering Disney princesses in the future.

Rating: 5/5