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Guess I chose the right tattoo

I just finished watching Moana (2016) with my mother and

spatch. I can't believe that music lost out to La La Land. Also, Zootopia better have been some kind of artistic landmark, because I'm willing to bet it didn't have hand-drawn animated tattoos, a bedazzled neon monster crab, or a sea I wanted to swim in.

I had seen Auliʻi Cravalho perform "How Far I'll Go" at the Oscars in February; I knew surprisingly little about the film otherwise, although that had not prevented me from being impressed by Philip Odango's Maui cosplay. I'm sorry I missed it in theaters. I am normally a hard sell on computer-generated rather than traditional animation, but the super/natural world of Moana is beautifully done, the star-thick skies, the curl and shatter of the waves, a green and flowering goddess settling herself to an island's sleep again. I'm not in a position to comment on the accuracy of the film's mythological representation, although I recognized most of the stories Maui tells about himself (the eel into coconuts one was new to me), but I really enjoyed seeing a movie whose trickster figure is a real trickster, not just the malevolent side of chaos. I like Moana as a protagonist—her sea-longing, her sense of humor, her stubbornness and her occasional incredulity that her life now involves having to fight tiny spiky sentient pirate coconuts over the world's most clueless chicken; I like that her conflicts with her family and with Maui are not gendered. Her return to Motunui with her grandmother's necklace around her throat and an outrigger canoe gifted her by a goddess, a wayfinder, a hero, makes me think someone else read Armstrong Sperry's Call It Courage (1940) as a child and wanted a better ending. The bond between her and her grandmother is the sort of thing that causes me to cry through a movie. I have also heard much worse reincarnation ideas than a manta ray. My mother made the connection between Te Kā and Te Fiti even before the film revealed it: once you remove the ability of a Pacific island to flower into life, of course all that's left is the volcanic rock, the earth cracking into the sea. The writers of Moana handle it a little differently than Lloyd Alexander, but I realized after the fact that Maui's final willingness to sacrifice his fishhook—his magic, the only thing he thinks makes the difference between a shape-changing culture hero and an unwanted child—called out the same response in me as Fflewddur's sacrifice of his harp. I had somehow missed that Dwayne Johnson can sing.

Is the film an authentic depiction of pre-colonial Polynesia? I don't see how it could be; first of all, there's a whole lot of cultures bracketed in that description, and despite the credited participation of the Oceanic Story Trust, which I appreciated seeing, both directors Ron Clements and John Musker and screenwriter Jared Bush were white and not as far as I can tell from anywhere in the relevant regions themselves. It's a Disney movie. They're adapting to the concept of diverse creators slightly faster than the subduction of the Pacific Plate. But its attention to material culture is notable, it does seem to have taken care with some traditions, and I'm still amused that the only actor in the main voice cast who is not of Polynesian descent is Alan Tudyk, voicing the above-mentioned chicken. (I'm also weirdly pleased that I have apparently heard enough Flight of the Conchords to recognize Jermaine Clement by his Bowie impression.) I hadn't heard of Opetaia Foa’i or Te Vaka before tonight, which may mark the first time a Disney musical has actually introduced me to musicians I plan to pursue beyond the soundtrack; I don't speak Samoan, Tokelauan, or Tuvaluan, so I am not the intended audience for some of Foa’i's lyrics and that's all right. I am glad they are in the languages they are in and I can appreciate the ones written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, since I'm pretty sure he's the best English-language lyricist Disney's had since Howard Ashman. Also, I realize that snappy, poppy, intermittently immature dialogue is a necessary component of a modern Disney film, but in the persistent wake of Girl of the Port (1930) and the convention of confining indigenous characters to pseudo-pidgin or formal speech, I am cool with a cast composed entirely of Pasifika characters who get lines as lofty as "Nope!", "Fish pee in you! All day!" and "Really? Blowdart in my butt cheek?" I mean, there are also serious conversations about responsibility, apology, healing the world, growing up. There are powerful, wordless sequences between human characters, nonhuman characters, elements of the natural world. There's a shot of a conch shell that speaks volumes. But also an accidentally half-shark trickster glumly describing his chances of beating a lava spirit with a well-deserved grudge as "bupkes."

I have had a migraine for about three days now and correspondingly haven't slept except for a couple of hours this afternoon, so I know this post is more notes than extended consideration, but I liked Moana so much, I wanted at least to mention it. It's funny, it's numinous, it celebrates traditional Polynesian navigation, it has no villain in the usual sense and I love its idea of a heroic happy ending, horizon, spray, steering by the swell and the stars. My mother tells me that my niece has imprinted to the point of going around randomly quoting the dialogue, so between Gramma Tala and "Shark head!" I'm wondering if she might like to visit the aquarium to pet the sharks and rays.

handful_ofdust, thanks for the DVD! I will acquire the soundtrack on my own time. This voyage brought to you by my sea-called backers at Patreon.

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'Rolling down to old Maui'..............

Without in any way intending to make an overall definitive statement on the film's accuracy to pre-colonial Polynesia, I'll say that it rang pretty true to the research I did when writing Voyage of the Basilisk. And, in a similar vein to what I was aiming for with that book, I take it as a plausible depiction of Polynesia rather than any specific location therein: that is, it feels to me like it fits believably within that culture sphere, like these could maybe be a handful of islands somewhere in the Pacific that just don't happen to be the ones we know.

All of the above accompanied by a heaping spoonful of "I did this research several years ago and certainly didn't become an expert" salt. Maybe I could just say, it was accurate enough to make me pleased that I saw things I recognized from my reading being represented on the screen.

I take it as a plausible depiction of Polynesia rather than any specific location therein: that is, it feels to me like it fits believably within that culture sphere, like these could maybe be a handful of islands somewhere in the Pacific that just don't happen to be the ones we know.

I agree that it feels like it's taking place in our history rather than a Polynesian-inspired secondary world. I liked that. It makes the recognition of the voyaging all the more significant.

Maybe I could just say, it was accurate enough to make me pleased that I saw things I recognized from my reading being represented on the screen.

That's a legitimate data point! Thank you for it.

I think your niece would *love* to pet the sharks and rays--I sure would.

It *is* funny and numinous, and I loved the care they took with costumes and the sails and things like that. It made me spontaneously well up with tears at moments.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it

I think your niece would *love* to pet the sharks and rays--I sure would.

Okay, so the next time you're in Boston for any appreciable length of time, we should go to the aquarium.

It made me spontaneously well up with tears at moments.

I just cried through any scene involving her grandmother, including the manta skimming under the wave in the final scenes.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

I really did! It was a good sea-movie on top of everything else.

I've been subscribed to Te Vaka's YouTube channel ever since I saw MOANA.

Whereas I found the music in LaLaLand both boring and forgettable. In fact, I fast forwarded through a lot of it after one tedious verse, and the fact that the female lead could not dance.

I've been subscribed to Te Vaka's YouTube channel ever since I saw MOANA.

That is very understandable.

In fact, I fast forwarded through a lot of it after one tedious verse, and the fact that the female lead could not dance.

I don't understand this new craze for musicals stocked with people who aren't even two-thirds of a triple threat. That to me is not a successful deconstruction of the form; it's a headache.

And the male lead can't sing. . .I have a copy of the score, and it's even more boring as sheet music. There's ONE melody--and it's not very original.

Yep.

The bond between her and her grandmother is the sort of thing that causes me to cry through a movie.

I cried great heaving sobs at the moment when grandma says "Go," and Moana heads out through the reef to "How Far I'll Go" with a glittering manta ray figure in the water beneath her. I cried again at the grandmother's love and support for her when all seems lost and beyond her. (Some of this is that my grandmother helped raise me, and she died a couple of years back, and now I cry at grandmother-grandchild bonds in films, which are rare enough. Some of it... is it was just that powerful.)

I cried again the second time I saw it.

(Some of this is that my grandmother helped raise me, and she died a couple of years back, and now I cry at grandmother-grandchild bonds in films, which are rare enough. Some of it... is it was just that powerful.)

I have cried at grandmother-grandchild bonds since even before my grandmother died twenty years ago (oh, God, how is it twenty years: the last movie I saw with her in a theater was Fly Away Home (1996) and it was a dead mother in that story, not a grandmother, but Mary Chapin Carpenter sang "Ten Thousand Miles" like the ghost of the protagonist's mother staying with her every mile between Ontario and North Carolina and I started crying anyway, because she had been out of breath just walking the block from the car to the theater and I knew something then even if I didn't want to), but this was a very strong one.

*hugs*

*hugs*

So glad you responded to this in pretty much the same way I did. We showed it to Cal again recently; he kept quoting Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, which I think is his way of signalling that something is getting too scary for him, but he stayed the course otherwise and definitely enjoyed "Shiny" more than he seemed like he did the first time 'round.

So glad you responded to this in pretty much the same way I did.

It was a wonderful thing to watch at the end of a hard day. It made my mother cry, too. Did you ever write about it?

We showed it to Cal again recently; he kept quoting Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, which I think is his way of signalling that something is getting too scary for him, but he stayed the course otherwise and definitely enjoyed "Shiny" more than he seemed like he did the first time 'round.

"Shiny" is the kind of villain song that would have seriously distressed me as a child. Fortunately, as an adult, I think it's amazing.

some links and a con panel report: http://kate-nepveu.dreamwidth.org/986129.html

some links and a con panel report

That is a lot of useful information; thank you!

welcome!

welcome!

I don't mean this sarcastically: the differing perspectives on the same material are instructive. For example, one of the reasons I liked that Moana's conflicts were not gender-based (her father isn't overprotective because she's a daughter rather than a son, Maui even at his most obnoxious picks on her youth, her inexperience, and her humanity instead of her gender) was specifically because sexism is so often used to feed into racism: ah, yes, these silly primitive people, you see, they don't know how to appreciate their women and that's why our heroine is so unhappy in her home culture, but don't worry, by the end of the story they'll have invented white Western-style feminism and everything will be fine; it felt positive to me that Moana avoided even getting near that trope. But I understand that for Fangirl Jeanne it just felt like a gloss over the historical reality of gender dynamics that functioned differently from those of the white American mainstream; it was romanticization at worst, a missed opportunity at best. I liked Moana not having a romantic interest because it is important to me to have stories where love and desire are not the only motivations in view; nevertheless, the playing field of who is shown to deserve love and reciprocated desire is still not level. The coconut/Kakamora issue that the Smithsonian article points out went entirely past me—I figured if anything they were coconuts so that the film could include a pirate sequence without maligning any particular ethnic group, whoops. (I'm amused I wasn't the only person who thought of Call It Courage. Also not by a Pasifika writer.) None of these things means that I don't still have "Shiny" stuck in my head.

So once again, yes, more diverse media, both brilliant and only kind of okay. It won't solve all the problems, but it will reduce the zero-sum.

Thank you for the link to Opetaia Foa'i's live performance of "We Know the Way."

Edited (some grammatical stuff) 2017-08-12 06:27 (UTC)

glad it was helpful!

Arthur felt that "You're Welcome" was the obvious choice for an Oscar nomination, but then we wouldn't have been able to see Cravalho's poised reaction (ignoring) to being grazed by one of the fabric things.

Odango's cosplay is impressive, as opposed to the pre-Halloween controversy
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/09/21/disney-moana-costume-maui/90814040/
At the Disney Princess Enchanted 10K in February, there were a few runners clearly meant to be Moana, but in clothing only, no blackface equivalent, as far as I could see.

Arthur felt that "You're Welcome" was the obvious choice for an Oscar nomination, but then we wouldn't have been able to see Cravalho's poised reaction (ignoring) to being grazed by one of the fabric things.

My mother's choice was "We Know the Way," partly because of the languages and partly because she just likes the sweep of it, but agrees it wouldn't have shown off Cravalho, who is after all the protagonist; the arrangement would have needed to include her.

She got hit in the head with a wave and didn't miss a breath! A trouper.

At the Disney Princess Enchanted 10K in February, there were a few runners clearly meant to be Moana, but in clothing only, no blackface equivalent, as far as I could see.

That's good.

Your godchild will also GLADLY give a rendition of 'How Far I'll Go' and appreciates Moana's physical strength and capability. Your godchild is also, however, still completely, entirely, fabulously tone deaf and those big notes soar in all directions. It must be the donor.

Your godchild is also, however, still completely, entirely, fabulously tone deaf and those big notes soar in all directions. It must be the donor.

I still want to hear her.

Reason likes the three song-sized clips she's heard (and watched) from YouTube. :P (I prefer "We Know the Way" to "How Far I'll Go" because (a) prickles from the former the first time I saw the clip and (b) the latter's ending with the swinging boom echoes Anna's stumble in Frozen, but like, isn't there another way to show that a girl's confidence can have reasonable external limits not yet encompassed by the determined girl? Reason was about your niece's current age when everyone that size was mad for Frozen; she still finds whole films too much, too scary and/or too sense-overloading.) I imagine that your niece would adore visiting the sharks.

I prefer "We Know the Way" to "How Far I'll Go" because (a) prickles from the former the first time I saw the clip

Yes.

and (b) the latter's ending with the swinging boom echoes Anna's stumble in Frozen, but like, isn't there another way to show that a girl's confidence can have reasonable external limits not yet encompassed by the determined girl?

Agreed. I haven't seen Frozen (did you like it? Moana appears to be the first Disney movie I've seen since Lilo & Stitch in 2002), but she could have gotten at least a beat before her own strictly theoretical sailing knowledge undercut her. I was in sympathy every time her wet hair smacked her in the face, though; I've had that happen.

I imagine that your niece would adore visiting the sharks.

I'll ask her the next time I see her.

did you like it?

Frozen is miles better than The Little Mermaid (at which some classmates and I laughed during high school, so perhaps not a high bar), but in general I'm underexposed to Disney films, esp. recentish ones, and I'm happy to leave it thus. I haven't seen Brave, e.g., which I might like if I did see it. Frozen certainly captured the imaginations of little kids beyond the direct result of marketing exposure, however: in Reason's preschool class of yore, there were four or five Halloween Elsas, and one was a boy (with an older sister).

The bit from Frozen that I'm thinking of is the very end of "For the First Time in Forever," which is mostly not on YT as a clip. Here's a Thai fan version. Their English subs aside, during the last few seconds (as Anna skips towards the waterfront) the words are, "For the first time in forever / For the first time in forever / Nothing's in my way," and then she trips.

I haven't seen Moana entire yet. (Spoilers don't matter--just didn't want to imply by accident that I have.)

I saw Moana for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I loved it, so reading this review was lovely. ^_^

Also, I had a chance to pet rays in Toronto a couple of years back, and that was wonderful too. I hope your niece feels up to doing it!

I saw Moana for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I loved it, so reading this review was lovely.

Thank you!

Also, I had a chance to pet rays in Toronto a couple of years back, and that was wonderful too. I hope your niece feels up to doing it!

They're so silky. And so elegantly flowing. And at least the ones at the New England Aquarium seem to be aware of the concept of petting—some of them never glide underneath your hand and some of them keep circling back.

I cry multiple times I watch the movie, every time. It will endure, while Zootopia is already being (deservedly) forgotten, which is a judgment I make with no malice despite the fact that LIN AND MOANA WERE ROBBED. I saw both in theaters, and Zootopia was fun, but applying even 10 seconds' worth of critical thought to the concept will demonstrate why making animals an allegory for race is very bad, no, don't do that. And I can't say I remember the songs from Zootopia, whereas I walked out of the theater the first time I saw Moana singing parts of "You're Welcome" to myself.

I cry multiple times I watch the movie, every time.

This may well turn out to be true of me. "We Know the Way" gives me consistent chills.

It will endure, while Zootopia is already being (deservedly) forgotten, which is a judgment I make with no malice despite the fact that LIN AND MOANA WERE ROBBED.

I thought so on the night! Hearing the rest of the soundtrack has done nothing to dissuade me.

I saw both in theaters, and Zootopia was fun, but applying even 10 seconds' worth of critical thought to the concept will demonstrate why making animals an allegory for race is very bad, no, don't do that.

I don't think I'd realized that was part of the premise. Yikes.

And I can't say I remember the songs from Zootopia, whereas I walked out of the theater the first time I saw Moana singing parts of "You're Welcome" to myself.

Oh, God, that song was stuck in my head for a solid day, and then it only went away because it was replaced with "Shiny." And now it's back.

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Guess I chose the right tattoo

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