NATIVE HAWAIIAN VOICES
Image courtesy of The Guardian
Moana (2016)
The ideas and information for this section are attributed to Ida Yoshinaga and her article, "Disney's Moana, the Colonial Screenplay, and Indigenous Labor Extraction in Hollywood Fantasy Films," as well as A Mārata Ketekiri Tamaira and Dionne Fonoti and their article, "Beyond Paradise? Retelling Pacific Stories in Disney's Moana."
Instead of focusing on one Polynesian culture, such as Native Hawaiians and Native Hawaiian culture, the creators behind Moana blended multiple Polynesian cultures, including Samoan and Tongan. Although Moana isn’t solely focused on Native Hawaiians and Native Hawaiian culture, aspects are included throughout the film.
Native Hawaiian Representation
Not only does the Moana cast feature a few Native Hawaiian actors, the most notable being Auliʻi Cravalho, the voice of Moana, the entire cast is of Polynesian descent, which is a rare occurrence in popular television and film today. Behind screen, although Native Hawaiian aren’t represented specifically, other Polynesian creators were included in the process, such as Pasifika Voices, a choral group based in Fiji, and musician Opetaia Foaʻi, a member of the pan-Pacific group Te Vaka.
A largly non-native Disney story team was employed for positions like directors and screenwriters, while Pacific Islander cultural workers were hired for short term labor. Taika Waititi, a Polynesian screenwriter, wrote the first draft of Moana, but his ideas weren’t present in the final version of the film. The most significant ideas of the film were credited to American writers, even though the film is inspired by Polynesian stories and cultures, which establishes an American representation of Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian culture.
Portrayal of Native Hawaiians
It can be argued that the opening scene and setting of Moana contributes to the primitive and savage stereotype that is commonly associated with indigenous people. As the film begins, the audience is introduced to children in loin clothes, men in skirts and clamshell necklaces, with women preparing foods like bananas, coconut, and fish. This image perpetuates the idea of “Pacific Paradise” in which Native Hawaiians live in a carefree society with nothing to do but laugh, sing, and dance.
For the most part, Moana accurately represents Native Hawaiians, specifically in the way they look. Moana, as well as the other villagers on Motunui, are authentic representations of Native Hawaiian people, that being thick haired, darker-skinned, curvier and big-bodied. The representations of the people in Moana have been praised by Polynesians, however, many had a problem with the depiction of Māui.
In the beginning of the animation process, Māui was lean and strong but was later altered to his current large and obese state. Obesity is a common negative stereotype that Native Hawaiians experience in the media. It was argued that Māui’s features needed to be exaggerated for the “comical look” because he’s the sidekick in the film. This only perpetuates the negative trope associated with Native Hawaiians.
Image courtesy of USA Today
Depiction of Native Hawaiian Culture
Moana spends the first act of the film describing the culture of the people on Motunui, such as the importance of the land and ocean, which includes the significant practice of voyaging and navigation. But, the writers only introduced enough cultural information to “culture-splain” to western watchers a few important aspects of Polynesian culture.
Excessive info dumping has presented challenges to scriptwriters as it can affect the momentum of the movie, so only relevant aspects that were important to the movie were included so the film could deepen the stakes that Moana had to overcome later in the film. This upset many Polynesian audiences who argued that Moana should have solely focused on one Polynesian culture, rather than blending multiple, so the movie could have done more culturally.
The representation of culture throughout the rest of the movie seemed to focus more on profitability rather than accuracy. The major misrepresentation in the film is Māui’s personality and character. Māui is a significant figure in all Polynesian cultures, although his legend is varied slightly in each culture. Despite this, Māui is a respected ancestor and spiritual protector, and a person of strength and magnitude. However, in Moana he became insecure and narcissistic, resulting in a flat character. Like his physical appearance, his purpose in the film is to provide comic relief but sacrificing his important cultural and political status in Native Hawaiian culture to do so becomes controversial.
Image courtesy of Tour Maui
Various obstacles that Māui and Moana face throughout the film are frivolous and difficult to tie into cultural aspects. The shift towards profitability over accuracy can be seen in Māui and Moana’s encounter with Te Kā, the villainous lava monster. Te Kā can be compared to Pele in Native Hawaiian culture, the goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes. In the film, Te Kā is someone to be feared, however in Native Hawaiian culture, Pele is a cherished ancestor. Presenting Te Kā as a villain gives audiences the wrong impression about how Native Hawaiians view their respected goddess.