“I am Moana of Motunui. You will board my boat, sail across the sea, and restore the heart of Te Fiti.”
Decidedly, this whole post is going to be me showing my whole heart because I just absolutely adore Moana in so many ways. If you haven’t seen Moana and don’t really like Disney movies it’s the perfect mix of reality with actual struggles we face everyday and that light-heartedness that comes with every Disney movie.
Moana follows the story of a young girl who is raised in a village who puts the community and each other over everything. They raise kids, farm, cook, grow, and thrive as one and Moana herself is the daughter of the village chief. From the very beginning of her life Moana has this huge thing expected of her. No matter what she has to stick by what the village has always done, and one of those things is to not travel out into the water. This first idea is what made me fall in love with the movie, we as students, kids, and adults have faced expectations from the people in our life. Expectations that we can feel the weight of everyday and yet still might find ourselves falling into a pattern of what people want us to do, rather then what we love.
(Baby Moana was so adorable)
Moana loves the sea, she has a special connection as its shown through song and scenes how much the ocean calls out to her. Her dad on the other has forbidden it and when things start to die in the village, plants going black, the soil drying out he sticks by what he has always known. Even now, older, watching Moana again for the hundredth time I can see where I become invested and frustrated with what’s happening in the movie. Why cant Moana’s dad just let her try? Why wont he support what she loves to do? Why does it seem like he doesn’t believe in her? Disney is taking these everyday problems that come up between parents and their children and framing it in such a way that captivates their audience and pulls on heartstrings.
(Te Fiti without her heart that was stolen)
As the movie progresses we see Moana start to struggle with herself internally, knowing that if she puts the heart of Te Fiti, a mystical stone that was calming an ancient god back that her village will be restored but to do that she has to turn her back on them first, by herself, and that might be one of the hardest things she has ever done. This journey of self exploration is what makes Moana such an important and loveable movie for kids of all ages and even adults can turn to it in those moments they might not know what to do. Seeing Moana learn to embrace the unknown and start her own journey, when she decides to sail a boat and restore the heart of Te Fiti, rather than the one that has always been expected of her might help someone out their own journey too.
“They have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you.”
(The link will lead you to the song “Know Who You Are”)
I could write so much about this movie, how it challenges your idea of what to expect in an antagonist, how it highlights the importance of balance in family, and gives reassurance to those who might be lost with themselves. Moana is a movie I highly recommend anyone watch whether you are 5 or 25 years old, It has so many more moments and funny songs I haven’t even touched on here and can truly make you laugh or smile on a hard day.
Is there any Disney movies that I should really look at? Whether they’re animated or like Lemonade Mouth.
Definitely a random suggestion but there’s a DCOM called True Confessions. Most people haven’t seen it and it’s criminally underrated.
It is funny I put off watching Moana until last year and I loved it. Watching it for the first time as a senior in highschool allowed me to analyze differently than I would have if I was younger and I did notice many of the aspects you talked about. I did notice Moana try to discover herself as her journey went on. My favorite scene was the “fight” scene at the end of the movie.
I love Moana! Might have the best music of any Disney movie (besides Lemonade Mouth, which you should definitely cover). The tension between her father holding on to the values he’s grown up with and what Moana believes is right is so relatable. Young children might not relate to this theme, but it definitely stands out to teens and young adults.
I actually watched this movie a couple years ago and really enjoyed it! Dwayne Johnson singing was probably the highlight of it for me, but the general idea of child-parent struggles was relatable and you were always kind of pulling for her to break free. I think this is one of the better Disney movies to watch as a teenager rather than younger child.