Although Moana is from the fictional island Motunui some 3,000 years ago, the story and culture of Moana is based on the very real heritage and history of Polynesian islands such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti. In fact, once you start looking for ties to Polynesian culture in Moana, it's hard to stop!
The fictional movie takes place 3,000 years ago in the islands of Polynesia, an area that includes Hawaii, Tonga and Tahiti. The star is 16-year-old Moana, voiced by Hawaiian actress Auli'i Cravalho, who goes on an ocean voyage with Maui, voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The production team that worked on Moana took several trips to Polynesia and the South Pacific, and visited many locations including Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand), Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, Hawaii, and Fiji.
Although Moana is from the fictional island Motunui some 3,000 years ago, the story and culture of Moana is based on the very real heritage and history of Polynesian islands such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti. In fact, once you start looking for ties to Polynesian culture in Moana, it's hard to stop!
Hawaiians are Polynesian. They are descendant of the aboriginal Polynesian people of the South Pacific Islands. They appear to have originated in West Polynesia and arrived on the Hawaiian Islands from the Marquesas Islands.
All showings of the film were entirely in Māori without English subtitles. The film centers around a Polynesian princess named Moana, who travels the sea on an adventure to help bring peace to her homeland. The film borrowed many Māori mythologies in the narrative and sparked debate about cultural sensitivity.
However, the character of Maui is based on a real mythic figure who played a major role in Maori mythology. One way in which Disney's Maui differs from the traditional portrayal of the demigod is that they make him an orphan.
No. While Moana is also a Maori name and not an uncommon female name in NZ, the Disney movie Moana is set in a “ pan-pacific island” backdrop with generic elements of Pasifika. The easy confusion of the OP probably stemmed from the commonality Maori share with other Pacific island culture, as they have the same root.
Some enjoy the movie but believe Maui should have been portrayed as a warrior. "As a proud Polynesian woman, it's not often that you see a film like Moana come out. It headlines our Pasifika culture, and it's lead by our Polynesian artists in the industry.
The animated Disney film, Moana, called Vaiana in the French version, was inspired by The Islands of Tahiti. Disney's creative team visited the islands of Moorea, Tahiti and Huahine, which was the inspiration for the character Te Fiti. Follow our visitor's guide in the footsteps of Moana.
Samoans are mainly of Polynesian heritage, and about nine-tenths of the population are ethnic Samoans. Euronesians (people of mixed European and Polynesian ancestry) account for most of the rest of the population, and a tiny fraction are of wholly European heritage.
Release. Moana 2 is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 27, 2024. A sneak peek at the film is set to screen at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 14, 2024.
In Moana, Disney creators employed some creative license, but they did highlight some actual Polynesian origin myths. In “The Maui Myths,” Maori natives of Tolago (today called Tolaga) Bay, North Island, New Zealand recount Maui's mytho-history which aided in the creation of Moana.
Although Moana's relationship with Maui never extends beyond the platonic level in the film, and although he is a 1,000-year old demigod and she is a 16-year old human, a lot of fans of the film like to put her and Maui in a romantic pairing known as Hooked Wayfinder.
It is a beautiful Hawaiian given name meaning "ocean, sea, or expanse of water." The name has been a firm favorite among Polynesian communities for years, gaining global popularity with the release of Disney's epic animated film in 2016.
Lyrics written in Tuvaluan, Tokelauan, and Samoan remained sung in their original Pacific Islander languages. Watch and listen to the #Tahitian dialogue in #Moana 's Extras on #DisneyPlus.
Clements and Musker set the film at that point in time, about two thousand years ago, on a fictional island in the central Pacific Ocean, which drew inspiration from elements of the real-life island nations of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.
Major group I lineages are common in Remote Oceania and include about 95% of the Native Hawaiian, 90% of the Samoan, and 100% of the Tongan donors in our sample. They contain the region V deletion and generally share three control region transition substitutions.
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; Hawaiian: kānaka, kānaka ʻōiwi, Kānaka Maoli, and Hawaiʻi maoli) are the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Hawaiian islands were first settled by Austronesian people around 900 AD, by the final wave of Pacific Polynesian explorers coming from ancient Taiwan.
