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!
If you're short on time, here's a quick answer to your question: Moana is considered both Polynesian and Hawaiian in different respects. She was created by Disney as an amalgamation of various Polynesian cultures and mythologies, but is set specifically on the Hawaiian island of Motunui.
Moana as she appears in Moana (2016). Inspired by Polynesian mythology, Moana is depicted as the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian village, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti.
Disney's Moana has depicted part of Polynesian history in its own way, with some aspects being somewhat factual while others were exaggerated. Disney's Moana is set on the fictional island of Motunui.
(more than nine-tenths) is ethnically Samoan; there are tiny minorities of Tongan and Filipino origin and of people of mixed ethnicity. The Samoans are a Polynesian people closely related to the native peoples of New Zealand, French Polynesia, Hawaii, and Tonga.
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 arrival of fast food restaurants and other contemporary food items on the islands are one of the issues responsible for the obesity in Samoa. The earliest photographs of Samoans provide visual proof of the native population's natural physique before the introduction of processed foods by Western society.
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.
Moana is also the Samoan word for ocean, which is…you got it… blue. Let's look at a few more colours in Samoan, and I'll add a thought (if I can) about how we may have come up with the word for each colour.
Meaning:Trickster god. Maui is a boy's name of Hawaiian and Maori origin. This name belongs to a trickster god in Polynesian mythology, and was also given to one of the Hawaiian islands. The 2016 Disney film Moana brought the name Maui into popular culture with Dwayne Johnson's playful portrayal of the god.
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.
Polynesia is characterized by a small amount of land spread over a very large portion of the mid- and southern Pacific Ocean. It comprises approximately 300,000 to 310,000 square kilometres (117,000 to 118,000 sq mi) of land, of which more than 270,000 km2 (103,000 sq mi) are within New Zealand.
Samoans refer to people from Samoa, a completely different country southwest to the Hawaiian islands - Samoan Americans live in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the US, which is located near Samoa but is on the opposite side of the International Date Line.
Hawaiian, any of the aboriginal people of Hawaii, descendants of Polynesians who migrated to Hawaii in two waves: the first from the Marquesas Islands, probably about ad 400; the second from Tahiti in the 9th or 10th century.
For “Moana,” the filmmakers traveled to the Pacific and met with anthropologists, historians, fisherman and linguists, part of what they came to call the Oceanic Story Trust. The fictional movie takes place 3,000 years ago in the islands of Polynesia, an area that includes Hawaii, Tonga and Tahiti.
In the Disney film Moana, the relationship between Moana and Maui is not romantic because Moana is a sixteen year old girl and Maui is thousands of years old. This is a step up from prior Disney movies.
Native peoples of the Pacific resumed voyaging again a thousand years later. 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.
Disney's Moana hired a board of Polynesian cultural experts to ensure Polynesian history and the myth of Maui were respectfully portrayed. Disney's Moana was inspired by Polynesian myths, history, and culture and has been widely praised for its efforts at cultural authenticity.
Moana—pronounced “moh-AH-nah,” not “MWAH-nah” means “ocean”—and the character is chosen by the sea itself to return the stolen heart of Te Fiti, who turns out to be an island deity (Tahiti, in its various linguistic forms, including Tafiti, is a pan-Polynesian word for any faraway place).
Moana and Maui are characters in a Disney movie that our children absolutely adore, so it is only natural that like every other Disney character, they want to dress up as them. It is fine to let them do this – minus the body paint, tattoos, brown skin-coloured body suit and legitimate cultural attire.
He is one of the highest paid actors in the world and we are proud that he is Samoan. Dwayne Johnson is talented, handsome, funny, and an all around bad ass. Johnson moved from Football to Wrestling to the big screen and is the most famous Samoan to date.
Recently we have suggested that the basis for the phenotypic variation has been climatic: the geographically tropical Pacific was frequently a very cold place for Neolithic Homo Sapiens, with a resulting strong directional selection for a large muscular physique2,3.
