Polynesian Languages in Moana Unsurprisingly, Polynesian names and languages are peppered throughout the movie. Moana's very name means “ocean” in many Polynesian languages, and the name Tala, the name of Moana's grandmother, means “story” in Samoan.
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.
But depending on where in the world people saw Moana, they might know the great animated movie by another name. Disney retitled Moana in different countries, with most European countries using Vaiana. This change was reflected in the movie too, as Moana's name was changed to Vaiana due to copyright issues.
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.
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!
MOANA Live Action - Official Trailer (2024) Zendaya, Dwayne Johnson | Disney+
How do Polynesians feel about Moana?
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.
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.
On December 20, Netflix removed Moana to make room for a new lineup of films for Christmas and New Year's Eve. While Moana is no longer available on Netflix, you are still able to enjoy the movie over the holidays. Amazon Prime offers Moana for purchase, and iTunes offers both a rental and a purchase option.
"Pua the pet pig was originally going on the journey with Moana, but the issue was that in a classic hero's journey, the hero leaves all comforts behind. And so we made the difficult decision to leave poor Pua at home, so that all things of Moana's family are left behind," says Shurer.
5) In the film's novelization, Moana's age is given as 16. This makes her the only Disney princess to be voiced by an actress younger than herself. Moana was released on Cravalho's 16th birthday.
The ending of Moana saw the title character overcome her fear and trust Te Ka, and in doing so she showed that the pain of the past didn't have to define someone in the future, an attitude which freed Te Fiti from her own pain, and freed her people from their stagnant beliefs.
The chiefs wife is not Moanas mother. The chief was seduced and had moana with the goddess of the sea Tangaroa. When the Goddess presented the chief with his daughter she told him the child's fate, which is why he fights so hard to keep her away from the ocean.
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.
Polynesia (UK: /ˌpɒlɪˈniːziə/ POL-in-EE-zee-ə, US: /-ˈniːʒə/ -EE-zhə) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean.
For five years, Disney consulted scores of people on research trips throughout the South Pacific, specialists in fishing techniques and tattoos, ancient navigation and traditional dance. These experts formed the film's Oceanic Story Trust, and it was members of this group who pushed the filmmakers for a bigger Maui.
Merida and Pocahontas are the only Princesses to not be seen married, or have wedding dresses in the franchise. Belle and a few others were featured in Disney's Beautiful Brides book.
Voiced by Auli'i Carvalho, Moana is a young woman with great navigational talents with a love for adventure and the sea. A once-powerful demigod, Maui is the courageous hero who accompanies Moana on her adventure. Seeing how Maui is so bulky, it's only appropriate that he's voiced by Dwayne Johnson.
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.
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.
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).
