Moana

How does it feel to think about Disney through the critical lenses posed by Christensen and my slides? How did these frameworks help you think about Moana?

Disney movies are tools to manipulate youth. Children develop distorted views of children outside of their race because they do not have exposure to experiences of other cultures. It is the secondhand exposure to things like movies and cartoons that shape their thinking. They begin learning stereotypes and hidden messages/secrets about who and what is important.   The children think it's acceptable because they are not learning about it in an unsafe space. They feel comfortable sitting on their couches watching a movie with their parents. It is important to teach children to question and critique what they see. It gives them more power to teach others about the inequalities and stereotypes they see. Princess culture is all about the dress, the hair, the makeup, being thin, finding a man, whiteness, and those who are not white have a difficult time feeling beautiful/ good about themselves while watching. People are making a lot of money marketing princess branded items to children.  Sometimes producers of movies or cartoons will change the race of the characters but other injustices still remain. I think this is where Moana falls. Moana is not the typical princess. She is not white, tall and thin. She doesn’t wear shiny extravagant clothes.  She stands up to the men in the film with so much sass and she is not out to get a man, rather she is out to accomplish a goal of restoring the heart to the island. I think she takes on stereotypical manly roles and fights against what she is “supposed to do”. However, her father is placing her into this leadership role and he doesn’t respect her wishes of going beyond the reef. She wasn’t supported by him unless she did what he wanted. The men in the film were large and muscular. They acted full of themselves and seemed abusive in nature. Maui believed Moana couldn’t do anything he could do. He treated her as if she was not important and literally threw her around. She had animal sidekicks and her Gramma was this motherly figure who pushes her to do what she wants. This reminds of Cinderella when she has the Fairy Godmother there to assist her on her journey to the ball. Cinderella also had the little mice to help get her ready. The movie ends in a “happily ever after” moment  with the heart of the island being restored. There was also an evil character, Te Ka which is typical in Disney movies. The setup of the story line and how things play out are similar to other Disney movies. This is why I think some injustices/stereotypes still remain and need to be discussed.