11/30/16

Moana Review - Part II

Moana - the “New” Polynesian Woman
Image result for moana disney
“E Au le Ina’ilau a Tama’ita’i” (The women’s roles are just as, if not more, consequential...)

The expression aptly describes Moana’s accomplishment and victory.

The expression is derived from a Samoan legend that tells of a competition between an “aumaga” (untitled men) and “aualuma” (unmarried women) to thatch Sina’s house.  A “battle of the sexes” if you will. On the morning of the competition, the women woke up early and started thatching their assigned rows while the men were still sleeping apparently tired from the prior poula (night of fun and revelry).  When the men finally woke up, they found that the women had completed their task and part of the competition, and therefore had won. The moral is the consequentiality of the role of women. To me, this can be one of the messages/themes of Moana.

Moana, the movie, is all about women. Sorry men, you lose. Again. Well, hey (or is that “heihei”), the protagonist is Moana, for cackling out loud.  And if she’s not enough, the next two key consequential characters in the movie are also ...hmmm...women? Te Fiti and Tala.  Peck that, man!  Okay, chicken humor aside.

Moana, the woman, is the real “wayfinder” and a true trailblazer, breaking traditional barriers and stereotypes. At the end of the movie, the lone conch shell on the top of a tiered pile of rocks on the mountain sums it all up, symbolically at least. The rocks represent in rank and chronological order the past heroes and chiefs, who were apparently all men, who have made worthy contributions to Motunui and its people.  Some of them were mariners and famous seafarers who helped traverse and navigate the ocean using the stars to help find their way to new islands and new homes for their families. But the conch shell, which represents Moana, is an aberration. It represents the first woman worthy and qualified to be on the mountain with the male heroes of the island.  Moana earned her place by accomplishing a near impossible task of returning Te Fiti’s heart, and in turn restoring life to her parched moribund Motunui.

Moana represents a  modern woman - Polynesian woman. She has love for her people, which is the driving force and motivation to complete her mission of restoring Te Fiti’s heart.  During her quest, “Moana of Motunui” - not just Moana - becomes her motto and mantra, a reminder that she is not only part of something bigger, but she also has an obligation to her island and people.  And to accomplish this, including saving the island, she has to venture “beyond the reef”.  She has to give up her comfort zone in the seeming self sufficient, happy, carefree life on the paradisal Motunui.

In today's real life, Moana represents those “wayfinding” Polynesian women in Washington, in local governments on their respective island nations, lawyers, CEO’s, authors, poets, etc. Moana is also like Vaimasenu’u Zita Martel, who, in her own right, is a  pioneer woman mariner of Samoa’s longboats. Moreover, Moana is, and can be, the voice of her island people against the overfishing of their waters, threats of rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. And of course her war cry is: “The ocean is [our] friend”.  Island leaders should tap into and seize Moana’s moment  and start boosting the campaign using the above as the slogan. They need to start delivering the proverbial “heart” to those responsible for the “evil” of rising ocean levels, and reminding them that for most of our Polynesian people, the ocean is still their friend and a major source of their livelihood.  The very threat to their existence of the rising ocean levels can be eerily real.

Moana, as an individual, is a strong woman, though not necessarily in the physical sense.  She has more of the inner strength - courage, determination, drive, resolve, stamina (yes,  Trump), etc.  She is independent and mostly, in her own admission, “self taught”. Though hailed as being chosen and preordained, nothing is automatic and/or guaranteed. Moana still has to fight her battles and challenges to fulfill her calling. It’s true that she does get some help along the way, from her “friend” (ocean) and from others (Maui, Tala and Heihei), but the bulk of the opposition and adversity was overcome single-handedly by Moana herself.  The help of course is to keep her character grounded as a mere mortal versus the “godly attributes” of Maui.  But unlike Maui, whose main source of strength and power is from without (his fish hook), Moana’s strength, again, is from within. The main and critical stage of defeating the evil and fiery powers of Te Ka is the crossing of the channel.  And while Maui is conspicuously absent during that pivotal and decisive time, Moana is fighting it alone, mostly employing her own strength, skills and courage and with some centrifugal help of her “friend”.

And so although there have been prominent Polynesian women in the past - “shells among the rocks” - like Nafanua and Salamasina (Samoa), Queen Salote (Tonga) Liliuokalani (Hawaii) to name a few, Moana represents the modern Polynesian woman. She is a matai (chief), a politician, a lawyer, a doctor, judge, author, a professional athlete, and perhaps most importantly, according to the movie, a daughter of a chief.  OR, according to my LDS lingo, a “daughter of God, The Chief !”

Finally, it may be true that Moana is just a cartoon, as some people raucously and shallowly (pun intended) claim, but Moana also represents an Ideal.  And one cannot fully understand that, until he/she goes “beyond the reef”, to the moana (deep ocean).  In other words “beyond the cartoon level”.  The equivalent Samoan expression is to “lafo le upega i le loloto o le moana” (“cast the net into the deep ocean”) where there are bigger and better fishes.  Simply, go deeper to the “moana” in order to understand and appreciate Moana.

Next Up ... Maui, the wannabe god.

11/28/16

Moana Review - Part I

(NB: The "Updates" were added sometime after the post/review was completed and therefore serve as fitting and relevant support and corroboration to some of my claims.)

I have written a few pre-release position posts on Moana here in my blog, in case you didn’t know.  Now that the movie is out, it’s only fair and fitting that I write a review of it.  This review will have several parts so keep checking back for “more-ana”.

Before I get into the crux and meat of my review, let me issue a few acknowledgments and/or some disclaiming points.

First, Moana’s main appeal (emphasis on main) is better understood, hence appreciated, if the viewer has some profound connection and knowledge of Polynesian/island life and background - preferably raised and lived, at least for some time, there. I was born and raised in the islands (Samoa) and except for a few technical and artistic deviations, I am more satisfied than not with the storyline and island thematic aspects of the movie.  In other words, if you are a viewer and/or reviewer, especially of Polynesian descent, born and raised outside of Polynesia, you’ll be hard pressed to take an antithetical stance on the historical background and cultural particulars of the movie.

Second, references and representations of Polynesia in Moana favor Samoa more than other islands. To some, this may seem a bold and audacious claim, but I think I can effectively back it up by pointing out not just the visual elements but also cultural and other references. And I don’t think that it’s by chance that Samoa dominates most parts of the movie, since of the five main islands of Polynesia - Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and Tahiti - the age-old traditions and “culture” of the region are still alive, lived and practiced more in Samoa than in any of her Poly sisters. (It’s a fact, sorry!) Disney, because of its commitment to cultural correctness in Moana, apparently was aware of this and acted (no pun intended) accordingly. (Re: Update at the end of post to back up what I've said here.)

Why do I need to point out the Samoa primacy?  Well because it’s helpful and advantageous to my review. Samoa is my specimen and case study in explaining Moana. My firsthand experiences and knowledge of Samoa augment and support my comments, analysis and critique.

This is a lengthy, though not necessarily a comprehensive review, therefore, I will divide it into parts. The review will deal more with the thematic, dramatic and cultural/historical aspects, and not so much the artistic and technical elements, unless absolutely necessary.

Moana’s storyline uses the typical hero’s journey template.  Basically this:
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons (blessings) on his fellow man.”
(Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949. p.23.)

A Cultural/Historical Background
Samoa's primordial belief in man (or woman, in this case) and nature being intrinsically linked and inseparable is sufficiently portrayed and rendered in the movie.

(Update - found this in one online article:
“[Moana’s] ending allows redemption of the baddie ‘in a way in keeping with the movie. There's a problem between man and nature, which ultimately gets resolved when man and nature come together.’" - John Musker, one of Moana’s directors.)

Moana which literally means “ocean” is a given eponymous and grafted link. The “ocean is my friend” is one of Moana’s refrains.  The scenes of Moana’s interactions with the ocean, occasionally being swallowed up, only to be restored back to life and reality are literal demonstrations of the “union” between her and nature. In the end, the shell, a product of the ocean, is Moana's proverbial statue in the museum of past heroes and chiefs on the mountain.

In Tala’s case, her stingray stunt and her reincarnation wish of being a stingray is not cursory or an inconsequential desire.  In fact her stingray tattoo is therefore more than a coincidence and an evidence of the kinship between nature and humans. Tala may actually be hinting at one of Samoa's maritime rituals called “taliga agaga” (spirit acceptance), which may still be practiced by some especially on the outlying islands. The ritual involves a person lost at sea and when his/her fate cannot be ascertained, the villagers would gather on the beach spreading a cloth (usually tapa cloth) and wait for the first sea creature to crawl or jump on it. The creature or object is then considered the reincarnated “spirit” of the dead and the people will then wrap it and bury it as if the person had been found, albeit in reincarnated form. So when Tala says that she wants to return as a stingray after she dies, she actually may be implying the "taliga agaga". (“Taliga Agaga” is a ritual I’m including in a novel I’m working on.)

Most importantly, Samoa’s story/legend of Creation (excerpts below) is apparently the source of some remarkable imagery and allusions in the movie. It actually provides for the backbone of Moana. According to the story/legend, Papa (Rock) and Ele’ele (Earth) represent a creative duo.  Respectively, Papa was the man and Ele’ele was the woman.  Papa is also referred to as heart, or seed-rock (fatu).
“Let the Spirit and the Heart and Will and Thought go on and join together inside the Man; and they joined together there and man became intelligent. And this was joined to the earth ('ele-ele'), and it was called Fatu-ma-le-‘Ele-‘ele, as a couple, Fatu the man, and ‘Ele-‘ele, the woman." (Journal of Polynesian Society).
“Fatu-ma-le-‘ele‘ele; 'seed-stone and earth.' Fatu is a word which, in various forms, is found in all Malaysia, Melanesia, and Polynesia, in the sense of 'hard,' 'anything hard,' 'the hard kernel or seed-stone of fruit.' .... Le ‘Ele‘ele is here regarded as a woman, who, by the ordinance (tofiga) of Tangaloa is united (fa‘a-tasi, 'joined,' lit. 'made-one') to Fatu, the completed man. Fatu is the seed-giving principle, and Le ‘Ele‘ele is the receptacle of the seed.” (Ibid. emphasis mine)

Image result for Moana Te Fiti
Te Fiti
In the movie, Te Fiti is the Ele’ele (Earth/Woman) and is the receptacle of the “fatu” or “seed-stone”, the stone that Moana was commissioned to return. Once the heart/seed-stone is returned, the result is an immediate restoration of life to the plants, vegetation, and everything on Motunui.  Meanwhile, Te Fiti, returns to being the “Ele’ele” (Earth) again, as she slowly morphs into a mountain, hence fulfilling her primordial role. The movie also makes repeated references to the heart of Te Fiti as having restorative and creative  powers, evidenced, again, in the renewal of life on Motunui.

Linguistically, heart, rock and seed amazingly all share a common Samoan meaning and translation of “fatu” - the essence of life.

The universal significance of the “heart” as being an instigator of goodness and virtue is inevitable and is demonstrated by the favorable life-giving effects of its return to Te Fiti, and contrasted well when she's without it, notably in her captor Te Ka's evil and destructive powers. The Tin Man of the Wizard of Oz, hollow and hard without a heart, hinges on the same theme.

Next Up: Moana - The New Polynesian Woman in "E Au le Ina'ilau a Tina".

Update: "Moana Directors say thank you Samoa" (Samoa Observer, 16 Dec 2016)


Speaking to the Samoa Observer, during a traditional Ava ceremony welcome and feast hosted by Conservation International and Samoa Voyaging Society, Ron Clements said they are ecstatic to be in Samoa.
“It feels great to be back in Samoa,” said Ron. “We were here for the first time five years ago, and this place was a huge huge inspiration to the movie. So it’s really wonderful to be in Samoa.”
“Samoa, as Ron said had a huge influence on our film and the way that we were welcomed by the people of Samoa made us fall in love and now we are back.”
Therefore they came and visited the different islands in the Pacific including Samoa to see and learn about the culture and history for their project.
They fell in love with the culture and they draw their inspirations mainly from what they saw and experienced.  “The culture is so alive here,” said Osnat. 
“In terms of the look of the characters, you know we went to both Melanesia and Polynesia in Fiji and all of that,” said John.
“We were trying to put together the faces from all the different islands of the Pacific, but around this area, we really felt so quintessentially Polynesian to us and felt like they have the beauty of the faces and features in the people and their gorgeous hair. 
However, they all agreed that the movie Moana was mainly influenced from Samoa. 
“We drew influences from all over the Pacific islands but the island of Motunui which is named in the film Motunui is kind of a mythical name but in our minds, that was here in Samoa around this area. And that’s kind of where Moana comes from.”


11/27/16

A Date with Moana

... pictures from our movie date to see Moana.  Stay tuned and check back for my REVIEW of the movie... coming sooooon!!  Thank You and You're Welcome! ...or in Havaii, "You're Velcome!"..LOL!!














And some pics from another beautiful family (groom) wedding this past week ...







11/18/16

Utah - The Best State for Business .... Again.

...according to Forbes. 

Ravell Call, Deseret News                                                                                      

"Forbes 11th annual Best States for Business list measures which states have the best business climates and are poised to succeed going forward. Leading the way for the third straight year is Utah, which also ranked on top between 2010 and 2012. Only Virginia in 2013 interrupted Utah’s reign this decade as the Best State for Business.
Utah’s growth prospects are strong in part because of a burgeoning tech sector. Venture capital investment was $1.5 billion combined in 2014 and 2015 compared to $635 million the two years prior. In April, PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, along with Mitt Romney’s co-led venture fund Solamere Capital, announced plans to invest $100 million in Provo-based Vivint Smart Home. In a nod to its neighbor to the west and Utah’s ski terrain, the corridor connecting Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo has been dubbed “Silicon Slopes.”
The state is home to a handful of “unicorns” like Domo Technologies, Insidesales.com, Pluralsight and Qualtrics. These privately-held firms, which boast VC investments that value the companies at more than $1 billion, can count on a deep pool of young, educated employees from schools like Brigham Young University and the University of Utah... tech stalwarts like eBay, Oracle, Microsoft and Twitter have also expanded operations in Utah in recent years."

Note: Utah was also recently ranked as the happiest state 2016!   Way to go Utaaaaaahhhh!

11/3/16

Halloween 2016

Our family's annual Halloween party was on Saturday (29th) hosted by one of our daughters and her husband and kids. Again, it was a fun-filled night with the grandchildren (and adults) and their costumes, half of which were homemade.
Among the guests were Cowgirl and Elvis (or Bruno Mars depending on particular times during the party ..lol!) Freddy Fazbear was there and Princess Potty Troll too. Ironman and his friends, a gumball machine, the Spider and Spiderman, Batgirl and a hippie and several others.  Lotsa food and fun.  We had games too and the doughnut eating contest was the funnest.  Here are just some of the pictures from the party.

...on the way to the party

The Spider ... greeted us!




... Freddy and Potty Troll





... Cowgirl and friend





... group picture









Elvis?




...Cowgirl becoming legally blonde











... and then on Halloween Day, I had the honor, again, of greeting the trick-o-treaters and handing out the candies/lollies. Now, I did not want to don my Presley/Mars costume again so I had to come up with something original and creative.  I called Dearie from work to ask if she had a nice lavalava, and she said yes... (I had in mind the recent official opening of the trailer for Moana) and so I got me a sharpie (marker) and glasses and the rest of the story was the dramatic change from Rock 'n Roll (Elvis) to just The Rock..LOL!!

...doppelganger? ...lol!!






... good and fun times!!!