Re: Op-ed in Samoa Planet ("The Moana movie - and Mormons")
A couple of recent comments:
Ciccone
It’s a Disney movie. Mostly for children’s entertainment. NOT a Documentary. Some people have way too much time and just analyze the living daylights out of everything. BTW, No one even needed the Mormons to tell them anything, except for the Mormons themselves. Ridiculous!
Sina
Moana is a fairy tale, and it brings the sub-culture of Polynesian-Americans into the mainstream. Of course it is not accurate, it’s Disney! It is a hint or an outline, but the grandmother character rang true from our Samoan-American family. Take what works. It is not a documentary, but a cartoon. It’s meant to be enjoyed as such!
LV Letalu:
OK, Mormon aspect of the op-ed aside.
Samoan tulāfale (orators) often use the word “loloto” (deep) for its metaphorical association with the moana (ocean). Example: “e loloto le moana” (the ocean is deep). The oratorical context of the adage suggests wisdom, profundity, reason and intelligence. For example, “lafo le upega i le loloto” (to cast the net into the deep), is a suggestion to view something and/or conduct discussions/deliberations/debates using insights, deep understanding and wisdom. Another similar maxim: “O i’a o le aloalo e fitivale, ae o i’a o le moana e to’a, e lē gaoiā,” (Fishes of the shallow waters/lagoon are often agitated while those of the deep are calm and unflustered.) The expression is often used to differentiate between the untried and inexperienced orators or arrivistes (shallow), and the older, wiser and more seasoned ones (deep).
Moana is a Disney movie and a cartoon. I concur. But, like many other forms of art and entertainment, Moana can also be much more profound - on several levels - than its stereotypical association with the Disney cartoon genre. In fact all Disney cartoons have deeper meanings and themes underneath their cartoon shells. You just have to have a deeper sense of cognition and perception to see them. The cartoon level, of course, is for children mainly and the young at heart for entertainment and superficial pleasure. But the more loloto (deeper) levels of a simple cartoon - as in an allegory - are actually what make them endure as classics and masterpieces. The characters, plot, storyline, theme/s, etc., can all be writ large to represent real life situations, hence affirming the popular aphorism of “art imitating life”. Disney’s “Lion King” has endured as a classic not because of its cartoonishness but because of its depiction and portrayal of a father-son relationship and other real life themes. Other similar works that may fall in the same category include “Animal Farm, ” “Lord of the Flies,” “Charlotte’s Web,” etc. Sometimes these genres are often more effective in their portrayal and demonstration of practical themes than, say, documentaries - as surmised.
Again, for me, Moana is loloto (pun intended). It’s much more than just a cartoon, a hint, Disney movie and/or a fairy tale. Moana is not for children only either. Some adults, like me, who have the knack and propensity for the profound, enjoy Moana more because of its socio-political, cultural, historical, sentimental, nostalgic, thematic and artistic value and sophistication.
Ma le fa’aaloalo lava
(Respectfully)
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