Moana is a Disney film that came out on Thanksgiving Day 2016. Moana is Disney’s first Polynesian princess and first animation with all actors of Polynesian decent. The reason why this film is important is because Disney has a huge voice in pop culture. In today’s society, the media influences ideas, beliefs, and actions of the public. In Moana it shows Surface Culture which is what people can see and perceive from others as the following: cultural attires, historical contributions, and outward displays of behavior and identity, etc. (Pratt-Johnson, 2006). Deep Culture is the intuitive truths reflected in the Surface Culture that people do not know and understand because they cannot see it physically.
The purpose of this research is to analyze the Disney film Moana using the Grid-group Cultural Theory for a better understanding of Cultural Hierarchy and how it is used daily in the Polynesian cultures. The Grid-group Cultural Theory uses a model that has two dimensions and each is a measure of sociality. The group dimension describes how strongly people are bonded together. At one end there are distinct and separated individuals, perhaps with common reason to be together though with less of a sense of unity and connection. The grid dimension describes how different people are in the group and how they take on different roles. At one end of this spectrum people are relatively homogeneous in their abilities, work and activity and can easily interchange roles (Douglas, 1977).
A research that was conducted by the University College London, titled “A History of Grid and Group Cultural Theory” stated that, “The group dimension measures how much of people’s lives is controlled by the group they live in. An individual needs to accept constraints on his/her behavior by the mere fact of belonging to a group” (Douglas, 1977). I also used Rhetorical Criticism, an approach to communication, which constitutes a systematic investigation of symbolic artifacts and analysis and interpretation of persuasive uses of communication (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011).
Within this theory there are four rationalities: The fatalist, the hierarchist, the individualist, and the egalitarian (Stoltz, 2014). The fatalist is really the limited bonding between people in society. The hierarchist shows that people are connected, yet they are different. The individualist is a culture where people are similar in many ways, but they have little obligation to each other in society. Basically, people enjoy their differences more than similarities, and they try to avoid a central authority. The egalitarian has less central rule than what collectivism has, but it also requires people to voluntarily help others as a cultural norm.
My questions consisted of knowing, does the film Moana have an accurate depiction of Polynesian Cultural Hierarchy. In a collectivist culture, the people are strongly connected yet are very different. This leads to the development of societies, hierarchies and laws that both regulate individual action and provide for weaker social members. Therefore, I have proposed the research questions:
RQ1: How is cultural hierarchy represented in the Disney film Moana, and is it depicted accurately?
RQ2: How does this research affect modern Polynesian culture?
Methods
In analyzing the movie Moana, the theory that was used to explain the hierarchy and type of group the cultural society the film represented, varies from one idea to another. The plan is to have a focus group and create an online survey. This will help me gain a better understanding of Polynesians’ perspective of hierarchy, culture, and group. A small focus group of Southern Utah University students was formed from the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. This subject could be studied on cultural hierarchy in the movie. By observing the Pacific Islander students here at Southern Utah University, we can see if cultural hierarchy plays a critical part in the film Moana.
I predict that cultural hierarchy plays a massive part in the strong bond between the people (group) in the animation. An online survey was distributed via social media to my colleagues on the National Pacific Islander Student Association Group on Facebook and students from Southern Utah University. I used Google forms as a resource for creating and distributing these surveys. I also used Rhetorical Criticism and Grid-group Cultural Theory to analyze the film. After watching the film, I then came up with two categories for analysis: Character clothing, and character body artifacts. I used these categories for coding the film.
When the surveys were conducted for this research/analysis, the outcome was very surprising. Over 100 participates completed the survey for this research/analysis and the outcome was fruitful. The survey had two questions that helped to find an answer, utilizing Pacific Islander people that have watched the film. The first question that the survey asked was, “In the Film Moana, did you notice any type of Cultural "Hierarchy" in the village/group?” The second questioned that was asked was “How was the "Bond" between the people/villagers in the film created and portrayed?” When the survey’s results came back, they confirmed that my prediction that “cultural hierarchy plays a massive part in the strong bond between the people (group)” is accurate. In the first question, 87.1% of respondents agreed that the film Moana did in fact have Cultural Hierarchy throughout the film. 9.9% disagreed to the question, and the other 3% thought otherwise. In the second question, 85.1% agreed that in the film there was a strong bond between the people/villagers. 13.9% thought that there was a weak bond between the people/villagers.
These results show that cultural hierarchy is represented well in the film, and it shares the nuances of modern, daily Polynesian culture, even though this film was based in the past, because the traditions are passed down from generation to generation. The level of hierarchy in culture still exists throughout the Pacific. In the film, this was shown through character clothing and character of body artifacts, which represents the deep culture of the film and Polynesian society.
The cultural attire shown in the film Moana shared nuances of different Polynesian cultural attires ranging from Hawaii to Fiji to Samoa and even Tonga. Moana and Grandma Tala wore a ta’ovala, which is a Tongan waist-mat, over a Tahitian tamure, a traditional hip dance skirt, and then a moko, which is a Maori chin tattoo that represents dignity, faith, and strength.
For example: In the Disney’s film Pocahontas, the audience may notice that the people of village were wearing feathers in their headdresses and other attire and accessories. The eagle feather bears certain representations. They symbolize laudable qualities and traits such as trust, strength, honor, wisdom, power, and freedom. Receiving an eagle feather during ceremonies or from elders ranks high on the list of honors bestowed on tribe members (Warpaths, 2016).
Overall, clothing does play a critical role in cultural hierarchy from the headband that Moana’s father wears symbolizing he is the authority in the village as the chief, and that tells his people that there is a way to approach and act in his presence.
In the film Moana, the audience can see that most of the characters have tattoos. The High Chief Tui (Moana’s dad), Sina (Moana’s mom), Grandma Tala, and Maui had tattoos. For example, Polynesians used this art full of distinctive signs to express their identity and personality. Tattoos indicate status in a hierarchy society: sexual maturity, genealogy, and one's rank within society. Nearly everyone in ancient Polynesian society was tattooed (Tahiti Tatou , n.d.).
Disney lags in advancing their portrayal of body image. Princesses and other female protagonists are displayed with size zero waists, skinny limbs, and even small feet. This is unnatural, and unhealthy, body portrayals presented in Disney's animated characters however, it is what society calls for (The Rhetoric of Disney, 2016). Overall, Moana breaks these stereotypes because she is portrayed as a culturally accurate Polynesian figure. Her nose was larger, compared to the lack of noses in other Disney princesses. Her feet were of a normal size, her figure was broad and represented cultural accuracy. However, Disney did not give Moana tattoos due to her age and how her character is meant to be influential to young viewers, specifically girls who look up to a strong female figure.
For this research/analysis, I wanted to conduct something that connects to me. Disney’s Moana came out in theaters on Thanksgiving Day 2016. What caught my attention was the fact that this is Disney’s first Polynesian princess and that I am Polynesian. I wanted to analyze the culture that is shown in this film. I wanted to look more into the Cultural Hierarchy in the Moana film, by using the Grid-group Cultural Theory. In the film, cultural hierarchy is shown throughout the whole movie. In this analysis, the Grid-group Cultural Theory was used to analyze the Cultural Hierarchy in the Film. This theory uses a model that has two dimensions and each is a measure of sociality.
The group dimension describes how strongly people are bonded together. At one end there are distinct and separated individuals, perhaps with common reason to be together though with less of a sense of unity and connection. The grid dimension describes how different people are in the group and how they take on different roles. At one end of this spectrum people are relatively homogenous in their abilities, work, and activity and can easily interchange roles.
Matai is a term that is used in Samoan for leader, or chief, or even (in the poetic sense) father. The society in the film Moana, is organized by family, and each family has its own matai titles, which are connected to certain districts, villages, and plots of family land (Hamogeekgirl, 2010). In the film Moana, a man is responsible for all the hard labor and providing for the village and the family. In the Polynesian culture, woman has a place in society is to take care of the light work, kids, and preparation of food. Family members play a role with elders, commanding the most respect. Everything is communal, from food to sleeping arrangements, although brothers and sisters always sleep under separate roofs in accordance with the Tongan culture of sibling separation and respect (Jasons, 2016).
In the nuances of Polynesia culture, chores are distributed according to gender. In Tonga, men tend the ’umu (underground oven), grow and harvest food, and do all manual labor. The women clean, wash clothes, and prepare and cook food. The patriarch is generally the head of the family, and land passes down from a father to his eldest son. Women, however, possess high (even superior) status in other facets of family life. A fahu (father’s oldest sister) will be accorded the highest levels of respect at all formal and informal occasions from funerals to weddings and births. She acts as the family matriarch and oversees her siblings, nieces, and nephews.
The first time the audience sees cultural hierarchy in the film Moana is when the family matriarch, Grandma Tala, tells a group of children the story of Maui and Te Fiti, and how Maui stole her heart in order to pay tribute to his mankind by pulling islands out of the ocean, bringing them fire, and saving them from beasts. Here we see two important hierarchical figures: Grandma Tala and Maui.
Grandma Tala is the mother of Chief Tui, and the grandmother of Moana, the future leader of the village. Grandma Tala holds the hierarchy standards of a Queen Mother, which gives her status and respect as the mother of the chief. She is an individual that is open-minded and soulful, and this lets her be free spirited and an example to Moana. She is not just a grandmother to Moana though. She is also a spiritual mother to Moana who acts as a guide as Moana goes on her journey to find Maui and save the island.
Maui is a demigod who used a magical fish hook as an instrument, which shows hierarchy religiously and culturally as the villagers respect and revere him. But this hierarchy becomes less important because by stealing the heart of Te Fiti, he brought a curse to the islands. Food, plants, and the ocean became poisoned and unusable, therefore Maui was looked down upon and no longer had a hierarchical status. He betrayed his people, which made them fear the sea and stop voyaging. He still has the standard as the demigod Maui, but he no longer has the respect at the top of the cultural and spiritual hierarchy. When Moana and Maui journey to the island of Te Fiti to restore her heart, Maui was forgiven and his hierarchical status was restored. During a battle, his hook is damaged, but Te Fiti restores it when she forgives him, and this helped him gain his hierarchical status.
Another hierarchical figure in this film is Chief Tui, who is the leader of the island. He is a symbol of hierarchy not just because of his status as chief, but because of his tattoos that represent faith, dignity, and strength, as well as his headband which represents the same things. These attributes are inherited rather than earned, but he still has to live up to these expectations to keep his status, which is what he teaches Moana as she prepares to take his place one day.
So far, these members of the hierarchy are fairly traditional in their practices, but Moana breaks the mold. She wanted to leave the island, explore the world, find Maui, and restore the heart of Te Fiti. She put her life on the line to save her people and her island, but usually it’s the other way around: “Long life the king.” She took her hierarchy and placed it at the level of her people, which helped her earn more respect and was an opportunity for the audience to have a better understanding of the Polynesian culture. It is the strong bond between the people and the hierarchy that really defines the cultural aspect of Polynesia.
This concept is best represented through the voyages made in this film. When Moana entered the cave that was home to dozens of voyage ships and hit the drums, she gained a vision of what her people once were, and what they could be again. They chief that led the voyages shows another form of hierarchy. The way he navigated the ocean is a form of knowledge and hierarchy. The women had hierarchy by taking care of the children on these voyages. This was all lost when the curse fell upon the island and Moana’s people, which made Chief Tui forbid fishing and any voyages beyond the reef. This hierarchy is restored when Moana breaks barriers and travels beyond the reef to save her island and her people.
These examples show that Moana is the main hierarchical figure of this film because she has broken barriers and committed herself to saving her people, which has not been a focus with the past few generations. When somebody in that level of hierarchy steps down to a lower level, in perspective, is an individual that will be loved for many years to come. And while this is not a formal hierarchy position, it may be more important than any official hierarchical standing or label.
Overall, this research is very important in different levels. When Disney makes movies about different regions and cultures, it comes with cultural differences. Disney has a huge voice in pop culture, and the media influences the ideas, beliefs, and action of the public. The movie Moana does show surface culture, but also deep culture. The deep culture is what I can see and perceive, because it is an intuitive truth for me, and I am Polynesian, but I would not notice and/or understand views outside of the culture. I used the Grid-group Cultural Theory to help analyze if there is Cultural Hierarchy in the film Moana. In the theory, the group dimension describes how strongly people are bonded together. At one end there are distinct and separated individuals, perhaps with common reason to be together though with less of a sense of unity and connection. In the film, there is a strong bond between the people, because the villagers are connected and have a sense of “Identity,” and they are more personal to one another. Within in this theory, the collectivist culture really helped explain the cultural hierarchy in the film Moana. In a Collectivism Culture, people are strongly connected, yet people are very different. Cultural Hierarchy was shown in Moana, from the way people interacted, the clothes they wore, and the tattoos they had on their bodies. This model really helped me understand various cultures and countries/regions and how they are influenced by the proper etiquette of their culture. It is important to understand one’s own culture, which may be different from others, as well as the multiple cultures that may come into conflict at times.
This research affects modern Polynesian cultures because it takes Polynesian oral traditions of cultural hierarchy and shares it with the world. Our deep culture is shared with and understood by other cultures through this film. This can also motivate younger generations to go into the field of study of animation. In over one hundred years of Disney and other film mediums, why are animators just now making a film based on Polynesian cultures? This film has been criticized many times by Polynesian scholars around the world, and they are questioning why filmmakers haven’t taken the initiative of creating a film based on Polynesian culture before this point. Hopefully from this critic, younger generations will be inspired to create media outlets based on various cultures, specifically Polynesian cultures, to share oral traditions, hierarchies, and the importance of deep culture.
Because this film is still fresh, and the media outlets are just now bringing Polynesian culture to the mainstream, there is much more research needed in this field. Hopefully more artifacts based on Polynesian culture will be created, and researchers will have the opportunity to analyze and share the importance of these artifacts.
Douglas, M. (n.d.). A History of Grid and Group Cultural Theory. University College London.
Hamogeekgirl. (2010, October 8). Matai: A Complicated System of Chiefs. Retrieved from One Samoana: www.1samoana.com/matai-a-complicated-system-of-chiefs/
Jasons. (2016). Tonga - People & Culture. Retrieved from Jasons: http://www.jasons.com/tonga/tonga-people-and-culture
Mendelson, S. (2016, November 7). 'Moana' Review: Disney Crafts Another Powerhouse Piece Of Girl-Powered Mythmaking. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2016/11/07/moana-review-another-righteous-affirmation-of-walt-disneys-pop-culture-legacy/#121ebd5d66ab
Pratt-Johnson, Y. (2006). Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know. The Internet TESLJournal .
Stoltz, D. (2014, June 04). Diagram of Theory: Douglas and Wildavsky's Grid/Group Typology of Worldviews. Retrieved from Dustingstotz.com: https://www.dustinstoltz.com/blog/2014/06/04/diagram-of-theory-douglas-and-wildavskys-gridgroup-typology-of-worldviews
Tahiti, Tatou. (n.d.). History of Polynesian Tattoo. Retrieved from Tahiti Tatou : https://www.tahititatou.com/history.html
The Rhetoric of Disney. (2016, November 14). Body Image. Retrieved from The Rhetoric of Disney: http://therhetoricofdisney.weebly.com/body-image.html
Warpaths. (2016, May). Meaning of Feathers. Retrieved from Warpaths: www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-culture/meaning-of-feathers.htm
The film takes the audience to a time when there was only the ocean (Moana). Te Fiti’s heart was stolen by Maui, who is a Demi-god that traveled the ocean. When Maui stole the heart of Te Fiti, the island began to die and was covered by darkness. While Maui was trying to escape, the lava demon Te Kā confronted and attacked him, causing the heart to become lost in the ocean along with his magical fishhook. Moana, the daughter and heir of a chief on the small Polynesian Island of Motunui, is chosen by the ocean to receive the heart as she is collecting shells on the shore. Her father, Chief Tui, insists the island provides everything the villagers might need, but when fish become scarce, coconuts begin to spoil, and the island's vegetation begins to die, Moana proposes going beyond the reef to find more fish. Tui angrily rejects her request, as sailing beyond the reef is forbidden. Moana's mother Sina confesses that Tui fears the ocean because he lost his best friend when they attempted together to sail beyond the reef. Moana's grandmother Tala finds Moana on the beach after a failed attempt to sail past the reef and shows Moana a secret cave hidden behind a waterfall. Inside is a fleet of outrigger sailing canoes, revealing that the island's ancestors were seafaring voyagers. Tala gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti, which she has kept safe for her granddaughter ever since she was chosen by the ocean, and shows her that the darkness unleashed by Maui's theft is now consuming the island.
Tala suddenly falls ill and with her dying breaths tells Moana to set sail. Moana departs in a canoe, drua, to find Maui with her pet rooster Heihei. Moana follows a constellation that looks like Maui's fishhook, but soon encounters an approaching storm and she asked the ocean for help. She did not receive help, and instead a huge typhoon wave flips her sailboat and knocks her unconscious. She wakes up the next morning on a small island inhabited by Maui, which was the ocean’s way of helping her. Moana finds Maui and he introduces himself by boasting of his exploits, traps her in a cave, and steals her sailboat. After escaping the cave, Moana tries to convince Maui to return the heart, but Maui refuses, fearing other dark creatures will be attracted to its power (Mendelson, 2016).
I am using Grid-group Cultural Theory to analyze the cultural hierarchy that is shown in this film. The Cultural Group Theories are based on two-dimensions. The first dimension is the group dimension, which explains how strongly people are bonded together. The second dimension focuses on the different people in groups and how they take on different roles. In the Grid-group Cultural Theory, collectivism culture comes to play. In collectivism culture people are strongly connected, yet they are different, and this style of culture is hierarchy. The group dimension in the theory analyzes how weak-bonded a group is and how strong-bonded a group is. In the movie Moana, it is definitely a strong-bonded society, where they work and live together. When one grieves, they all grieve; when one eats, they all share; when one works, they all help. This is shown through scenes where villagers wove baskets together or collected coconuts all together. This comes to show that the villagers in Moana have a connected sense of identity. So they are relating more deeply and personally to one-another. They spend more time together, and they have stable relationships as a result.
In this paper, I will review literature based on Grid-group cultural theory and apply it to the hierarchies present in the movie culture of Moana and show how this is significant in Polynesian society today.
Tala suddenly falls ill and with her dying breaths tells Moana to set sail. Moana departs in a canoe, drua, to find Maui with her pet rooster Heihei. Moana follows a constellation that looks like Maui's fishhook, but soon encounters an approaching storm and she asked the ocean for help. She did not receive help, and instead a huge typhoon wave flips her sailboat and knocks her unconscious. She wakes up the next morning on a small island inhabited by Maui, which was the ocean’s way of helping her. Moana finds Maui and he introduces himself by boasting of his exploits, traps her in a cave, and steals her sailboat. After escaping the cave, Moana tries to convince Maui to return the heart, but Maui refuses, fearing other dark creatures will be attracted to its power (Mendelson, 2016).
I am using Grid-group Cultural Theory to analyze the cultural hierarchy that is shown in this film. The Cultural Group Theories are based on two-dimensions. The first dimension is the group dimension, which explains how strongly people are bonded together. The second dimension focuses on the different people in groups and how they take on different roles. In the Grid-group Cultural Theory, collectivism culture comes to play. In collectivism culture people are strongly connected, yet they are different, and this style of culture is hierarchy. The group dimension in the theory analyzes how weak-bonded a group is and how strong-bonded a group is. In the movie Moana, it is definitely a strong-bonded society, where they work and live together. When one grieves, they all grieve; when one eats, they all share; when one works, they all help. This is shown through scenes where villagers wove baskets together or collected coconuts all together. This comes to show that the villagers in Moana have a connected sense of identity. So they are relating more deeply and personally to one-another. They spend more time together, and they have stable relationships as a result.
In this paper, I will review literature based on Grid-group cultural theory and apply it to the hierarchies present in the movie culture of Moana and show how this is significant in Polynesian society today.
Literature Review
The purpose of this research is to analyze the Disney film Moana using the Grid-group Cultural Theory for a better understanding of Cultural Hierarchy and how it is used daily in the Polynesian cultures. The Grid-group Cultural Theory uses a model that has two dimensions and each is a measure of sociality. The group dimension describes how strongly people are bonded together. At one end there are distinct and separated individuals, perhaps with common reason to be together though with less of a sense of unity and connection. The grid dimension describes how different people are in the group and how they take on different roles. At one end of this spectrum people are relatively homogeneous in their abilities, work and activity and can easily interchange roles (Douglas, 1977).
A research that was conducted by the University College London, titled “A History of Grid and Group Cultural Theory” stated that, “The group dimension measures how much of people’s lives is controlled by the group they live in. An individual needs to accept constraints on his/her behavior by the mere fact of belonging to a group” (Douglas, 1977). I also used Rhetorical Criticism, an approach to communication, which constitutes a systematic investigation of symbolic artifacts and analysis and interpretation of persuasive uses of communication (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011).
Within this theory there are four rationalities: The fatalist, the hierarchist, the individualist, and the egalitarian (Stoltz, 2014). The fatalist is really the limited bonding between people in society. The hierarchist shows that people are connected, yet they are different. The individualist is a culture where people are similar in many ways, but they have little obligation to each other in society. Basically, people enjoy their differences more than similarities, and they try to avoid a central authority. The egalitarian has less central rule than what collectivism has, but it also requires people to voluntarily help others as a cultural norm.
My questions consisted of knowing, does the film Moana have an accurate depiction of Polynesian Cultural Hierarchy. In a collectivist culture, the people are strongly connected yet are very different. This leads to the development of societies, hierarchies and laws that both regulate individual action and provide for weaker social members. Therefore, I have proposed the research questions:
RQ1: How is cultural hierarchy represented in the Disney film Moana, and is it depicted accurately?
RQ2: How does this research affect modern Polynesian culture?
Methods
In analyzing the movie Moana, the theory that was used to explain the hierarchy and type of group the cultural society the film represented, varies from one idea to another. The plan is to have a focus group and create an online survey. This will help me gain a better understanding of Polynesians’ perspective of hierarchy, culture, and group. A small focus group of Southern Utah University students was formed from the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. This subject could be studied on cultural hierarchy in the movie. By observing the Pacific Islander students here at Southern Utah University, we can see if cultural hierarchy plays a critical part in the film Moana.
I predict that cultural hierarchy plays a massive part in the strong bond between the people (group) in the animation. An online survey was distributed via social media to my colleagues on the National Pacific Islander Student Association Group on Facebook and students from Southern Utah University. I used Google forms as a resource for creating and distributing these surveys. I also used Rhetorical Criticism and Grid-group Cultural Theory to analyze the film. After watching the film, I then came up with two categories for analysis: Character clothing, and character body artifacts. I used these categories for coding the film.
Results
When the surveys were conducted for this research/analysis, the outcome was very surprising. Over 100 participates completed the survey for this research/analysis and the outcome was fruitful. The survey had two questions that helped to find an answer, utilizing Pacific Islander people that have watched the film. The first question that the survey asked was, “In the Film Moana, did you notice any type of Cultural "Hierarchy" in the village/group?” The second questioned that was asked was “How was the "Bond" between the people/villagers in the film created and portrayed?” When the survey’s results came back, they confirmed that my prediction that “cultural hierarchy plays a massive part in the strong bond between the people (group)” is accurate. In the first question, 87.1% of respondents agreed that the film Moana did in fact have Cultural Hierarchy throughout the film. 9.9% disagreed to the question, and the other 3% thought otherwise. In the second question, 85.1% agreed that in the film there was a strong bond between the people/villagers. 13.9% thought that there was a weak bond between the people/villagers.
These results show that cultural hierarchy is represented well in the film, and it shares the nuances of modern, daily Polynesian culture, even though this film was based in the past, because the traditions are passed down from generation to generation. The level of hierarchy in culture still exists throughout the Pacific. In the film, this was shown through character clothing and character of body artifacts, which represents the deep culture of the film and Polynesian society.
Character of Clothing
The cultural attire shown in the film Moana shared nuances of different Polynesian cultural attires ranging from Hawaii to Fiji to Samoa and even Tonga. Moana and Grandma Tala wore a ta’ovala, which is a Tongan waist-mat, over a Tahitian tamure, a traditional hip dance skirt, and then a moko, which is a Maori chin tattoo that represents dignity, faith, and strength.
For example: In the Disney’s film Pocahontas, the audience may notice that the people of village were wearing feathers in their headdresses and other attire and accessories. The eagle feather bears certain representations. They symbolize laudable qualities and traits such as trust, strength, honor, wisdom, power, and freedom. Receiving an eagle feather during ceremonies or from elders ranks high on the list of honors bestowed on tribe members (Warpaths, 2016).
Overall, clothing does play a critical role in cultural hierarchy from the headband that Moana’s father wears symbolizing he is the authority in the village as the chief, and that tells his people that there is a way to approach and act in his presence.
Character of Body Artifacts
In the film Moana, the audience can see that most of the characters have tattoos. The High Chief Tui (Moana’s dad), Sina (Moana’s mom), Grandma Tala, and Maui had tattoos. For example, Polynesians used this art full of distinctive signs to express their identity and personality. Tattoos indicate status in a hierarchy society: sexual maturity, genealogy, and one's rank within society. Nearly everyone in ancient Polynesian society was tattooed (Tahiti Tatou , n.d.).
Disney lags in advancing their portrayal of body image. Princesses and other female protagonists are displayed with size zero waists, skinny limbs, and even small feet. This is unnatural, and unhealthy, body portrayals presented in Disney's animated characters however, it is what society calls for (The Rhetoric of Disney, 2016). Overall, Moana breaks these stereotypes because she is portrayed as a culturally accurate Polynesian figure. Her nose was larger, compared to the lack of noses in other Disney princesses. Her feet were of a normal size, her figure was broad and represented cultural accuracy. However, Disney did not give Moana tattoos due to her age and how her character is meant to be influential to young viewers, specifically girls who look up to a strong female figure.
Discussion/Analysis
For this research/analysis, I wanted to conduct something that connects to me. Disney’s Moana came out in theaters on Thanksgiving Day 2016. What caught my attention was the fact that this is Disney’s first Polynesian princess and that I am Polynesian. I wanted to analyze the culture that is shown in this film. I wanted to look more into the Cultural Hierarchy in the Moana film, by using the Grid-group Cultural Theory. In the film, cultural hierarchy is shown throughout the whole movie. In this analysis, the Grid-group Cultural Theory was used to analyze the Cultural Hierarchy in the Film. This theory uses a model that has two dimensions and each is a measure of sociality.
The group dimension describes how strongly people are bonded together. At one end there are distinct and separated individuals, perhaps with common reason to be together though with less of a sense of unity and connection. The grid dimension describes how different people are in the group and how they take on different roles. At one end of this spectrum people are relatively homogenous in their abilities, work, and activity and can easily interchange roles.
Matai is a term that is used in Samoan for leader, or chief, or even (in the poetic sense) father. The society in the film Moana, is organized by family, and each family has its own matai titles, which are connected to certain districts, villages, and plots of family land (Hamogeekgirl, 2010). In the film Moana, a man is responsible for all the hard labor and providing for the village and the family. In the Polynesian culture, woman has a place in society is to take care of the light work, kids, and preparation of food. Family members play a role with elders, commanding the most respect. Everything is communal, from food to sleeping arrangements, although brothers and sisters always sleep under separate roofs in accordance with the Tongan culture of sibling separation and respect (Jasons, 2016).
In the nuances of Polynesia culture, chores are distributed according to gender. In Tonga, men tend the ’umu (underground oven), grow and harvest food, and do all manual labor. The women clean, wash clothes, and prepare and cook food. The patriarch is generally the head of the family, and land passes down from a father to his eldest son. Women, however, possess high (even superior) status in other facets of family life. A fahu (father’s oldest sister) will be accorded the highest levels of respect at all formal and informal occasions from funerals to weddings and births. She acts as the family matriarch and oversees her siblings, nieces, and nephews.
The first time the audience sees cultural hierarchy in the film Moana is when the family matriarch, Grandma Tala, tells a group of children the story of Maui and Te Fiti, and how Maui stole her heart in order to pay tribute to his mankind by pulling islands out of the ocean, bringing them fire, and saving them from beasts. Here we see two important hierarchical figures: Grandma Tala and Maui.
Grandma Tala is the mother of Chief Tui, and the grandmother of Moana, the future leader of the village. Grandma Tala holds the hierarchy standards of a Queen Mother, which gives her status and respect as the mother of the chief. She is an individual that is open-minded and soulful, and this lets her be free spirited and an example to Moana. She is not just a grandmother to Moana though. She is also a spiritual mother to Moana who acts as a guide as Moana goes on her journey to find Maui and save the island.
Maui is a demigod who used a magical fish hook as an instrument, which shows hierarchy religiously and culturally as the villagers respect and revere him. But this hierarchy becomes less important because by stealing the heart of Te Fiti, he brought a curse to the islands. Food, plants, and the ocean became poisoned and unusable, therefore Maui was looked down upon and no longer had a hierarchical status. He betrayed his people, which made them fear the sea and stop voyaging. He still has the standard as the demigod Maui, but he no longer has the respect at the top of the cultural and spiritual hierarchy. When Moana and Maui journey to the island of Te Fiti to restore her heart, Maui was forgiven and his hierarchical status was restored. During a battle, his hook is damaged, but Te Fiti restores it when she forgives him, and this helped him gain his hierarchical status.
Another hierarchical figure in this film is Chief Tui, who is the leader of the island. He is a symbol of hierarchy not just because of his status as chief, but because of his tattoos that represent faith, dignity, and strength, as well as his headband which represents the same things. These attributes are inherited rather than earned, but he still has to live up to these expectations to keep his status, which is what he teaches Moana as she prepares to take his place one day.
So far, these members of the hierarchy are fairly traditional in their practices, but Moana breaks the mold. She wanted to leave the island, explore the world, find Maui, and restore the heart of Te Fiti. She put her life on the line to save her people and her island, but usually it’s the other way around: “Long life the king.” She took her hierarchy and placed it at the level of her people, which helped her earn more respect and was an opportunity for the audience to have a better understanding of the Polynesian culture. It is the strong bond between the people and the hierarchy that really defines the cultural aspect of Polynesia.
This concept is best represented through the voyages made in this film. When Moana entered the cave that was home to dozens of voyage ships and hit the drums, she gained a vision of what her people once were, and what they could be again. They chief that led the voyages shows another form of hierarchy. The way he navigated the ocean is a form of knowledge and hierarchy. The women had hierarchy by taking care of the children on these voyages. This was all lost when the curse fell upon the island and Moana’s people, which made Chief Tui forbid fishing and any voyages beyond the reef. This hierarchy is restored when Moana breaks barriers and travels beyond the reef to save her island and her people.
These examples show that Moana is the main hierarchical figure of this film because she has broken barriers and committed herself to saving her people, which has not been a focus with the past few generations. When somebody in that level of hierarchy steps down to a lower level, in perspective, is an individual that will be loved for many years to come. And while this is not a formal hierarchy position, it may be more important than any official hierarchical standing or label.
Conclusion
Overall, this research is very important in different levels. When Disney makes movies about different regions and cultures, it comes with cultural differences. Disney has a huge voice in pop culture, and the media influences the ideas, beliefs, and action of the public. The movie Moana does show surface culture, but also deep culture. The deep culture is what I can see and perceive, because it is an intuitive truth for me, and I am Polynesian, but I would not notice and/or understand views outside of the culture. I used the Grid-group Cultural Theory to help analyze if there is Cultural Hierarchy in the film Moana. In the theory, the group dimension describes how strongly people are bonded together. At one end there are distinct and separated individuals, perhaps with common reason to be together though with less of a sense of unity and connection. In the film, there is a strong bond between the people, because the villagers are connected and have a sense of “Identity,” and they are more personal to one another. Within in this theory, the collectivist culture really helped explain the cultural hierarchy in the film Moana. In a Collectivism Culture, people are strongly connected, yet people are very different. Cultural Hierarchy was shown in Moana, from the way people interacted, the clothes they wore, and the tattoos they had on their bodies. This model really helped me understand various cultures and countries/regions and how they are influenced by the proper etiquette of their culture. It is important to understand one’s own culture, which may be different from others, as well as the multiple cultures that may come into conflict at times.
This research affects modern Polynesian cultures because it takes Polynesian oral traditions of cultural hierarchy and shares it with the world. Our deep culture is shared with and understood by other cultures through this film. This can also motivate younger generations to go into the field of study of animation. In over one hundred years of Disney and other film mediums, why are animators just now making a film based on Polynesian cultures? This film has been criticized many times by Polynesian scholars around the world, and they are questioning why filmmakers haven’t taken the initiative of creating a film based on Polynesian culture before this point. Hopefully from this critic, younger generations will be inspired to create media outlets based on various cultures, specifically Polynesian cultures, to share oral traditions, hierarchies, and the importance of deep culture.
Because this film is still fresh, and the media outlets are just now bringing Polynesian culture to the mainstream, there is much more research needed in this field. Hopefully more artifacts based on Polynesian culture will be created, and researchers will have the opportunity to analyze and share the importance of these artifacts.
References
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