MovieChat Forums > Moana (2016) Discussion > The only problem I have with Maui---

The only problem I have with Maui---

posted 8 years ago by kampanagroup
7 replies | jump to latest

he's drawn as a big goofball.

What is wrong with taking an Asian or Polynesian character and actually making him handsome. Asians in film and animation have to be odd/goofy looking?

I remember as a kid, people from India were always given goofy characters or faces, but with movies like Slumdog Millionaire or TV shows like Heroes, we're getting Indians who actually look nice.

At least the "male" lead in Mulan was decently-drawn, although the rest of the infantry was filled with goofballs (the fat one, the short, mustached grumpy one, etc.)

Meanwhile, Asians or Polynesians in film still have to be goofballs or non-threatening (meaning no romantic-type) characters.

[–] UnvoicedApollo1 8 years ago

He didn't look goofy looking to me. He looked strong and stout.

[–] seekquaze125 8 years ago

So let me get this straight. Disney is criticized for having unrealistic or ideal body types.

Moana is given a bit curvier/thicker bodytype and is praised for it.

Maui, a heavy comedic character is given an exaggerated build of a power lifter/professional strongman and is criticized for it. Instead, people want him to have the body of a bodybuilder despite that being more ideal/unrealistic.

Maui's body type is found among many strong, large man who are physically powerful but do not try and achieve the sculpted look of a professional bodybuilder. His body reflects the super-strength he demonstrated in his great deeds. He is also a bit comedic to play against the main heroine. At no point was his size ever a joke, was he shown to be out of shape, or was he shown to be incompetent. Also, he was NOT a love interest so there was no need to animated him as such.

And the fact is many Polynesian men are large. Instead of shaming them Maui glorifies a larg body type.

Maui resembles less Dwayne Johnson's body type and more and more the more barrell chested Samoan look:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Solofa_Fatu.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UMAGA.jpg

[–] DreamingOfASong 8 years ago

Not to speak for OP, but they seemed to have more of an issue with his appearance - mostly his "goofy" face, than with his body type. I also think he has an unflattering face, personally, so I can see where OP is coming from there.

[–] amandaef2000-917-397520 8 years ago

To be honest I did not think anything bad about his face.

[–] Naneki1 8 years ago

I think the animators did an exaggerated version of the Rock's face for Maui, they often do that with their animated characters. Like Aladdin's genie looking so obviously like Robin Williams, but grossly exaggerating his nose. It's sort of a tribute to the voice actors and I think if Dwayne Johnson minded, he would have said something. And Maui is a demi-god, so I would expect his build to be the way it as, cartoon version anyway. As for goofy, I suppose you could say it's a goofy face, but being that Maui is a mischievous one, I thought his face just showed that side. That being said, I think I do understand the OPs POV here, although I don't believe it was done intentionally by the animators to be insulting to the Polynesian culture.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(O)(H)(W)(E)(L)(L)...

[–] crazyllamathing 8 years ago

The warrior-like males on the island didn't count?

[–] Stokes83 8 years ago

The story has no romance angle so there was no need to make Maui dreamy. His victories didn't include how many girls he's slept with. I can see why his look is upsetting to some. If they made Hercules into a white version of that a lot of people would be upset as well but alot of the muscle body function is just to look appealing to women. Since that's not in the story it makes sense to make him more comedic.