MovieChat Forums > Moana (2016) Discussion > Can a girl be chief?

Can a girl be chief?

posted 8 years ago by A-zone
8 replies | jump to latest

I am not familiar with Polynesian culture so was wondering if it allowed for a girl to be chief? In many old tribal cultures that I have heard of, only boys can become chiefs and not girls.

Also in this movie when Moana's father shows her the pile of rocks, he says that he placed a rock that, like his father before him, and his father before him and his father before him. So for the past four generations, only men have been chiefs.

I'm just curious.

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".

[–] Brother_h 8 years ago

It's not common for women to be Rulers of their clans or tribes, but it has happened due to the need of a true to the name leader. LEadership is based on kin and who come from the same family. Sometimes a cousin will take the title, or the title will be contested between cousins or uncles or aunties.

The leader would always be chosen among close family and the persons skills.

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[–] tevagtpl 8 years ago

Don't know what all this clan bs is, thats not Polynesian culture.

Yes in Polynesian culture women can definitely be chiefs. In Samoan culture women have just as much right to a chieftain title as a man. The titles are not Hereditary, they are passed on to those that are deemed most capable and deserving in the villages. Many times families will support a candidate and the chiefs will decide if they are worthy. Usually someone who has given great service to the village and has shown leadership.

Polynesians were quite a Matriarchal society before the arrival of Europeans and Christianity. Also old people are given great respect and the knowledge they held was valued and passed on. With Colonisation and Christian conversion the Europeans tried enforce their way of thinking, calling our culture and people savages.

Thankfully Islands like Samoa, Fiji and Tonga are self governing with a majority Polynesian Population. We still continue our traditions and are extremely proud of our culture. Women in Samoa continue to have high ranking Chieftain titles and are respected equally alongside the men.

In the Movie Moana is actually wearing a Samoan chieftain headdress and clothing. Disney had done their research thoroughly in the islands. I believe that "Oshnat" the Producer, after finding out about the gender equality in Samoa with regards to leadership etc, was adamant to have this in the Movie.

[–] Brother_h 8 years ago

In some Polynesian and Maori cultures, Tribes are divided into Hapu, or clans. Each clan is related to the primary clan and settle on their own lands and rule their own territory for the sake of the entire Tribe.

The iwi (tribe) is the largest of the groups that form Māori society. Each iwi is made up of various hapū (clans or descent groups), which might have up to several hundred members. Traditionally, the main purposes of a hapū were to defend land, and to provide support for its members.

So yes, it is part of Polynesian and Maori culture.

Each hapū was made up of different-ranking members, headed by chiefs called ariki and rangatira. First-born females also had high status. Experts in areas such as history and tradition, carving and healing were called tohunga. There were commoners and sometimes captives or slaves in each hapū.

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[–] footnotegirl 8 years ago

You could easily assume, from the information given, that for the last four generations, first children have always been boys. In this case, it seems pretty clear that Moana was the only child of the chief.
Polynesian culture is not one single thing. There are cultures within the Polynesian world that have only male chiefs and serious strictures about what each gender's jobs and duties are. Others, not so much. On top of that, Moana takes place in a clearly fictionalized world: magic actually exists, I think that if we have shapeshifting demigods, sentient oceans, piratical coconuts, singing hermit crabs, and nature goddesses that change from lava to a sleeping island. Given that, a female chief is pretty much the least weird thing that could happen.
At any rate, the last native Hawaiian ruler was Queen Lili'uokalani.

Also, here, a whole scholarly article on female polynesian chiefs:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223348708572563

[–] tevagtpl 8 years ago

Footnotegirl - Yes Hawaii had a Queen as their last leader, and the
Americans overthrew her, stole Hawaii and then declared it a State of America. The Native Hawaiians are now treated as 2nd class citizens on their own island. Just an important fact to add to your last comment.

Yes Moana is a fictional character and she comes from the fictional island of Motonui. Its a Disney Princess movie, what do you expect. Do you think Elsa really had ice powers, or that Pocahontas could actually talk to animals.

It is important not to trivialise what our Polynesian culture has contributed to this movie. Maui character is taken from the myths of Polynesia, the great feats he has performed are from stories that are told to Polynesian children. Moana herself is wearing the ceremonial dress for a Samoan Chieftain. Also the clothing of villagers and Grandma are based of Fijian, Tahitian and Tongan designs, not created out of thin air. It is Polynesian voices you hear throughout the move singing our Polynesian songs as well as Lins beautiful lyrics. The wave finding they refer to is real, the Polynesians were the greatest ocean navigators. They didn't need a compasses, sexton or Sattlelite gps, everything was held in the master navigators head. You cant do that today, too much reliance on computers and *beep*

Polynesian culture is around 4000 years old and we still practice it today throughout the pacific. Yes this is a fictional movie, but there would be no Moana Waialiki without Polynesia.

[–] footnotegirl 8 years ago

Oh... I hope that that wasn't seen as me negating the richness of Polynesian history and religion, let alone the (words redacted because I try not to swear until I am blue in the face) way the US treated Hawaii when taking over.
It was mostly in response to the oft-heard refrain of "This movie is unbelievable because a girl is doing X and that would never happen" etc when there are far more unbelievable things happening in the movie which was implied if not directly stated by the OP. So I was clarifying that a) some Polynesian cultures indeed had female leaders and b) the critique is a bit disingenuous when the movie is a fantasy.
I'm so glad that Disney went to the lengths it did to more accurately portray Polynesian culture, especially art and music, than they have ever gone before with previous movies. It's a good start.

[–] tevagtpl 8 years ago

Footnotegirl, ok, thx for clarfying your earlier comments, as you can see i'm very passionate about being Polyneian and Samoan. I am also very thankful that Disney took the time to do research and then to produce a such a beautiful movie that us Polynesians can be proud of.

[–] A-zone 8 years ago

On top of that, Moana takes place in a clearly fictionalized world: magic actually exists, I think that if we have shapeshifting demigods, sentient oceans, piratical coconuts, singing hermit crabs, and nature goddesses that change from lava to a sleeping island. Given that, a female chief is pretty much the least weird thing that could happen.

It was mostly in response to the oft-heard refrain of "This movie is unbelievable because a girl is doing X and that would never happen" etc when there are far more unbelievable things happening in the movie which was implied if not directly stated by the OP. So I was clarifying that a) some Polynesian cultures indeed had female leaders and b) the critique is a bit disingenuous when the movie is a fantasy.

I NEVER said that a girl being chief was weird. Nor did I say this movie was unbelievable because of that. Please don't accuse of me something I never said or didn't even remotely imply.

To repeat myself, I was simply asking those who are familiar with Polynesian culture if it is possible for a female to be chief. I ask this because I am not familiar with this culture's traditions and rules, and in many other cultures that I have heard of, it is only the men who are given such positions. It was a simple question and many people have answered it here quite thoroughly and given examples as well that it is possible. So now I know something that I did not before.

As for your reasoning that this is a fictional/fantasy movie so everything goes is completely illogical. Yes this is an animated movie and yes the story is fictional and yes it has fantastical elements but that does not mean that reality is completely disregarded.

The makers of this movie traveled to the Polynesian islands to study their culture and other things so that they could portray that accurately in the movie. If they thought like you then they could simply just put whatever they want in the movie since it is after all a fictional movie.

Why have them wear Polynesian clothes or sing Polynesian songs? Why not have them wear torn jeans an t-shirts and sing Irish folk songs? It is after all a fictional movie, right? In fact, why even have gravity at all? Why not just have the people floating in space? You see how ridiculous that sounds?

Even fictional fantasy movies HAVE to be grounded in some amount of reality. In this movie, the reality is the Polynesian people, their environment, their beliefs, their traditions, their looks, their songs, their language. Even the fantastical elements, like the living ocean are also taken from their beliefs and not from Chinese or African beliefs. Everything in this movie is built around the Polynesian life, and then some elements are fictionalized and dramatized for storytelling and entertaining purposes (giant crab, coconut pirates).

The fictional elements in this movie like the sentient ocean and the shape-shifting demigod have a link to the Polynesian culture and that is why they are in it. The makers didn't just arbitrarily decide to put them in there.

That is why I was inquiring about the possibility of a girl becoming chief, not because I think it is weird or I'm a misogynist, but because I wanted to know if this is part of the Polynesian tradition or if this was something the makers decided to do on their own.

"I'm the dude, playing a dude that's disguised as another dude".