MovieChat Forums > Moana (2016) Discussion > I'm confused...what exactly was their et...

I'm confused...what exactly was their ethnicity supposed to be?

posted 8 years ago by hawaiiroots
3 replies | jump to latest

I went into this movie thinking the ethnic theme was supposed to be Hawaiian because moana is the Hawaiian word for "ocean", and Maui is the Hawaiian demigod who fished out the Hawaiian Islands (aka the "Hawaiian Superman"). But throughout the entire movie, I had no idea what they were supposed to be...

The grandmother was dancing Hula, yet the language and music wasn't Hawaiian. It sounded Samoan but i cant be sure.

The headpiece worn by the women looked Tahitian, yet the men looked like they were doing Samoan Slapdance.

There was even an instance where it looked like they were doing Haka, associated with Maori, yet not a single character had tattoos on their face.

Does anyone know what their ethnic identity was supposed to be?

"The only people who are racist, are the ones calling you racist"

[–] JohnSmith2560 8 years ago

It is suppose to be Polynesian Hawaiian, but the film makers weren't exactly concerned with getting specific details right so they just slapped together a number of Polynesian traits and customs together. As for tattoos that may have been excluded due to the often 'controversial' attitude towards them by many people. We can't have people screaming 'Oh please will someone think of the children!'

[–] tevagtpl 8 years ago

Moana represents all Polynesians/Melanesians in the Pacific, not just Hawaii. In fact the directors clearly state that they did not use Hawaii as a reference for this movie. They visited and researched Fiji, Samoa and Tahiti as they are the ancient islands. Hawaii and Aotearoa/NZ did not exist during this period, they were discovered by the Polynesians a thousand years later.

Most of the island words used in this movie are Samoan, the dances are a mix of Tahitian and Samoan. The Polynesian lyrics used in the songs are mostly Tokelaun with Samoan thrown in their too. Most of the People suggesting that its Hawaiian movie are not natives of Hawaii so wouldn't know the difference. Btw "Native Hawaiian" means you can claim your ancestry back to the original Polynesians that discovered Hawaii. It does not mean being born in Hawaii or living in Hawaii.

[–] 8 years ago

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