Why Moana is the Best Representation of a Disney Princess

Moana strays away from the typical story of a Disney princess film. She does not have to be saved by a man, and end up with her “Prince Charming.” Moana is independent from the beginning, a strong leader, resilient, and she is not white! Moana broke the barrier for the lack of accurate representation in Disney films and we finally got to see a woman take the lead in a film and stay in the lead without a romantic aspect to fall back on.

In most of the Disney princess movies, the women in the films are typically dependent on the men in order to succeed or even in some cases, survive. For instance, Snow White had to be kissed by a Prince Charming in order to wake up from her slumber caused by a poisoned apple. This is not only completely horrendous to any grown woman viewing the movie seeing how this is a “damsel in distress” situation, but this is also promoting sexual harassment. How many women in real life would be okay with getting kissed by a stranger in their sleep? The answer is close to none. In Cinderella, the entire movie is revolved around her finding a Prince Charming in order to be set free from her horrible step family. Dependence on a Prince Charming is one of the most common tropes of Disney princess movies.

Fortunately, in Moana the viewer does not have to worry about the typical Prince Charming trope. When I watched Moana for the first time I assumed that Moana was going to fall in love with the demi-god Maui, and then they would accomplish restoring the heart of the ocean together with Maui as the strong leader. I was not prepared for finallybeing able to watch a Disney princess be true to herself and focused on helping the people she already loves. The lack of romance in this movie truly allowed for Moana to be empowered as a female. In movies, it is so rare for a female to be represented in a powerful position. Women grow up to think that it is the norm to never be the one in charge. On top of that, the audience typically expects there to be some sort of romantic aspect in a Disney princess movie.

Lack of accurate representation is one of Disney’s other most common princess tropes. Some people are probably wondering why we as a nation are looking so deeply into a Disney princess movie as being a form of representation, but there is something to be learned from movies. What we see at a young age effects the way we think and act in adulthood. In Pocahontas, which is a horrid and inaccurate version of representation, John Smith only puts down his gun to her because of her beauty (Washuta). In addition, she is given animal-like qualities which makes her more relatable to an animal than human, which makes it easier for the viewer to think indigenous people are not on the same level of human as everyone else (Washuta). Young America, our future leaders, watch Disney movies and they grow up seeing this type of animosity portrayed towards people of color in movies.

Sure, there has been “diversity” in Disney movies in the past, but a lot of that “diversity” ended up being blatantly racist. For example, in Aladdin, which was set in the Middle East, had multiple overtly racist lines and scenes in the film and many other tropes as well. A set of lyrics from the opening song said, “barbaric, but hey, it’s home,” which Disney changed at a later date. In the violent place of “Agrabah,” if you steal, you lose your hand. Some extremist groups do tend to still cut off hands for stealing, but that is not an accurate portrayal of the Middle East in general. Jasmine was often portrayed as an object rather than a human; like a prize to be won. In addition, Jasmine’s only sense of independence stems from her love for Aladdin. The other women in the Agrabah were highly sexualized as sex workers or portrayed as unattractive and older. Aladdin is allowed into the sex workers’ room where they surrounded him and were uninterested in him because he was not rich. However, when he turned into Prince Ali, they were all obsessed with him. Leading into a larger point that most women in Disney princess movies only went after men of power, instead of wanting to be powerful themselves. Aladdin was released in 1992, years before Google was a feature that we could all use at our own disposal. In addition, Aladdin was marketed to people “all of races” in its “biggest ethnic marketing campaign ever,” in which they used to sell the film to African-American and Hispanic children in the United States (Kini). Disney tried to make it look like Aladdin “represented” people of color that would “include” Middle Eastern, South Asian, African-American, and Latinx children (Kini). Overall, this made Disney overtly racist within their campaigning and made Disney’s image look even worse today. So even though the movie scenes are not an accurate portrayal of what it is actually like in the Middle East, viewers of the movie believed that is what it was like in the Middle East. Not to mention this was also during a time with a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes with mostly white people behind the camera (Kini).

Moana is a stepping stone for Disney films to begin providing representation that empowers others, with accurate information which allows the children and young adults who watch the movies to see that they are strong and worthy of success. It finally shows a woman who is independent, and relies on herself in order to get the job done. Disney does not make her animal-like, instead they treat her as a person of her culture. We finally get to see the accurate representation we have been looking for in these movies.

Moana included Disney’s first Polynesian princess, in which the filmmakers actually took their time to do some research on Moana’s culture and background. They correctly analyzed the culture throughout their research by traveling to Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga (Knight). Contrary to Aladdin, the songs that were used in Moana were not overtly racist. Instead, the lyrics of the songs in Moana told us more about her home and herself. The song “We Know the Way” is in the Tokelauan language, which only about 3,000 people in the world speak (Brayson). The song is difficult to translate, but it basically speaks about Moana’s people and their love for adventure (Brayson). Moana is not held back in the movie because she is a woman, instead she is treated as an equal and a rightful successor of her father, who is the chief. She does not need a husband in order to become chief one day, unlike other princesses who needed a husband to be queen like in Princess Diaries 2. Moana’s character developed and matured throughout the movie without changing her original independence and love for adventure. In addition to her original characteristics, she added a sense of resilience that Disney seems to give most Disney princesses. When Moana thinks about giving up, the Ocean reminds her of why she is searching for the heart of Te Fiti and she persists on her journey. Moana’s journey is unique to other Disney princesses because she goes on her journey for her family and her people, instead of trying to impress a man.

Unlike most Disney movies, the end of the movie does not contain a happily ever after marriage. Moana goes on a mission to find Maui, the demi-god, in order to restore the heart of the ocean (Khandelwal). Although Maui constantly picks on Moana by treating her like a child, she stays adamant on her mission to restore the heart of the ocean. She stands up for herself, and shows Maui that she is not a child but in fact a powerful woman who is capable of anything she sets her mind to. Moana standing up for herself empowers girls to speak their mind and show others that their words are powerful and influential. It is so important for children to see that Moana stands for something far greater than a typical Disney princess, she represents independence, diligence, and strength. Lack of accurate representation in the movies does not allow children to grow up with a sense of determination to strive to be something more than a stereotype.

In addition, Disney princess movies can do better all-around with more representation among princesses by not just making them cisgender. Instead Disney should go out of their way to make sure that people of all sexes, races, genders, ethnicities, and various backgrounds are in their movies. In addition, they need to provide an accurate representation of these backgrounds so they can provide information that teaches young children watching these movies that love is love, if a romantic aspect is placed into the movie. If the main character is a woman and she needs help in accomplishing a mission or task, maybe instead of making her partner in crime a male, they could use a female instead? If Disney would make these changes and make them accurately, America’s children will be much more informed and aware growing up instead of the way I grew up. Now, I see that my favorite movies from childhood gave me a false representation of how I should act when I grew up. I always believed I needed a “prince charming” to be happy and successful in life. Now at 20 years old, I see that I am the one who determines my future, and I am not a damsel in distress.

 

 

 

 

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