Before this class, I have never seen Moana and I do enjoy Disney movies. I was curiuous to see what I find as I critque like Linda Christensen discuss in her chapter "Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us". was hyperfocusing on my critical lens but at times got lost in the catchy music and ended up replay parts with the lens again. I've heard positive thing about Moana I went into it thinking since it was a newer Disney movie I would find as much typical stereotyping but its still there! First glance, Moana is a young woman of color soon to be chief, which I thought was great to shower young viewers that women could have leader roles, but Moana still faced ridicule from some of characters at the start wanting her to to be safe, soft spoken and not wanting her make big changes to her society. What is wrong with change if it could benefit her people? Why is that weird for a girl to do? This reminded me of a point Christensen made, "If the race of the charater is the only thing changing then injustices may still remain." (RPCM p. 180) Race wasn't the only thing that changes but many stereotypes still remained.
One instant I thought Moana was being treated unequally was conversations with her father. Even tho she was next to be chief in her village, there was a scene where she interrupts a meeting to share history that she discovered about her people. The villagers look sharply at her father to see his reaction (a powerful male figure) not even giving time for themselves to process what moana just shared. The first half of the movie I notice Mona struggling constantly to have the male figures take her more seriously like her. Her father is the current chief so he has more "power" and Maui the demi, who on their first meeting goes on and on about his greatness as she let's him know quite loudly he's not her hero.
In my Princess Conventions chart, I highlighted some of the traditional stero types I thought Moana had like Beautiful, Kind, At home with animals (Baby Moana saving the little sea turtle very cute and sweet but usually woman are seen doing this), Trusting, naive (her age) but the other characters may have wanted Moana to have the other characteristics like more complaint and soft spoken (mother and father). Even the side kicks were a typical less intelligent partner. I loved HeiHei the chicken so funny but of course not very intelligent and marks the word "sidekick" as someone as a joke.
I enjoyed the movie, very Disney but I see the messages are not quite what we need them to be for our young learners to break away from what has been taught in cartoons in the past. In the past couple of years you can seen more diversity, I would say Disney is improving, still needs more improving. There is so much to be seen in media even the media we think is "safe" after reading Christensen and watching Dr. Bogad slide deck I will definitely not see Disney or childrns movies the same again.
THanks for working so hard to keep the critical lens... I wonder about some of the ways you found Moana belittled in the early scenes. While your description is spot on, I read it differently. While there are moments when her father or her community doubt her, in the end the film shows that they were wrong and holds up Moana as an unproblematic leader. I love that she is never punished for her sense of adventure or desire to change the world. This feels like very different messaging to me. I do wish we had time to dicuss in synchronous class time!!
ReplyDeleteI think you're clever to point out what Christensen says about not being critical enough to progress in media representation. It's easy for people to think that because the movie is about native Hawaiians, it doesn't have any of the negative stereotypes of older movies. You make some really good points about the stereotypes that still persist (even in such a recent film). Good for you for taking the time to go back and rewatch the parts that distracted you from seeing it through a critical lens. This assignment really was a great example of the relationship between pleasure and critique!
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