History Fridge / Moana

** [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles Volcanic soil is the most fertile on the Earth]].

* Tamatoa means something along the lines of "heroic man/boy" in reo Tahiti. Guess how Tamatoa thinks of himself. Additionally, in gagana Sāmoa ('Samoan'), Tamatoa is plural and means 'trophies'--which Tamatoa is covered in.
* Why is it so important that Moana is the one to restore Te Fiti's heart, instead of Maui? Because she's ''human''. As this [[http://fumbledeegrumble.tumblr.com/post/165907147306/faerieincombatboots-justthatraccoon4 tumblr]] points out, Maui stole the heart because the humans of that time ''asked'' him to. This would also tie in nicely with Maui in Polynesian Mythology because most of his deeds were done because humans ''asked or complained'' about certain issues to him and he'd fix it. The line ''"It's nice to see that humans never change"'' could even be a StealthInsult because this song is sung immediately after Moana ''demands'' that he help her return the heart. In fact the entire point of "You're Welcome" is secretly to show that humans are fickle and quick to demonise people; humans kept asking him to give them gifts, because it was never enough for them. No matter how amazing he was, it was never enough for people. Finally, he made a mistake while trying to give the gift of life itself to humanity. From then on, how was he remembered? As a trickster god who screwed everyone, ''"Maybe you were but now ... Now you're just the guy who stole the heart of Te Fiti. The guy who cursed the world..."'' That’s why Moana was so surprised by the fact that he wasn’t a monster! She had no idea of all the good things he did. Maui was a guy whose only purpose was to make people happy but he made one mistake and was forever demonised by humanity.
--> '''Maui:'''"I gave them islands, fire, coconuts. Anything they could ever want."\\
'''Moana:'''"You took the heart for them. You did everything for them. So they'd love you."\\
'''Maui:''' "It was never enough."
** Te Fiti herself is demonised as Te Ka, no one knew that she was actually Te Fiti trying to get her heart back, she was demonised as well. People who told the story referred to her as being one of the demons who were hunting for the heart. When Moana sings "Know Who You Are" she sings ''"'''THEY''' have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you"'' Take note that she said '''they''', she was never talking about Maui, she was talking about the humans themselves, the ones who kept asking Maui to give them more and more. That's why it's so important that Moana was the one to restore Te Fiti's heart and also be the one who helps Maui understand that he is so much more than what people define him as being. Because she is making up for the crimes that humans themselves have done.

** Te Ka is never shown from the shoulders down - where the symbol of Te Fiti is.

*** And, of course, the obvious moment of heartwarming: at the end, Maui finally gets over himself and ''lets someone else into his heart.''

** It's also a line that eliminates the idea that Maui is a stereotype of Polynesian obesity. If Maui was that fat, he'd easily float - that's what fat *does*. He can't float because [[StoutStrength he's all muscle.]]

** It's also a line that eliminates the idea that Maui is a stereotype of Polynesian obesity. If Maui was that fat, he'd easily float. He can't float because [[StoutStrength he's all muscle.]]

* Moana is unique in the Disney canon for the amount of detail it gives to the culture of the film's setting, while in previous Disney films the culture was taken for granted or given a more generic/americanized outlook. You could say Disney's learned from their mistakes and for once portrayed the culture faithfully to not upset the polynesian community, but it's also very fitting for the story: the main theme of Moana is identity, and finding who you are. The person you are can be defined and influenced by your loving community surrounding you, aka your culture. Your ancestors founded the basics of your culture, how your people think and behave, and the idea of culture is to unite like-minded folks, and for old history and traditions to not vanish into oblivion; and Moana is also influenced by her voyaging ancestors, who had been long forgotten by the time. It makes perfect sense to focus on culture in this movie!

* Imagine Tui's reaction upon finding out Moana has sailed out beyond the reef just ''after'' his mother's death. Given that they were fighting the last time they were together, imagine if she had never come back...

* Moana orders the diseased coconut trees be cleared out and a new grove planted, but coconut trees take six titan years to even ''start'' growing coconuts, and fifteen to ''twenty'' years to reach full production. Even if her plan had worked, and even if there were a few scattered unaffected coconut trees on the island, that's a long time for a sharp reduction in such a major crop!

* Something of a minor one, thought still no less terrifying: the repeat of "''and no one leaves [the island]''" in "Where We Are", combined with the emphasis on Motonoui being isolated and unchanging. [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness That is a -very- un-Polynesian worldview]]. There's something of a weird Stepford vibe in the way Moana goes from disappointed to singing along and dancing happily with her father (with a still ever-so-slightly forced smile) about [[Main/GildedCage remaining in the island forever]], knowing that every day will be the same as the one before. Viewers who know even a little about the importance of Polynesian civilizations' epic ocean voyages and ancient navigation methods will intuit that something is really, deeply wrong.

* Something of a minor one, thought still no less terrifying: the repeat of “''and no one leaves [the island]''” in Where We Are, combined with the emphasis on Motonoui being isolated and unchanging. There's something of a weird Stepford vibe in the way Moana goes from disappointed to singing along and dancing happily with her father about [[Main/GildedCage remaining in the island forever]], knowing that every day will be the same as the one before.

* Te Fiti was born from the Ocean. Which means that the dislike the Ocean shows towards Maui is a form of parental protectiveness(even though Maui himself is related indirectly to it)

* Moana [[InsistentTerminology vehemently denies]] that she's a "princess," in a context that clearly applies in-universe ''and'' on a meta-level. But not only is she clearly [[TheChiefsDaughter her island's equivalent of royalty]], she has much in common personality-wise with other Disney princesses ([[PluckyGirl Ariel]], [[{{Adorkable}} Rapunzel]], [[TheDeterminator Anna]], and even not-royal-by-any-definition [[TookALevelInBadass Mulan]]). Is there anything about Moana completely different from the heroines marketed as Disney's princesses? Like Mulan, she took her responsibilities to her family and people seriously. Unlike Mulan, who had trouble fitting into society at the time, Moana actually did succeed in the role she was expected to fill for a time. It was only after it became apparent that regardless of what she did, if she didn't set sail to restore Te Fiti's heart then her people would die. She's not a "princess" because she's clearly being groomed to replace her father in a different kind of system.

*** Building on this, what important lesson has Maui learned by the end of the film? [[Disney/TheLionKing That sometimes, you've just gotta put your behind in your past!]]

** [[spoiler: Te Fiti herself is demonised as Te Ka, no one knew that she was actually Te Fiti trying to get her heart back, she was demonised as well. People who told the story referred to her as being one of the demons who were hunting for the heart.]] When Moana sings "Know Who You Are" she sings ''"'''THEY''' have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you"'' Take note that she said '''they''', she was never talking about Maui, she was talking about the humans themselves, the ones who kept asking Maui to give them more and more. That's why it's so important that Moana was the one to restore Te Fiti's heart and also be the one who helps Maui understand that he is so much more than what people define him as being. Because she is making up for the crimes that humans themselves have done.
* [[spoiler:Te Ka]] and [[spoiler:Te Fiti]]: of course they are the same character.

** [[spoiler: When Te Ka's fire / lavaballs hit the water the resulting color is ''green''. Also she seemed a bit too distracted when seeing the heart.]]
** [[spoiler: Te Ka is never shown from the shoulders down - where the symbol of Te Fiti is.]]
** [[spoiler: What kind of being would it take to defeat Demigod Maui when he was in top form as he was when he stole the Heart? A full-on ''God''.]]
** [[spoiler: More scientifically and thematically, the story is set in the Pacific, a highly volcanic region, where many islands were formed by volcanoes. The Mother Island rising out of the sea implies it is a volcano. When you remove the green heart of life and creation from such an island, all you get left is a volcano, a terrifying force of nature born of fire and lava.]]
** Red and green are [[ColorContrast opposite colors]]. Te Ka's red body efficiently establishes her as Te Fiti's EvilCounterpart, [[spoiler: but it also makes perfect sense that being forcibly turned into her antithesis would turn Te Fiti from a [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal gentle green to a raging red]].]]
** The Demons from the Deep presumably refer to the monsters from Lalotai, which we see earlier have to pass through water to reach the upper world. [[spoiler: Te Ka wouldn't be able to do that because she can't touch water, so she had to have come from somewhere else.]]
** The Ocean ''couldn't'' have returned the Heart itself, because [[spoiler: Te Ka can't touch water without being hurt by it. Any attempt by the Ocean's waves to replace the Heart would've seemed like an attack.]]
* Maui [[spoiler: being easily forgiven by Te Fiti for essentially ripping her heart out isn't too far fetched when you consider that even though he went about his deeds with less than purely altruistic motives, every single thing Maui did for humanity was for its ''benefit.'' Not once did he abuse his power in a truly harmful way towards humans, at least until he tried to give them a power reserved for the Gods. Te Fiti's forgiveness is likely a direct acknowledgment that she understood why he did what he had done.]]
** Further, [[spoiler:Te Fiti wasn't ''mad'' at Maui, but still seemed miffed and didn't forgive him until he genuinely apologised to her because he knew now that what he did was wrong, admitting that he had no excuse. It's likely she saw the CharacterDevelopment Moana inspired in him and acknowledged it.]]
* This story has parallels to Literature/JourneyToTheWest, in that a semi-divine being tries to defy the gods and gets trapped for hundreds of years until a human comes along and frees him and he redeems himself by helping that human. [[spoiler: Also because A: he's EasilyForgiven at the end because he had already served his punishment by being trapped for so long, and B: it turns out his quest was to escort the Chosen One and protect them until they could accomplish the main quest themselves.]] And after a thousand years [[spoiler: trapped as a destructive monster]], Te Fiti probably didn't want her first act upon regaining her freedom to be one of vengeance.

* Grandma Tala's scene [[spoiler: near the end when she and the ancestor spirits encourage Moana to not give up has been compared to Mufasa's iconic "Remember who you are" scene...but Moana herself actually also invokes this on Te Ka at the climax when she tells her to remember who she really is.]]
* When explaining why he doesn't trust the ocean's judgment, Maui asks why the ocean doesn't just restore the Heart itself instead of giving it to some random ill-equipped human. [[spoiler: The ocean can't get near Te Ka because she's made of lava; it would just hurt and enrage her more if it tried.]]
* Moana [[InsistentTerminology vehemently denies]] that she's a "princess," in a context that clearly applies in-universe ''and'' on a meta-level. But not only is she clearly [[TheChiefsDaughter her island's equivalent of royalty]], she has much in common personality-wise with other Disney princesses ([[PluckyGirl Ariel]], [[{{Adorkable}} Rapunzel]], [[TheDeterminator Anna]], and even not-royal-by-any-definition [[TookALevelInBadass Mulan]]). Is there anything about Moana completely different from the heroines marketed as Disney's princesses? [[spoiler: Like Mulan, she took her responsibilities to her family and people seriously. Unlike Mulan, who had trouble fitting into society at the time, Moana actually did succeed in the role she was expected to fill for a time. It was only after it became apparent that regardless of what she did, if she didn't set sail to restore Te Fiti's heart then her people would die. She's not a "princess" because she's clearly being groomed to replace her father in a different kind of system.]]

* [[spoiler: Once it becomes clear who Te Ka really is, it makes sense why the theft of the heart would cause darkness to spread; it's not a figurative evil, but literal black soot. Without Te Fiti, the island lost the life force keeping the flora alive, causing them to wither back into the ashen soot that comprises Te Ka. Without the flora for food, the fauna left, leaving the islands barren.]] Furthermore, it seems strange that Te Ka has remained in the same place after all this time, never searching for the heart on its own. [[spoiler:Because, as Te Fiti, she's an island.]]
** Te Ka remaining in one place doesn't seem as strange when you consider it's a lava being, shown to be cooled to the point of solidification upon contact with the ocean. That would likely hinder any travel plans to go find the Heart. [[spoiler: Moana had to tell the ocean to "let her come to me" in order for Te Ka to be able to get off the barrier islands and reclaim her Heart.]]

** The placement of Maui's first tattoo. [[spoiler: First of all, it's on his back in a spot normally hidden by his hair; not only does he only want people to see the heroic parts of him, but he doesn't want to face it himself, either. It also represents how being abandoned by his parents, and the resulting InferioritySuperiorityComplex, is a huge weight on his shoulders.]]
** His first tattoo's picture. [[spoiler: Why would he have a tattoo of being abandoned if his tattoos are to be earned and all of his other tattoos are something heroic he did? One, because every hero needs an origin story, two, so he won't forget from whence he came.[[note]]And the world's gonna know your name![[/note]] (also, a rule of wayfinding is knowing where you are by knowing where you've been.) Three, because he survived despite the odds, even if with the help of gods who took him in.]]
** You notice where it is placed? [[spoiler: It is his *BACK* story!]]
*** Building on this, what important lesson has Maui learned by the end of the film? [[spoiler: [[Disney/TheLionKing That sometimes, you've just gotta put your behind in your past!]]]]
** His first tattoo is the only tattoo of his that doesn't show any distinguishing features like Mini-Maui does, instead using a simple stick figure to represent him. [[spoiler: Signifying that the circumstances of his past don't define the person he is now.]]
* Maui can only transform into animals whose teeth/bones he has on his necklace. (Discounting [[spoiler: Sven]], of course.) For added brilliance, those are all animals that thrive in the Polynesian environment, which helps in various situations: beetles, lizards and small fish are able to evade in land, water and air. Meanwhile the eagle, shark and whales are more likely for bigger threats and can take on the threats easier. So it's likely he's a prepared shapeshifter.

* Tui uses the coconut as an example of how the island provides and there's no reason to leave Motunui. But how do coconuts propagate? They float from island to island. Much like [[spoiler: a certain group of voyagers!]]

* Why did the ocean [[ChosenOne choose]] Moana? [[SecretTestOfCharacter Because she abandoned the shell to help the turtle.]] That scene actually serves as a metaphor for Moana's entire arc--having to choose between helping people (the turtle/her village) and doing what she wants (grabbing the shell/voyaging), and ultimately finding that she can do both. [[spoiler: Also, in the end kindness was a required trait to resolve the central conflict.]]

*** Fridge Heartwarming: When Mini Maui gives Maui a hug after [[spoiler: the latter confesses his backstory about being abandoned as a baby]], it represents Maui learning to love himself.
*** This revelation also means Maui deserves some more credit for [[spoiler: returning to protect Moana from Te Ka. The movie implies Mini-Maui had a hand in convincing him to come back, but going by this idea, it was really Maui who convinced ''himself''.]]

* "Maui can do anything but float". First it seems obvious, [[ActorAllusion since he's made of]] [[Creator/DwayneJohnson rock]]. But then there's also the fact [[spoiler: that his parents tried to drown him as child]].

* [[spoiler:If Te Ka can't touch water, how did she get from her usual spot while asleep to right in front of Maui? If we take the metaphor of dormant/sleeping volcanos literally, Maui removing Te Fiti's heart may have caused a MASSIVE ERUPTION. With the barrier reef, enough lava would have landed for Te Ka to reform in a different spot without touching water, but unfortunately she was stuck there.]]
* Why did Grandma Tala [[spoiler: die so suddenly after revealing everything to Moana? While she was old she seemed rather healthy and active as far as old folks go. Given that the Heart of Te Fiti is said to have the power of creating life itself, it's not too much of a stretch to believe that since she had been holding onto it since Moana was a baby, it was granting her a touch of life extension by proximity. So when she gave it to Moana she was no longer receiving its power and quickly passed on.]]
** Also, Gramma was literally standing on top of where the encroaching blight had come ashore on Motonui when she gave Moana the heart [[spoiler: so she went from having the energy of creation preserving her to handing it off in the place where Te Fiti's creation was becoming unmade.]]

** It also explains why a flock of manta rays circled Grandma Tala while she was dancing on the beach. [[spoiler: She ''summoned'' them using the Heart.]]
* The main point of Maui's IAmSong being "You're Welcome" makes sense when his InferioritySuperiorityComplex is revealed. After [[spoiler: his parents abandoned him, Maui felt that he was worthless without his fish hook (with which he performed most of the tasks mentioned in the song)]]. This reveal, coupled with Moana's initial shock at his arrogance, shows that the song isn't Maui displaying his AwesomeEgo. It's Maui ''begging'' for praise in order to feel better about himself.

* Moana has tried dozens of times before to go to sea, but Tui never shows anger. He just casually carries her back like he's saying "Not so fast" in a good-natured way. But when Moana suggested they fish beyond the reef, that time, Tui really loses his cool and snaps at her! Why? Because this time around, Moana is suggesting some of their own people try it. [[spoiler: It was one thing when his friend asked to come along. It's another thing when his daughter actively asks others to come along if they didn't want to in the first place.]] And then, there's the part where Moana claims she found the Heart of Te Fiti and wants the ''whole'' tribe to voyage. To him, it looks like his daughter's deliberately lying so she can get her wish to go sailing. No wonder Tui gives her a DeathGlare before he storms off to burn the voyaging boats.

** Each of the stones on the stack is flat, so that the next chief can add another stone on top. Capping it with the shell shows that there won't be another chief, [[spoiler: at least not on that island]].

* At one point, during the transformation sequence for Maui, Heihei tries to eat Maui as a bug. At first glance this appears to be the only time that the chicken tries to eat something that isn't a rock without being extremely guided. But then again... The Rock is Maui.

* Why does Gramma Tala wait until Moana is 16 until she explains to her granddaughter is TheChosenOne? First, as [[LampshadeHanging she herself points out]], she's "[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} the village crazy lady]]" and no one (not even her son) would take her seriously. Second, even if the first reason didn't happen, the thought of his only child going into the place he's always feared would only make Tui even ''more'' overprotective of her. And third, how would a young Moana react to being effectively told she's destined for greatness? Would it have made her arrogant and insecure like Maui? Gramma Tala wanted to wait until she finally ''knew'' that Moana became the mature, humble but confident hero needed to complete the task.

* Why did Tamatoa paint himself with bioluminescent paint? So even in the dark, he can be '''[[EarWorm SHINY!!!]]'''