Dev's Canoe.: June 2024

I Will Let You Give Up.

That message doesn't seem like it would be associated with a Disney movie. It's a little too sad and maybe even dark or defeating. The line seems too real, like something a distant teacher or parent would confer. Still, though, I hear it loud and clear from one of the characters in the hit film Moana.

Which character?

The Ocean!!

Please don't click away...

I noticed a few strange details in The Ocean's behavior after seeing this film so many times with my kids. The first time I noticed this unusual message is right after Maui abandons Moana on the island. You know the scene. Moana had to sail towards the hook-shaped constellation on her canoe, the whole time The Ocean did its best to keep Moana awake. More on The Ocean keeping Moana awake later.

After beaching her canoe on Maui's island, he sings "You're Welcome" and I have it stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Then he traps her in a cave and sails off with her canoe. After a daring leap off a giant falling Maui statue and climbing out of the top of the cave, Moana runs and leaps off of the cliff in an attempt to land on her canoe and take it back from Maui.

Only she falls short and lands in the water. This is it, this is the first moment I noticed. Something strange happens in these few seconds... She hesitates.

She looks back at the island... The thought that maybe she should just give up and stay on the island goes through her mind. The Ocean doesn't yank her away from this thought process. No, it lets her look back and think for a moment that maybe, just maybe, she should at least take a nap or find some food.

It isn't until she decides that her mission is more important and starts to swim towards the canoe that The Ocean picks her up and pulls her through the water. It lets her make the first move. The Ocean doesn't seem to want an unwilling assistant, it wants someone who will push their fears away and get the job done.

Labels: animation, disney, moana