#i love it when fiction isnt afraid to be straightforward and naive and earnest

[lilietsblog]

so hey i watched Moana with my friend tonight

assorted thoughts: - I love Moana's hair. It's a character in its own right and it's great and I love how she eventually styles it the way Maui did - not because she's copying him, but because it's a rational style for a hero to use - the pig and the chicken. THE PIG AND THE CHICKEN <3333333 BEST CHARACTERS - the snarky animal sidekick role this time fell to Maui's tattoos. thank you writers for this treasure <3

(cut for length)

- I was not spoiled for the final reveal and I have no idea how it happened. I probably was and then forgot. Either way, I loved it <3 - i fucking love Moana's hero journey? first she went as a Chosen One, the one helped by the gods, carrying out their will. but the moment she didn't want to do it anymore, she got to refuse and to relinquish the burden. AND THEN she went back as the Unchosen One, the one who chose themselves, the one who just did it becaus they wanted to... and the ocean still had her back - because of what we were shown at the very beginning: when all the children are scared of monsters, Moana is excited. she was the type to be the hero from the childhood and the ocean chose her for that reason, not the other way round - seriously i love so fucking much just how straight the movie plays all its tropes and how good it is at them. no subversion or deconstruction to be spotted, everything is straightforward and alive and genuine. there were like... two postmodernist winks to the audience, the twitter one and the princess one, and they were both at generally the same narrative place, and they both didn't contradict the genuineness of the essence of the story - we were figuring our way around multiple subtitle files, and thank you to the subtitle maker guy who actually included the first part of the voyagers' song transcribing the actual lyrics being sung AND writing the translation under them. no thanks and big ???? to the guy who just put [singing in tribal language] instead. why did you do that. what the fuck. who hurt you - along with the straightforwardness, I love how epic this movie wasn't afraid to be. The gods, yep. In person. And the ocean helps Moana personally, visibly and persistently. No ~figuring out your way by the signs~, no subtle, no chill. Everything is direct and spelled out, even if the divine characters don't speak, their presence and will is still clear. - the ocean taking care of the chicken cleared my pores, eased my anxiety and strengthened my hair. thank you. just thank you - the grandma!!! yes she died as the mentor characters do... but instead of it being so they can't advise the main character so they don't 'cheat' their way through the story, it's so they CAN. it's so grandma can find Moana at the pivotal moment of her story and help her. this is probably the one subversion to be found there and it is great and powerful and good. thank you - wtf chief just because something happened to you doesn't mean it'll happen to everyone. i know you want to protect your daughter but shooting down ideas without even explaining why and just blaming her for being selfish is inane. don't - MAUI IS A TREASURE AND I WILL STAND GUARD OVER HIM - so is the crab. the crab is also the best character. i hope Moana's first heroic adventure after teaching her people how to sail is to find him and flip him back over <3 - speaking of which, I love how Moana is clearly on her way to becoming a new epic hero??? she is beloved by the ocean, she found Maui and forced him to teach her, she put back the goddess's heart and saved the world, she came back home and taught her people the ways of sailing over again. Maui is a traditional epic hero played adorably straight and so will be Moana - I hope it's clear from this that I loved the movie. every aspect of it. every single moment. it was great. not a single false note other than some subtitle fuckups. perfect&awesome - the village and the villagers!!! again, i love how straight it all was played. maybe there were some bad people there but the story was not about that so they were never seen. it was a story about good people and so good they were. and beautiful and used every part of the coconut okay - THE SEASHELL ON THE STONE. THAT WAS PERFECT - seriously, subtle this movie knows not. fuck subtle. bring on the epic and the straightforward and the adorable - THE OCEAN PUTTING MOANA BACK ON THE BOAT AND HER JUST ROLLING WITH IT IS THE FUNNIEST SCENE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN ANY DISNEY MOVIE - okay other strong contender is NEARLY EVERY SINGLE SCENE FEATURING THE CHICKEN. BEST CHARACTER. but yeah funny animal sidekick is kinda overplayed so the scene with the ocean receives extra points for the novelty - also, every single time Moana pauses from her intense&serious speech/act/whatever she was doing to brush her hair out of her face. like i said Moana's hair = BEST CHARACTER

im starting to repeat myself i just. love it so much guys. its best. go see it if you haven't yet. maybe sometime ill even see it at the cinema. BEST DISNEY MOVIE EVER (sorry Lilo&Stitch you get a strong second place)