Of Gods in Moana : a summary
I don't really like the reveal of the main antagonist at the end of Moana 2 for a reason: Nalo.
That guy. It's the end of the movie, we get to see Matangi again (weeeee) talking at what sounds like her ''patron'' god of the storm, which we have saw depicted as a rageing embodiment of the tempest itself. The camera pans, and we are greeted with...
This. A random-ass looking man with glowing eyes and tatoos. That's it. There's no conceptual difference between that god over here and demigod's glowing tatoos when they first receive it, and the height of the guy.
And what really strikes me most in the form of Nalo as a god, in-Moana universe, is that we've encountered so much depictions of gods -through real encounters and legends- that this man just feels like an imposter.
First, let's take some examples in the first Moana to see how gods -beings in completely another range of existence, unlike mortals or demigods or monsters, I recall- are depicted.
Starting with the main goal of the first movie, restoring Te Fiti's heart.
Te fiti is described in stories as a humanoid godess of seemingly life and earth (such as earth themed patterns and colors if we extract the narration).
Being an earth-themed divinity, it makes sense that when we see her for real she's huge, actually made of earth and plants, and, just as we see it in the legend, taking the form of an actual island. Her size and very being, what she's made of, connect her character to her domain (earthbound life and so on) and to her divineness : we see her at the end returning at a more, let's say, grounded state.
Her alter ego, Te Ka, is on the contrary, and quite literally, erupting with rage (which is very understandable given what happened to her).
Te Ka (ignore the crab) is painted, as opposed to a gentle, peaceful and green Te Fiti, as exploding, quite litterally and accurately, with rage. Even if the humans do believe they are separated entities (which they are in a certain way), they both are the same godess, the same character.
So here, knowing Te Ka and Te Fiti are the same character, it makes sense that what they both embody as godesses of earth are the two faces of it : on one side, Te Fiti, nurturing, green with lush and life, the living, blooming earth, and on the other side, Te Ka, when the life of her heart has been ripped off, embodiment of the goddess's flaming rage, is in a more primal state : that to say, the volcanic forces, fire, lava, magma, exploding and flaming, what's under the earth crust. The divine-ness of Te Ka is, as does Te Fiti, expressed in what's she's made of -lava and molten rocks, her domain, while taking a humanoid form -still capable of emotions (mostly rage) and complex thoughts (as seen by calming down and not destroying Moana when she gives her back her heart, even tho girl was out for blood and ashes.)
Fig 1 : Embodiment of divine rage
One god is not enough, even when she's split in two, to really take a look at how they are portrayed in the Moanaverse. Well take a look at the Ocean, for example.
The Ocean in Moana appears to be one (1) single entity, a divine spirit detached from the ocean as, well, ''the large mass of salt water that covers most of the earth's surface''. The Ocean being, well, water, it doesn't seem to have any anthropomorphic physical features (making sense : it IS the Ocean as much as Te Fiti is her island. Except that Te Fiti as more consistence than sentient water.) What makes the ocean a god embodying its domain is its panel of showcasing and acting, on multiple occasions, as a sentient being, able to come and go, which can make schemes, decisions and memorize cultural behaviors as well as care.
Fig 1 : The Ocean tilting it's "head"
This show the ''nature'', so to speak, of Moana's gods: they are part of what they represent and it is their nature, they do not look fully human- alway have that bit of gigantic-ness encompassing their respective domains into their very being. Te fiti ? Actual island taking a human form (or the countrary, but do we care?) Te ka ? Embodiment of volcanism taking a human form, being Te fiti's burning rage embodied -once again, the double nature of earth, on the surface or deep below the crust. The ocean ? Water showcasing human behaviour and capable of reflexion, emotions and schemes.
Now that we dwelved into the representations of gods in Moana, let's talk about the one we see in Moana 2 (aside from the coming back of the Ocean): Nalo.
We are first shown Nalo as an engraving, then as a tapestry : it takes back the representation-style of Te Fiti and Te Ka in the first film, a humanoid entity presented in its realm -as to say, the storm. Here, normal. We have this building of a villain across the story of a rather evil god, and since it's a god, it cannot ''directly'' interfere with the mortals (without what, why cutting the roads between people to let them extinct when all he could have done was wiping them from their islands with storms but eh.)
Next we see him, it's in a much more real threat-like form than anything else : in its own pocket dimension where he's the only god to have access to (because the ocean cannot go in). A little like Te Ka or Te Fiti, we see what seems to be a raging face upon the storm clouds -taking back the tapestry original description without the body. It's a semi-corporal incarnation of himself, it seems, like Te Fiti's island, but with a certain degree of consciousness (the attacks are targeting the crew and Moana in particular). Furthermore, it does take back the Ocean's and Te Fiti/Ka godly incarnations, at least partly, since the cloud has human physical charateristics such as his face. Taken from that, his divine appearance would probably give way to a semi-tangible humanoid form -made of storm, thunder, whatnot, just like we have saw on the others gods of the Moanaverse. It could also provide a challenge : how do you fight WIND, CLOUDS, well NATURE ???
And then, we are greeted post-credits with that.
Let's take a moment to call a cat a cat : it's the CRINGIEST thing I've ever saw. It looks like a weird ad for -18 sort of websites. WHAT the FUCK. Even the light makes it weird. It shows nothing but a creep. Not godly AT ALL.
After this brief moment of disgust, look at that mf; and tell me what his charadesign has of godly, minus the height and the glowing eyes. That's right, nothing differienciates him from a newborn demigod as we saw Moana's tatoos. WHY take such a human-looking incarnations when the guy HATES humans with all his heart?? That weirdo-looking ass, at the contrary of what was showcased in the first Moana, doesn't have anything in it's "final form" of what we saw for the other dieties.
In conclusion, Nalo's charadesign has been absolutely shitted on. Tell me how the wiewer or any of the characters (Matangi for example) can feel any fear towards that form if not cringiness and patheticness. The continuity of Moana isn't AT ALL respected for that matter in the second movie. Except for that, I found it very good when I went to the theater; I found later the storyboard and unused content, it could have been WAY better, but this- this charadesign has been scrapped.
As a gift, go check this (https://tenyai.com/moana2) from @tenyai, a storyboard artist on Moana 2, it's fucking amazing
