if i look back, i am lost
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@vastwhitetruth-blog
Rivalry Ship Logic
Me: *sigh* they're like, fated.
Friend: Don't they hate each other
Me: UM NO silly that's just sexual tension
Friend: They're running out of insults to call each other
Me: so?
Friend: They only glare at each other and interact only when there's some high level of violence present
Me: so?
Friend:...will it take one actually killing the other for you to stop shipping them together
Me: yep
Me, a minute later: maybe
it’s been 4 months and 22 days and I’m still upset about jose fernandez
Seeing Jose’s baby was born
tala/maui hcs
In short: Maui is indirectly Moana’s grandfather
(insp by x, x)
in longer detail: so we all probably know how the larger than life, the grand, the powerful, hero to all fucked up, got a goddess angry af at him, and banished to an isolated island for like a thousand years
and we know about the bold, sassy new recruits of disney’s badass grandma group, tala
and there were a few things in the movie that were great and interesting to play on. such as tala’s popular reputation of being th village’s “crazy lady,” that she’s said that her husband sometimes comes to visit her as a shark, how she was so sure about telling moana to grab maui by the ear and be authoritative with him, that she began dying as soon as she and the heart of te fiti parted….
but there isn’t a doubt that tala was a spicy hot tamale when she was in her younger years. maybe just like, if not more than she is now
i imagine that she was this quick-as-a-whip brown girl who has a manta ray tattoo, a head full of long, goddess-like curls and thick thighs that could crush a man’s skull, and when she first met maui it was a meeting similarly to her granddaughter’s knocking his oversized ego down a few notches. also that they eventually go sailing together to different islands, meeting different people, that they become close and close. because she’s the only one who can knock him off his height horse and make him think again; the only mortal who he’ll allow grab him by the ear, bring down to her level and hiss or coo in his ear, and he’ll actually listen. and when she’s not thinking, he’s the only one who’ll call her out with sarcastic criticism that is only allowed between those two, and who’ll literally grab her and throw over his shoulder when she’s grown too heated and starts instigating a fight.
maybe some nights she’ll lie next to him, on his stomach or back, and trace his tattoos with a finger. she’s asked about them before and it’s much time later does he begin opening up about them. she learns that maui’s a perfectionist when he’s that’s not how you catch fish! if you don’t do it right they won’t bite! no not like- stop, let me do it!
and the times she would weave flowers in his hair while they sail
he’s charmed the flowers in her hair to never die
(they adventure permanently, when tala doesn’t return to her home island, a handful of years after meeting and when tala is sure that she won’t have any reason to come back)
and i know that there is such a gap in time between maui and tala’s lives, but still the thought came to me.
and then i found this post about the flower from tangled is also in the moana movie
so
i got to thinking
easy fix: tala is the village crazy lady because she’s literally old af and her many misadventures became farfetched stories because lol there’s no way a mortal could have ventured with a demigod, and there’s no way tala could have done so much in her short mortal life
which is true
but ha jokes on them because she had found a flower that shines and is as bright as the golden sun above, and makes a nectar that has slowed her aging by 30+ years
and she has done everyone of those stories. because she had known the infamous demigod and gotten close to them like she tells.
until his head grew a size too large and he tripped head over heels and then heard of The Heart of Te Fiti
which almost brings us full circle
but not quite because tala had been told to wait, that he was going to have some grand surprise for her and humankind, but a little bit also to impress her
but he never returns
and of course tala goes off sailing to try and find him
she never does
she prays, asks for guidance. would stay out on the sea far too long, would do nothing but wait and stress and grow anxiety when on land, similarly to a wife waiting for her husband to come from war
and maui never returns
because she stays in one place for too long, people begin growing suspicious of how she ages so slowly. so, for her safety as well, she lessens her doses of the magical nectar
people become suspicious and start growing hostile toward her, because here’s the Brave, Courageous, Firecracker Tala, the one mortal rumored to be great enough to be side by side with a demigod, but when the people meet her and she tries to merge with them, they’re quite disappointed
she’s just ordinary
she doesn’t pull up islands, isn’t super strong, has no magical abilities, etc
so one day when she’s grown incredibly depressed, a shining, intricately designed stone is washed up near her feet. she is gestured by a more-animated-than-she’s-familiar with wave of ocean that it’s a “gift” of the gods (she suspects). so she’s excited, she’s ecstatic, she takes this as a clue, and goes out sailing again, long curly hair fashioned with four of those golden flowers. she sails for days. she still doesn’t find maui.
well as time goes on and she settles down with the other mortals, mind you that this is years later, and her aging has now has an illusion to have almost completely froze her at the age of 24. she doesn’t have a biological family to go back to now, she knows that. so she begins making a home on the next island she comes to: motunui
and there’s a chef’s son there who finds out that a woman has come that wishes to make a home here. they don’t turn her away, and in time tala makes a home there. and when asked, she doesn’t lie or shy away that she once knew a demigod and of the places she’s seen and things she’s done. and there’s stories of a demigod that stole The Heart, and tala puts two and two together. at this rate, she doesn’t know if maui is still alive or killed by Te Kā
well the chief’s son comes of age, and it’s about time that tala starts looking for a husband and “put her tall tales away for her children.” the chief’s son comes of age of looking for a wife, and his sights set on tala.
there needs to be an heir. maui isn’t coming back, not anytime soon, if even. tala has started earning her “crazy lady” reputation already and by marriage, it may take it away or lessen it.
plus the chief’s son is handsome, and clever, and isn’t a bad catch…
she marries him. but it’s pressure, too much pressure and heartache and she’s indecisive because here is a great life she’s built now and a great husband, but she had been given The Heart for a reason… but she’s tried, she’s tried to find maui and since she hadn’t, concludes that she isn’t able to, and that there would be no way it could work out forever anyway. the nectar works only so much. she’ll never be fully or even partially mortal like he. so alone one day and eyes full of grief and remorse, she gives up and tosses The Heart back in the ocean, asking it to pick someone else. she begins aging normally, still waning off the nectar
five (or so) years later, tui is born. he’s her precious boy, and she’s that Proud Mother as he grows. a local girl catches tui’s eye whom he will later marry: sina.
and then moana is born. and at the age of three, the ocean chooses her
after the events of the movie, now finally free and having his magical hook, maui goes off in search of tala. he’s kind of on the fence about it because he’s tallied the days and knowing she’s mortal, there’s a chance as slim as a hair that she’s alive.
it isn’t until after visiting several islands asking around without help, then finally making a visit to motunui to also visit moana, does maui find out that there’s a burial ground where an old woman named tala was buried soon after moana first left. the woman had been known as the “village crazy lady” because of her farfetched tales about other places and adventures that lasted way longer than a mortal’s natural lifespan, moan tells him, and that she’s rumored to have once spoken often about a demigod she used to be close to once…
and then moana pieces it together
maui is devastated
and he can’t look at moana the same
tala’s soul finally visits maui …
I waited so long for this moment, but my heart wasn’t ready.
This is the whole movie
I’m so proud of Disney’s Team of Researchers when it came to making Moana, because it made me, a proud Polynesian girl feel relatable to a Disney character. Now Polynesia consist of many islands, each with their own unique style. I thought it would be nice to share some of the elements used in Moana from my own Polynesian culture, the Maori culture, so that Moana fans can understand the significance or just something new.
Te Fiti’s Heart
This Spiral Pattern is known as a ‘Koru’ and can be found in many types of Maori Art including: Carvings, Jewellery, Tattoos and Paintings. It is inspired by a plant native to New Zealand known as ‘Ponga’ or ‘The Silver Fern’.
Her Heart is also inspired by a rock precious to our people called ‘Pounamu’ or ‘Green stone’ which is a variant of Jade. We use it mainly for Jewellery nowadays but it was also used to make weapons back in the day.
Hongi
A Hongi is a traditional greeting and farewell used by Maori people by pressing noses. It symbolises exchanging the breath of life to one another.
Moana uses the Hongi several times in the movie but her Hongi with Te Fiti seems like the most important and special to me.
Moana’s Necklace
Moana’s Necklace is made out of a Abalone Shell which we call ‘Paua’ and can be found throughout many countries around the world, however the featured shell here is a type you find in New Zealand once you polish back its nacre. The shell is used in our arts including: Carvings and Jewellery.
There are so many more elements used in this movie from the other Polynesian Islands that I cannot name but hopefully someone else can add to this post to share our beautiful and rich cultures.
Small things I love about Moana
There is no talk of finding Moana a husband. SHE is going to be chief of her village. No one can take that from her.
How Moana is a competent leader before she even sets out on her journey.
The village seems to have more or less a hereditary monarchy that disregards gender and the matriarchal influence is clear: Moana is mostly inspired by her grandmother and the major deity in this movie is a Mother Goddess.
“Crazy” does not mean worthy of ridicule.
The central questions: “Do you know who you are? How do you know who you are?” Those cut deep.
The sibling relationship between Moana and Maui.
The vision about the ancient wayfinders. And “Know the Way,” which makes the entire sequence a million times more emotional.
This might be a Disney Princess movie, but it is also solidly an action movie.
Moana doesn’t like being called “princess”.
The goddamn gold-plated glow-in-the-dark giant crab. Who sings well.
Forehead touches. Between a human girl and a goddess.
The fact that Heihei manages to do ONE USEFUL THING in the entire movie.
Moana is so sturdily built. She managed to clock Maui, of all people.
Nature has agency.
How Gramma Tala’s passing is quietly understated. Her last words to Moana are those of sincere encouragement and her death is not explicitly shown. But you see the huge luminous sting ray a couple minutes later and you just know.
The entire sequence at the beginning that depicts island life. And Chris Jackson’s singing. Everyone’s singing, really.
Moana gulping deep lungfuls of air the first time her canoe overturned is so realistic, I could feel myself choking on ocean water.
The coconut pirates. They are VICIOUS little fuckers.
Moana earning a place among Maui’s tattoos.
Gramma Tala’s spirit is solid enough to hug. No more “LOOK INSIDE YOURSELF SIMBA” from the clouds.
Disney smashing the fourth wall and throwing shade at their own Princess story formula.
Romance is never ever ever even hinted at. Because Moana is all of 16 years old and she has bigger things on her mind.
All the songs. ALL OF THEM. They hit just the right emotional cues.
How culturally rich Disney managed to make this movie.
The sheer vividness of the animation. The wealth of expression on the faces of these characters. The colors.
My Thought on Moana
I cried so many times during this movie you wouldnt believe. Here is an unorganized list of why this movie was beautiful to me in every way.
1. Auli'i is my friend. I love her to death and hearing her speak and sing in this movie was not only surreal but incredibly emotional for me. Think of it as a proud mother but x10.
2. They brought up our lost art of wayfinding. Wayfinding is a genuinely lost art that has only recent begun again thanks to the Hokule'a. This is so important, and to see that Moana was so excited and shocked to find out her people were voyagers was truly amazing because I feel the exact same way. “Why did we stop?”
3. Maui. Maui is a myth that I grew up hearing about in betime stories. Everything that they talked about I had already known, and to see someone who you grew up learning about come to life in such a beautiful way was truly amazing. Not to mention I had completely forgotten that Maui didnt come from a God and a Mortal, he was given his power from the gods, but was born of mortal parents. I had forgoten my own mo'olelo.
4. Gramma Tala. Tala was the only one to support Moana’s call to the ocean. Many Polynesians feel this call to the ocean. It surrounds us, and it brings life. If theres a feeling I can relate to most its my need to be on the water, which is why I paddle. Also, theway they showed Tala’s aumakua (spirit animal) sent chills down my spine it was beautiful.
5. Te Fiti. In Hawaiian Te Fiti is Papa, mother earth. Watching Papa come to life after Te Ka was silenced made me cry. Papa gave me my islands, gave me my culture, and gave me my people. I love her. Also watching her lay back town to form her island was amazing because that’s also a big part of many mo'olelo- that gods and godesses lay down to form mountains and islands, and are in an eternal slumber beneath us.
6. The music. The music was beautiful. And having songs fully or partially written in Samoan(?) was amazing to listen to. To have disney publish a movie with a soundtrack with untranslated Polynesian in it was amazing of them.
7. The animation of hula. There wasn’t much of it, but the hula was beautiful and again made me so fucking happy when I saw it.
Not rly a reason but heres a nice tip: Moana doesn’t simply mean ocean, we could use Kai for that. Kai is the part of the ocean you can see. Moana is the deep sea. The sea that we voyage on.
There’s really a lot lot more but this is all I got for now yw here u go~
He’s too pure for this world. (via Beavs)
//inhales
BOI
When the manta ray glides past Moana’s boat
Me:
Top 10 reasons why it’s good that Moana and Maui weren’t a couple
Moana was yet another Disney Princess movie where the lead heroine remained single, despite the fact she had Maui as a male/sidekick. I don’t know how many might have actually shipped them, but just like I was happy to have Marlin and Dory stay just friends, I was fine with Maui and Moana keeping things platonic. And with no disrespect to their shippers, here are 10 reasons why it wouldn’t have worked out:
1. Maui is a demigod and therefore waaaaaaay older than Moana.
2. There’s really nothing wrong with being just friends.
3. Maui is already in a committed relationship – with himself. It’s true! I love Maui, but what an egomaniac. LOL.
4. Like Frozen, the main theme of Moana was the importance accepting and believing in yourself the way you are, not romance.
5. Honestly, Maui and Moana didn’t even know each other that long.
6. Moana is only maybe fifteen years old. Her parents obviously weren’t in a rush to get her betrothed or anything.
7. At the end of the movie, she already has her hands full with running the island and voyaging to new lands.
8. All she really wanted was to see the world. Let her get to do that before she thinks about settling down.
9. She doesn’t have to end up with the first guy she ever met. Okay, Maui wasn’t exactly the first guy she ever met – there were a ton of guys on the island – but my point still stands.
10. Elsa and Merida didn’t need men to complete themselves, so Moana doesn’t either.
please for the love of god dont ship moana and maui please
Pokemon Sun & Moon TV Series OP Song - Alola!! Rica Matsumoto with Ikue Ootani
It’s time to leave for Alola.
Thank you for having us, Kalos!
Fucking anti-Trump riots and protests
Depressed because of all this shit filling my social media. My country has completely gone down the shithole. I'm so done and disappointed, and I have nowhere else to go to vent. All my "friends" are crazy conservative pro-Trump Christians, and I do not want to engage in political conversations with anyone. Just venting here.
