Step aside Snow White
SINCE Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937, Disney has made major advances in many areas. Moana showcases three of them: hair, water and princesses.
Let’s begin with the first two: Set in the generically Polynesian Pacific, the animated film moves from a lush island to a constantly undulating sea, and every curl of the characters’ hair and every ripple on the ocean is so lovingly constructed that Moana is easily the most visually beautiful movie Disney has made.
Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is the daughter of a chief, and her island is imperilled by an environmental threat. Against the wishes of her father, she sets out on a canoe (accompanied by Heihei, a rooster, to right the wrong and save her home. Along the way, she runs into shape-shifting demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson), who repeatedly and snidely calls her Princess. Moana clarifies she is not a prin- cess, she is “the daughter of the chief ”. “Look,” Maui says, “if you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess.”
That is the most accurate description of Disney princesses written. For Disney, “princess” has just been shorthand for “girl at the centre of movie” – and being a princess was the only way for a woman to be seen as having a story to tell. Disney has been shifting away from that and most of its modern princesses are fairly anti-princess. Moana isn’t a princess, and it doesn’t matter, just like how it really doesn’t matter how women embrace, reject or ignore traditional symbols of femininity. Just get a dress (or pants) and an animal sidekick, and you’re good. – The Washington Post