It might seem like profiling or at the very least an offensive stereotype but at least the guy that looks like the real life Maui from Moana had a good sense of humor about it. When a mother and her two daughter spotted a Polynesian man that bore an insanely strong resemblance to the animated character from Moana it was perhaps one of the best days of the girls’ lives, especially when he uttered Maui’s well-known cry of “Chee-hoo!”. I get the feeling this guy gets this a lot since he does look like the character and does have the kind of voice to support that yell.
What’s really interesting though is that a lot of people of Polynesian descent didn’t care for Moana because apparently the movie didn’t really depict a lot of things the way they should be. Maui was of course one of them, as the demigod is supposedly muscular but not so insanely huge. It’s been written that he resembles a young man that has not yet fully grown and is not quite as arrogant as the movie would have people believe. There are many stories of Maui in the Polynesian culture that have been kept throughout the years, including some that might have been a little too grisly to add into a Disney movie.
Another gripe was that the people on the island all seem to be the same size, meaning that the men are all huge and the women are all small and slender. Whoever wrote such a thing didn’t take a full look at the movie. Those that lived the lives of sailors and explorers were not bound by one body shape by any means. They did in fact fact have people that were bigger and those that were smaller or more slender or possessed of a more impressive physique. This is even shown in the movie, though it would take some watching and slowing down of the film to really notice it. Not all of the men are hulking behemoths and not all of the women are slender and fine-boned maidens. Polynesian’s have a reputation for being big people, but they are just as diverse in their body shapes as anyone else. One thing that actually impressed me about Moana is that she is not a dainty little girl. She’s obviously not a big girl but she’s anything but tiny. If you don’t think so then look at from head to toe. She has broad features, thicker arms and legs, ankles that don’t look like they could fit through a keyhole, and a waist that is anything but small.
She isn’t the model of a princess in the same way as say Cinderella or Snow White would be considered, but she is definitely quite beautiful the way she is. And as for Maui, there were reasons why the animators made him the way they did. One very big overlying reason however is all that anyone needs to hear in order to relax.
It’s an animated movie using a legend as a base, not true story.
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