Elsa and Anna and Moana and Me

One of the high points of our recent visit to Richmond, Virginia, was taking a little girl to her very first movie theater, where we watched Frozen II.  We weren’t sure how she would handle it, and there were moments before the previews when she was running around so much, and was so unwilling to sit still, that I was afraid that the experiment would need to be abandoned.  However, once things got going, she was enthralled.  Of course, she had treats to eat and a whole new adventure with Anna and Elsa to watch and — this was fairly important — five adults to tend to her.  Later that night, she put on her Moana dress and we watched Moana with her.  Somehow, I have the impression that this was not her first time to see that film.  She really, really loves Disney princesses.

I was impressed all over again by how much better animation is today, compared to what it was when I was a young ‘un.  Of course, when I was a boy all we really had were cave paintings and torches and the occasional cooperative saber-toothed cat for musical accompaniment.  Technology has come quite a distance since then.

I’m also impressed by the trend toward heroes who are strong young women.  Not only in Frozen and Frozen II and Moana, but in Brave and Mulan and Tangled and Pocahontas and Beauty and the Beast and probably elsewhere that isn’t coming readily to mind.  No more the sweet and good but rather passive and occasionally stunningly foolish princess of Sleeping Beauty, who can only be saved by Prince Charming.  On the whole, I think the trend healthy.  It’s very good for the little girl we took to Frozen II.

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One of the aspects of Moana that I like is its depiction of intergenerational respect.  Moana’s father is overprotective and wrong and, in the end, Moana is obliged to defy his wishes in order to save her people and their island.  The wisdom of the past (as illustrated in the preserved oceanic sailing craft preserved — and concealed — in the caveBut she never shows contempt for him.  She always respects him.  And her relationship to her grandmother is important.  The grandmother doesn’t merely seem ancient and venerable and wise.  She really is ancient and venerable and wise.  (Another strong and independent woman.)

The other genuinely interesting female character in Moana is, of course, Te Kā or Te Fiti.  But she is — they are — a subject for another discussion.

Posted from Washington DC