Someone Worth Saving: Moana

    Go back some years, and you find your ancestors. Your heritage. A  piece of what makes you you. In Disney's Moana, our heroes did just that. Moana is a wonderful film, rich in Polynesian and Hawaiian culture. If you look at the film from different angles such as the mentioned value of ancestry, you'll get more out of Moana than just a story about a particular group of people who love their island as well as the sea.

     Once upon a time, the young and beautiful daughter of Chief Tui, named Moana, is growing up and preparing to lead her people who all live on the beautiful island which they call Motunui. Although she loves her home and her people, Moana has been attracted to the ocean since she was little. Her father does not approve of this purely out of concern for her safety and because of his past experiences with the ocean. But something dark has arrived at Motunui. Coconut trees are ill, fish are disappearing from the lagoon, and no one knows why. No one except for Grandma Tala. When Moana was a toddler, Grandma Tala told her and other children the story of how the great demigod Maui stole the life giving heart of Te Fiti, the mother island. Now Moana knows what she must do: The ocean has chosen her to find Maui and journey with him across the sea to restore the heart of Te Fiti. They will have to face many dangers, including Te Ka, the demon of earth and fire! Will she succeed, or will her island of Motunui and its people be lost to darkness?

   Moana has a little bit of historical information. The movie shows that long ago, the people of the Pacific sailed from place to place and all across the ocean on their canoes. Moana didn't know this about her own ancestry, and it helps explain why she's drawn to the sea and wants to sail. Your ancestors are a reason for who you are and where you are now. It's undeniably amazing to go back and learn about the people that you are related to who lived in different times. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, ancestry is very important because if you can find the names of your ancestors, you can do special work for them that they couldn't do when they were alive. When you do that, you appreciate your ethnic background more, and you become closer to all your extended family who have been passed away for a long time, and they will be very grateful to you. 

    Though it would have been more interesting if they had filmed a flashback of Maui's sad past, there's still a lot to look at. (SPOILER alert!) Maui was abandoned as an infant, but the gods found him and gave him his magical fish hook, helping him to become the great demigod he is known to be. Of course, Maui still has feelings, and his past still hurts him to to think about. But Moana comforts him by telling him that, "Maybe the gods saw someone worth saving." The gods saw someone special, and that was before he was big and strong and was wielding a great hook. They could've chosen anyone to be a demigod, but they chose Maui, just like how the ocean chose Moana.
     Both Maui and Moana have to look at their past to recognize their current selves. Moana learns about her heritage, and Maui accepts how his life began. They do it together, making Maui and Moana one of the most heartfelt and beautiful friendships in Disney. Yet even now, the knowledge of the many previous people from which you have come is worth saving. Even more so is the beauty of your true self, which many people need to be reminded of. Even Te Ka!  

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