I think people need to remember that
Moana is essentially a fairy tale created by an American animation studio, and that the settings and eras of fairy tales tend to be somewhat vague and hazy and take a lot of artistic licence in order to detach themselves from our world. You wouldn't know which precise country
Snow White is set in, for example; the most educated guess would be Germany simply based on the story's national origin. Even the kingdom in
Beauty and the Beast or Arendelle in
Frozen are essentially countries based on countries and not much more.
Of course, portraying a non-Western culture means that the filmmakers have likely consulted a lot of information and experts on Polynesia. Needless to say, the fact that these are people from one culture interpreting another inevitably means that the finished film shouldn't be taken as an actual cultural artefact but rather as an interpretation. Nobody will ever see
Mulan as an accurate recreation of Ancient/Medieval China despite the crew going on a field trip, for example, just as much as some anime films don't completely accurately portray some European countries. It doesn't completely excuse any errors or misinterpretations, but it makes them seem more understandable. In any case, let's wait to see the finished film and/or see what experts on Polynesian culture have to say before we make a final decision and stop pretending to be world saviours of anthropology.
unprincess wrote:thats why what they're doing to the Norway pavilion at Epcot is so problematic. The whole point of World Showcase is to be an authentic representation of that particular country's culture but now they will just turn it into Arendelle and its version of "generic cartoon Scandinavia" and its going to give visitors a misleading view of the Norwegian culture.
Going back to cultures interpreting other cultures, I wouldn't take anything in World Showcase as truly authentic. Looking at the United Kingdom pavilion as a British citizen leaves me speechless as to how odd it all looks.
