Editor’s Note: The following is a submission by Mvskoke citizen Tyler Speir
As the days get shorter, the trees shed their leaves, and the wind picks up a chill that cuts through any number of layers, Oklahomans begin preparing for the long, cold months that lock us indoors and forget about the longer, blistering summer that we have left behind. In this setting, it is difficult to see how a movie taking place in the idyllic South Pacific has any applicable lessons to be gleaned, and a children’s movie at that. Yet, Disney’s “Moana 2” has a heartwarming message that can resonate with Indigenous communities in Oklahoma and around the globe.
The Disney sequel, released on November 27, had a lot to live up to with the 2016 original amassing wide critical acclaim and providing global audiences with a respectful and accurate portrayal of Pacific culture that honored the region’s rich history and folklore. The studio, long burdened by criticism regarding cultural appropriation and insensitivity, has a history of overlooking or outright misrepresenting Indigenous peoples, “Pocahontas” and “Peter Pan” being particularly offensive examples. Disney was aware of the need for a truer, more personal portrayal of these stories with “Moana”. The creators established the Oceanic Trust, an advisory board comprised of experts and Indigenous Pacific Islander voices to consult on every aspect of the movie. The Oceanic Trust had input on the character styling, the choreography, the music, and importantly the story. The result was a labor of love, a story that projects oceanic joy and passion; a movie that both visually appreciates the cultures it is showcasing, but also tells a story that reverberates with every Indigenous person, whether Samoan, Māori, Palestinian or Muscogee. The result was a box office success that proved that Indigenous-oriented media can be both popular and representative. The sequel further expands on the mission of honoring Pacific Islanders, but goes further than merely portraying an adaptation of their stories, crafting a sophisticated tale that opines on preserving history and tradition while also asking what it means to forge one’s own legacy and continue our stories.
The plot is simple, following the titular character, Moana, as she sets out across the sea to find the island where all of the ocean’s currents meet. This island, once the nexus that connected all of the peoples of the ocean, has been lost to time and a curse that can only be broken by wayfinder, an ocean navigator that carries the village knowledge and history and uses it to travel the ocean. The 2016 film follows Moana as she attempts to connect with the history of her people and reignite cultural practices and traditions, an introspective that remains valuable for any Indigenous community grappling with surviving in the 21st century. The sequel expands upon this premise, asking, after rediscovering and reviving the past, how do Indigenous communities apply it to the future? There is an (often heavy-handed) emphasis on continuing “our story”, our of course referring to Moana’s village and her ancestors, yet resonating with all communities. If the answer to the previous question of history was introspection, turning in on oneself and discovering the personal connections that bind us to the vast wealth of what it means to be Indigenous, the answer to the question about what to do next must lie in our connection with others. The protagonist is forced to work with a team, imbuing on her peers the knowledge and practices that she herself has discovered. They cannot reach their destination without this crucial step.
Though the setting is unfamiliar and the culture is not our own, there is a crucial lesson that can be learned from this movie and it is one that applies not only to the Muscogee people, but to all Indigenous nations and communities. For so long, we have been disconnected from our pasts, with our oral histories, the lifelines of our identity and our existence, being severed faster than they can be recorded. Our languages are being forgotten, our elders shutter in homes, with no one to listen to the generations worth of stories that they have carried with them. If we do not understand who we are and where we come from, then what is the label of Muscogee other than a box that we check on the census sheet? We must relearn and reemphasize what binds us, ingrain it in our collective psyche. The stories of our wars should be as well known as the American Revolution and the Civil War, our origin stories should be commonly discussed as the stories of Genesis. To be Muscogee means that we must live as Muscogee, that we must embrace those minute differences that fill us up, that course throughout our body and make us different from every other group of people in this vast world.
Yet knowledge, as the film explains, is not the final step. Knowing who we are is, but knowledge is the first footfall in the endless march towards self-determination, the winding road that we must all traverse until our last breath lest we risk losing all of the progress that we have made. For this, we must work together, act as a unit, understanding that our shared heritage places on us a responsibility to our ancestors, our descendants, and to each other. We must share our knowledge, share our stories, share our joy and our pain because it’s these interconnections that make us a people, a nation.
A nation cannot exist on staunch individualism, we have seen that at the contemporary level, as this country attempts to rip itself apart at the seams in pursuit of innumerable, self-centered interests. Americans no longer act in the interest of America and their brethren, but rather act only toward the vain goal of self-gratification. We do not have the same luxuries. To be Muscogee, to live Muscogee, to grow as Muscogee, we must put aside our personal ambitions, our wants and needs to fulfill a role that is greater than any one citizen alone. Forging connections and working with the singular, united goal of creating a tribe and a nation that is better than it was before is how we continue our story, how we leave our mark. If we as a people begin to believe that we are capable of greatness, we can transform the world, but we can only do it together.
