PSA: this is purely a reflection on my appreciation for the movie and it’s impact on my family
My 2 year old, Vanessa, is obsessed with the movie Moana lately. It’s her go to movie and it is just makes my heart so happy to see her sing and dance along. So I let her watch it more than some good parents probably would. I’m not one of those moms; not even close.
The thing is, I’m perfectly fine with her watching it over and over again… within reason. I love the movie myself. Like I will sit and watch the thing with her almost every time, love it. She and I have a lot of alone time together during the week. I have the amazing luxury of working when, where and how I need to. It has been a gift from some sort of divine intervention for which I’m am forever indebted. Not much to complain about. But there are those times where I’m feeling inspired and just need to write or work on my business or whatever other impulse jumps into my head at the time. So Moana it is.
If you have never seen the movie yourself, let me just outline the premise. Moana is daughter of the island chief where she is expected to one day lead. She has this unrelenting passion for the sea while her father forbids her from “going beyond the reef”. She finds her destiny is to sail across the sea to restore The Heart of Tafiti with a banished, slightly narcissistic yet loveable demigod; for failure to restore The Heart would mean certain death for her beloved island.
Why this ridiculous love for a Disney movie you ask? My husband and I have 5 kids ranging from 2 to 16. Our life is chaos always, but I have ADHD so I love almost every minute of it. I have always done the absolute best that I can to guide my children to a straight moral compass. But things fall through the cracks, we get overwhelmed, we screw up and the kids get shorted on some level. All you other “mostly good, not great, but definitely not bad” moms and dads out there know what I’m talking about.
Back to Moana. The genuine, raw emotion that Disney was able to portray throughout its entirety was absolutely perfect. I love everything from Moana’s determination to follow her calling to the subtle humor in everyday communication struggles. The emotion is spot on and the humor is perfect! Then Disney goes above and beyond by sprinkling in positive affirmations. Moana can be found frequently convincing herself that she is capable right before she jumps back in to conquer the next challenge. What a message to send to young children!
Moana gets frustrated when she can’t communicate effectively with Maui from time to time. While watching these scenes it reminded me of my own conversations with my teenagers! The shift in her body language, the little squeal of frustration, stomping off in the other direction… it was perfect. Yet the scenes continues with Moana and Maui working on the task at hand… together. Thank you Disney for reinforcing with my children that they can feel frustrated but still work as a great team.
How can so much go wrong with one trip across the ocean? Moana had every opportunity to give up. Time and time again she was tested. She failed. She made mistakes. She got down on herself. But the one thing she never did was give up. Do you have any idea how powerful it is to listen to your children talk about the determination that she must have had to keep pushing forward? It doesn’t happen often, but I’m speechless.
On and on the story goes. Example after example of these key values that we try to teach our children. Right here in this 2-ish hour family movie. I have so much appreciation for Disney and the execution of this movie because it has provided me with the perfect platform to have a natural and fluid conversation with all of my children. I realize concept of using media to teach isn’t anything new in the world of entertainment. However in my little household Moana is the perfect inspiration. Thank you, Disney.
P.S. I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit that I also love the music and Hay Hay is my favorite.