The Cultural Significance and Symbolism of the film “Moana”
The movie Moana was one of Disney’s most ambitious films. The subject of a story is based on Polynesian and Tongan culture, which is something that has rarely been attempted within Hollywood. Many fears were raised prior to the release of this film because of the thought that Disney wouldn’t do the Culture “justice” and it would simply use it as an Exotic backdrop. This had been seen before in movies such as “Lilo and Stitch” where the story just happens to take place in Hawaii when it could have taken place on an Island. Many of the Actors in the movie also happen to be Pacific Islander, including Moana, her Father and Maui’s respective actors and actresses. Moana brings Polynesian Culture to the big stage and uses animation visuals like never seen before to illustrate traditional Polynesian life before Colonization by the “West”.
Immediately from the moment, the film starts, Traditional Polynesian music is played in lieu of the normal Disney theme song. Also within moments following the opening credits, an expositional story of the Mythology of the Culture is done entirely in traditional Polynesian art style. This backstory lays out the beliefs of the Polynesians, which includes a Pantheon of gods for various aspects of life as well as Demigods (Half Human and Half God) that serve as heroes. At the beginning of the Movie, Moana, even from an extremely young age is given the “Heart of Te Fiti”, which is a relic from the Island deity known by the same name. This relic was previously stolen from her by the Demigod Maui so that Humans would gain the power of creation and life-giving. The ocean entrusts Moana with the “Heart” because she is the “chosen one” and will restore balance to the world by taking the “heart” back to Te Fiti. However, when the Ocean tries to give Moana the heart when she is a baby, she drops it on the beach, seemingly losing it forever. Moana forgets this event and grows up in her village and spends most of her early life preparing to be Chief of the Island of Motunui (Something that she does not want to do). When Moana becomes a young adult, her grandmother tells her to follow her dreams and leave the Island because it is what her “heart” wants. Around this same time, m. any of the foods that the islanders of Motunui eat start to become diseased or vanish completely. Moana’s father’s reaction is to ride out the hard times because he is very set in his ways of styling on the island and not leaving to find another “paradise” as he puts it. Moana’s Grandmother shows Moana a cave containing very large Polynesian “wayfinding” ships and tells her that she must make the people of Motunui not forget where they came from and their culture. This creates a lot of tension between Moana and her father, which culminates on the night her Grandmother passed away. On that same night after Moana has an argument, she is rushed to a building where she discovers that her Grandmother has fallen ill and is going to pass away very soon. As Moana’s Grandmother utters her last words, she again tells her to follow her heart and to “save the people of Motunui”. This motivates Moana to pack her stuff and take one of the ships out to sea in the hope of saving the people of Motunui. (more…)
The documentary, Servant or Slave, is directed by Steven McGregor as it discusses the unacknowledged past of Aboriginal people in Australia. When the Australian Constitution came into effect on January 1, 1901, the original people of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, were excluded from the protection the Constitution provided and were discriminated against. In this movie the heartbreaking experiences of the Wenberg sisters- Adelaide, Valerie (Linow) and Rita, as well as Rita Wright and Violet West, are portrayed as they celebrate their pursue for justice for the crimes that were committed against them during their childhoods. This film looks at the past issues of indentured servitude that was prevalent in Australia from the late 1800s to the mid 1970s. Taken from their families as young children thousands of Indigenous girls were forced into slavery to become domesticized by the Australian government, and then soon employed as servants but denied proper wages. The picture below depicts two girls playing in a field with a car driving towards them. Little did they know that these men in this car would take them away from their families forever. It is hard to imagine that taking children away from their families was so casual to the Australian government. This documentary is a cry for justice from these Indigenous women as they hope the abusive actions against their Stolen Generation will be heard so people will never repeat the awful crimes again. (more…)
13 Assassins was a movie about a group of samurai in feudal Japan that are hired to assassinate the shogunate’s brother. This was ordered by the senior adviser to the Shogun after the Shogun’s brother Naritsugu raped his son’s wife and committed multiple murders while as a guest in a Lord’s home. Furthermore, there is a lot of evidence for his cruel and power hungry motives. The senior adviser see that and hires Shinzaemon a very skilled Samurai, to track down and assassinate Naritsugu. With the help of a friend and his nephew Shinzaemon is able to gather 12 men for this mission. This gets complicated when a nearby rich and powerful clan the Ashika get involved and provide at first 70 but ultimately become 200 soldiers for the protection of Naritsugu. The commander of the Ashika, Hanbei and Shinzaemon are former rivals and throughout the middle of the movie try to out think the other in strategy. Even though they are severely outnumbered the 13 Samurai travel through the forest as to not get spotted by the Ashika and then convert a small town Ochiai into a deathtrap ready for the Ashika Army. As the Ashika army passes through Hanbei realizes something is wrong and attempts to flee just to get cut off by explosives and traps at every road. The fight starts off well for the Samurai but the numbers prove to be too great and one by one the are cut down while inflicting major losses in the Ashika army. Towards the end of the battle Shinzamon and Hanbei cross paths at the edge of the town and the battle comes down to a one on one which Shinzaemon wins. Shinzaemon turns his attention to Naritsugu and they have a conversation about ruling and where power truly comes from. Naritsugu is stabbed and shows how scared he is of dying and acts a karmic retribution for all the cruel things he did to innocent people. Shinzaemon finished the job by cutting off his head and dies following the battle wounds he suffered. His final words are a plea to his nephew (the only surviving samurai) to not follow in his footsteps and to do whatever he wants in his life because a Samurais life is a great burden. At the end of the film we see him holding a sword but symbolically putting it down and smiling. (more…)
Being from New York, this film immediately caught my attention. The award winning filmmaker Ken Burns produced this movie in order to share stories from various black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who had been wrongly convicted. These teens allegedly raped white woman in central park at the same time drugs and gangs grew to be the norm in New York City. This film takes place in New York City in the late 1980’s, the City was described to have a social mote that divided the danger from the safety, however crime was spreading at this time which was all throughout the city. The crack wars begun which meant teenagers were carrying guns which lead to the rise of crime rates.
Research says “The most endangered species in the late 1980’s was the young black male.” Real men who had been wrongly convicted share their teenage stories from this time. The police were after these black and Latino teenagers that had been minding their own business the night of April 19th 1989 in Central Park. “The only crime I committed that night was jumping over the Subway gate.” A false convict explained. A Latino male gets emotional while sharing his story from that night, after being chased by the police they called him an animal and beat him. Once he had been handcuffed and taken to prison the guards asked him what was on his face – he had explained a police officer had hit him and the fellow employees asked to point them out as if he was lying. (more…)
This genre of music has taken over the world. The genre is originally from South Korea. It’s called K-pop also known as Korean popular music. It took years for Kpop to become as huge as it is today. With the help of the internet, Kpop and Kpop fans are able to share this specific genre of music. It all started with the one and only, Psy. His song “Gangman Style” blew up worldwide. K-pop has helped South Korea showcase their culture to the world. K-pop is not only a genre of music but a lifestyle. It comes with skincare, make-up, clothing, and more. When people see Kpop music videos, they notice all of the points I pointed out.
Red Velvet, Big Bang, Twice are great examples. Red Velvet style is more bold, eye-catching chic. Big Bang has a classic bad boy style. Twice has a bubbly, cute, bright concept. With different styles comes along with different type of music.
Red Velvet
Big Bang
Twice
Dean is a great example of American pop influencing Kpop. His music sounds like it was produced in the United States. If you can listen to his song “Sorry not Sorry,” you can hear the influences. A classic example and also the default example that people have about Kpop will be Girls’ Generation, specifically their mega-hit “Gee.” This is the foundation of Kpop. Most female trainees (people who train to become Kpop idols) learn Girls’ Generation and wish to become as big and successful as them. Super Junior and Big Bang are the equivalents for male trainees. (more…)
The majority of the Muslim world lives in Southeast Asia so a lot of the music has a lot of Muslim influence. But new bands have taken a more Americanized approach to the music scene, like purgatory. Purgatory is a type of Slipknot esque band based in Indonesia and their known as the godfather of the death metal scene in Southeast Asia. They have been around for the last 20 years with their base of operation in Jakarta here they have released a total of 9 studio albums with their best album being M.O.G.S.A.W. (Messenger of God Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam referring to Muhammad) this song puts a new twist to the stagnate Muslim style music witch has allowed them to pave there own path in the music industry. Although they have been around the longest they don’t see a end in site they like to change there style every now and again by bring a DJ in to the line up to mix the death metal with Electro music.
The founders of this metal group where Hendrie on the bass and vocals, Lutfie on the guitar, Al on the drums and Arief also on the Guitar. There is no date of formation for the band they were just doing it as a passion between there friend group but we do known it was formed around 1991. We also now where the name comes from, it was inspired by the Horror movie A nightmare on Elm Street in the movie there was an arrow that had the word Purgatory written on it and that’s what inspired Lutfie and his little brother Al to make it their bands name. They underwent several legal battles from other bands with the same name, the courts final decision was that it was unclear who had the name first and allowed both to keep the name. (more…)
The documentary Vietnam Symphony is about the Hanoi Conservatory of Music (now called the Vietnam National Academy of Music) during the Vietnam War. When the first bombing raid by the US occurred, the Vietnamese Government moved all of the schools in the country from the cities to the countryside where they were less susceptible to bombings. The conservatory was relocated to a small village called Xung Phu where students and teachers had to leave their family and friends for the duration of the war. They brought their own instruments, bringing larger instruments like pianos via trucks and trains, the teachers and students of the conservatory had to do all the moving. Along with this, they dug an underground campus with pathways between classrooms so they could stay underground at all times away from possible bombings. These efforts show how dedicated they were to continue to teach and learn music despite the war. The group lessons were taught in the underground classrooms but individual lessons were often taught above ground in villager’s houses because there was enough space to do so. The conservatory only had one piano for all of its students so it was used 24 hours per day every day and students would take shifts practicing. The generation of Vietnamese musicians that came from this era of the school is known for having extreme passion in their singing and musical play due to having to be relocated and fearing for their lives during the war. (more…)
