A Few More Thoughts on Moana

Spoiler warning up front:  I’m talking specifically about the ending of Moana today in full detail.  Consider yourself warned.

In their quest to return the heart of Te Fiti to its rightful place, Moana and Maui come up against several baddies eager to claim the heart for themselves.  Our heroes Mad Max their way out of the clutches of the kakamora and use their wits to evade the sinister-yet-shiny Tamatoa.  But by far, their most formidable foe is the volcano demon Te Ka, who’s set up camp in the border islands around Te Fiti and is determined to take the heart from them at all costs.  I’d wager more than one little kid at the theater has wept in fear seeing Te Ka’s looming figure and terrifying destructive power.  At first, the movie sets you up to expect a titantic rematch between Te Ka and Maui in which the demigod vanquishes the demon once and for all, and then things take a different turn when it looks like the key will lie in Moana’s intelligence, bravery, and sailing prowess to slip past Te Ka and out of its reach.

But that right there is where the film flips your expectations again.  Having gotten past the monster, approaching the island she’s traveled so far to get to, Moana is gobsmacked to see that Te Fiti isn’t there.  It’s straight-up vanished from the sea, leaving only an off-color lagoon taking its shape where it formerly lay.

And Moana realizes what’s up.  As Maui fierces battles Te Ka, the demon is distracted by the glow of the heart as Moana holds it high above her head.  It locks eyes with her, and Moana speaks to the ocean that has been her ally through this adventure:  “Let her come to me.”

Because Te Ka is Te Fiti.  When Maui stole her heart all those years ago, the lush island of serenity became a fiery monster of rage, yowling as it tried to burn down the sky in order to recover the lost part of itself.

The waters part to allow Te Ka passage to Moana.  She, the demon that was once Te Fiti, doesn’t understand what’s happening yet.  It only knows that there’s nothing it won’t destroy to get its heart back, and it races and roils along the dry bed of the sea toward the chief’s daughter who waits for her, unafraid.  As the monster bears down on her, Moana sings, “I have crossed the horizon to find you. / I know your name. / They have stolen the heart from inside you, / But this does not define you.”

I love this so, so much.  Since I saw the two movies in fairly quick succession, I was struck by the similarities with the Obscurial in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  Te Ka is not a villain – she’s an unbridled force of pain and fury, unable to be who she is without the heart she so desperately needs.  This is such a sophisticated idea, that darkness can be born of loss, that anger or grief can reform us into something we can no longer recognize as ourselves.  And, too, I love that the day isn’t saved by a battle, or even by outsmarting the “bad guy.”  It’s saved by compassion, by a young woman holding her ground while fire descends and saying, something awful was done to you, but don’t let it make you into something awful.  Let me help you find your way back to yourself.  Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.  Disney has been knocking it out of the park lately, and the resolution to this story ensures that it will stick with me for a long time.