What is that?
Well, first watch the movie if you haven't already. Then, if you own the DVD, watch the directors' commentary. Don't have time? That's okay. I have an audio clip of the pertinent part right here, where co-director Ron Clements speaks about the story behind the story. It's short. Only 50 seconds.
Did you catch that? Several things are profound here. Firstly, that Oceanic oral history goes back 2,000 years is astounding. What a remarkable testament to the memory of these people, their traditions, and the storytellers that have preserved this through the generations. Secondly, I don't believe the directors of Moana are Christians or have any agenda concerning Christianity. If anything, Disney as a whole is averse to Jesus. But, most importantly, is what co-director Ron Clements just said. Keep in mind, as mentioned in an earlier scene in the directors' commentary, the backbone of this story comes from Oceanic tribal elders with whom Disney consulted in its research leading up to the movie.
According to the oral tradition, the story takes place 2,000 years ago and that for centuries prior to the setting of the story there was a darkness, a pall, cast over the waters and the land, so much so that voyagers were drowning and ships weren't returning (it's unclear whether the harvest of the land was also affected). In the minds of the filmmakers, riffing off of oral tradition, this disharmony between the earth and its inhabitants came about from the trickery, the deception, of a demigod, a supernatural figure. His trickery was the theft of something precious from a paradisaical place. And since that time nothing has been right with the world and humanity has suffered. Then, Clements says, 2,000 years ago, according to the oral tradition, this darkness over the water and the land was felt to be lifted. Not only that, it was felt by these people that there had been a reconciliation of the relationship between earth and its inhabitants and between those inhabitants and the deity. What had been lost was now restored. And all of this 2,000 years ago. According to the oral tradition.
The filmmakers intimate the oral tradition is silent on what caused the change, and so they have taken it upon themselves to mythologize and craft a story whereby a young girl is the reason for this deliverance and restoration. But all myth is based in reality.
Something else also happened 2,000 years ago. Could it be that the people of Oceania, on those remote islands way out in the vast Pacific, tens of thousands of miles away from ancient Judea, felt the impact of that something else? Could there really have been a darkness over the earth that was cast out? Could there really have been a restoration of the harmony between humanity and heaven and between humanity and earth? Could it even be that this was foretold?
"Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." - John 12:31-2 (ESV)
