What Can I Say Except 'You're Welcome?' (Disney's Moana, SPOILERS WITHIN)

yeah poor pugs are the most unhealthy critters.

 

Last time I went to the doctors I heard a couple of kids hanging out in the corridor outside singing "you're welcome". I used to live in a predominantly Maori/Pasifika area, and I still go to the same doctors. This movie made me so happy, and it continues to do so when I least expect it. <33333

 

So did I tell people about the puns in We Know The Way?

Because there's puns.


The lyrics include a lot of the Hawaiian expression of joy "aue", which sounds like 'away' and also a bit like 'our way'. So they're singing 'away', 'aue', and sort-of 'our way'.
Yeah. Bilingual pun.

 

i didn't get that that was a pun but i did think, "that sure sounds like 'away' but i think it's not supposed to be that"

 

Not familiar with Hawaiian, but in Maori 'aue' is sort of a general purpose exclamation, I've heard it used for grief as well as in happier contexts. Turned up a lot in waiata xD

 

Yeah, it's a general purpose exclamation-that includes of joy, which is the obvious use in-context.

 

I was over the fckn moon they had Maui go "CHEEEEEEHOOOOO" because my GOD back home that was the Literally Every Big Event Thing
Whenever I even SEE the word one of my favorite teachers pops into mind, and it's the scene of him doing it at TOP volume during a volleyball game

 

more moana music puns: in 'how far i'll go' moana sings "[everybody] has a role on this island, so maybe i can roll with mine"
and in "you're welcome" there's the lyrics "well, come to think of it"

ETA: added a quote thing to make clear that i'm paraphrasing very slightly (because of not wanting to quote 2 entire lines to make the pun make sense)

 

there has been a moana thread here this whole time and i didn't know!!! nobody told me!!! guys i've had to keep my constant screaming for this movie all bottled up and i had nowhere to go to put it and this thread was just waiting

you guys the first time i watched this movie i cried four separate times. four!!!! it's so good and i just can't omg, i actually cannot deal with how much i love this movie

also can we talk about "I Am Moana" and how it's taking the theme from "How Far I'll Go" where she's yearning for her place in the world and decides- "And the call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me. It’s like the tide; always falling and rising. I will carry you here in my heart, you’ll remind me. That come what may, I know the way. I am Moana!" and just ahhhhh so good.

 

I'm going to be super Problematique and admit that I want to ship Moana and Maui. Not in the short term, of course, but Maui's immortal and Moana has a few decades to age into the appropriate bracket.

Imagine Moana, fully grown and at the height of her power, much respected as a chief despite her adamant disinterest in marriage and men in general. This causes some consternation among the villagers until Moana is revealed to be pregnant, at which point it causes considerably more. Every man swears up and down the bones of his ship and other sacred oaths that he hasn't touched her. They still have love and pride for their chief but the baby's parentage is the subject of much discussion until someone points out that she was touched by Te Fili some years ago on her quest. Obviously the goddess blessed her with child then and the gift simply waited a while to make itself known. The villagers embrace this explanation and shower Moana with praise and presents. They are slightly disappointed when her daughter is born and fails to display any overtly divine tendencies.

They have a bit more trouble with the next pregnancy. Te Fili hasn't come back for a visit, after all. It is eventually agreed that the father of this one must be the ocean itself.

What I basically want is a nice g-rated 30-40k slow burn where Maiu takes a decade to figure out that he's in love with Moana and immediately panics off to his Thinking Island on the other side of the ocean. He spends a lot of time with What Are These Feelings, So Sudden And New (spoiler: they are neither) and wrestling with the simultaneous convictions that he has ruined her for mortal men by being too awesome (because even his self-pity involves braggadocia) and that she's out of his league. Moana, for her part, finds herself sadnnoyed at his absence and sets out to find him again while the ocean frantically tries to make her reconsider exactly why she takes him for granted. There are charades involved. Moana remains clueless. It's hard to facepalm with neither a face nor hands, but the ocean manages. If a Genius Loci could weep it would do so.

I also have a completely unrelated headcanon that the tiny Casanova who hits on Moana is cheered on by his parents, who have a rather evil sense of humor. They call out encouragement whenever they pass during one of his seduction attempts ("Good going, Kino! When you are husband to the Chief, we shall want for nothing!") and then collapse in hysterical laughter the instant they turn the corner. They are the bane of Moana's existence.

 

@VJ Wocky the ocean being a character is a thing from polynesian myth! also there is a moana thread here. come yell about moana with us.

 

oh i figured as much
while there were obvious reference to other disney movies (or movies they got their hands on) i'm aware the bulk of the material is polynesian myth and culture

but thanks for alerting me to this thread :D

 

okay so a sleep happened and now i have Thoughts

are the water vents how the monsters get into the human world normally?
who made the gate to the monster world?
did the dance open it or did maui just need to punch it hard enough to get it to open?
are the answers to all of this in polynesian myth or was some of it a disney fabrication?

why did grandma go from an etherial glowy manta ray to a tattooed but otherwise normal one at the end of the movie?

also i really liked how heihei did, in fact, have skills/habits that helped them out on their quest

also also! reference to other disney (and disney adjacent) movies i caught:

Spoiler

• finding nemo (the little spin the baby turtle does when baby moana sees the big turtle)
• the little mermaid (monster crab's lair, his singing while under an ocean, the after credits scene)
• princess mononoke (holding the heart of te fiti up to get te ka to come to her after realizing who te ka was)
• mulan (the whole when-will-i-be-the-daughter-my-parents-want-from-me thing)
• tangled (some of the animation and the adorable "look im a badass! i did the thing! :D :D :D" moments)
• hercules (maui's moving tattoos like the moving vase paintings)
• fantasia 2000 (te fiti was very similar in her overall design and movements to the spirit of spring)
• ponyo (not super sure of this but the way te fiti changed size was similar to ponyo's mom)

anyone catch ones i missed?

 

I haven't watched the film yet (I!!! Really want to!!!!) but I just watched this and it's amazing

 

@VJ Wocky the first time Maui tries transforming with his hook, he turns into Sven from Frozen for a second

and of course there's the Sebastian Namedrop in the after credits bit

 

sven's the moose right? (sorry i haven't watched frozen)
but sweet catch :D

 

yup! (full disclosure i missed it the first time, read an article that pointed it out & paid attention Super Hard the second time XD)