Moana, the latest movie by Disney, has received critical acclaim and box office success upon its release on November 23, 2016. The movie is about “an adventurous teenager who is inspired to leave the safety and security of her island on a daring journey to save her people..and convinces the mighty demigod Maui to join her mission” according to Disney. On one hand, the movie has been praised for giving Moana her own story line as opposed to having her chase after a prince and for providing diversity to a line of movies staring white princesses; and on the other hand, it has been criticized for its inaccurate depiction of Polynesian people.

Unlike many Disney movies in the past starring princesses, Moana is one of the few whose stories doesn’t focus around a prince. It’s a story of “empowerment” and “self-discovery” according to TIME, which is something many Disney movies in the past haven’t included without a love interest. Of the eleven Disney princesses in the main franchise, only four have been women of color. The inclusion of a Polynesian princess has added much needed diversity to the line. Kainoa Sittman, a junior who’s been raised with respect and understanding of the culture because of his mother’s Hawaiian heritage, believes that “not only has it added diversity to Disney, but it also brought attention to Polynesian culture which is something many people don’t know very much about, so it’s a huge step” in terms of representation. Rosemary Iwuala, a senior, has said that “it’s nice to see that Disney is trying to broaden who they represent by including cultures that often don’t get a lot of exposure”.

To work towards an accurate portrayal of Polynesian people, Disney brought in a “body of Pasifkia cultural advisors consisting of anthropologists, cultural practitioners, historians, linguists, and choreographers to offer counsel to the production” which is the “first time the company had ever actually gone to such lengths in the name of cultural authenticity” according to Fusion.

Many critics have said that many Polynesian cultures were mashed together and in turn, led to an inaccurate portrayal. Fusion stated that “Disney has co-opted the innumerable cultural identities of the Pacific Islands, paring the vast amount of peoples and languages down to some very colorful cliches”. Kainoa said that although “they seemed to have tried to incorporate several customs from across Polynesia to make the fictional Motunui”, the major. principles of the culture were still present. He continued to say that he doesn’t “see much of a problem with the incorporation of multiple cultures because the setting of the movie doesn’t actually exist, it’s rather based on a real culture and most of it was pretty accurate”.