Actually an Artist

Like many parents, I have been introduced to recent animated films again and again and again according to the whims of my (now) 5 year old. There was the Frozen phase (obviously), the Encanto phase (amazing), and he goes in and out of Moana phases. That one, I’ll admit, hasn’t been quite the same level of favorite, but he LOVES the music to it, and I frequently have to put How Far I’ll Go on repeat. So I thought I’d take a look at two of the songs from the Disney adaptation the way I was introducing hymns/religious songs for kids, because my basic argument is this IS a spiritual song at its core.

Moana’s story is one of self discovery, following ones path, but in service of the community. She sets out to figure out why the resources her tribe relies on are dying out, but her father tried to keep her from going. To be fair, the village needs her; she’s the next chief! She’s told to make the best of her life, ignore her intuition, and settle into an identity handed to her.

In many ways, this is very much an archetypal story-hero’s journey- which is not in itself surprising. Archetypes, because they appear in many diverse cultures and time periods, are mirrors of our lives and experiences, social, psychological, and spiritual. Moana sets off for self fulfillment, in a way, but she is spurred into action by the needs of the tribe and her contention that their way of life will not be secure until she restores the heart of the sea.

I interpret the archetypal spiritual journey in a few places. First, in my son’s favorite song, How Far I’ll Go. Moana sings:

I can lead with pride
I can make us strong
I'll be satisfied if I play along
But the voice inside sings a different song
What is wrong with me?

Here in these verses, she is confronting her disconnect between her prescribed role on the island, the duty she owes her community, and her inner self knowing. So often in life we feel this disconnect without realizing it or seeing it for what it is: our culture demands one thing, but we are fundamentally free to choose ourselves and our own sense of who we are. The path Moana is set on is one of danger, challenge, failure, and pain, but eventually she reconciles herself to herself.

In the song, I am Moana (Song of the Ancestors), we see the culmination of the journey. Her grandmother (Gramma Tala) appears to her (literally as a spirit, emphasizing the connection to the spiritual path) in a moment of failure and defeat. She empathizes with the bruises one acquires in the search for the True Self while also inviting Moana into the integration of that Self (emphasis added):

I know a girl from an island
She stands apart from the crowd
She loves the sea and her people
She makes her whole family proud
Sometimes the world seems against you
The journey may leave a scar
But scars can heal and reveal just
Where you are
The people you love will change you
The things you have learned will guide you
And nothing on Earth can silence
The quiet voice still inside you
And when that voice starts to whisper
Moana, you've come so far
Moana, listen
Do you know who you are?

Before we read Moana’s response, let’s contemplate this for a minute. Our True Self, that part of us deep inside, imbued with the Divine (if you believe that, which I do), is constantly knocking at our door-the door of the ego, or false self. The ego cares about our place in society, the True Self cares about our community. The ego tells her to “play along” (lyric from “How Far I’ll Go”), but the True Self, represented by the ocean in “How Far I’ll Go” “calls out” to her, the same word we use in Christian religious circles when talking about ministry: “a calling.” The True Self is what Gramma Tala sings about as the “quiet voice still inside you.” She admonishes her: “Moana, listen/ Do you know who you are?” This is a rhetorical question–Moana’s True Self is there, and to give up on her would be the only true defeat in this moment of the film. Moana, fortunately for the plot and my thesis, responds by recognizing her True Self and claiming her calling:

Who am I?
I am the girl who loves my island
I'm the girl who loves the sea
It calls me
I am the daughter of the village chief
We are descended from voyagers
Who found their way across the world
They call me
I've delivered us to where we are
I have journeyed farther
I am everything I've learned and more
Still it calls me
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!

You’ll notice in this section, there’s a lot of switching back and forth between singular pronouns, I, me, and the collective, we, they, you. This is an authentic depiction of the True Self precisely because it it concerned with the community: it is in communion with her village. In embarking on the hero’s journey, she is letting go of her ego, her concern with her role in society in order to turn the structures upside and actually help her island. I particularly love how the musical themes from “How Far I’ll Go” reappear in “I am Moana”, emphasizing how the True Self has finally burst through and been claimed: Although Moana was following her heart (her Self), this is the moment she becomes aware of it, right as she is about to face the hardest challenge yet.

The journey may leave a scar/But scars can heal and reveal

Moana

The last song I want to look at, “Know Who You Are” where Moana calls out to another wounded spirit and into healing. She sings, “You know who you are” to Te Kā, realizing that the pain and hurt of Te Fiti have morphed her into what others have named Te Kā. But finding the True Self is the major theme, and True Self healed recognizes the True Self in Te Fiti, and calls her into healing and wholeness. This scene terrifies my son, a gentle, sensitive boy. You can see why:

"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
This is not who you are
You know who you are"

Almost all my ideas here about True and false self and the spiritual journey are from my own experience particularly over the past few years and what I’ve learned from a variety of sources along the way. But especially from Fr. Richard Rohr and the vast educational resources from the Center for Action and Contemplation. If you want invitations into experiences of the spiritual path, that’s what I’m about here on this blog. I think this is such a powerful film for children for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is the framework for the journey of self discovery, community, and the spiritual connections between us, nature, the Divine, ourselves. If these terms and ideas are new to you, then welcome; you’re in for a delight. If you want further (wordy) understanding of the True Self and other ideas, there are great resources out there, but check out Fr. Richard Rohr’s work in particular. I have been getting a lot from the podcast “Another Name for Everything.”