Yesterday, I went with my youngest to watch the highly anticipated movie "Moana 2" at our local cinema. With our fave movies now, we pick up the tickets with the lounge chairs that you can chill into with your feet up and the chair back and relaxed.
Add to that some ice cream, popcorn and a drink (in a promotional Moana cup of course) and that adds to the atmosphere of enjoying the movie. In this movie Moana has grown into a young woman and navigator with a new slew of additional characters that brings more laughs to the movie.
I still prefer the first Moana movie as my fave with its iconic music and storyline but my youngest prefers this one better. I must say that it did feature some important Samoan cultural elements for me like the ava ceremony with the ava bowl that was featured twice with for her title bestowal and for welcoming guests.
The other Samoan element was the tattoos featured on both hands of Moana's mother which are similar to mine but only on my right hand and Moana features one extended upon her hand. It was also interesting to see the Samoan male tattoos called a pe'a or malofie on Moana's father that was featured in the origin Moana and also on the old man.
This is the topic of the next book that I hope to publish and launch sometime soon. It's about the origins of tatau or tattoo in Samoa. It is so neat to see women's malu lima or hand tattoo featuring on the movie. Interestingly enough they didn't feature the Samoan thigh tattoo that is very popular called the malu.
It gave me great pride to think that I came from a line of navigators who traversed the seas and conquered the Pacific Ocean way before any European ventured out into the oceans. It also confirms our identities as explorers and wayfinders, with our ancestral DNA continuing to this day...
No comments:
Post a Comment