Next week sees the release of Moana, the live-action remake of the 2016 Disney animation smash \u2013 again starring Dwayne Johnson. But that was not the original Moana. That honour goes to a Moana released a full century ago: a glimpse of Polynesian life now largely forgotten but none the less offering some inspiration to the makers of today\u2019s iteration.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone at Disney picked the bones of the 1926 Moana to make their movie,\u201d believes film historian Bruce Posner.<\/p>\n
The 1926 Moana was a silent documentary by American film-maker Robert Flaherty, who had cemented his reputation a few years before with Nanook of the North, a pioneering portrait of Inuit civilisation. Its epic sequences of walrus hunting and kayaking in icy waters had lit up the box office. So, for his next feature, Flaherty had carte blanche to go anywhere. He chose Samoa.<\/p>\n
Coming attraction \u2026 the original poster for the 1926 Moana. Photograph: Everett Collection Inc\/Alamy<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a vision of this great sea monster story,\u201d says Posner, who oversaw a digital restoration of Flaherty\u2019s Moana in 2014. \u201cBut when he arrived, there was no sea monster. There was this island life where everybody was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
With no peril to capture, Flaherty instead crafted a pastoral picture of Samoan life, centred on a young man named Moana and his family. He spent over a year filming, in a groundbreaking example of on-location moviemaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt remains a major milestone,\u201d Posner says, noting the challenges Flaherty faced with his primitive equipment in Samoa\u2019s equatorial climate. To process his film, Flaherty had to set up a lab in a freshwater cave. When he drank the water, he accidentally poisoned himself. \u201cHe spent several months near death,\u201d Posner says.<\/p>\n
Flaherty shooting Moana on location. Photograph: Masheter Movie Archive\/Alamy<\/p>\n
When Flaherty finally brought his film home, it was not what the studio had been expecting. Instead of terrifying sea monsters, there were harmless sea turtles. There was no plot either \u2013 only gentle scenes of Moana and his family gathering taro roots and coconuts.<\/p>\n
Despite this, Moana broke box office records during trial screenings in New York. But when the film went on wider release, it flopped. One reviewer summed it up: \u201cInstead of entertaining, it interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the film wasn\u2019t a hit, its legacy was secured by another reviewer. Critic John Grierson stated that the film had \u201cdocumentary value\u201d, coining a new word for an emerging genre. Moana therefore earned a place in movie history as the first film to be labelled a \u201cdocumentary\u201d. But that classification is also responsible for the controversies that linger around it today.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the elements that Flaherty depicted were not being practised anymore,\u201d says Dr Dionne Fonoti, a senior lecturer at the National University of Samoa. \u201cBy the 1920s, Samoan dress and ideas about modesty had evolved significantly. Flaherty comes along and reverts that,\u201d she explains, noting that women appear topless throughout the film.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Flaherty\u2019s documentary was entirely staged. Moana and his \u201cfamily\u201d were not related \u2013 Flaherty cast each role based on appearance and acting abilities. Even the name Moana was selected by Flaherty.<\/p>\n
Although Flaherty has been criticised for his flexibility with the truth, Posner argues that he was working before the rules of documentary film-making had been established. \u201cFor better or worse, the word \u2018documentary\u2019 got hung on Flaherty. But to me, he is a film poet, as opposed to a film documentarian.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back \u2026 Catherine Laga\u2019aia as Moana in Disney\u2019s live-action film. Photograph: Disney<\/p>\n
Likewise, the film has attracted postcolonial critiques for its idealised portrait of an island community \u201cunspoiled by the sham of civilisation\u201d. But Fonoti says the film is not considered controversial in Samoa today.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn academic circles, we have conversations about this film being staged. But most people here aren\u2019t really concerned about that. Most Samoans appreciate it for what it is, which is a snapshot into the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
The daughter of one of the film\u2019s stars gave her perspective in a 2011 documentary. \u201cIn my opinion there was nothing wrong with the film,\u201d she said. Another interviewee from the village where the film was shot echoed that viewpoint. \u201cThis film is our film,\u201d he said. \u201cIt belongs to this village.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018This film is our film\u2019 \u2026 the 1926 Moana. Photograph: Album\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Indeed, although Moana unfolds through Flaherty\u2019s western lens, its staged scenes were produced in collaboration with the local people. And rather than capturing Samoa as it was in the 1920s, they purposely tried to recreate an older way of life before it passed from memory.<\/p>\n
Flaherty\u2019s wife Frances (who was also Moana\u2019s co-producer) later explained how the community was \u201cmaking the film with us\u201d. She described screening the rushes for village elders \u201cwho still remembered the old forgotten ways and could help us to recapture them and tell us if our film was true\u201d.<\/p>\n
In this way, Fonoti argues there is \u201ca significant link\u201d between Flaherty\u2019s film and the Disney franchise. Before Moana, several Disney productions had drawn on Indigenous and non-western cultures without consultation. This resulted in notorious scenes such as the What Made the Red Man Red? musical number in Peter Pan. But for Moana, the company assembled experts from across the Pacific Islands to advise on all aspects of the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a good experience,\u201d says Fonoti, who has been a member of the advisory group since the franchise began. \u201cPacific Islanders have been part of the history of western cinema since the beginning. So to see it evolve to where it is today is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Pacific Islanders have been part of the history of western cinema since the beginning\u2019 \u2026 Disney\u2019s live-action Moana. Photograph: Disney<\/p>\n
Fonoti suggests that Flaherty\u2019s film was a stepping stone on that journey of Samoan representation onscreen. \u201cThere is a thread that goes from the 1926 Moana to where we are now as active participants in crafting these stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for any further connections between the Disney and Flaherty films, Posner remains convinced the silent movie was an inspiration. \u201cIt\u2019s just not an accident,\u201d he says, pointing to the shared Pacific Island setting and title (albeit transposed from a male in Flaherty\u2019s film to a female in the Disney franchise).<\/p>\n
In any case, Posner hopes the forthcoming Disney remake can bring greater attention to the silent original as he prepares a new 35mm film negative for its centenary year. \u201cTo me, this film is about beauty, grace and humanness,\u201d he concludes. \u201cIt\u2019s a gem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Next week sees the release of Moana, the live-action remake of the 2016 Disney animation smash \u2013 again…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-666232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}