Moana Archetypes

General Information

Moana is a heroic tale of a young girl who sets out on a journey to save her island. The opening scene tells a story of the shapeshifting god, Maui, who has stolen the heart of the goddess Te Fiti. After stealing the heart Maui battles a lava god named Te Ka and loses, disappearing for centuries.

The film revolves around the character Moana who at a young age discovers a love and special connection with the ocean. However, Moana’s father, Chief Tui, forbids Moana from going out on the ocean because he believes it to be too dangerous. Instead Chief Tui attempts at preparing Moana to be the next island leader. Moana grows concerned as their island, Motunui, is dying, she believes it has to do with the heart of Te Fiti.

One day when Moana’s grandmother, Tala, takes Moana to a cave where Moana learns that their people used to be voyagers, which is a type of nomadic people who continually sailed the ocean. Just before she dies, Grandma Tala shows Moana that the ocean has chosen her to find Maui and return Te Fiti’s heart.

Moana then sails beyond the reef, with her

pet chicken Hei hei, to find Maui and make him return the heart of Te Fiti. On this journey Moana runs into several obstacles, the largest of which being that she doesn’t know how to sail. When Moana finds Maui he is reluctant to help her and tries to get rid of her, but the ocean forces them together. After Moana helps Maui get his magic fish hook back from the crab god, Tamaloa, in Lalotai, the realm of monsters, Maui agrees to help her and teaches her the how to be a wayfinder.
The first time Maui and Moana try to restore the heart Maui battles Te Ka again and breaks his magic hook. Maui leaves, telling Moana to give up and go home. Moana is unsure what to do until she is visited by the ghost of her grandmother who tells her that she can be both a girl of the ocean and the leader of her people. Moana tries again to restore the heart and as her situation begins to look dire Maui comes back to help. When Moana goes to restore the heart though Te Fiti appears to be gone. Moana then realizes that Te Ka is Te Fiti and is able to restore her heart and transform her back into Te Fiti.
In the end Moana returns home to Motunui to find that the island is revitalized and healed. Moana restarts the people’s traditions of voyaging while she leads her people.
Identification of themes
The main theme dealt with in Moana was discovering your true nature. We see this throughout the film as Moana struggles with her identity as a future-chieftain and her identity as a girl who loves the sea. In the end Moana realizes that she does not need to choose between her two loves, instead she combines them into one identity.
There are also many examples of Jung’s archetypes and archetypal events within the film.

Two that were very clear were Jung’s archetypes of the self and persona. The self is who we truly are, the sum of all our conscious and unconscious thoughts, beliefs, etc. While persona is who we present ourselves to be, like the metaphorical mask that we wear when we interact with others. In the film we can see these archetypes represented through Maui and Mini Maui, the miniature anthropomorphic tattoo of Maui that roams Maui’s back and chest. Mini Maui represents the self because he shows the true emotions and thoughts that Maui seems to be feeling. While Maui himself is the persona because he hides behind a mask of grandeur and self-importance. Maui’s other tattoos represent the self as well because they only show up when he has earned them by going through a battle, journey or traumatic

event.
Jung’s archetypes of anima and animus are also clearly represented throughout the film. Anima, or the unconscious female element of a male character’s psyche, is represented in Maui. Although he is a demigod Maui can be a bit of a wimp. After losing his battle with Te Ka he runs from battles more easily. Also, Maui’s caring and humble side comes out after he spends time with Moana; just as Jung believed that the animus presented itself when a man had contact with women. Jung also said that anima usually presented itself in a group of men. Maui’s anima would not have been as obviously present without Mini Maui.
Animus, the unconscious element of a female character’s psyche, comes out through Moana. Jung believed that the first important carrier of the animus is the father. As we see in the film Moana takes on many of her father’s roles when she is learning to become the future chief of the island. Moana’s other male characteristics present themselves when she sets off on a journey to save her island.
Jung’s syzygy archetype presents itself through the pairing of the goddess Te Fiti and Te Ka. Syzygy is when the anima and animus appear simultaneously, especially through royalty and deities. Te Fiti is the caring, life-giving goddess while she has her heart. Once her heart is stolen though she transforms into a raging male god of lava. This pairing can also be seen as a union of opposites, which is when two opposite things come together. We can see the Te Fiti/Te Ka relationship as a union of opposites most easily at the end of the film when Te Ka is given the heart and becomes Te Fiti once more.
One of Jung’s more obvious archetypes in the film was that of the mother, the female goddess symbol usually having much to do with life giving and sustaining. Te Fiti was as literal of a representation of a mother archetype as you can get. She was a earth goddess that was credited as pulling the island from the sea and therefore giving life and resources to humans. In many ways Maui can also be seen as a mother archetype. During his song “You’re Welcome” he highlights many of the things he did for humans; such as pulling up the sky, stealing fire for humans, and harnessing the breeze to fill the humans sails and shake their threes so they could get food to sustain themselves. Without this great help from Maui humans would not be able to survive in a place like the pacific islands.
The comedic relief character, Moana’s pet chicken Heihei, was a humorous example of the kore archetype. Kore is typically the damsel in distress or any other character that needs a lot of saving. Heihei is a chicken that lacks many of the necessary abilities and cognitions that help living things stay alive. Thus, he needs constant looking after. The ocean, Moana and Maui work tirelessly to help to keep Heihei from drowning and starving.
Jung had an archetype called the spirit, which represents a higher consciousness and often a supernatural or godlike being. The ocean is a representation of the spirit because of it foreknowledge. It knew to choose Moana as the one to restore the heart, it brought Moana to Maui when a storm hit and capsized Moana’s boat, and it helped keep Moana and Maui together.