Jen Yamato on Moana, “Most Progressive Film in the Studio’s 93 Year History”

You don’t want to miss this great piece of writing by the Daily Beast’s Jen Yamato on Moana, feminism and Disney princesses. She writes:

In this week’s Moana we get the heroine we need for these anxious post-election times, and the Disney Princess we finally deserve. She arrives in the form of a fearless 16-year-old who hates being called a princess and wrangles Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as her sidekick. And instead of learning to screw the haters and let it all go, Moana Waialiki, a teenage girl born into a long lineage of Polynesian leaders, learns to never accept limits in how far she can go.

The timing of Moana’s Thanksgiving week release certainly would have made for much better poetry had the election swung Hillary Clinton’s way. But as we keep waiting for the day the first woman moves into the Oval Office maybe this powerhouse princess and her new brand of kiddie-targeted feminist strength will raise a generation of young women who’ll see shattering that ultimate glass ceiling as a routine inevitability, instead of a trailblazing first.

So while white nationalists find a foothold in the administration of an admitted pussy-grabbing president-elect, Moana offers a marvelous respite: It’s both a satisfying traditional Disney narrative and the most progressive film in the studio’s 93-year history, one with a fierce, noble, and confident POC at its center: a princess of color.

More reviews for Moana here. Meanwhile, the film earned $2.6 million in previews.