Why Moana is My New Favorite Princess

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why-moanaWhile not garnering as much hype as the previous frozen princess did, Moana, Disney’s newest princess has taken over the theatres. Several months ago, one of my fellow mama’s wrote a post about why she doesn’t let her kids watch Disney movies… but I have to think that even she would be pleasantly surprised by Moana. Here is why, I am in love with her character and the role model she has the potential to be for my young daughters.

She is kind. As the mom to newly minted school age girls, I am finding myself having the “choose kindness” conversation with my daughters fairly often. They are suddenly exposed to words, behavior and more that is beyond my control and unfortunately not all of it is a positive influence. Moana, as next in line to be chief of her people, tries throughout her life – and this story – to be kind. To her family, to herself, to the weird little chicken in her village and even to the demi-God who is anything but pleasant to her in the beginning. That kindness is what helps her perservere in the end.

She does not have a love story. This one did not even register with me until a day or so later, but this is one Disney story in which there is a princess, but no prince. There are leading male characters, sure, but none of them are a love interest for her. And it’s surprisingly refreshing.

She is a strong female lead. In the story, she seeks out the help of a man – a demi-god to be exact – but in the end, he needed her to save him, not the other way around. And this theme repeats throughout the story. Full disclosure – I have always felt Esmerelda from Hunchback has gotten the short end of the stick in Disney “princess-dom” so I am thrilled that there is another solid, has a backbone lead that may get a little more credit. One could argue that Anna from Frozen was this way, but she still had her stereotypical “girl” traits. Moana is young, but she is strong – and knows she needs to continuing learning things.

She perserveres. She has dreams. She has responsibilities. She never gives up on either one of them. She isn’t afraid of hard work either. She has moments of significant doubt, but she ultimately digs in and keeps going.

Her grandma is amazing. So this has nothing to do with Moana, except that she will likely be as awesome as her Grandma when she grows old… but seriously, the woman is an ecentric, free-spirited, tatooed, does and says whatever she wants, hilarious woman. And I love her for it.

So there you have it… my reasons for falling in love with Moana. Have you seen the movie? Do you agree?

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