therealleonard:

moanas:

I have crossed the horizon to find you. I know your name.

Okay but legitimately… this scene is so powerful in some beautifully subtle ways…

One of the tricks that filmmakers use to give an audience visual cues is that when somebody is in a position of power they walk from left to right - because that is the direction Westerner’s read, so it’s how we naturally view everything - and when somebody is in a place of weakness they walk right to left.
It’s why when there’s a battle, the people who are going to win ALWAYS come from the left.

But this… Moana is coming from the right, and Teka is coming from the left. The water behind Moana is pale, while the water behind Teka is bright and vibrant - the bright blue and orange overpowering the pale blue and tan.

All of the visual cues are putting Moana in a place of weakness.

All of the visual cues are telling us that Moana is not going to win.

But that’s the strength of Moana…
All throughout the movie she questions why the ocean chose her, and I think this very beautifully spells it out.
She wasn’t chosen because she put a turtle into the ocean, or because she’s the daughter of the village chief, or because she’s descended from voyager.

The reason the ocean chose her is because when you put her in a position of weakness she will always turn that into a strength.
The reason the ocean chose her is because she won’t back down when things are impossible, when the odds are against her, and when everything around her is signalling her imminent defeat.

Only a very special person could be so completely overpowered, and still be stronger than everything around her.