#moana!!

Moana wants nothing more than to explore the ocean; and her ancestors were seafarers, and she lives on an island, exploring the ocean is her birthright.  But she was raised to do something completely different.  And when the time comes when she needs to embrace her true identity as the only way to solve a practically impossible problem, she’s floundering and miserable.  She doesn’t have skill or competence, only the will to go on and some sentimental notion of being in the right place.  Most evidence says she’s out of her depth and can’t hope to succeed.  She finally gets her chance to show everybody that the identity she chose for herself has always been more than a pointless fantasy.  But because she was never allowed or encouraged to be her true self, what does it even matter that she has the chance?  What can she even do with it?

But she keeps trying.  She somehow manages to find Maui, and he’s quick to put all of that into words and laugh at her.  And she still keeps trying, now fighting against the current of challenging circumstances and her own lack of skill AND Maui’s constant disapproval and attempts to put her down.  And she still doesn’t measure up, and Maui keeps laughing at her, and she still keeps trying.

And then when Maui, the demigod, gets back the magic hook he’s been deftly using for lifetimes, the hook he already used to accomplish countless impossible feats with, and doesn’t instantly succeed at using it because it’s been a while and he’s rusty....he lies down and cries about it and says he’ll never do anything right.  And Moana could accomplish more with nothing than he thinks he can accomplish with practically everything and one (1) setback.