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Moana And The Sacredness of Persistent Whims

There's something very strange about Moana. From the very introduction of the young Moana, it captures both whimsy and wistfulness. Very much a product of 21st century culture (and not at all a period piece), it states and builds the world as though any whim, no matter how destructive or dangerous, even if it means betraying the trust of those who care about you, is a sacred thing, so long as that whim is persistent.

This seems... like obviously bad advice? It just doesn't correspond to anything in reality. If you viewed persistent whims as truly sacred, if the voice calling out from inside of you was who you truly are, then your true identity is someone who likes junk food. Just ludicrous, a vapid worldview. I could attempt a rehabilitation of it, but the movie doesn't really justify it, so why should I try and imagine it as persuasive?

And yet, it is interesting as a lens on modern society.

If you've ever truly loved someone, you know that giving them everything they want, if it was in your power, might not be good for them. It would spoil a child rotten, and adults are not so much wiser, whatever they pretend. And yet, we think, if I receive all that I want, that would indeed be good. An indulgence for every whim is celebrated, and "our true identity" is found in the careful attention to those whims.

And yet, we all know, if asked, that raising a child this way would turn them into a horrible monster of a human. Every whim indulged, they'd be utterly unaware of anything important, except by complete accident. Should we not be concerned this attitude, carried into adulthood, is making us into monsters?

The funny part, to me, is that the movie is just a hair's breadth from being about deep desire -- but Moana is shown to have no experience at sailing within the lagoon, only wants to sail outside of it. So could it be more ambition-driven? Yet we're told the actual motivation is pointless, and only justified with claims like 'perhaps the fishing will be easier'. There is a sort of childish longing, where she does not even approach the subject except in fantasies about rule-breaking, never developing the skills needed to even assess if the rules are worth breaking (see her first abortive attempt to leave the lagoon). The movie has a clear message and theme, around whims, and it's just uncritical of them.

I must confess: I am well indulged. Within this culture, I cannot say for sure what we are missing. But I can say the culture seems to be missing the things that wisdom would recommend as important. Not long ago, we would have celebrated, not our whims, but our capacity to choose goodness. Someday, perhaps, we might return to that.