The Little Mermaid and Moana are both Disney animated films that focus on young women and the ocean. But the films, separated by almost three decades, otherwise don't have that much in common.
One's about a princess who wants to escape the water; the other's about a chief's daughter (basically a princess) who wants to explore the ocean. One has a human singing about eating a crab, the other has a crab singing about eating humans... wait a minute.
Disney fans on Tumblr unwittingly came up with a theory that boils down to, 'What if Moana is just the literal opposite of the Little Mermaid story?'
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Of course, Moana is based off of Pacific Islander culture, while the Little Mermaidcomes from a (much more gruesome) Hans Christian Andersen fairytale. But these Disney fans make a reeeally convincing case. Some examples, with evidence:
'Little mermaid: ocean princess wants to go to the land
Moana: land princess wants to go to the ocean'
'Little mermaid: big scary ocean lady is the enemy
Moana: big scary land lady is actually a friend'
'Little mermaid: villain has a necklace of magical importance
Moana: hero has a necklace of magical importance'
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'Little mermaid: man sings a song about eating a crab.
Moana: crab sings a song about eating a man.'
(This one's actually on purpose; Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the songs for Moana, and is a Little Mermaid superfan, shared on Twitter:
'Little Mermaid: Is destined to rule her own kingdom… but takes herself far away.
Moana: Is destined to rule her own kingdom… but takes her kingdom far away.'
'Little Mermaid: Sings on a rock.
Moana: The Rock sings to her.'
Read up on all the fan comparisons below:
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