III.
Death seeps from Te Kā, staining the seas as it sucks the life from the islands and attracts monsters. This hot-headed, destructive volcano struck me. I’d seen her before.
…Let me explain.
As Moana and Maui fought together to defeat the lava monster and restore the heart of Te Fiti, they discovered that the life-giving goddess was not behind the clouds of ash and blaze. Instead, at the bottom of the ocean was a void, shaped like a woman in fetal position. Moana turned and saw Te Kā. The lava-woman lurched and crawled towards the girl, exhibiting a wound where Te Kā’s heart should have been. There she was, a striking depiction of those “nasty woman” I had witnessed screaming profanities at the cameras during the Women’s Marches. These women, like the goddess Te Fiti, are the product of a culture in which the heart of femininity has been stolen, leading women to desperately try to protect themselves, lashing out at others while spewing fury over the injustice. This culture is one where fathers abandon their daughters – ripping away her heart. The wound is then dug deeper by the men who later enter her life and take rather than love. The culture subtly encourages women to allow men to continue to steal from them through promoting objectifying dress and providing sterilization, which enables men to use women sexually without consequence. Women then must fill themselves with death – death existing in the destruction of their life-giving abilities and the termination of life in their wombs. This death inside women has attracted “monsters” such as depression, sickness, and suicide. The cycle is nasty, but once men and women are restored they are capable of combating this culture of death.
Walking towards the lava monster, Moana saw Te Fiti, wounded and in pain.
“I have crossed the horizon to find you, I know your name. They have stolen the heart from inside you, but this does not define you. This is not who you are, you know who you are.”
Moana with the protective help of Maui restored the heart and identity of Te Fiti. Once more Te Fiti became a flourishing, beautiful, and life-giving goddess.
It was clear to me. The culture of death is no longer “out there,” it has spread, like the death from Te Kā, to my own personal “island,” affecting even those nearest to me. But, it only took one girl’s willingness to admit her dissatisfaction with mediocrity and embrace her true identity. It was the ocean which orchestrated the restoration of life and identity. God only needs our surrender and cooperation. Once women find themselves and set sail, they can inspire men to become the selfless, heroic protectors whom they were created to be. Together, men and women can return the heart of femininity and halt the spread of death. It is through the restoration of identity that the culture of rage, fear, and death will be reversed.
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