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Disney's 'Moana' Breaks the Mold of Animated Movies with Authentic Casting, Study notes of Voice

VanderCook College of Music Voice

Disney's new animated movie 'moana' stands out from the crowd by casting actors who are from the same ethnic backgrounds as their characters. The film's lead, auli'i cravalho, is a hawaiian actress voicing the role of moana, a young princess on a quest for a mythical pacific island. Other actors, including dwayne johnson, jemaine clement, temuera morrison, rachel house, and nicole scherzinger, also hail from pacific islands and have maori or hawaiian roots. This authentic casting is a departure from the norm in animated movies, where white actors are often chosen to voice characters of color, a practice known as 'whitewashing'. The article discusses the controversy surrounding this issue and the impact of disney's decision to change the status quo.

What you will learn

Why does Disney's 'Moana' stand out from other animated movies?
What is 'whitewashing' in animated movies?
Why is Disney's decision to cast authentic actors significant?

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Opinion: "Moana" casts actors who are

the same race as their characters

An image from Disney's forthcoming "Moana." Photo: Disney

Disney's new movie "Moana" is different than other animated movies. The actors who voice

the characters are from the same places as the characters they play.

"Moana" is about a young princess looking for an imaginary Paciﬁc island. Moana is voiced

by Auli'i Cravalho. Cravalho is from a real island in the Paciﬁc Ocean — Hawaii.

Other actors' voices in the movie are from Paciﬁc islands, too. American actor Dwayne

Johnson ("The Rock") is the voice of Moana's friend Maui. Johnson's mother is from

Samoa. Actors Jemaine Clement, Temuera Morrison and Rachel House are part Maori.

This is a group of people native to New Zealand. And actress Nicole Scherzinger has

Hawaiian roots.

"Moana" is different. Why? This is because many other animated movies don't hire actors of

color to match the characters of color in the movies. Instead, they hire white actors to voice

black, Asian and Hispanic characters. This is called "whitewashing."

By Michael Cavna, Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 08.31.16

Word Count 506

Partial preview of the text

Download Disney's 'Moana' Breaks the Mold of Animated Movies with Authentic Casting and more Study notes Voice in PDF only on Docsity!

Opinion: "Moana" casts actors who are

the same race as their characters

An image from Disney's forthcoming "Moana." Photo: Disney

Disney's new movie "Moana" is different than other animated movies. The actors who voice

the characters are from the same places as the characters they play.

"Moana" is about a young princess looking for an imaginary Pacific island. Moana is voiced

by Auli'i Cravalho. Cravalho is from a real island in the Pacific Ocean — Hawaii.

Other actors' voices in the movie are from Pacific islands, too. American actor Dwayne

Johnson ("The Rock") is the voice of Moana's friend Maui. Johnson's mother is from

Samoa. Actors Jemaine Clement, Temuera Morrison and Rachel House are part Maori.

This is a group of people native to New Zealand. And actress Nicole Scherzinger has

Hawaiian roots.

"Moana" is different. Why? This is because many other animated movies don't hire actors of

color to match the characters of color in the movies. Instead, they hire white actors to voice

black, Asian and Hispanic characters. This is called "whitewashing."

By Michael Cavna, Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 08.31.

Word Count 506

Animated Movies Lack Actors Of Color

One example of "whitewashing" is in the new movie "Kubo and the Two Strings." The movie

was made by Laika/Focus Features and is set in ancient Japan. However, many of the

main voice actors are white, not Japanese. There are Japanese actors in the cast. But they

voice smaller characters even though the story is set in their home country.

On Twitter, people have written about their frustration when white actors play nonwhite

characters. They tweet "#CartoonsSoWhite."

One group that has spoken out is the Media Action Network for Asian Americans

(MANAA). The person in charge of MANAA is Guy Aoki. He said he doesn't understand

why white actors voice an entire Japanese family in "Kubo."

A Chinese-American cartoonist named Gene Luen Yang agrees with Aoki. Lalo Alcaraz,

who writes and creates TV shows, said many movies in the last 10 years have cast almost

all white actors.

Travis Knight works for the company that made "Kubo." He said that Laika cares about

people of color.

Not New In Hollywood

All types of movies in Hollywood are blamed for "whitewashing."

For example, a white actor plays a character who is part Asian and part Hawaiian in the

movie "Aloha." The movie "The Last Airbender" was set in the South Pole, but featured

white actors.

No More #CartoonsSoWhite For "Moana"

"Moana" shows how Disney changed who is hired for animated movies. Disney made sure

the actors are from the same places as the stories' characters.

Two movies are examples of this change. In 1992, Disney directors John Musker and Ron

Clements supervised and released the movie "Aladdin." The movie had many white voice

actors for the main characters, but also included an Asian-American actress named Lea

Salonga. She also voiced a character in "Mulan." In addition, Disney released the 2009

movie "The Princess and the Frog." The movie featured the voices of Oprah Winfrey and

Terrence Howard, who are black.

These movies are different from most other Hollywood movies and they set an example.

Michael Cavna is an American cartoonist and "Comic Riffs" columnist for The Washington Post.

Answer Key

1 Which detail would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article? (A) "Moana" is different from other animated movies because it does not use "whitewashing." (B) "Kubo and the Two Strings" was made by Laika/Focus Features and set in ancient Japan. (C) People write about "whitewashing" on Twitter with #CartoonsSoWhite. (D) White actors were used in the movie "The Last Airbender," but it was set in the South Pole.

2 Which of the following are two main ideas of the article?

1. (^) There are some Japanese actors in "Kubo and the Two Strings." 2. (^) Many people are upset about "whitewashing" in movies. 3. (^) The movies "Aladdin" and "Mulan" featured Asian actors. 4. (^) "Moana" is different from other movies.

(A) 1 and 2 (B) 2 and 4 (C) 1 and 3 (D) 3 and 4

3 The author makes the claim that "Moana," "Aladdin" and "Mulan" set an example for other movies. What reason does the author give to support this idea? (A) They have interesting characters people enjoy. (B) They used actors from the same places as the characters. (C) They had white voice actors play the main characters. (D) They are set in places all around the world.

4 How does the section "Animated Movies Lack Actors Of Color" support the author's argument? (A) It presents reactions to "whitewashing" in a new animated movie. (B) It explains the plot and the main ideas of "Kubo and the Two Strings." (C) It gives information about when and how the MANAA was formed. (D) It offers the explanation of Travis Knight that Laika cares about people of color.