I’m having an identity crisis. I don’t know if I’m me or if I’m actually Moana, the newest Disney Princess-voyager-all-around-BA. Moana came out in theaters over Thanksgiving break, and my family and I went to see it. My younger sister, mom, and dad kept peaking over at me and chuckling throughout the entire movie because of the obvious similarities between me and the main character. The following week, my sorority rented out the 9:30 p.m. showing of Moana and we all went to see it together. At close of the opening scene, I heard a sophomore behind me say, “Kayla Dunn was that you?” Comments like that continued throughout the entire movie because of our astounding similarities. Help me out, and tell me what you think of these 10 similarities between me and Moana.
1. I can pass for Hawaiian.
I’ve been to Maui once and Oahu twice. I was sitting on the beach admiring the ocean one night, when a local came up and sat down next to me. We started having a conversation, and he said, “The tourist situation around here is getting out of hand.” I was taken aback at first, thinking he was passive aggressively asking me to leave, before I realized he thought I too was a local.
2. Obsession with water.
7 years of my life were devoted to competitive swimming. I’m talking 2 ½ hours in the pool 5 days a week for the past 7 years… and I loved it! Before that, my parents couldn’t keep me out of the water. I’d spend entire days in the pool, swimming, holding my breath, or laying on the bottom watching the water’s surface in fascination.
3. “You are your father’s daughter...
…stubbornness and pride,” Moana’s grandmother sings early in the movie. My father and I used to argue all the time (ALL THE TIME), and he’s constantly steering my curiosity out of danger. I specifically remember getting into a major fight while at Grand Lake in Ketchum, Oklahoma, because I went cliff jumping after being told not to. The water, guys, it calls me.
4. Mannerisms & sayings.
There is a scene early in Moana where she eats pork in front of her pet pig. Her reaction to the pig is 100% spot on with how I would’ve reacted. My friends in the audience yelled, “Why is that literally Kayla Dunn?”
5. Hair (& our entire faces tbh).
My hair is mildly huge and almost the exactly same length and curliness as Moana’s. If you scroll up or down, you can also compare our face shapes, lip shapes, eyes, eyebrows, and nose... it's kind of crazy...(PLEASE EXCUSE THE SHAMELESS MIRROR PIC).
6. Village crazy lady.
Moana's grandmother is more in touch with the ocean than anyone. While my great grandmother wasn’t the Village Crazy Lady, she lived her whole life in San Diego, California, where she worked for Scripps Institute of Oceanography until she was 97 years old because she loved it so much.
7. Death of Grandmother.
A major storyline in Moana is Moana’s relationship with her grandmother. Then, just before Moana’s adventure, her grandmother dies. My great grandmother died just two weeks ago, so watching it was kind of shocking.
8. Spirals.
Returning the heart of Tifiti, a green stone with a spiral design, is the main plot of the movie. The spiral design shows up many times throughout the film. I’ve been doodling spirals (only spirals... spirals on spirals) in the margins of my notes for as long as I can remember. Senior year of high school, I had the opportunity to paint my parking spot at school, and my first design was a cerulean blue covered in GREEN SPIRALS. Tell me that’s not weird.
9. Finding Nemo fanatic.
I mentioned that my first sketch for my parking spot was spirals, so what was the final, you may ask. It was an ocean scene with “just keep swimming” painted on top. THE WATER CALLS ME.
10. Island time.
I’m part Jamaican! Jamaican isn’t Pacific Islander (it’s part of the Caribbean), but hey, it’s an island.
All I know is that my friends are calling me Moana, and I am responding...
(and that I want Disney to cast in me in the real life Moana)
