The outstanding example of Moana of Motunui, who restored the heart of Te Fiti : The revolutionary changes in the approaches towards gender and ethnicity in Moana

This BA Thesis discusses the approaches of the Walt Disney Company towards gender and cultural representation. It argues that the company's latest animated feature film, Moana (2016) perfectly illustrates the long way the company has taken to arrive at the point when they can display realistic and proper gender roles and project accurate values and traditions of specific ethnic groups. The first part illustrates the changes in gender role portrayal and the new set of values, meaning the personal attributes, physical appearance and roles, that Moana, as the prototype of the ‘new Disney heroine’, possesses in comparison to Snow White, the very first Disney princess. In the second part, a thorough analysis is provided to discover the gender role portrayals in Moana (2016), the familial relationships and the depiction of the Polynesian culture and its values, beliefs and traditions. All of these supports the argument that the company has improved a lot in representing female characters and recognizing the need for providing a realistic portrayal of diverse cultures in their animated movies.