24/07/2025
After watching Moana for the millionth time this week, I've come to the conclusion (delusion) that Gramma was the villain in the movie, and if not Gramma, then DEFINATELY the ocean is LOL
I can go into detail in discussion, but basically she convinces Moana to go put back "the heart of Tifiti", and as soon as she leaves, the ocean abandons her and she died in the storm. This is signaled by the lightning strike after the big wave washes over Moana. In the storm she couldn't sail, she couldnt find her way and she couldnt fix her boat fast enough to weather it.
After the lightning strike she wakes up on Maui's island, this marks the start of her period as a legend. You see the boat completely toppled and half buried in sand. At this moment Moana wakes up covered in so much sand its as if she was buried and rose from the dead... as a demigod. Before the storm killed her the only supernatural things shes witnessed was the ocean, she didnt have crazy athletic ability, nor even see magic.
The most controversial take is that gramma came from a line of people who used to do human sacrifices in order to find favor from the sea. this is demonstrated in Maui's story about how he was an unruly child so they tossed him into the sea because no one wanted him, and there he died and became a demigod to his people.
(my opinion is they elevate the sacrificed to a position of a demi god to have honor for the sacrificed and to tell a brave story of their conquest of Te-Ka.) there are details missing but i feel like they would have done that to make it not so obvious.
There's no evidence of this but I figure that Maui could even have been Grammas son, and now that Moana's father is chief he's seeking to stop the old tradition of sacrifice. this is why he gets so angry with Moana about asking about the sea so much. he also tells Moana of the "heart of Tifiti" that "there is no heart, this is just a rock".
As far as the ocean goes. It KNEW where Tifiti was, it had the ability to take them DIRECTLY to tifiti, It abandons them SEVERAL times, and further mystifies an already confusing journey. I figure the ocean was just laughing at them the whole time. The ocean could have even PUT THE HEART BACK ITSELF, as this is demonstrated in the oceans ability to move and manipulate the heart of tifiti. The ocean could have subdued Te-Ka long enough for Moana to put it back, but just clearly didn't. In conclusion, I feel like the ocean caused WAY more problems than it solved, so if the ocean wasn't a villain it was DEFFINATELY an antagonist lol