In Moana (2016) during the song "We Know the Way" none of the people have tattoos. It's not until after they find their island home that we see characters with tattoos. This is because they never had the resources to figure out a tattoo technique while they were traveling.

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by Mike239223
image showing In Moana (2016) during the song "We Know the Way" none of the people have tattoos. It's not until after they find their island home that we see characters with tattoos. This is because they never had the resources to figure out a tattoo technique while they were traveling.

supsupsup42 on May 15th, 2020 at 14:46 UTC »

I've seen this film so many times (have young child) and I never noticed this. This is my favourite song from Moana. Good fact!

nowhereman136 on May 15th, 2020 at 14:50 UTC »

There's a YouTube video about how Disney uses the native language in their songs (with mixed results) but highlights Moana as having some of the most intricately accurate songs. Credit to LMM and Disney for going the extra mile with this movie

TooShiftyForYou on May 15th, 2020 at 14:57 UTC »

During the 5 years of producing the film, Disney's animated team recruited experts from across the South Pacific who consulted on the film's cultural accuracy and sensitivity forming an Oceanic Story Trust. For example, Maui (Dwayne Johnson) was originally bald. Upon seeing the first sketch, Trust member Hinano Murphy said, “We have to put more hair on Maui’s head, because it’s very important. The mana is in the hair, the power of the demigod."

Taking inspiration from Polynesian football players like Troy Polamalu, Maui was then given a robust full head of hair.