Extremely Strained and Incredibly Forced: Moana (2016), with Ayelet Haimson Lushkov

Movies We Dig: The Ancient World on Film

Dig into the firstest episode of our new special segment, Extremely Strained and Incredibly Force, where we seek out and/or create connections between ancient and modern popular media. Debuting this new project is super special three-peat guest, Ayelet Haimson Lushkov, and her question: "Is Moana the Aeneid?" Sailing into unknown horizons, we chart a new course looking at these two works - one a 1st c. BCE Latin poem, the other a 2016 animated Disney film base don Polynesian myth - and their sea-sailing, destiny-guided heroes. Join us as we consider the nature of reception and its limits (is Hamilton the Aeneid?), tales of displacement and homecoming, the figure of the hero and, of course, the coconut (the roots and the leaves!)

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