Film
Disney's Moana Silent Film Precursor Solves Nothing
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 Edition
A 1926 documentary about Polynesian life has resurfaced as a potential creative ancestor to Disney's 2016 Moana. The discovery matters less than who was never asked whether the connection should exist.
1926 Moana was an ethnographic documentary, not a narrative film about voyaging or cultural heroism
Disney's 2016 film shares setting and some character names but no documented story elements with the original
No Polynesian filmmakers or cultural practitioners appear in the critical conversation about what inspired what
Related Stories
Film
Indie Film Didn't Die. It Moved Platforms.
Independent cinema's supposed crisis isn't collapse — it's migration. The film industry's structural shift toward streaming and direct-to-audience distribution …
Psychology
The Job Designed to Break Your Attention
Bill Farrell, a Massachusetts correctional officer, has spent decades in an environment structured to make vigilance impossible to sustain and humanity difficul…
Psychology
The Brain Knows It's Dying Before You Do
When the brain begins to fail—from stroke, anoxia, or terminal illness—it triggers a specific cascade of neural activity that appears to be a final adaptive res…
More From Today's Edition
Psychology
The Nap You're Ashamed to Take
Napping works. The real problem isn't whether it helps you — it's that you live somewhere that requires apology for needing rest. The stigma isn't medical. It's…
Culture
Lily Allen's Tour Shows the Album Model Is Broken
Lily Allen performed only her latest album on a recent tour, sparking fan complaints about short setlists and poor value. The real issue: streaming economics ha…
Science
Maps That Show Everything Except How to Help
Venezuela's earthquake damage is now visible from space with unprecedented clarity. The real crisis is whether a politically isolated, resource-depleted state c…
Entertainment
Trainspotting Still Matters Because We Haven't Fixed Anything
Danny Boyle's 1996 film gets a 30th-anniversary screening at Edinburgh International Film Festival with cast and crew, a milestone that says less about the movi…
Technology
The Nonprofit That Became a Venture Fund Nobody Named
Elon Musk sued OpenAI's Sam Altman for converting a nonprofit into a de facto for-profit entity, but lost twice to lawyer Bill Savitt—not because the structural…