On the fictional South Pacific island of Motunui, there now exists a variety of tween girl known as the “Moanabe” (pronounced “Mo-wannabe”). These eager, sometimes awkward young ladies stan a queen who’s also well known to the rest of the world: the stalwart seafarer Moana, teenage heroine of the smash-hit 2016 movie of that title. Having rescued her people from famine by reversing an ancient curse on the goddess of nature, Moana (once again voiced by Auli’i Cravalho) has gone from being the eldest daughter of the island tribe’s leader to being, in essence, her father’s co-chieftain. Children look up to her, village elders seek out her advice, and her return from a three-day solo sail to a nearby island is celebrated as if it were a major national holiday.
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