Cultural Relevence in Media

Cultural relevance doesn't to be something we think about all that much, and probably should. What brought this on? A number of things, but the 2 biggest are the upcoming Pokemon games (Sun and Moon), and the coming Disney movie Moana, both ironically with a Hawaiian theme to them (although in different sorts of context). Sun and Moon have the Alola region, which is based around the Hawaiian islands as an environment, with several new Pokemon taking design elements from its local flora and fauna. However, the games have yet to show just how much of Hawaii's own culture has influenced them, both modern and traditional.

Moana is taking a different approach, it's pulling straight out of Hawaiian lore, so in a sense, there's a lot more pressure on Disney and the studios responsible for the film to treat the source material with respect, doubly so when you take into account several of the talents brought in for the project are of Hawaiian descent. Maui is a major figure in the lore of Hawaiian islands, and as such needs to be handled with care by everyone involved with the character, not just Dwayne Johnson as his voice actor. However, Maui displays another item of Hawaii's culture in his design. I'm talking about his tattoos, tattoos in Polynesian cultures like those of the Hawaiian islands have a great cultural significance that actually has subtle, but major, differences from tribe to tribe, clan to clan, and even a bit from island to island.

Pokemon draws primarily from Japanese culture, which makes sense when you realize that the games are made in Japan. Japan also has a cultural identity tied to tattoos, but it has far more negative connotations than those of the Hawaiian islands. In Japan's olden days, criminals were branded on their with tattoos that corresponded to the crimes they committed, this has left tattoos with a disfavorable reputation in Japan, it has only been in the past few years that members of Japan's population have developed an interest in tattoos as symbol that is not linked to its history within the nation itself.

Moana might generate an upsurge in tattoo interests in the countries it plays in, and we might get to give our avatars tattoos in Sun and Moon, although that second one isn't very likely.