Moana Halloween Costume Has Parents Freaking Out

Halloween is just around the corner, and while most are just worried about how much candy they’ll get, some are worried about Disney princesses and cultural appropriation.

Things got heavy real quick right? The discussion stems from an article by Sachi Feris (via New York Post) that discussed her conversation with her 5-year-old daughter. Her daughter wants to go as Moana next year, but Feris worried that wearing a costume of her could be considered “cultural appropriation”.

This year she wanted to go as Elsa from Frozen, but Feris had some concerns with that choice as well. “I had some reservations regarding both costume choices … about cultural appropriation and the power/privilege carried by Whiteness, and about Whiteness and standards of beauty,” Feris said.

Now, her issues with Elsa differed from Moana. “Elsa is an imaginary or made-up character,” Ferris said. “Moana is based on real history and a real group of people…if we are going to dress up a real person, we have to make sure we are doing it in a way that is respectful. Otherwise, it is like we are making fun of someone else’s culture.”

So, Ferris proposed a number of ideas, including a take on Moana that would envision what she would look like today, as well as regular clothes that gave the feel of Moana. Both were nixed by her daughter.

As for Elsa, it came down to the fact that her daughter is a brunette, and she didn’t want her to get the idea that she had to be blonde haired and blue eyed to be the character. She lost that battle, as her daughter wants the trademarked blonde braid, but Feris said: “One thing is for sure, our discussions around appropriate and inappropriate Halloween costumes will continue.”

Commenters generally approved of the discussion Feris had with her daughter but also agreed that there are ways to dress up as those characters while still honoring them and not drifting into cultural appropriation. In fact, several even shared some great guides to that goal. Others felt that trying to draw that complicated distinction between legend and history is hard for adults, nonetheless a 5-year-old child.

You can read the full piece here.

In short, feel free to go as whoever you want for Halloween, but just use common sense when it comes to being accurate to the character on screen.