“There are times when Moana fails, and we wanted to see her fail because that’s what makes her human," he said. For those who might find her unrealistically capable - a Mary Sue, perhaps - Bush hopes they’ve given her enough facets to avoid that pigeonhole. “There’s this way of viewing female heroes that they can’t be all things, and we hope that Moana can be all things,” Bush said. But Moana isn’t looking to be saved she’s looking to do the saving herself. The only thing separating Moana from Te Ka is also the only thing that can save her life: her friend and namesake, the ocean. In the movie's last moments, Moana stands before the villainess Te Ka, the fearsome lava monster who's also the assumed guardian of Mother Island Te Fiti. That was a conscious effort to evolve what kind of heroes we can put on screen.” Throughout the movie, she never gives up, no matter what’s thrown at her. "I think we all feel like we need to evolve these stories, specifically with the female protagonist," Moana screenwriter Jared Bush told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview. But, most importantly, she's her own hero. The title character of Moana subverts the established Disney Princess formula in several ways - she’s Disney’s first Polynesian princess, her body is more realistically proportioned than past princess iterations, she isn’t under any pressure to marry despite her royal status, and in the place of a love interest, she has the demigod Maui, her flawed but charismatic mentor.