{"id":1098313,"date":"2026-01-26T14:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=508915"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T14:54:45","slug":"disney-has-landed-in-the-middle-of-a-fight-over-an-indigenous-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/disney-has-landed-in-the-middle-of-a-fight-over-an-indigenous-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney has landed in the middle of a fight over an Indigenous language"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For decades, the New Zealand government in Aotearoa has tried to eliminate te reo M\u0101ori, the language of the Indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa. Thus far, it\u2019s failed. While the current right-wing government coalition is working to suppress the language with the largest political backing in years, organizers, storytellers, and te reo speakers are arguing they have a \u201cforever language\u201d \u2014 and they have six te reo dubbings of Disney animated films, most recently with November 2024\u2019s Moana 2 Reo M\u0101ori<\/em>, working in their favor.<\/p>\n

Both the modern New Zealand government and its tension with te reo began in 1840, with the British Crown and M\u0101ori representatives signing the Treaty of Waitangi, the government\u2019s founding constitutional document whose differing bilingual versions have led to over a century of consequences and scrutiny. Over the following decades, colonization, assimilation, and English-language domination diminished te reo\u2019s reach. By 1975, only 5% of M\u0101ori schoolchildren could speak te reo<\/a>, and by 1979 the language was considered endangered<\/a> and headed toward extinction. Children were beaten for speaking their mother tongue<\/a>, educated in schools that banned te reo, and surrounded by English-speaking media.<\/p>\n

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This week on Polygon, we\u2019re looking at how cultural differences affect media in a special issue we\u2019re calling Culture Shock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As revitalization efforts ramped up in the \u201970s and \u201980s, advocates and activists placed special attention on how to bring te reo into broadcasting and education. Early revitalization successes often were tied to immersion programs with large community buy-in, places where te reo was always in the background. By 1987, the M\u0101ori Language Act gave te reo M\u0101ori the same official status as English.<\/p>\n

Today, Aotearoa has had decades of te reo M\u0101ori radio programs, newspapers, TV shows, and other broadcasting opportunities. And in the last seven years, Disney films have begun to be rereleased in te reo, both in local theaters and through Disney Plus. This effort has been led by Disney\u2019s collaboration with Matewa Media, a media organization built to contribute to te reo M\u0101ori and Indigenous stories. Matewa began when producers Chelsea Winstanley and Tweedie Waititi noticed their babies watching Moana <\/em>in the background. They felt Moana<\/em>, which includes M\u0101ori mythology, details, and words (\u201cmoana\u201d means ocean) was a great place to begin, and audiences agreed \u2014 when the te reo version came to theaters, bookings sold out within 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

So far, the collaboration has also produced te reo versions of Coco<\/em>, The Lion King<\/em>, Frozen<\/em>, Encanto<\/em>, and Moana 2<\/em>, and Matewa Media is expanding outside of Disney films this March with Shrek<\/em>. Disney has collaborated on Indigenous-language dubs before, from Frozen 2<\/em> in S\u00e1mi to Bambi<\/em> in Arapaho, but Disney Reo M\u0101ori stands out for being an ongoing collaboration, with Matewa returning year after year to adapt new cartoons. November 2024\u2019s Moana 2<\/em> also hit another milestone: For the first time, a Disney Reo M\u0101ori film was released alongside its English counterpart.<\/p>\n

Each film involves extensive localization efforts. Script translation requires translators to balance meaning, flow, timing, humor, and more. <\/strong>The dubs can also include dialects: Coco <\/em>was translated into an East Coast dialect, Ng\u0101ti Porou reo, while Frozen <\/em>was adapted to the regional dialects of the South Island, Aotearoa\u2019s coldest climate. Syncing these dubs to characters\u2019 already animated mouths is a challenge in itself, and especially difficult because every M\u0101ori word ends in a vowel.<\/p>\n

Those adapting the films have also made efforts to ensure the local cultures depicted in the Disney films have been honored, like having voice actors take lessons in Spanish and Mexican culture with Mexican comedian Edd Rivera for Coco Reo M\u0101ori<\/em>, or working with Mauricio Lozano and Hana Mereraiha on Colombian culture for Encanto Reo M\u0101ori<\/em>. This gave both creators and fans opportunities to see the similarities between global cultures: Coco Reo M\u0101ori<\/em> was purposefully released in time for Matariki, an Indigenous holiday that celebrates the dead, similar to Mexico’s Day of the Dead as seen in Coco<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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