The trident is superfluous at this point.
December 13, 2018 11:23 AM   Subscribe

At the blue carpet premier of Aquaman last night, Jason Momoa joined Kiwi costar Temuera Morrison and some other cast members in a performance of the Haka dance (Youtube link). It should be noted that this is not Momoa's first foray into this traditional Maori performance.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI (38 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Bring it ON!
posted by Sophie1 at 11:36 AM on December 13, 2018


that kid!!!

this is so awesome

ok a bit disappoint that Mr Momoa had his shirt on but still awesome...
posted by supermedusa at 11:42 AM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


What if a human... but also a tyrannosaurus rex... but also a golden retriever.
posted by Etrigan at 11:45 AM on December 13, 2018 [24 favorites]


I will watch Jason Momoa do anything. He seems like one of those guys who would be A Bit Much for me in real life but I like knowing he's out there existing having a great time. And I love how his kids keep glancing at him to check in during the performance. You know they practiced this for hours at home.
posted by something something at 11:52 AM on December 13, 2018 [17 favorites]


omg something something are those his kids? that had not occurred to me but how lovely!
posted by supermedusa at 12:03 PM on December 13, 2018


I will watch Jason Momoa do anything

I look forward to him one day acting well.
posted by alex_skazat at 12:12 PM on December 13, 2018 [10 favorites]


Why? I genuinely believe most people that like him do so for reasons entirely unrelated to his ability to act.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 12:15 PM on December 13, 2018 [8 favorites]


He's not bad in Frontier. I think, much like Keanu Reeves, he knows his limitations and chooses parts accordingly.
posted by something something at 12:26 PM on December 13, 2018 [11 favorites]


I got the same chills I get watching the All Blacks.
posted by tommasz at 12:37 PM on December 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


Check out Red Road to watch him play a pretty great... villain is a bit strong of a term. Ne'er-do-well?
posted by haileris23 at 12:39 PM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


the Haka dance

There are lots of different haka. This is a haka, not the haka.
…the hakas have been “erroneously defined by generations of uninformed as ‘war dances’, the true ‘war dances’ are the whakatü waewae, the tütü ngärahu and the peruperu”.… Within Mäori culture, haka is the generic name for all types of dance or ceremonial performance that involve movement. Historically, some were used solely for spiritual reasons; others were used for celebration, intimidation, or as a “psych up” prior to battle …
This one, Ka Mate, is the most widely known, thanks to the All Blacks, who performed haka as far back as 1888, originally as essentially pre-game entertainment for the crowd. The first use of Ka Mate by the All Blacks was apparently in 1905. (Note that they don't own it: culturally, it belongs to the iwi Ngati Toa.)
Ka Mate was originally a ngeri haka, which is freeform and extemporaneous
the purpose of which was to motivate a warrior psychologically. The movements are very free, and each performer is expected to be expressive of their feelings.
but it's now formalised and choreographed.

Prior to the late 1980s, the All Blacks Ka Mate could be a little underwhelming - witness the pakeha in the 1973 All Blacks going through the motions.
But by the 1980s things began to change. Maori cultural assertion was undergoing a renaissance, while there were also growing demands for compensation for colonial land confiscations under the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. In 1987, Wayne “Buck” Shelford, All Blacks captain of the time, chose to take the matter in hand and teach his team-mates how to perform “Ka Mate” properly. “Do it fucking right,” he demanded, “or don’t do it at all.”
posted by zamboni at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2018 [59 favorites]


This pretty much turned me off of wanting to see the movie:

I'm Sorry to Report that Jason Momoa Is Actually Gaston

Books are our friends and this is not how you treat a friend.
posted by Foosnark at 12:43 PM on December 13, 2018 [29 favorites]


I am not interested since it was documented that Momoa is just another asshole, tearing pages out of Amber Heard’s books to get attention.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:44 PM on December 13, 2018 [13 favorites]


I think, much like Keanu Reeves, he knows his limitations and chooses parts accordingly.

I mean, wouldn't you pay at least a couple of bucks for "Coming soon to Broadway: JASON MOMOA IS WILLY LOMAN"?
posted by Etrigan at 12:44 PM on December 13, 2018 [9 favorites]


ok a bit disappoint that Mr Momoa had his shirt on but still awesome...

I'll just leave this here.

(Some of the comments are hilarious.)
posted by homunculus at 1:06 PM on December 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


Jason Momoa is Native Hawaiian, and they have their own "war dance", the ha'a. I wondered why he didn't do that instead and promote Native Hawaiian culture.

But then I realized most of the other actors doing it with him are Maori (including my boyfriend Temuera Morrison). So nevermind, go with the flow Aquaman!

(However, I am going to have to rescind my adoration of Jason Momoa until he stops being a butthead to people and books.)
posted by elsietheeel at 1:28 PM on December 13, 2018 [5 favorites]


Reading this Men's Journal piece on him might change your mind a wee bit, one way or the other.
Me, I think that Patrick Wilson should have been Aquaman in the New 52 Geoff Johns sort of way, so #notmyaquaman.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 1:32 PM on December 13, 2018


so #notmyaquaman

you know, just, maybe, think for three seconds about what the likely motives of most people objecting to his casting instead of Generic White Dude are, and consider whether you want to throw in your lot with that.
posted by praemunire at 1:50 PM on December 13, 2018 [13 favorites]


What about Patrick Warburton as Aquaman?
posted by Splunge at 1:50 PM on December 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


What about Patrick Warburton as Aquaman?

Arthur Puddy, King of Atlantis!
posted by haileris23 at 1:52 PM on December 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


To Quote the first comment on the first Haka Video I went to rewatch after this:
Whelp, here I go watching 3 hours of haka videos on youtube again
posted by Cold Lurkey at 2:58 PM on December 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


I wish someone would turn haka into an exercise program like Zumba or Popsugar.

Edit: Maori Movement
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:00 PM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is still the best Jason Momoa moment. This is how I open a chair now. I'm cool like that. I only hurt my wrist a little.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:15 PM on December 13, 2018 [7 favorites]


What about Patrick Warburton as Aquaman?

Arthur Puddy, King of Atlantis!
posted by haileris23


I was thinking The Tick of the Sea, but that works too.
posted by Splunge at 3:20 PM on December 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


The sentiments expressed here seem to be shared by most of the Māori in my social media sphere. There is a level of discomfort with someone who is not Māori doing haka (and Ka Mate is kind of problematic because Te Rauparaha is a polarising figure).

I dislike being that guy who ruins the fun but yeah as always there is more than what appears on the surface.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 6:34 PM on December 13, 2018 [6 favorites]


Reading this Men's Journal piece on him might change your mind a wee bit, one way or the other.

Reading that piece makes me think he's the kind of person who's impolite enough to comment on the body of a stranger he's just met.

PSA: do not make comments about a person being pregnant unless they've told you they're pregnant. It's inappropriate and rude.
posted by Lexica at 7:43 PM on December 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


he is pretty good in frontier but more importantly he has been insistent in all seasons that indigenous actors play indigenous parts and that indigenous advisers be consulted for every episode. i get that he's laddish and immature with a lot of his public behavior, and has said and done obnoxious things wrt women he's working with, and i'm not using the former to excuse the latter but like. lmk when literally anyone else with even 1/10th his level of media power even just pretends for 5 minutes to care about indigenous people, much less uses that power to make an actual difference.
posted by poffin boffin at 11:44 PM on December 13, 2018 [14 favorites]


Wow, that stuff.co.nz piece irritated me. I think before they go telling Momoa to sod off and be proud of his own culture instead, the writer could benefit from learning a bit more about the guy. Who knows, they might even get excited about the Hawaiian movie he plans to make next!
posted by the agents of KAOS at 12:06 AM on December 14, 2018


*shrug*

It's not my culture, but I live in the same country and I respect it, so I'll listen to the feelings of people whose culture it is.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:00 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


You must have read a different piece, agents of KAOS. Peata Melbourne's piece I read is appropriately conflicted and nuanced. From "I'm struggling with knowing that Jason relinquished his own Hawaiian culture for the haka." to "It is, in the end however a display of Polynesian pride which I welcome." There's a lot of complicated negotiation going on about Māori culture, pride, assimilation, appropriation. This essay seems like a thoughtful entry into that discussion.

One thing I'm very curious about is how contemporary Polynesians feel about being lumped in to one culture. Particularly the remote parts of Polynesia like Aotearoa and Hawaiʻi and Rapa Nui. They have a lot in common culturally and historically and genetically. They're also quite different, particularly in the modern age. There's a whole series of possible constructions of both individual culture and pan-Polynesian culture and I've got no idea how think about it.

I like Melbourne's conclusion
Let's hope when Momoa goes to the Aquaman premiere in Hawai'i, he will embrace his Hawaiian ohana or whānau there and share his poly-pride via a hula kahiko. He'll invite Miss Aloha Hula 2018 Shalia Kamakaokalani to dance alongside him and channel Napua Greig's teachings.

Now that would make me one proud Polynesian wahine.
posted by Nelson at 1:50 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


This one, Ka Mate, is the most widely known, thanks to the All Blacks

They do Ka Mate at the end, but most of this haka is not Ka Mate. It's about Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and about waterways. I didn't catch a lot of it. I looked it up later and I couldn't find the actual words but apparently it was written for this specific purpose and it references themes from the film.

I think it would have been less problematic if they had left Ka Mate off, and/or if Momoa hadn't led it but had just participated, with Temuera Morrison or one of the other Maori guys calling the lead.
posted by lollusc at 3:36 AM on December 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Thanks for pointing that out, lollusc! Just saw the Ka Mate bit and went on a research tear.
Looks like it was Tangaroa ararau (The many paths of Tangaroa), composed by Tuhoe kaihaka Shannon Borell.

All I'm finding for lyrics is this translation:
Tangaroa (god of the sea) ararau (in transition).
What is the source of our mana (power)
It comes from our ancestors, from our thoughts, from our bodies,
from our spirits, from our family, from our hearts!
Our power, our ferocity, will be placed on high.
posted by zamboni at 6:40 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


...you know, just, maybe, think for three seconds about what the likely motives of most people objecting to his casting instead of Generic White Dude are, and consider whether you want to throw in your lot with that.

Agreed. The problem with this version of Aquaman has nothing to do with Momoa being wrong for the part - he rocks the look just fine. (Seriously, not many people can pull off that orange shirt) It's the part being written and directed in a way that bears no resemblance to the comic character. This series has done a similarly terrible job with Superman, and nobody blamed Henry Cavil for that.
posted by Karmakaze at 7:14 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Prior to the late 1980s, the All Blacks Ka Mate could be a little underwhelming

To be fair, in the video you linked it looks like all white guys and I don't think I'd do it with much enthusiasm either without some folks from the culture I'm appropriating doing it along with me (or really, me doing it along with them) with their encouragement.

Similarly, it would have been nice to see the maori cast members say something like, "Now, Jason is Hawaiian not Maori but this is a part of our culture we like for everyone to take part in" or something like that.
posted by VTX at 9:27 AM on December 14, 2018


I see nothing thoughtful about the complaint that Momoa has "relinquished" his own culture because he took part in something from someone else's. He is not an idiot and has talked publicly about his own culture and his appreciation for Maori culture as a separate traditionin the past. She is writing from a position of surprising ignorance and being incredibly condescending because of that.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:36 AM on December 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


When I found out more about the Maori culture I fell in love with it, and with the people too. There's a lot of pride here which I love, being Hawaiian and being part of the U.S. I love, but our Hawaiian culture perishes a little bit, and it's really supported out here. There are few indigenous cultures that have done as well as the Maori." - Momoa
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:40 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


I will watch Jason Momoa do anything. He seems like one of those guys who would be A Bit Much for me in real life

There was an SNL sketch about him being a little "extra" that you might like.
posted by jessamyn at 10:26 AM on December 14, 2018 [1 favorite]




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