The Polynesian voice actor for Maui

The animated image of Maui

Why couldn't that have simply mo-capped The Rock?

If Polynesian characters of all shapes and sizes were present a lot on movie and TV screens this would be a non-issue. But the fact that Polynesian characters are so rarely represented and even more rarely the central heroes of movies and TV puts it in a different context.

Also, pre-colonial polynesians were not fat, obesity only became significant in polynesians after western diets were introduced. So any traditional image of Maui in polynesian culture would not be of a big fat dude. So it's not historically or mythologically accurate. Obesity in the Polynesian community is a major problem. The Polynesian community doesn't need a fat archetype of it created in popular culture. Outside of Australia, New Zealand and Polynesia itself, how many people have actually met or know any Polynesians? How many people even know Khaal Drogo and the Rock are Polynesian?

If anyone has a right to be offended at the fictional portyrayal of a culture in popular entertainment it's the people of that culture. They are the ones who are most interested and concerned about the health and development of their people.

It might be minor to you, but to some Polynesian people this stuff matters.

Totally agree and it was my initial thought when I first saw the trailer. I thought cool new cultural themed Disney movie, but why is he fat? Nothing in the cultural mythology suggests he should be fat. It really should have been an image closer to The Rock as the voice actor.

You know this isn't totally fictional as in pulled out of the arses of Disney writers? It's based on actual mythology. If you were making a movie about the Greek gods and made Zeus a fat dude people would complain that it's not accurate to the mythology. Same thing applies here.

Google images for the god Maui and the only one you'll find who's a morbidly obese, diabetes risk is this Disney one.

Doesn't matter that it's fiction.  Spider-Man is fiction, but if they made him a fat dude for no reason Americans would complain.  In fact, their whining would be far greater than any Polynesian's.

How come Americans are the only ones "allowed" to complain about dumb shit?  Look at all the whining over the new Ghostbusters movie.  Where's the thread calling them out and calling them "idiots" for complaining about a work of fiction?

Why do you think he's fat and not a strongman?

While he is certianly strong, he is not drawn as a muscular individual but that of a more rounded / fat person who happens to also be strong.

Most powerlifters could be descibed this way, and they much stronger than body builders.