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DISNEY AND ITALIAN PORN
I’M HONESTLY surprised when I get involved in these things. Half awake, I was listening to my (6 a.m. Pacific) news on the BBC World Service. Did I hear “Disney” and “Italian porn industry” used in the same sentence?
Later, once my wits were about me, I searched out that there are actually two distinct news reports with this pairing, each occurring within the last few days. In the interest of keeping you, gentle readers, aware of the arts, I summarize them here. Indeed, it’ll take two days to do so.
The more straightforward tale concerns Disney’s latest animated flick, Moana, scheduled to open November 23, right in time for holiday audiences. The movie’s cast and crew are impressive, including music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who stars in and wrote the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical Hamilton.
The Disney flick Moana promises to be an inspiring tale as well. This time, about a sweet, but strong-willed 16-year-old daughter of a Polynesian chief. Moana is chosen by the ocean to save her people through reuniting the Heart of Te Fiti, and she sets out in search of Maui, a legendary demigod.
Moana, Walt Disney Animation Studios, U.S. release November 23, 2016.
Italian moviegoers will be searching out this new Disney flick as Oceania. Why the name change? As The Hollywood Reporter writes, “Thanks to the rebrand to ‘Oceania,’ Italian families searching for the latest animated Disney film online will not be at risk of stumbling upon vintage pornography.”
In Italy, the late Moana Pozzi is a well-remembered and highly regarded porn star.
Disney’s Moana is a sweet young Polynesian teenager. However, to Italians, her name could conjure up a different image.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Moana Pozzi’s parents found her name, meaning “deep sea,” on a map of Hawaii. This Moana’s life achievements included more than 100 porn flicks; alleged love affairs with Robert De Niro, Bettino Craxi, Italy’s prime minister, 1983–1987, and others; establishing Italy’s Love Party with porn star Cicciolina (of whom more tomorrow); running unsuccessfully for the mayor of Rome; and, according to Wikipedia, being “appreciated for her distinctive intelligence, defying the cliché of a brainless pinup.” Pozzi died, age 33, perhaps suffering from liver cancer.
Moana Pozzi, 1961–1994, Italian porn star, writer, politician, activist. Image from biografieonline.it.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney noted that elsewhere in Europe the movie Moana and its starring Polynesian teenager have been renamed Vaiana, “water cave” in some undisclosed language. (Or, at least Google Translate doesn’t recognize it today.) Another possible reason is that Villa Moana is an exclusive hotel on Spain’s Costa del Sol and Moaña is a Spanish town on the Atlantic, just north of the Portuguese border.
Tomorrow’s second part of Disney and Italian Porn will feature Cicciolina, aka Ilona Staller. She has already entered our tale here as co-founder with Moana Pozzi of Italy’s Love Party, which strove to improve sex education, legalize brothels and create “love parks.”
And people worry that our First Lady in Waiting modeled in the buff. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2016
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