My view of morality is shifting. Or, rather, it's probably more accurate to say that it's expanding. Over the last year and a half or so, I've been trying to get myself to see willpower to do what needs to be done, workwise, as a moral issue. At first it was simply a matter of realizing that I'm much more easily able to get myself to do something if I see it as an issue of morality, and trying to hack my brain into making me more productive. Over time, though, I began to find myself genuinely seeing the truth of that way of thinking, rather than a cognitive trick. I've always believed that morality is, essentially, a set of actions and beliefs that are what's best for humanity in the long run; it's a way of overcoming our ids.

Put simply, I've begun to genuinely believe that a good man does what needs to be done even when it's difficult. I mean, I guess I always believed that, but never realized how important it is. Growing up, my sense of morality prepared me to fight off temptations that could hurt other people if acted upon: lust, anger, greed. If I was doing something that benefited me at the expense of someone else, I knew that it was wrong, and although I stumbled, as all people do, I eventually learned to change my ways.

For a long time, I didn't understand why sloth and gluttony were up there with the other seven deadly sins. I could see how they could potentially be unhealthy, yes, but I didn't understand why they were sins. It seemed to me that hurting myself didn't fall under the purview of morality. I guessed, in an abstract sense, that denying society of anything great I might be able to accomplish through ambition could be seen as a way of harming other people, but that line of thinking was trumped by my belief that if you don't enjoy life, what's the point of living? It always seemed to me that it was okay to be lazy, as long as it didn't get so out of hand that it made life worse for yourself.

I still believe that. The seven deadly sins aren't things that are 100% bad in every situation, just in excess. Anger is often justified. Lust keeps humanity alive. Pride gives us the conviction to do what we must. We wouldn't have evolved these tendencies if they weren't necessary and sometimes good. That said, it's also necessary for us to learn to overcome them when we need to, and I haven't yet developed a good sense for when and how to overrule my sloth. I'm working on it, though, and I'm definitely making progress.

So, Moana's basic message was pretty straightforward, and they didn't try to make it subtle at all; it's about finding validation internally rather than externally. Moana isn't great because the sea chose her, she's great because she has the clarity to see what she needs to to and the resolve to get it done. Maui isn't great because he has a magical fish hook that lets him shapeshift, he becomes great because he's willing to be brave and selfless even at the cost of the one thing that makes him feel special. Moana is about finding the thing that drives you, and becoming the kind of person who does what needs to be done in order to see it through.

So why do I think this shitty, comic-relief chicken is important? Because he represents the value of morality. Bear with me here.

The message of the story isn't one that has much to do with morality, it just has to do with belief in oneself. But, the writers did want to make sure that they did include something about being a good person, and that's where the chicken comes in. His name is Heihei, by the way. I looked it up.

Heihei isn't cute. He isn't smart. In fact, he's so dumb that he doesn't even really know how to eat without assistance - he likes to try to eat rocks, and needs to be pointed in the proper direction of real food. On a dangerous trip like the one he's on with Moana, he's more than just useless - he's a liability. But Moana values all life - that's part of what initially drew the sea to her - and she takes care of Heihei despite his complete lack of any redeeming qualities, and despite the fact that he does occasionally annoy her.

For almost the entirety of the movie, he's completely dead weight. He gets in the way, and honestly, he doesn't even do a great job at being comic relief to the audience. But then, at one crucial moment towards the end of the movie, and only for that one moment, he's useful. His tendency to try to eat rocks drives him to save the Heart of Te Fiti as it's about to be lost underwater while our protagonists are racing away from Te Ka, the lava monster. Heihei's moment of glory is unintentional and over in an instant, and he goes back to being absolutely useless for the rest of the movie immediately afterwards.

But that one moment is important because it shows the importance of not just looking at the most obvious, efficient way of accomplishing your goal, but instead making sure to follow one's moral values in the process. There were many times throughout the movie when Moana could have decided to ditch Heihei and would have ostensibly been better off without him, but she didn't, and in the end, in that one moment, it became her saving grace.

I've never taken a creative writing course or gone to a writer's workshop, so maybe (probably) this is already an established thing, but I have a writing tool that I call "narrative theme". I first thought of it when I was analyzing the plots of some of the Final Fantasy games. The idea is this: when you write a story, have all of the characters' backgrounds and experiences revolve around the same theme. Examples: love, death, sorrow, war, ambition. Have the protagonists deal with the theme in a healthy way, and the antagonists deal with it in an unhealthy way.

It's a useful tool, because by revolving your story around a narrative theme, you can solve many problems at once. Most obviously, this gives a moral to your story - it makes your story make a point. The way that the protagonists deal with the theme is the way you believe the theme should be dealt with in real life. Having a narrative theme also helps your characters' interpersonal dynamic: by design, your characters will have similar histories and that will give them a way to relate to one another. It will give protagonists a way to build rapport and camaraderie, letting them understand each others' struggles. Similarly, it will make your antagonists' motivations relatable to both the audience and the protagonists, while also playing upon an irreconcilable difference between the way your protagonists and antagonists deal with the theme. The antagonists' improper or unhealthy way of dealing with the theme can also cause the protagonists to consider their own motivations and strengthen their resolve.

I think of using a narrative theme similarly to how I think of the standard five paragraph persuasive essay format that many of us learn in school. It has its drawbacks and may be seen as overly formulaic to the trained eye, but it's also a very good way of learning the fundamentals of the medium. Using a narrative theme doesn't seem quite so amateurish to me as a five paragraph persuasive essay, but I say this as someone who isn't yet accustomed to creative writing.

I may go into more detail on this in future posts, but here are the themes that I noticed in some of the Final Fantasy games:

• Final Fantasy VII - Dark pasts
• Final Fantasy VIII - Love
• Final Fantasy IX - Identity
• Final Fantasy X - Death
• Final Fantasy XII - Loyalty (not as sure about this one)