Raya and the Last Dragon 2021! The Trust Dilemma, my thoughts!

I just watched this film today (29 March 2021) at a movie theatre.

I had tons of thoughts throughout the movie, but thinking about trust was one of my main big thoughts.

I enjoyed the film. Very interesting to watch and analyse. Many thought provoking ideas.

This is one of my least favourite Disney animated ones films, partly because I enjoy many of the other ones so much.

Feel free to leave disagreeing comments in the sections to my thoughts on the film. I was far more open and free about my thoughts in this video than I am in most videos.

Some Sources and Extra thoughts: (Added 30 March 2021 without having read or interacted with any other people or comments on this topic much [a few DMs, but not that change what I was going to write] since making this video yesterday).

Captain Nemo from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954) was also very distrusting of society, turned out his distrust was not misplaced, but rather correct.

The question is not “Would full trust work?” the question is “Is everybody trustworthy?” and the answer to the latter is no. How about this “Could you end up with billionaires in a fully trustworthy world?”, “Can Capitalism and Trust co-exist?”

Smaller Govt means people are less trusting, Bigger Govt means people are more trusting.

In my view, history would teach us that we should not intrust people with too much power. Given individuals can only do so much bad with their power, but entire governments can be catastrophic as seen in the 20th century with communism.

The more power and trust, the more room there is for someone to abuse and take advantage of that.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Yes I world in which there is full trust would be beautiful, but do you really think that such a world on earth can exist with people in charge? Do you really think that we can get 100% agreement that we’ll all be trustworthy, and that no one will abuse that? You only need 1 individual who abuses that, to destroy and entire system.

To what extent does trust go? Do we even need police at all? Should not we just trust that people will not speed? What if people disagree on the right course of action, you may trust that they will make the “right decision” in a given context, but they may differ on what the “right decision is, due to having different values?

Most of society is set up in a way that it is distrusting that people will abuse and exploit it. Disney would sign contracts with lawyers involved, with the cast of the movie. Why get them to sign anything? Why not just trust them?

My point about being the clan leader and how you need power to ensure you won’t be betrayed is proof of how it doesn’t work, and how distrusting people are. Having power and dominance to ensure people don’t betray you is not trust, it’s the opposite. Yet I’ve lived a life of being betrayed so many times, it’s not the odd “Bad apple” who betrays you, it’s so normal to be betrayed, time and time again. And almost all of the betraying comes from those with more power than you, hence they are able to betray, and you can’t fight back.

Distrust is necessary, scepticism of people, ideas, etc, is necessary. Being a critical thinker is necessary. Most people are sheep, and don’t even realize the ways that they are being taken advantage of. And some people turn a blind eye, as they know the cost of following certain principles, eg some would say “I hate big business”, yet go and watch this movie from a company with Billions of dollars, or buy a phone from Apple or Google, or use Microsoft word which I am using to type this document.

Trusting and Distrusting people doesn’t have to be binary, we have the wonderful ability to testing/building peoples trust over time. Let’s utilize that ability to the max, it’s the best option out of “Trust everyone” or “Distrust everyone”. Trust everyone a little bit. Give each person a chance to build trust. And bit by bit you can eventually come to trust an individual. But it takes time, normally lots of time. Months or Years.

Ultimately truth will win. What is true will win out. The side, the beliefs that are based on truth will win. If it is possible for humans to be trustworthy of each other, and not betray, it will happen somewhere, and grow and grow. But if such a situation is unstainable, eventually it will die out. Truth is Truth. Truth will win. What is true will win, it’s just a matter of time.

Strategies and ideas that work, will survive the test of time. Strategies in Risk that work will prevail, strategies than don’t, die out. And which strategies work is dependant on what other people are doing. This is true of Clash Royale as well. If everyone is doing a certain deck, the best option is one that is different. Like the Hawk-Dove delimea in Primer’s video.
With Truth eventually ideas based on truth will win. One can only live so long with a contradictory (therefor based on lies. This excludes all the “We don’t know or aren’t sure” things in the world) belief system before it collapses. I find it incredible the capacity people have to belief so many contradictory things, so many lies before realizing that there is a problem. If there is a smoke alarm going off in the house, you’d think it’s enough, but apparently it seems an entire building full of smoke alarms going off is what is required to get most peoples attention that there is big internal belief conflicts going.

My goal in conversation much of the time is to identify where I am wrong on issues, and where other people are wrong on issues. To find points where the contradict themselves, and through questions (to find out where they contradict, and to show the where they do), prove it. I right now will have many belief conflicts that I’m not even aware of that unless discussing with people and them spotting it, will probably not notice. I want to keep ironing out all these huge amount of contradictions that I have. There is so so much to think about, account for, and solve in the world, we have the ability to use reason, the least we can do is use it.

There is a battle for good ideas and bad ideas. Politically the Democrats vs Republicans divide is huge, both suggesting very alternative solutions to problems, and very different reasons for what it to blame for various problems. Ultimately ideas based on truth will win. It’s survival of the fittest, even for ideas. Ideas that account for what’s happened in history, ideas that account for what does good, etc. Ideas based on truth will win, ideas based on lies will lose, even if it takes 200 years. Humanity has an incredibly bad record of trail and error, but eventually after so so much time we will move closer and closer to the truth, and we rule out bad ideas based on lies (or incorrect assumptions), after bad idea based on lies.

There is an old saying which came to mind while I watched the film. “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”. Is not this current world just a repeated “You fooled me again, and again and again and again”? How many interactions do we have to have of being fooled until we realize “actually I am the fool for allowing people to keep on fooling me?”

This movie turned out to be a trigger for me. It triggered a string of thoughts. In my mind I am trying to connect all the various dots are areas of knowledge I have into one thing, I am trying to figure out how they all relate. Now I’ll probably be wrong on some of thoughts themselves, but also on their connection and relation to one another, things might not connect to each other or be apples to apples like I think them to me in mind, hence I mention them in the video, or in this written text.

Other references:
The joke I thought was funny was in the Tom and Jerry trailer played before the movie: “I shine under pressure, like a diamond, or Rihanna”
https://youtu.be/kP9TfCWaQT4

Lego Ninja series
https://ninjago.fandom.com/wiki/Season_1:_Rise_of_the_Snakes

Primer Video
https://youtu.be/goePYJ74Ydg
His videos are brilliant, but he seems to have hit a brick wall in regards to figuring out how you can create a society without the selfish gene which ends up winning. I admire his videos and his quest to find out a solution.

Peterson lecture talking about movies as artifacts:
https://youtu.be/HbAZ6cFxCeY

10 personalities Peterson (disagreeable)
https://youtu.be/4IdzC6mJzLA

I agree and disagree with parts of all 3 of these reviews. These were just the first 3 that showed up on Google Reviews.

The review I read out:
"Adriel Nikolao
3 weeks ago

After I watched Raya and the Last Dragon, this movie is just WOW!!!

WARNING:
This may have major spoilers, but I highly recommend you not to read it, if you already watched it, you will understand what I have meant about Raya and the Last Dragon.

Everything inside Raya is just based on an Southeast Asian tradition and culture, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and more Southeast countries, and I felt like that Raya is unique.

The story, or narrative is amazing, and astonishing, with Raya and her gang, such as Sisu, Boun, Noi, Tong, the Ongis, and Tuk Tuk, are trying to save the world and restore peace and reunite Kumandra. I love how the story works as well as how each of their families and their tribe has been turned to stone, or ash, correct me if I’m wrong. Everything in Raya is much more similar to Moana, but with more cultural narrative. As for that, Sisu is LOL! How she acted like is more like the Genie, or Mushu. Battle scenes in Raya are REALLY INTENSE, and I’m not lying, it’s really brutal and intense than Moana and Frozen (if they actually add blood and gore, that would be the only animated movie with PG-13, like Mulan (2020), but even more mature and intense) (Funny Fact: Raya and Namari is almost like Cloud and Sephiroth, but Raya and Namari are more like friends, while Cloud and Sephiroth are rivals, if you don’t know what I’m discussing about, Cloud and Sephiroth are from FFVII, and FFVII Remake, if you search it up)

The cinematography, JUST AMAZING AND WOW!!! Every shot inside Raya is so much detailed and filled with charisma, great job Disney, for that, I give credit for that! :) And almost every shot is more like reality, and some of them are inspired by Star Wars, or other movies that I know, but don’t know the name. Many scenes in Raya are considered as beautiful shots in 2021 industry.

The character development is outstanding and yes, MORE WOW!!!! How they developed the character is more like Moana, and almost like Frozen, but more with Southeast Asian looks. The voice cast did an excellent job of voicing the characters from Raya, including Kelly Maria Tran and Awkwakina, voicing both Raya and Sisu, WONDERFUL JOB, KELLY AND AWKWAFINA!

The music, sound and scoring, JUST WOW!!!! How they did their music score of Raya is similar to both Frozen and Moana, but with more traditional instruments from their culture and tradition in countries of Southeast Asia. Some scenes with the music are sad, some are intense, and some of them are filled with happiness. “Lead the Way” by Jhene Aiko, was SUPER LIT AND JUST MORE WOW!!! I love the music of Aiko, including the harp and the beat drops by the lyrics of “Lead the Way”, if they have an orchestrated version of “Lead the Way”, like the close look trailer of Lead the Way”, I would be glad to hear it, with more drums and strings and brasses, and maybe woodwinds.

Everything in Raya is amazing, remarkable, outstanding, and yes, EVEN MORE WOW!!!! Thanks Disney for this unique and special movie that is based on a princess warrior who is trying to restore peace, and save the world with trustworthy and mostly friendship and family!
299 people found this helpful."

Also

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Mae Robinson
3 weeks ago

I started off not expecting TOO much ut ended it just saying WOW! Not a spoiler person so I'll let you know, fluid, clean animation and emotion (a lot like we've been getting recently) also, good representation within the characters and the cast. I have to say, they did an impressive job with the world-building: thorough and the exposition was just right where it needed to be without packing anything on too thick.

You might think the moral is a bit flat but in context, everything pulls together into one coherent thing, even touching on some worthwhile topics and issues within.

If you enjoy seeing women in risk-taking positions, there is a lot of that (Literally 7/8ths of the characters are women so the ratio is truly mesmerising).

Back to the worldbuilding because if you live for it, expect a lot of it.. exploring the culture of the PEOPLE was so fun for me while watching and really gave me an urge to explore more on the sources of Asian culture which were cited in the creation.

Character designs are so wonderful, to me, as well as the emotes and characterization throughout. The score, great! Hits right, in all the right moments.

All in all, this a step in a really good direction. I realise Disney is taking a bit of a risk here, straying away from their traditional style, and a bit from their more traditional storyline. It was more of good action and tension and great bonds than too much of anything else.

All in all, if you want a breath of fresh air, you want something to learn about and from, Raya and the Last Dragon is a good place to go. Refreshing, kid-friendly and most of all, extremely riveting.
123 people found this helpful."

and

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Charlotte Husher
3 weeks ago

I feel seen. Every character that we have been introduced to has their own story and their own personality. I love Raya's inner turmoil about trusting others again, and how she shifts from "maybe trusting" to, "no not this again." Nammari is truly a sympathetic character and I love her relationship with her mother. Each land is thoughtfully planned out and each land has its own characteristics. Thong's story with the Spine land and losing his family was really touching while also vague. Little Noi is adorable and her cute little action scenes are fun to watch. I love how the distrust between the lands is shown early on and is wrapped up by the end. Sisu is absolutely amazing. She has this fun, quirky personality that is really entertaining to watch. Her story with her brothers and sisters feels like it might have weighed her down sometimes. I love how the main villain was actually Raya's trust issues. Sure, Namaari was an antagonist but Raya's inability to trust Namaari was the real conflict. The message of the story shines through every part of the story and doesn't feel missed. I love how they used 2D animation sometimes and it really felt like we were living in the characters' heads. Raya is not unemotional, and I love how they showed that from the very beginning. She just wants her father back, and she even cried. Her trust issues are realistic and don't feel forced or unnatural. Boun is a really fun character that I love to see interacting with the rest of the cast. I loved the sound tracks for each of the lands and scenes. The comedical moments weren't cringy like a lot of other recent movies. Overall, 9.5/10. Great movie
137 people found this helpful."