The decision has also sparked conversations regarding the film industry’s ongoing history of colourism, whitewashing and erasure of indigenous and darker skinned communities.
Niu FM Nights host Soana Aleva's Tiktok video last Friday, in response to the casting announcement, highlighted the question on many minds ‘why does this actress look nothing like Nani?’
Aleva says her viral video was motivated by wanting to see the popular cartoon role being portrayed by an actor who embodied what the character represents to so many in the Pacific.
