Listening to the Encanto soundtrack really makes me wish that Raya and the Last Dragon was more like a musical. Even Mirabel gets an “I want” song like the other girls do! Like I know that Disney’s thing right now is to expand their horizons and give us non-Princess and non-musical material, but Southeast Asian kids deserve something just as fun and whimsical as Tangled and Moana and Encanto.
Like I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly, but there’s always a stereotypical depiction of how fairytale/fantasy/fictional characters are portrayed based on where in the world they’re from. Asians are usually warriors or at war, Europeans are always elegant/graceful and wealthy or modestly comfortable, Indigenous characters are always in tune with the earth and the elements, etc. And not that those depictions can’t hold any truth to them, but there are other facets of these cultures that are just as interesting and worth focusing on.
The white princesses collectively represent different aspects of humanity, and they all possess qualities that set them apart from one another.
• Belle was an intellectual who didn’t want to settle for mediocrity, and she let herself form her own opinions.
• Cinderella valued kindness towards others, and remained a kind person after leaving an abusive situation.
• Ariel sacrificed her own voice just to appease her growing curiosity, and showed that a person is more than what they have to say.
• Merida rebelled against decades of tradition because she knew it wasn’t worth sacrificing her own freedom of choice.
• Rapunzel was a dreamer who stopped at nothing to make her own dream a reality, and she also inspired others to prioritize and fulfill their own dreams.
I guess what I’m getting at here is that: Raya, our second Asian princess, deserved more than to be shoved into the stereotype that Asians stories only consist of sword-wielding warriors. Yes, there’s room in the world for more than one Asian warrior princess, but there are more to Asian stories than fighting with swords and saving your people.
Give me a soft Asian princess who learns to cope with change while still keeping some of the softness that makes her unique. Give me an elegant Asian princess who embraces her femininity without weaponizing it. Give me a hopeless romantic Asian princess who accidentally solves a mystery that plagues her community. Or even give me an Asian prince that’s next in line to take the throne who compromises parts of his identity for the sake of keeping up appearances, and then throw a princess in there like they did with Aladdin and Hercules. Just don’t give me another Asian warrior™ please, be more creative.
Anyway tl;dr - I’m happy Encanto is a magical and joyful adventure about Colombians and I sure hope Disney revisits a specific Asian culture in the future and gives them a cool musical that we can also be proud of, the same way Colombians will love Encanto!
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