You know what makes me the saddest about Lilo and Stitch?
When she gets kicked out of the dance class, she’s the only person we know for sure is native Hawaiian in her age bracket in the class.
There’s Myrtle, who is white, Elena who is white (f she’s the blonde one), Theresa who’s background is unclear, and Yuki who is implied, based on the name and the large Japanese population in Hawaii, to be Japanese.
She is taking a dance class of a dance traditional to her people.
And she is kicked out primarily because a white girl, Myrtle, is bullying her.
How fucking sad is that?
Dude.
This always got me about the movie. I always
wanted
to punch
myrtle
IN THE FACE AND EXISTENCE
Also, the hula dancing runs in the family, as we find out in the sequel that her mother was a dance champion. It’s clear in this scene that the deaths of her mother and father are still fresh in her mind and I think the dancing reminds her of her mother and happier times. Maybe they practiced together frequently? Idk, it’s just the vibe I get. That Lilo is there to do her mother proud, rather than to make friends and socialize like the others there.
Everyone who liked this, everyone who validated this, you need to unlike it right NOW.
As a Native Hawai’ian, I have a problem with this post.
A fucking big problem.
First off, Hawai’i is massively diverse. Massively. Almost no one is pure Hawai’ian. The speculation that Lilo is at all pure or the only part Hawai’ian is laughable. There’s a very very slim margin that she would be at all. Secondly, just because it’s “not confirmed” doesn’t mean those girls aren’t. There are thousands of Japanese-Hawai’ian girls. Thousands, and thousands more of even more mixed races who are Hawai’ian. My sister is a shade away from blonde, and as pale as snow white, and she is just as half-Hawai’ian as I am - even though I look more “authentic”. I know many beautiful Hawai’ian girls with clouds of red hair and creamy complexions from mixed bloodlines. If you want to get “authentic” and go off of Lilo’s appearance, to us locals, she looks half-Asian. She looks definitely hapa at best.
It angers me beyond all reason that this has reposts, reposts from people who don’t understand the Native Hawai’ian culture, much less the culture that sprung from it which envelops our islands. You are reposting blind ignorance. Who are you to decide who looks more Hawai’ian? Who are you people to assume our culture and that this girl takes it more seriously than the others? Because she gets a backstory?
The amazing thing about my culture, MY culture, is that hula opens its arms to all. All children here are welcome to it. It is passed on to them and their blood does not dictate their passion nor their eligibility. “Lilo is there to make her mother proud, rather than to make friends and socialize”. Do you have any idea what a halau is? You don’t, no, none of you do. You have no idea what a halau is. A halau is your family, a halau are your friends, your only social circle when you are fully dedicated. My mother IS one of the queens of hula who trained under Maiki Aiu and she still talks to her hula sisters daily. They were part of her life. It isn’t enough to just hula, or learn it, and put blinders on the sides of your head. If you don’t live it with your hula sisters and brothers, then your story is nothing. You go through motions and you tell no stories.
Don’t try for one moment, to make that scene out like it was Lilo being bullied by a white girl. Yes, Hawai’i is still being raped by the ideologies of white appropriation, but do not for one moment think that these girls may not be Hawai’ian. Do not think for one moment that you have the right nor the knowledge to sweep onto the internet and start reposting like a fucking idiot about a culture and mixed bloodlines and races you don’t really understand aside from “the white man hurt them”. You damage people like my sister, like my cousins, all equally as proud and maka’a’inana as I, simply because they don’t look like me.
You have no right to use this scene as commentary, because you have not even a shade of an idea of the damage you do with it.
I find this commentary particularly relevant in light of the similar POC erasure that took place in Mad Max: Fury Road fandom.
I just thought they said that because myrtle was a bitch.. not about her being a Hawaiian or not....
