Through the Looking Glass: The Urgent Need for POC Perspective to be Reflected in Mainstream Disney Media

Salutations Fellow Earthlings. WWFBG here to take a moment to talk about being Black and the unfortunate dissonance we experience as POC consumers of Mainstream Media (particularly Disney and Marvel/DC products). I am a child of the 90s. I was raised on Saturday Morning Cartoons, PBS Kids, Tamogotchi Toys, Barbie Dolls and Disney Princess Films. My childhood bedroom was painted bright pink with a wall paper depicting majestic white unicorns and castles. To this day, my father calls me "Princess".  Years later, Disney is making more money than they know what to do with as they profit off of my generation's crippling nostalgia. Well, it is not just Disney. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and hell even Lisa Frank has made quite a comeback with adult apparel and adult coloring books. My generation was taught "You are special, you are wonderful, and you can do anything you want when you grow up! You are the best! Be a Princess! Be an Astronaut! Be a Dinosaur!" So, why are people surprised when so many of my generation are visiting theme parks sans children, dressing up in costumes even when Halloween is months away and catching pocket monsters to and from their 9 to 5...?  Hmm... Let's put a pin in that for another post. What I am really here to discuss is POC representation in Childrens' popular media with a focus on Disney Enterprises. I also have a little bit to say on LGBTQAI representation, but as a heterosexual cisgendered woman,  my opinions are only based on observation and may be somewhat uninformed. Please take those with a grain of salt. My favorite Disney Princess of all time is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I relate to Belle more than Princess Tiana, and Princess Kida and that is fact. I relate to Belle because like me, she is socially awkward, a bibliophile and a champion for embracing (not just tolerating) what is different in this world. Like Belle, I too have a french name, dark brown hair, and am mostly dressed in the color blue. Don't get me wrong, I admire Tiana's independence and ambition, and I admire Princess Kida's badassness and bluntness. However, even as a woman of color, I still do not relate to them. I relate more to a bookish white Frenchwoman and a mischievous red-headed pale-skinned mermaid who like all teenagers, loved to piss off their parents for the lulz. And did Disney really even give me a chance to love Tiana and Kida? The answer is, kind of, but not really. Tiana was only in princess garb for a grand total time of 5 mins. She was only seen in her human form for maybe 10 minutes. In short, she was really a lovable sassy talking animal character. Disney's marketing team are geniuses. They lead us to believe that we were finally getting a Black Princess (not an ambiguously ethnic warrior princess: Still love you, Kida!). A Black Disney Princess who was going to be beautiful and beloved by her prince and everyone in the land. In reality, we did get that for a mere ten percent out of the movie. The movie should have really been called "Two Adorable Talking Frogs Fall in Love and Have Adventures". Ehh, that would have probably cost them too much to print.. This is also the same reason why more currently I am already cynical toward "Elena of Avalor". I have but one beef with Elena. Disney chose to introduce Elena via a Disney Channel Series instead of via a Walt Disney Pictures Feature Film. And my question is why? From the couple of episodes I have watched with my little brothers, Elena is sharp, brilliant, strong, loves her family, and is more concerned with the well being of her kingdom than catching the eye of some prince. She is the first Latinx Princess who is visibly of color and the typical Disney Princess age! WHERE IS HER MOVIE, DISNEY? Oh, here it comes. But we're getting Moana....Geez can't you people ever be satisfied?  Friends, I am absolutely here for Moana and happy as hell that there is a strong Pacific Islander cast in front of and behind the camera. However, Elena got the shaft. Technically, though not a princess story. Disney has already featured Pacific Islander characters with Lilo and Sitch. I just feel like that it should have been Elena of Avalor and then Moana. And, my husband Lin Manuel Miranda  (heh, heh) could have collaborated with Alan Menken on both films and all would have been swell. The fact is, fellow Disney dorks, children of all races and ethnicities need to see positive reflections of themselves. I would even go out on a limb and say that seeing people who look like them doing positive things for themselves and  other could have a tremendous impact on the foundation of their self-esteem. Kids of all shapes and sizes need to see themselves as leaders and superheroes. Good on you Marvel, for finally starting to get your shit together when it comes to the representation of Black Women, but we're not even close to being done. This is why I thank the cosmos for a little cartoon called Steven Universe. This cartoon is quite possibly the most socially progressive, culturally sensitive and racially inclusive television program I have ever seen in my almost 30 revolutions around the sun. A tip of my hat to how the writers are choosing to depict characters who are coded as  LGBTQAI identified while never making them an afterthought, the butt of the joke or only featured in a "special episode" after school special. Although far from perfect, this cartoon really strives to be a positive influence for young children as well as their parents who are assumed to be watching with them. I hypothesize that exposure to different types of people, different family and relationship structures will condition children to develop open hearts and open minds. And considering how fucked up the adult world continues to get as I type this, we could really do with some more love and understanding. We have now come to the part of our program where we talk about the phenomenon of reimagining classic (read: white) Disney princesses as POC. Think Snow White as a beautiful Desi or Rapunzel as dark-skinned Latinx or Elsa herself as a gorgeous Black woman with a midnight skin tone rocking natural hair. Half of the internet reacted with "YASS QUEENS" and the other half reacted with "OMFG YOU HAVE TIANA, MULAN, JASMINE LEAVE OUR LILY WHITE PRINCESSES ALONE!" But has anyone ever questioned what motivated this trend besides instigate "a flood of white tears"? The answer is quite simple really. There are not enough characters of color let alone princesses of color to relate to. And until artists and creators at Disney and related properties produce more POC characters (No, I am not sorry. They are still not doing this fast enough) we can and will decide to reimagine the princesses we know and love to look like ourselves. Remember that little girl from "Hey Girl, Nice S.T.E.M. (S) post? Well, yesterday I attended her fifth birthday pool party. She is a huge fan of Ariel and Elsa. At the encouragement of my better half, I decided to show up to the party in a pool themed Ariel cosplay. The birthday princess, her friends, and her cousins lost their shit. I mean, for a quick second, I thought I was working at Disney. It was quite a head spin. And interestingly enough, all of the kids just immediately embraced me as Ariel. They all lined up to comb my hair with a fork and talked about how much they loved my star fish hair accessories. I just wanted to do something nice for the birthday girl but I did not realize how my presence and attire would positively impact the other kids. This exercise made me remember that prejudice is not innate, it is learned. Early exposure to different people in positive and relatable situations is immensely powerful. The kids just saw me as Ariel. The venue staff believed I was a hired princess. No one asked why my skin was not pale or why my eyes were not blue. The children just wanted to play with my (wig) hair and give me hugs. I am a grade punk when it comes to children. I feel that children are more brilliant than the most established and learned academics. There is no filter with children. They tell the truth exactly as they see it in the simplest of terms. I learn so much from even the shortest interactions with them. Lastly, with the permission of a friend of mine, I will recall the story she told me last night after she saw my Princess selfies posted on Facebook. I smiled when she commented "You are amazing and the most perfect Ariel". Later that night, she direct messaged me and said "You don't understand how much it means to see you portraying Ariel. When I was a little girl on the island, I had a disney princess coloring book. I would often get reprimanded for coloring Ariel with brown skin. They would tell me: No, Ariel is not dark skinned. She is white. But the thing is, even when I was a little girl, I chose to see Ariel and Megara (female lead in Hercules) as women of color. Ariel is from the Kingdom of Atlantica. As in the Caribbean as in part of the Atlantic Ocean. I always imagined Ariel to be a brown skinned Caribbean woman. So seeing you portraying Ariel is a realization and validation of my perspective of who she always was. Unlike Hans Christian Anderson's original Little Mermaid, this mermaid princess lived in the warm waters and even warmer weather. Doesn't it make sense that she be POC? I really had no words because I was crying as I read the words she typed. Here I was thinking I would be shamed by young children for being a black woman  impersonating a character who everyone deems as white. But then I considered the logic of Ariel looking like me: A brown skinned Caribbean woman who loves to wear bright colors like the tropical fish she befriends. Not only does this logic makes sense but it will resonate with me forever. This ladies and germs is why Representation Matters. Because every little girl deserves to see herself as a princess: A girl who is loved and cherished and made feel to powerful and special. It is not so much the pretty dresses or the shiny tiaras or even the love of a handsome prince/princess,  but rather the internalization of the notion that she is female and that she will be embraced no matter what path she chooses in this life or the next.