Welcome to the Disney Character Fall 2016 draft pick. This year’s first round pick goes to The Disney Characters of Color!
Consisting of 9 of Disney’s most popular non-white movie characters, The Disney Characters of Color represent the ethnicities of 5 different ethnic groups. Let’s have a quick review for anyone who hasn’t seen these movies in a while
1. The OGs; Jasmine and Aladdin, circa 1992
Aladdin was one of the first feature films produced by Disney that featured characters of color. Jasmine and Aladdin are characters living in a fictional version of Bagdad (known as Agrabah) and are supposed to represent the Arabian culture. Their love story made it into the Disney Hall of Fame in the eyes of many young girls around the world.
2. The young and lovable upstarts; Tiana and Naveen, circa 2009
Compared to other characters and movies on the Characters of Colors rosters The Princess and the Frog is relatively new. Set in New Orleans these remarkable characters are smart, witty, funny, and African American. Even as frogs Tiana and Naveen captured the hearts of many families everywhere.
3. The daring soldiers; Mulan and Shang, circa 1998
My personal favorite, Mulan. Many people are familiar with the cross dressing fem fatale and her fire breathing sidekick, Mushu. They represent a facet of Chinese culture. Mulan breaks down female sterotypes one war at a time, and her eventual boyfriend Shang acts as a role model for men of all ages when it comes to accepting strong women.
4. The head strong Princess; Pocahontas, circa 1995
Yet another sassy, outspoken character of color, I’m seeing a pattern here. Pocahontas favorites compassion over fighting and is open to understanding not only her world but the world around her. She is fearless and uses her quick thinking to prevent the start of a war between natives and settlers, talk about setting the bar high!
5. The spunky little girl; Lilo, circa 2002
Lilo and Stich was based on the island of Hawaii. Lilo is a native Hawaiian and is as head strong as they come. Despite her age and size she is a formidable opponent and never gives up when faced with a challenge. She’s a great role model for younger girls and has great taste in music!
6. Last but not least; Mowgli, circa 1967
The Jungle Book was about to retire, but had a sudden resurgence of popularity due to the live action film recently released. Mowgli is representing the whole nation of India. He was raised by wolves and makes friends with nearly every animal he meets all while surviving the jungle’s harsh climate.
Now that we know the current players let’s get back to the matter at hand, the first round draft pick. The Disney Characters of Color rarely find themselves making the first draft pick, normally it is given to teams made up of white characters or teams made up of nonhuman creature, so they need to make sure they choose wisely.
The Disney Characters of Color have announced that their fall 2016 draft pick is Moana! For those of you unfamiliar with Moana, she is one of Disney’s new releases in the fall of 2016. Moana hails from the Pacific Islands and appears to be a head strong young woman who is ready to face the world on whatever quest the Disney film makers have dreamed up for her. She also scored bonus points because the actress voicing her is a 14 year old Hawaiian native that was scouted specifically for this role! Moana fits in perfectly with the already existing team members and I’m sure she will be welcomed with open arms come her release in November.
The members of the Characters of Color team represent a wide variety of ethnicities, but despite this it still lack in numbers. Over the past 54 years, there have only been a handful of feature films featuring characters of color (and only a few of them are voiced by actors of the actually ethnicity they are drawn to represent, but that’s another issue for another day). While it is exciting that this fall another name can be added to the Characters of Color team roster let’s not forget that in the last two years Disney has only released 1 feature film starring a character of color (the new live action Jungle Book) but have also released 4 films featuring nonhuman characters (with another 2 coming out this summer) and 16 movies featuring white characters. While these movies are mostly enjoyable it doesn’t change the fact that they lack representation for other cultures and ethnicities.
So yes, be excited for the newest addition to the team, but let’s start demanding to see more characters like Moana so our team roster can expand past where it’s been stuck for the past 7 years.
