Hi!
I have been reading a lot of people complaining about Disney being racist. Of course this is not new, but it's like a lot of people got offended by Frozen (because there wasn't any PoC, as they say) calling it racist (again) and sexist...
Yeah, as I said on my twitter,
Disney has made a lot of mistakes, and of course they would aim for a certain public over the world. But I can't help to roll eyes every time someone brings this issue to the table...
We can't deny that Disney tries to have diversity, (maybe they haven't made their best in this issue) we have Pocahontas, Mulan, Aladdin, The Princess and the frog, Lilo and Stitch and other I don't remember right now . Not as much as all their other movies with white and blond characters, but they are there.
I don't come to defend Disney and say that they are a beautiful company who gives us cute stories and lovable characters.
But the reason your child can't relate to this characters because they are white is not Disney fault but ours as society and yours as a parent.
A lot of kids don't care about Rapunzel's blond hair or Anna's white skin, they love them as characters, because they are smart, strong, brave and fun.
Why don't we try to teach our kids and ourselves to embrace this qualities instead of pointing out their skin color only.
I must confess that I thought that people say Frozen was sexist because Anna was so focus on finding "the One" and everyone believed that "True Love" meant a kiss from the guy she loved. Not because someone (from the animation crew, I guess) made a comment about "animating girls is hard" and because Disney cut a lot of (almost all) female characters on the original story of "The Snow Queen"...The story is an adaptation, and what a I like the most is that there are not weak characters in it. How can it be sexist when the females characters are the strongest and bravest? Then, there's the issue that all the characters are white..............
I have read a lot of text posts on Tumblr about offended teenagers saying that they couldn't relate with Ariel or Cinderella as kids because they were not the same race as them. And freaking out because their little cousin said the same. Yeah, it must have been horrible to felt excluded. But
why do you think that you can only relate to someone who has the same skin color as you and not because you are both capable to change the world, believing in yourself and never let anyone to tell you the contrary? Cinderella, behind the look of the Damsel in distress, is a character who teach that to believe is enough, that you can dream and change your reality and become someone. (Not saying that she was a nobody when she was a maid, but the idea that everyone said that because she was a maid she could never aspires to be chose by the Prince, for example) With this, your daughters can realize that they can achieve and be everything they want, not listening when others try to make them feel they are unworthy, they just have to believe in themselves.
NO that they can achieve things if they are white and beautiful (bc Cinderella was clearly better looking than anyone in that damn movie) and that they need to meet the charming prince to marry and be rich.
Sometimes we need to relax the fuck off and try to see things with a different perspective. I'm not saying that we should cover our eyes and pretend that everything is good and honey like, blessing ignorance. But we can try to take what's really important and you will realize how beautiful life is when you do it.
There are other more important things that need our attentions than a Disney movie, Don't you think?
Of course I respect everyone's opinion and this is just mine
