Big companies have struggled with representation for years; casting the wrong people for the right roles, being inaccurate with their information, and missing out on small yet essential details of cultures to the point where cultural appreciation has become cultural appropriation. To fully understand what these companies are trying to do, we need to break down what representation means in the media and why it’s so important. So what is it? Representation is how the media portrays social issues, ethnicity, nationalities and gender to the audience- notably minority groups. Correct representation is crucial to people of all cultures being able to express themselves freely, and for the dominant culture to accept the minority.
One company that has been succeeding in cultural representation for years is Disney. For this article, we’ll focus on Disney’s animated movies. In recent films such as ‘Encanto’, ‘Turning Red’ and ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’, representation has been a hot topic within the community. However, there have also been times when Disney wasn’t the most accurate with its cultural portrayal of specific regions. A prime example of this is ‘Aladdin’, where the combination and incorrect representation of Arabian and Desi cultures proved to do more harm than good. When combined, two similar yet different cultures have more cons than pros. It may have confused people trying to understand those cultures and their respective countries: associating the wrong things with the incorrect countries (language, clothing, food, etc.).
Another thing that Disney has successfully done is integrate powerful young women into their films. A recent release called ‘The Owl House’ starred a young Latina girl named Luz Noceda as the protagonist. She’s one of the most notable main characters since she’s not only a young woman but a young woman of colour. ‘The Owl House’ does not celebrate typical cultural festivals, instead, Disney has chosen to celebrate the culture in small ways such as another character learning Spanish for the main protagonist. Disney highlights that these people are also normal, that you shouldn’t alienate them because they have another skin tone, and that it’s still important to appreciate their culture.
On the other hand, there are shows such as ‘Steven Universe’ (2013-2019) and Rise of the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (2018-2020) where that don’t explicitly show a specific skin colour. An example of this would be Steven Universe’s ‘Crystal Gems’, specifically Garnet, who’s coded as a black woman. This is depicted in her voice, body language and a general fandom consensus. Due to the lack of a literal human, this may produce some problems due to the stereotypical way of thinking about these cultures and races. In the Monster High TV series (2010-2018), the character Jinafire Long has golden scales and is extremely culturally oriented; with her distinct design you can see she is clearly East Asian. Her clothing is reminiscent of a short-sleeved Cheongsam with a modernised twist to it; she is able to give an edge to her style while still staying true to her heritage which is extremely important to most people. So even if Jinafire doesn’t have a normal skin colour she is still able to freely express herself and her culture.
In conclusion, the representation of minorities in the media as a whole is extremely important- it’s valued by hundreds of people regardless of age. I am really happy to see that Disney has become one of the most inclusive animation companies to date with their portrayal of women and people of colour, with other animation studios following suit. It’s never too late to want to see someone who looks or acts like you being represented in mainstream media and I’m ecstatic to see the industry grow with the increase in cultural diversity.
