Why Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon has me losing my mind

There's no denying that Disney has played a huge role in shaping or influencing our childhoods, especially their animated movies. As a kid I would watch all the Disney Princess movies with an almost obsessive intensity. I'm still very confident in being able to sing the theme songs from each movie (even though I am admittedly very tone deaf). If I had to name my favourite movies, it would have to 'Aladdin'. The original animated movie, has a very special place in my heart because of Princess Jasmine.

As a little brown girl, seeing a Disney Princess with similar features to me was everything. Even though Jasmine is from Agrabah, and is heavily implied to be of Arabic descent, I (as a child) convinced myself that she and I shared the same ethnic origins.

Before I continue, I think it's best I provide you with a little backstory about me. I'm Southeast Asian, and I'm mixed race. My mother is ethnically Chinese and my dad is ethnically Sikh. So I definitely don't share the same ethnicity with Jasmine, but to 5 year old me I saw myself in her. To me we shared the same skin tone, hair colour, and even eye shape. This comparison was even more distinct when I compared myself to the other Princesses. As much as I loved Ariel and Aurora, I just couldn't feel the same connection to them as I did with Jasmine (probably cause they were White and I am not). So to me, Jasmine was my Princess she was brown, I was brown. What more could I want from a Disney Princess. That was, of course, until Disney announced that they were going to introduce their first Southeast Asian Princess in their latest movie, 'Raya and the Last Dragon'.

When they announced this movie I was beside myself in excitement. As a Southeast Asian, having my part of the world and my culture be represented on the big screen was very exciting news. It has an Asian cast, with Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina voicing the main characters of the movie. Not to mention the team responsible for Moana (another amazing modern Disney movie) is also in charge of Raya. I just know this movie is going to be amazing.

Sure there has been some criticisms levied against the movie, in particular the character design of Sisu the dragon. While I will hold off on judging the movie until I've actually seen it, I want to draw your attention to this amazing poster they released for Lunar New Year.

When I saw this poster on social media, I just lost my mind. There are so many things in the poster that are synonymous to Southeast Asia, and I'm going to point them out to you (you're welcome). Now the first thing that caught my eye was the array of tropical fruits on display in the very front of the poster. From mango to pittaya to even the king of fruits, durian is on the poster. These are fruits that I grew up eating and was the way my grandparents showed me their affection. I have so many memories of sitting in my grandfathers lap as he cut some fresh mangos for me to eat. When I focused on the actual dining table in the poster, the foods on display appears to be a mishmash of numerous Southeast Asian cuisine. Going off purely the appearance of the dishes, I'm pretty sure I could see Tom Yum (from Thailand), Satay (from Malaysia), and Spring Rolls (from Vietnam). Just from the array of dishes presented on the poster, I got the sense that Disney took the time to research the countries of Southeast Asia and tried to combine elements from all of them in the movie.

Looking at Raya herself, she has a lot of distinct Southeast Asian features. Which not only sets her apart from the other Princesses, it accurately reflects the region the movie is based on. Now obviously this is entirely my opinion and there could be other Southeast Asians who disagree with me and that's totally fine. But to me, this movie is a step in the right direction when it comes to the topic of Asian representation in Hollywood.

I know everyone says representation matters and I completely agree, so I'm just going to repeat it here again REPRESENTATION MATTERS!! Kids should grow up being able to see their cultures and ethnicities portrayed in a positive light on the big screen. I will however, hold off on judging the movie until I see it, but at the moment I am super excited for it. I can only hope that the movie is as good with its representation as its trailers and posters have indicated (and yes, I will be writing an in depth review when the movie is released).