Raya is voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, who is Vietnamese American. The film is inspired by diverse Southeast Asian cultures. The screenplay was written by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim, who both trace their roots back to Southeast Asia.
The film is a landmark moment for Southeast Asian representation in Hollywood: Raya is Disney's first Southeast Asian princess, and is voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, the first Southeast Asian actor to lead an animated feature from the studio.
“Raya” takes its visual inspiration from many countries, including Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
Raya and the Last Dragon is inspired by traditional Southeast Asian cultures. The production team consulted with Southeast Asia Story Trust experts to ensure an accurate cultural representation in the film, and they emphasized the importance of avoiding stereotypical portrayals of Asian characters.
As Raya is from a fictional land, the concept of race and ethnicity doesn't totally translate one-for-one, but, generally, she is Southeast Asian. Raya is voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, who is Vietnamese-American.
How Raya and the Last Dragon CHANGED Movie History... FOREVER!
Is Raya supposed to be Chinese?
The story of Raya and the Last Dragon isn't taken from any specific legend or myth. But, as co-screenwriter Adele Lim, who is Malaysian, told IGN, Raya is symbolic of the Southeast Asian women she grew up with.
1. Raya was inspired by a history of strong female leaders in Southeast Asia. According to co-writer Qui Nguyen, some of his inspirations include the legend of the Trưng Sisters, fearless Vietnamese warriors who fought to liberate the country from China's rule centuries ago.
It's just one example of the movie's impressive world-building with Disney's Raya And The Last Dragon Kumandran language taking inspiration from a range of Southeast Asian cultures including Thai, Vietnamese and Javanese.
It was revealed that the movie is set up in an imaginary world but the world is similar to regions of South East Asia like Vietnam, Philipines, Thailand etc. Hence people get the misconception that the movie is filipino while it's not.
When Lim came across the name “Raya,” she was immediately drawn to the name. “In Malay, it means 'celebration' and evokes this joyful time where people come together around a lot of food,” she said. Lim also added that in Thai, it means the one who leads.
Therefore, Raya and the Last Dragon is the first Walt Disney Animation Feature to have a transgender character. If the protocol at Disney remains in the way it has been presented, it may not be the last time.
The city of Talon was inspired by the famous floating markets found along waterways like the Mekong River in Vietnam and Thailand as well as the night markets of Thailand and Laos; its central location on Kumandra's Dragon River has made it a bustling trading port.
What race is in Southeast Asia? Southeast Asian is generally considered a race in and of itself. However, major ethnicities include Vietnamese, Burmese, and Indonesian. There is significant cultural influence between Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia.
Although Moana is from the fictional island Motunui some 3,000 years ago, the story and culture of Moana is based on the very real heritage and history of Polynesian islands such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti.
About this DVD: Mulan is a young Chinese woman who breaks tradition and joins the Imperial army, accompanied by her guardian dragon, Mushu, to battle an invading army. In Mulan 2, Mulan and Shang are engaged to be married and must journey to a distant city in a valiant quest to save their beloved empire.
Kumandra means "(the land of) union, peace and harmony". The dragon-shaped river is a reference to the real life Mekong River, the longest river in Southeast Asia. Each of the five lands has its own signature color(s) which is/are also worn by its respective people.
Dep La. I kept wondering what this meant and my common sense must have finally kicked in, cuz I looked it up. Dep La translates to “strangely beautiful” but if we're talking in terms of how it was used in the movie, then it means “best friend”
If you haven't been following pop culture lately, Disney has a new film: “Raya and The Last Dragon”. The story follows a warrior princess as she fights to find the last dragon to save the world!
Raya and the Last Dragon is a fantasy film set in the fictional land of Kumandra, but that world is inspired by the beautiful cultures of Southeast Asia. Writer Adele Lim emphasized that Kumandra is a fictional land, and that Southeast Asia served as its inspiration.
Raya is the first of Disney to heavily feature Southeast Asian culture but the animation company isn't a stranger to productions with an Asian influence.
Tuk Tuk is a character in Raya and the Last Dragon. He is a third-pill bug, third-armadillo and third-pug hybrid, he is Raya's pet, with the ability to roll into a ball as a means of transportation. When he was younger, he was quite small.
While fans may mean no offense in drawing these comparisons, they actually do more harm than good; yes, the movie and the show are similar because they are based off of the same cultures. One is not a ripoff. They are not the same exact stories.
The film takes place in Kumandra, a fantasy land that's an amalgam of Southeast Asia, where its heroine Raya (voiced by the Vietnamese American Kelly Marie Tran) must find the last remaining dragon and bring peace to the disparate lands.
But perhaps the most interesting find in the trailer (and in the film, in general) is the reference to the bakunawa, the sea-serpent dragon in Filipino myths. In Visayan mythology, the god of death Sidapa who resides under a tall tree in Mt. Madjaas in Panay island saw the seven moons dancing in the sky.
