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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Raya translates to “celebration” in Malay. It also translates to “one who leads” in Southern Thailand. When creating Raya, screenwriters Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim drew inspiration from female Vietnamese warriors like the Trung sisters. Nguyen also looked to his own mother for inspiration.
In Raya And The Dragon, “binturi” is an insult that basically means “traitor” – hence why it's Raya's preferred term for Namaari. It's part of the Kumandran dialect which was created specifically for the movie by language creator David J.
Of course, the kingdom – which is made up of five different areas that together form the shape of a dragon – is not actually a real place, but it does take inspiration from a number of different countries in Southeast Asia, including Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
Inhabitants. Kumandra is the central location of Disney's 2021 animated feature film, Raya and the Last Dragon. Inspired by Southeast Asian cultures and geography, Kumandra is comprised of five separate kingdoms—Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail—that together form the shape of a dragon.
The fictional kingdom Fang draws on geometric architecture from Indonesia, while Talon is made up of floating markets reminiscent of those in Thailand. The titular last dragon, Sisu (voiced by Awkwafina), is modeled after naga, serpent-like creatures from Southeast Asian folklore.
Namaari arrives just in time to hear Raya call her a binturi. She taunts Raya, calling her dep la (strangely beautiful) and demands to know why Raya is stealing Dragon Gem pieces.
Language. Not much is known about the Kumandran language, but it was based on a mixture of Southeast Asian languages, such as Thai, Vietnamese, and Javanese.
Physical appearance. Raya is an 18-year-old Southeast Asian girl of average height with a slender, slightly muscular build, tan skin, long black hair, and dark brown eyes.
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.
'Raya and the Last Dragon' is far from perfect though. To me, it is too safe with not a lot of risk taking and trying to be a little too closely indebted to older Disney conventions rather than doing something new. The pacing can be off, with some of the storytelling later on feeling over-crowded.
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!
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.
Matching: Raya uses a swiping mechanism similar to Tinder. Users can swipe right to like someone or left to pass. Mutual likes result in a match. Messaging: When two users match, they can send messages to each other within the app.
However, this was only a treacherous façade to hide her devotion to her mother and her clan, which she brought to light when she mercilessly betrayed Raya after the latter was trusted to show her where the clan Heart was guarding the Gem.
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.
In her human form, Sisu resembles a young Southeastern Asian woman with long messy white-bluish-violet hair. She retains her purple eyes, but now has goofy looking teeth. She wears a blue, long sleeved robe with a design pattern on it and a white furry collar.
