Raya and the Last Dragon: Vietnamese-American actress Kelly Marie Tran made history in Star Wars, now she's starring as Disney's first Southeast Asian princess.
Raya is a fictional character in Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Created by screenwriter Adele Lim, she is voiced by American actress Kelly Marie Tran. The daughter of the chief of the Heart tribe, Raya is a warrior princess who is appointed the guardian of the Dragon Gem.
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 movie also features the studio's first Southeast Asian princess, Raya, who goes on a quest to find a dragon and reunite the tribes of Kumandra, a land that had been fractured by wars and a plague. Raya is voiced by Kelly Marie Tran, who is Vietnamese American.
While some claim Jasmine is Arab because the movie opens with a song called Arabian Nights, others believe that the architecture in Agrabah is clearly based on the Taj Mahal, making Jasmine Indian. It's a debate that has fueled speculation that in Hollywood, Indians and Arabs are interchangeable.
The movie is loosely based on the fairy tale, so Disney has the freedom to give Ariel any skin color they want. In the 1989 movie, Ariel was born in the fictional underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which technically makes her Atlantican, not Danish.
As for whether Elsa and Anna are white … the Northuldra are modeled on the Sami, an indigenous people scattered across northern Scandinavia and northwestern Russia who have faced a great deal of discrimination, but there's a lot of disagreement about the genetic and linguistic origins of Sami to this day.
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.
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.
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 and the Last Dragon: Vietnamese-American actress Kelly Marie Tran made history in Star Wars, now she's starring as Disney's first Southeast Asian princess.
Created by author Robert D. San Souci, Mulan is based on the legendary Chinese warrior Hua Mulan from the poem the Ballad of Mulan, making her the first Disney Princess not to be based on a fairytale or folktale but rather a legend.
There wasn't a Korean Disney princess, so this Harvard student created one. 22-year-old Julia Riew wrote an entire screenplay and music for an animated film or Broadway musical and released parts of it on Tik Tok.
Here's a baby name you won't want to let go! Though now a personification of empowering self-acceptance, Elsa first founds its mark as a feminine variation of the Hebrew name Elizabeth. With Hebrew, German, and Swiss origins, Elsa means "God is my oath," and will bolster baby's connection to their faith.
In the Disney film adaptation, Anna is depicted as the princess of Arendelle, a fictional Scandinavian kingdom, and the younger sister of Elsa (Idina Menzel), who is the heiress to the throne and possesses the elemental ability to create and control ice and snow.
One theory is that each of Ariel's sisters represents different oceans that are home to various cultures and ethnicities. It's pretty problematic to have mermaids who all look the same representing such an expansive underwater world.
The casting is beautifully “colour blind”, with the prince being white and his mother being Black (he is adopted). At the same time, the Little Mermaid's father is white, while her mermaid sisters are of various different races and ethnicities.
Disney set to launch an Indian princess for the first time ever. Princess Ananya, has been confirmed by the team, but they have also added that it's quite in the early stages and the team isn't even close to launching her.
The new instalment is coming out next year, with quite an ironic twist: Snow White, who is described as having 'skin as white as snow' in the original Grimm Brothers version, is no longer white at all. Instead, she will be played by actress Rachel Zegler, a Latina of Colombian ancestry.
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose.
