In Disney's latest animation production, Raya (voiced by Tran) is a hero living in Kumandra and in charge of finding the last dragon to save her people.
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 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.
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.
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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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Elena de Avalor is Disney's first Latina princess. Disney's first Latina princess gave thousands of children across the world someone to look up to as she invited us into her magical world featuring an iconic cast of Latino actors such as Edward James Olmos, Rita Moreno, Justina Machado, and Gina Rodriguez.
Kelly Marie Tran is a American actress from San Diego who is known for voicing Raya from Raya and the Last Dragon and playing Rose Tico from the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kumandra is a fictional land in Raya and the Last Dragon, that's based on Southeast Asian cultures. It is comprised of five separate clans who form the Land of the Dragon together. Now that the dragons are gone, Kumandra was under attack by a "dark sinister force" that only a dragon can defeat.
One problem: apart from Tran (whose parents are from Vietnam), most of Raya's voice cast are of Chinese or Korean descent – so east Asian, rather than south-east Asian. The move has inevitably drawn criticism online. One open letter to Disney from a California university dismissed Raya as “not real representation”.
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.
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.
Raya is a common name in Malaysia and Indonesia meaning “great”, “grand”, or “big”. Though the name Raya appears in other countries, it's likely that the creators intended for the name to be interpreted for its meaning in Malaysia and Indonesia since the movie was inspired bySoutheast Asian cultures.
