#heckyeahdisneymerch

Recently (and by recently, I mean today) I saw an ongoing conversation on heckyeahdisneymerch with an Anon sounding incredibly offended that the Princesses are mostly white and there is no Hispanic or Latin American princess. I can’t help but disagree with this Anon, and here is why.

I'm from Argentina, which means that, while I'm not Hispanic, I am, however, Latina. On a personal note, I don't see what the big deal is with princesses being mostly white, considering they all come from very different places and are designed accordingly. I mean, think for a second of their settings and/or where the story the movie is based on is written. Think, for example, of Ariel. Cute Danish Ariel, because that’s where Hans Christian Andersen was from. You can’t make her, say, black now, can you? The same applies to most –if not all- Disney Princesses. Of course, their respective countries might be very different nowadays, but their portrayals are generally accurate if you take into consideration not only location but time.

Do you guys remember when The Princess and the Frog came out? I hope you do, because then this will be a lot easier for all of us to grasp. Do you remember what the focal point of the movie was? I do. “Disney’s first ever BLACK princess!” Do you see what’s wrong there? Do you? I hope you do. The whole point was that Disney now had (has) a BLACK princess and is therefore more open insofar as races go. People as a general made a HUGE deal about Tiana being BLACK. Nevermind the storyline, the great characters, the amazing soundtrack, just holy balls guys we have a black princess in the house. Look how hip, in and non-discriminating Disney got! Right?

The mere fact that this happened that way is wrong on many more levels than I can count or think of. And quite frankly, I’ll pass up on that any day if there ever comes a day when Disney decides to make a Hispanic or Latina princess.

Actually, I don't think I want a Hispanic or Latina princess. People tend have a misconception that all Latin Americans are one and the same people. They throw us all, along with the Spanish, in this big bag labeled either “Mexican” or “Spanish” and just generally assume that that will do. Which is obviously not the case.

Did you know? On a good day, most of us Latinos have trouble communicating with each other, even though we all speak Spanish! It can get really confusing, really fast. We are all very different, on so many aspects. Historical background, culture, heritage, ancestry. There is no one way of describing Latin America because Latin America, as a whole, is made up of several countries that yes, used to be Spanish colonies, but no, are not actual Spanish, nor can they be represented as a single entity, save (barely) for a common language.

The point is, when people say they want a Hispanic and/or Latin American Princess, they tend to sort of think they can give her a sombrero, a couple of maracas and have her dance la cucaracha, and that will be simply perfect and completely representative of every Hispanic/Latin American country ever. This, of course, is me exaggerating, but as a general rule, when someone says Latin America, people instantly think of Mexicans.

So here’s my question: what do people imagine when they say they want a Latin American/Hispanic Princess? Because our backgrounds and cultures and even dialects are SO different from one another that no one single representation would do.

A while ago some information was released about Día de los Muertos, a new movie Pixar has in the works. One of the people working on the movie said that “Pixar movies have a huge Latin American audience” and they “wanted to do something for them”. A sort of nod or homage to us Latinos down here south. I cannot stress how much I hated that comment. Do you know why? Because we don’t celebrate Día de los Muertos. Día de los Muertos is a Mexican celebration to remember and pay tribute to those who have passed away. Did you read that? Mexican. Not Argentinian, not Colombian, not Venezuelan, not Chilean, not even Ecuatorian. Mexican. I was mad. Super mad. Because this is not the first time the movie industry throws us all into the same bag and then puts it on the market with a huge grin like they deserve a cookie for doing something for us Latinos. Like they did something RIGHT and deserve praise from us because the movie is for us! Never mind that it’s not actually for us. After all, the common of the world is as misinformed in their views and ideas of Latin Americans as the movie industry is, and they wouldn’t know any better. Which only fuels this misconception and generalization.

People who are not Latinos or Hispanic get happy that they did something for us and we’re finally being represented, they shower the production team with praise, which only fuels the production team in their idea that they did right and we should all be extra happy about it.

This is not to say that the movie itself is bad, if viewed as simply a movie and not something aimed to represent a so-called minority.

So let me ask you all again. What is it that you imagine when you say you want a Hispanic or Latina princess?

If your answer is somewhere close to the brown girl with braided hair and a sombrero, I suggest you drop it, and drop it fast.

As for myself, I don’t feel the need for representation. And I have a feeling that most of the people asking for a Hispanic or Latina princess are not, in fact, Latinos.

I can’t pick favorites! I love everyone that I follow! But here are my “Tumblr crushes” at the moment:

maradreamsofdisney

riffraffstreetratt

heckyeahdisneymerch

magicalribbons

odair-it-is (IN THE CENTER WHERE I BELONG jk I just reblog/like Disney stuff I find from there to here but I also am awesome)

petitetiaras

yeyfacecharactersdisney

disneyworldcastmembers