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Critics: Disney's first latina princess 'not latina enough'

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Darknight

Member
Im a light skinned hispanic and I even think she is white/non latina looking.

I think they went the easy way to try to please the white audience and to not scare them. Yes latinos can be white but what's the point of having a "latino princess" if she looks like all the other white princesses???

Like they went all out, white skin, green eyes, brunet hair. How about Black hair, brown eyes, some light tan skin tone? If all hispanics looked like this "latina princess", white america wouldnt dislike latinos like they do now. Yes this is a fantasy setting, so why afraid to show some diversity or might aswell not label the princess a specific race/group and be done with it.
 
I think they went the easy way to try to please the white audience and to not scare them.

If all hispanics looked like this "latina princess", white america wouldnt dislike latinos like they do now.

yes.
seinfeld.gif
 
I think Razgriz-Specter is talking about the story. Rather than invent a story all together (which this appears to be), maybe they should use a fairy tale/story native to some Latino country to introduce a Latina Princess.
pretty much, thank you.
could be modern or way in the past, fantasy or more realistic, doesn't matter really.

Its kinda sad that Mulan doesn't get much love, she's easily the most interesting.
though she made it on Once Upon a Time so I can't complain.
 
Whiter skin is considered to be more attractive to spanish speaking people.



You mean that there are white, black and native Latinos right?

Absolutely. I am a mix of Spanish, Italian and native american Mapuche ancestry. My family is from Chile and in my family alone we have member that look Asian (my 100% Mapuche grandmother) to very fair complexion with hazel eyes and dark blonde hair (my cousin).

It is more about the culture than what people look like.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Yes latinos can be white but what's the point of having a "latino princess" if she looks like all the other white princesses???

I wrote this exact same thing on Facebook and twitter. As the father of a 6 year old Latino girl who loves Disney princesses, I am disappoint. :(
 

Lesath

Member
pretty much, thank you.
could be modern or way in the past, fantasy or more realistic, doesn't matter really.

Its kinda sad that Mulan doesn't get much love, she's easily the most interesting.
though she made it on Once Upon a Time so I can't complain.

Disney took a lot of creative liberties with Mulan; the original is basically a ballad you can recite in less than 5 minutes. I don't see how it would be at all difficult to similarly carve out a story similarly for Latin-Americans.
 

akira28

Member
Light skin Latinas exist guys. I think the fictious country is what sucks.

I don't really understand why they keep trying to patronize demographics, there's no way to make everybody happy.



i think the point here is that in popular media in latin culture itself, there is a long tradition of whitewashing. So all the proper and primary roles go to white or light skinned latin or South American people. And the servants and comic characters, or the criminals or peasants, they're all played by darker skinned people. If they're even on screen at all. So when Disney does it, while having had a chance to do otherwise, they're just continuing the long tradition of an insensitive and negative trend. So latin groups are right to criticize them over it. So they can learn.


And the fair skinned, red headed latina is a popular imagery trope. I couldn't tell if she was spunky or fiery or not though.
 

KtSlime

Member
I wrote this exact same thing on Facebook and twitter. As the father of a 6 year old Latino girl who loves Disney princesses, I am disappoint. :(

I would like to point out, that I have not seen any evidence that Disney is marketing her as a Latina Princess, and that the official Disney spokesperson said:

“The range of characters in ‘Sofia the First’ – and the actors who play them – are a reflection of Disney’s commitment to diverse, multi-cultural and inclusive storytelling, and the wonderful early reaction to ‘Sofia’ affirms that commitment. In the story, Sofia’s mother, Queen Miranda, was born in a fictitious land, Galdiz, a place with Latin influences. Miranda met Sofia’s father, Birk Balthazar, who hailed from the kingdom of Freezenberg, and together they moved to Enchancia, where Sofia was born.”

My money is on Mitchell just being an idiot. I would really love it if someone was to find something about her being a Latina from anyone at Disney besides that exec producer.

I do agree with others that I think Disney should have a Latina princess, with darker skin so young girls can identify her beauty with their own.
 

smurfx

get some go again
sure there are lighter hispanics but then again those are the only hispanics hollywood seems to think exists and cast. although if you take a look at spanish television its worse for darker skinned hispanics.
 

charsace

Member
Absolutely. I am a mix of Spanish, Italian and native american Mapuche ancestry. My family is from Chile and in my family alone we have member that look Asian (my 100% Mapuche grandmother) to very fair complexion with hazel eyes and dark blonde hair (my cousin).

It is more about the culture than what people look like.

You are basically explaining what Latino is. It's not a race. Its just a word someone came up with to identify a person that speaks spanish or portuguese in the Americas.
 

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
You are basically explaining what Latino is. It's not a race. Its just a word someone came up with to identify a person that speaks spanish or portuguese in the Americas.

And whatever that is encompasses a large group of people that have never been represented by Disney in their princesses. So what the fuck are you trying to say?
 

Verano

Reads Ace as Lace. May God have mercy on their soul
You are basically explaining what Latino is. It's not a race. Its just a word someone came up with to identify a person that speaks spanish or portuguese in the Americas.

well no fuckin shit. when the hell have we represented ourselves as a "race" other than a common term that represents us as a group?
 

Odrion

Banned
So this is some crappy straight to DVD children's film, that probably won't see any merchandise?

Yeah, I guess her being white as heck is pretty offensive. But from the look of it Disney doesn't give two shits about the production of this movie and no one will remember it within a month or two.
 

Platy

Member
According the the vice president of Disney Junior original programming, "We never actually call it out."

So it is a princess who has a somewhat latin mom who happens to never be called latin in it's own canon outside of the "word of god" ?

LOL

Talk about not scaring the white audience
 
We are all aware of light skinned latinos. They're all over spanish language media. Pointing out that there are light skinned latins/hispanics is missing the point.
 

mantidor

Member
hahaha.

This kind of "political correctness" from Disney just shows how freaking absurd the issue of race is for people in the US.

I do wonder if people with latin backgrounds but raised in th US also had the same weird issues about "latino" race.
 
They should have remembered from Chico and the Man's backlash, that the Latino community demands an stereotype or they will be mad.

btw Latino/as are only those born and raised in the US. How does that applies here?
 

qindarka

Banned
I thought Disney came out and said they were done with Princess movies for a while. It hasn't been what, 2 years since Princess and the Frog?

That statement was refuted almost immediately and Disney does have a movie with princesses in the pipeline.
Also, this is supposed to be for a TV show, not a movie made by their main animation department so it's not the same in any case.

This whole business also reminds me of how much I hate the Disney princess line and the term 'princess movie'.
 

Ikael

Member
Bullshit. They can show Latin culture without being stereotypical, and it's not even a fine line.

Yes, but my point stands still: people will always gasp for straws whenever minorities are potrayed in the media, period (see also the whole idiotic debate about Speedy Gonzalez). Some people are just eager for finding racism everywhere in order to fight it. I guess is easier to change Disney princesses than inmigration laws, phyrric victories and all that jazz.

That being said, the character design is fugly as hell, and I am pretty sure that they took the whitest approach of them all, and yup, the more variety in female archeotypes in the media (not only racial, but personality - wise) the better.

But then again, this is a latino Princess we are talking about *trollface*
 

Takao

Banned
Shouldn't the question is what is a latino/latina exactly? Or hispanics? Does this term only refer exclusively to people of latin america descent? What about the people from countries like Spain and Portugal? I could easily see this princess from there since Sofia is a very European name and so her complexion is what you should expect.

Isn't this really a case of a group of "latino" angry at Disney for not using their nationality to based their Princess off of?

Here's the current Queen Sofia of Spain. I can easily see this disney princess is based off of her.

3953835472_1ff6a0d9f6.jpg
dpWaH.jpg


edit: found better pic of her.

Quoting this because it appears to be very clear that Disney's inspiration was a real monarch. A controversy started simply because lines aren't black and white. Disney should introduce a darker complexioned princess, and when they do I certainly hope she doesn't get the Direct-to-video/TV movie treatment.
 
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