LETTER | Disney’s Raya: Celebrating representation

LETTER | I was elated when Walt Disney Studios announced the debut of their new princess, the latest addition to their iconic decades-long listing. She’s an empowering, “butt-kickery” princess who fights her own battles and demons without needing a ‘Prince Charming’ archetype character to save the day. 

What’s more, she’s Southeast Asian and her name is Raya. The animated movie was written by the awe-inspiring, Malaysia’s very own Adele Lim. When I watched Raya and the Last Dragon in the cinemas along with other Malaysians, it really feels like we’ve been waiting our whole lives for this.

I grew up hearing, reading and admiring legendary Malay warrior princesses such as Cik Siti Wan Kembang and the Princess of Mount Ledang. They’re fiercely independent, steadfast, quick-witted, a force of nature and stylish. I saw these qualities in Princess Raya and even the mercurial character Princess Namaari. 

If Cik Siti Wan Kembang rides a horse in battle, Raya rides an enlarged armadillo. If the Princess of Mount Ledang chants a mantra to invoke flying fireballs, Raya chants to summon a water dragon.

It’s also refreshing to see a dark-skinned Disney princess reminiscent of Moana and Tiana. Despite the growing progressivism and broad-mindedness in Southeast Asia, one will occasionally stumble upon daunting colourism. 

Fair-skinned celebrities promoting whitening skin products bedeck road advertisement boards, Instagram pages promote harmful pills for lighter skin, television shows preferring to broadcast female celebrities conforming to the Asian beauty standard. 

Recently, my friend reminisced on her adolescence when she attempted to lighten her complexion and her struggles to beat low self-worth. Personally, it took me some time (more than a decade) to appreciate my skin colour as a proud stamp of ethnicity and dismantle internalised colourism.

Over and over again, the movie media is culpable for the absence of diversity, narrating false or inappropriate narratives and limiting opportunities for minorities on-screen and even behind the curtains. That said, I noticed more and more cross-culturalism and plurality in Hollywood in the past five years. 

More people of colour (POC), women, LGBTQ+ people and persons of special needs are gracing our screens. In the wake of increased diversification, more POC snatched 2021 Golden Globe awards namely Andra Day, John Boyega, Chloé Zhao and Mark Ruffalo. Representation matters in order to tell the full story of people and that we are multifaceted and multidimensional.

The advocacy of inclusivity and beauty in diversity in this film is liberating. It’s moving to see elements of my culture represented in Raya and the Last Dragon for instance wayang kulit, kris, pentak silat, batik, satay and more. 

The delightful characters that come and go throughout the movie also resemble our family members and friends. Quoting Raya’s voice actress, Kelly Marie Tran, “I’m the first Southeast Asian Disney princess, these are things that no one that had looked like me had done before.” I think we can anticipate a boom of baby girls named after Raya in the Southeast Asia region and beyond.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.