I think this controversy gets to the core of "how do you write/portray POC characters." On the one hand, does she look Latina? Sure, I guess - if her creators say so. To me she reads Caucasian - light skin, light brown hair, and blue-green eyes - but how she looks doesn't always define her ethnicity. The benchmark for me is culture and social construct - how does her race or cultural history influence her identity? In this fairy-tale Kingdom, I'd be shocked if Sofia's heritage ever came into play as either something to celebrate or something she finds conflicting. The fact Sofia is Latina feels more like a fun fact than an influencing factor.
It's similar to the way that people request minority or 'other' characters, but never want their differences, good or bad, to come into play - just to have a character that looks different but acts the same. And there is merit in it, like with Lancelot in OUAT. Within the Enchanted Forest universe his race (so far) doesn't have any bearing on his character, the way he acts or present himself. He's just another interpretation of what Lancelot looks like.
But that's the problem with Sofia - she doesn't look or act any differently, so why should we believe she's in any way different? This "First Hispanic Princess" feels like an afterthought. To my knowledge, Sofia's ethnicity has never been mentioned before this press-release. Maybe it was preplanned based on the casting of Sofia's and her mother's voice actresses, but on the whole it feels like it came out of nowhere and will have no bearing on the series. So why even bring it up? It only strengthens the argument that Disney brings POC into the Princess line as tokens.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-10-18 09:42 pm (UTC)It's similar to the way that people request minority or 'other' characters, but never want their differences, good or bad, to come into play - just to have a character that looks different but acts the same. And there is merit in it, like with Lancelot in OUAT. Within the Enchanted Forest universe his race (so far) doesn't have any bearing on his character, the way he acts or present himself. He's just another interpretation of what Lancelot looks like.
But that's the problem with Sofia - she doesn't look or act any differently, so why should we believe she's in any way different? This "First Hispanic Princess" feels like an afterthought. To my knowledge, Sofia's ethnicity has never been mentioned before this press-release. Maybe it was preplanned based on the casting of Sofia's and her mother's voice actresses, but on the whole it feels like it came out of nowhere and will have no bearing on the series. So why even bring it up? It only strengthens the argument that Disney brings POC into the Princess line as tokens.