Let me start by saying that my girl and I couldn’t be more excited about next month’s premiere of Disney Junior’s Sofia the First. I first wrote about her on SpanglishBaby back in June and just with that sneak peek my girl was hooked. What little girl wouldn’t love the story of a girl turned princess?
But I’ll tell you one thing, as much as we already love Sofia, never for one second did the thought cross my mind that she would be a Latina or even marketed as such. Never. Now, all of a sudden, the media is exploding with the “news” that Sofia is in fact a Latina. There’s even a direct quote on Entertainment Weekly by executive producer Jaime Mitchell saying “She is Latina.” But when VP of Disney Junior original programming, Joe D’Ambrosia, is asked about it he doesn’t admit or deny anything: “We never actually call it out….When we go into schools [to talk to young students about the show], what I find fascinating is that every girl thinks that they’re Sofia.”
And that is precisely my point. EVERY GIRL THINKS THAT THEY’RE SOFIA! My girl is Latina and a quarter Dutch, and she actually looks a lot like Sofia. But, again, not because of cultural identity, but because this is a princess with true emotions and a deepness like no other.
If Disney were truly to finally step out and directly cater to the Latino community that has been crying out for decades for a Latina princess to represent our girls, she would be as Latina as Tiana is black or as Pocahontas is Native American. In fact, I was at the blogger tour in Pixar and behind-the-scenes of the making of Brave in April. There I learned they go great lengths to make sure the Scottish culture was represented as authentically as possible. Don’t you think they would do the same if they were finally representing the Hispanic culture? Don’t you think Disney would shout it out to the world, especially to the Hispanic media if she really was Latina? Really?
Click over to Babble to continue reading this post.
And click here for an update: Disney Gives Official Statement on Whether Sofia Is or Isn’t a “Latina Princess”
It would difficult to for a single character to represent the latino culture as a whole. I’m sure they are taking precautions, might be more of a test to see how the Latino and Latino-American(Hispanic-American) community responds.
You are right, we are a deeply complex group to represent. We come in many colors and from mixed baxkgrounds. However, there are distinct cultural elements we innately identify with and can be beautifully represented to celebrate who we are.
I doubt Disney really wants this to be their calling call for Latinos. That’s not how they do things. Waiting to hear back from them and will get the scoop!
I’m not entirely surprised Sofia’s Hispanic ethnicity is incidental vs. the focus of her platform. Unfortunately, Hispanics are absolutely sure to be offended by any and every portrayal of themselves (and I’m speaking as a Cuban-born American). If she looks as Sofia does, you have the backlash that she doesn’t represent how “real” Latino’s look. If she looks more like Penelope Cruz then they’re accused of stereotyping and ignoring the wide range of shades, hair textures and social strata. Neither Hollywood nor Disney can win. Either their portrayal is “too” Latina or not Latina enough and the vocal majority will always complain. Ironically, this is EXACTLY why we’ve become a thorn in their side. Rather than ignite a controversy for trying to shine some light on this culture, they’ve steered clear completely and decided to make her Hispanic ethnicity incidental to the story. And I say, good for them! Until we Hispanics stop with the incessant complaining about no one capturing the perfect portrayal we seek (which is obviously impossible, given how personal it is) and implying nefarious intent, we’ll be completely and utterly IGNORED. Bravo! My people really are idiots!
Agree with you. My two girls will surely will love Princess Sofia. I would have preferred they never labeled her as Latina instead of basically saying “she’s latina but it will never ome up or be spoken about”. That defeats the whole point of calling her a Latina. This was an excellent opportunity to help change perceptions about Latinos and gain a little more understanding about our culture and Disney is not utilizing it.
Yeah seriously, pretty hilarious for a blogger complaining about cultural ignorance
Please do not use the term “Indian-American”, unless you are implying people from India who emigrated to America. If you are referring to the peoples who were native to what is now America then you mean Native-American. It is amazing that someone calling for cultural respect could make such a callous remark.
American-Indian versus Native-American… While these were once raging questions in the culture wars, they have now happily sorted themselves out. Over the years, the people whom these words are meant to represent have made their preference clear: the majority of American-Indians/Native-Americans believe it is acceptable to use either term, or both.
White Latino: I don’t know where you get your information, but I am Native-American, and everyone in my family and tribe considers the term Indian-American to be ignorant and offensive when describing Native-Americans. Would you call a Brazilian person Hispanic?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who got annoyed by this. For someone so nit-picky about cultural signifiers to make such a glaring, ignorant mistake is ridiculous. A tip: it’s all right to call us American Indians…just not “Indian-American,” which is totally different.
As I said above, that was a mistake not made out of ignorance, but out of lack of time to write everything I needed to say. it was fixed as soon as I noticed, but the quote had already been pulled by CNN without me knowing
Your whole article is about identity in American culture, and you disagreeing with an identification that Disney is making. But you yourself didn’t know better than to use an ignorant term, describing a Native American woman as “Indian-American.” The point is that we all tend to be slightly ignorant of cultures that are not our own. So relax and get off Disney’s back, they’re just trying to be more inclusive in their programming. As you yourself have agreed with, communities are so diverse and overlapping these days, it would be impossible to “represent the Hispanic culture” with one character anyway. Just look at criticisms of Tiana and Pocahontas.
Right…but she used the term Indian-American, indicating that Pocahontas immigrated here from India.
If you read my article you’ll notice that I was actually “defending” Disney. My argument is that I never believed they intended for Sofia to be Latina.
The mistake I made was not out of ignorance at all, but just a mistake because I didn’t get a chance to proof read it and by the time I did and fixed it, the quote had already been pulled with the mistake and wasn’t corrected by CNN either.
And I don’t believe it would be impossible to “represent the HIspanic culture.” I think we do a pretty good job at being inclusive and touching passion points in our blog.
Did you read my article? No mention of culture or ethnicity
Sofia is a white Latina. According to the Pew Hispanic survey, 36% of Latinos identify their race as white. Remember, Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity, not a race.
Oh, I am WELL aware of that. My daughter is one of those. Did you read my article? Nowhere is there a mention of ethnicity or the absurd question of if she´s Latina enough. My argument is that Disney never confirmed she´s Latina and we´re blowing this way out of proportion.
Ana, I thought your article was very well written. Did you know that your article is linked to a CNN article? I followed the link from the CNN article that does mention ethnicity and does question if Sofia is Latina enough. With that said, I enjoyed your article. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for that! I’m getting lots of emails from people that just read the the quote on CNN — taken out of context — and are want to argue the ethnicity question. We have been very loud both on our blog and on our book to make it clear that Latino is an ethnicity, not a race and have worked hard to keep the integrity of our language and culture alive.
I’m glad you corrected the “Indian-American” comment.
Yes, sorry about that. Was not ignorance, just a plain mistake because I wrote the article in a 15-minute rush and we are our own editors
I immediately recognized the mistake and changed it
You’re not buying it because she’s not identified as Mexican.
That I think is why you’re not buying it. We have a vast variety of Latin American “dialects” which all differ in traditions, cultures, food, and even yes, the way we speak Spanish AND LOOK.
I know from experience, Mexicans love to make it seem as they are THE only Latino’s to be represented by these things and the only ones who should represent Latino’s.
In my view, Sofia’s Latina. Use your imagination and deal with it. Hommette.
Oh, this is hilarious. First of all, DID YOU READ MY ARTICLE, or did you just come by from the CNN article where my quote was taken out of context.
Second of all, I am not Mexican. My husband is. My daughter happens to look just like Sofia.
I have not talked about the issue of ethnicity or skin color at all because I think it doesn’t apply. When I say “I’m not buying it” it’s because I never thought Disney meant for her to be Latina, and I was correct.
Latino no tan pendejo: The fact is that this Latino category is too broad. I think Mexicans should stop using this useless label and just call ourselves Mexican-American like we did when I was growing up. Now whenever we advocate for better representation there is this small peanut gallery of white people from Latin America screaming that not all Latinos are brown, even though the overwhelming majority of not only Mexicans in the United States but also Central Americans and yes, even South Americans are olive/brown/tan or whatever you want to call it. I hate to break this to you, but most Latinos do not look like Cameron Diaz.
If you guys are so white then why aren’t you happy with all the white characters that are already on TV and in movies? Why do you care what the rest of us do? You had a fiefdom in Latin America and you want to extend it here by trying to define and limit us. Guess what? You are not the majority in the United States, and the racial hierarchy that exists in Latin America will not be transplanted here.
Ms. Flores, I am Argentine. Beyond speaking Spanish, the majority of people in my country don’t identify with Guatemalans, Mexicans, Chileans, let alone Brazilians
.
How would you propose that Disney identifies a shared Latino culture? This is something that I’ve struggled with for a long time. (I promise that I am not trying to be antagonistic!).
I’ve traveled across (quite literally, by car) Central and South America, meeting with people from all walks of life, and again, beyond the shared language and some commonalities in history (invasion by the Spanish, sometimes the English, sometimes the U.S.; dictators), I noticed almost nothing that could be used to create definitive aspects of Latino culture that the media could use.
When I watched “The Emperor’s New Groove”, I only knew about the llamas because of their similarity to guanacos, and because I’d read about them in books in the U.S.! I never identified with characters on the George Lopez show (besides calling my grandma Abuela), and so on.
I would like to reiterate that the intention of my question is not to be antagonistic; I know it to be difficult to answer. I’m just trying to underline the futility of forcing the label of “Latino” or “Hispanic” on people in the U.S., when it doesn’t really exist much outside of the country…
I hope that you understand my frustrations, as a young person forced to claim a label that, more often than not, I do not identify with.
Francisco, I totally understand your question and we touch upon this topic a lot here on SpanglishBaby and in our book, “Bilingual is Better.” The issue of how a Latino should look or sound was not brought up by us, in regards to Disney, it was brought up by the rest of the media.
We have always said that we come in all colors and shades and that the only way to speak to us as one is to be culturally relevant. There are many cultural elements that bind us, and we know what they are.
I don’t agree with that. Most people want to see somebody who looks like them. There really is no one shared culture among all Latinos, not even the Spanish language.
Thank you for the response!
Since there is so much diversity within this community, would you agree that any attempt at creating a “Latina princess” (unless there’s three, all sisters, all different skin tones/races) would annoy, anger, and possibly offend or alienate someone who identifies as Latino?
I just don’t understand how Disney could make it so that Sofia “would be as Latina as Tiana is black or as Pocahontas is Native American.” Could you please expand on some suggestions?
Thanks again!
I totally agree that no matter what they do, a group would feel alienated, it’s always like that. What i meant by my comment is that it would be obvious she’s Latina. A perfect example is Sofia Vergara on Modern Family. She’s one type of Latina, but she portrays so many cultural aspects of Latina women very well. I’m not Colombian, or curvy, or have a thick accent, but I can certainly laugh with her and do a lot when I watch the show because I *get* it.
And that’s what my comment means. That the Disney Latina princess needs to be obviously Latina and she will have to represent that common thread that binds us all culturally, regardless of skin color or origin.
In the United States the overwhelming majority of Latinos have olive/tan skin and brown hair and brown eyes. One reason Dora the Explorer was so popular is that she actually looked like the children who watched the show. The prototype for a successful Latina children’s character already exists.
Ana,
Up until about 20 minutes ago when I read the CNN article and liked over to your blog here, I was completely thrilled for the premier and wonderfully unaware of the whole controversy over Sofia the First. When I first saw the preview sitting next to my four year old Sophia, my first reaction was: FINALLY a character that looks just like my daughter (sans the blue eyes), and has the same name. I had an inkling she was Latina because of the brown hair and the spelling of her name, but to be quite honest I’m just happy my daughter has more opportunities to see characters that look like her depicted on TV. Ultimately I define what being “Latina” means to my daughter, therefore if Disney is not depicting an “accurate portrayal”, I rather them not claim her as Latina at all, it saves me from having to explain the deception to my Sophia.
I hear you, Carina. We have also been super excited about the premiere of Sofia the First just because my girl has loved what she has seen…a princess that’s “little like me”…in her own words.
I don’t need to claim her as a Latina. I’m sure Disney will one day deliver the Latina princess we all want.
I’ll share what i completely dislike about this whole disney latina issue. Its not how they represent the culture its how they don’t represent the latin family. Why is it that it has to be about how the mother’s life was “changed” when she met this king. Why is it that it always seems to be a positive family when they marry a non latino. Are there no happy/successful/positive families headed by a latino?? As a successful latin man i get tired of that under-representation. Witches of waverly place, modern family; whole slew of movies! Im tired of that!
You’ve got a great point with your frustration, but it’s not the case here. Disney already said Sofia’s mom, Queen Merida, comes from a place with “Spanish influences,” so, in a few words, not Latina. She is voiced by a Latina, though, Sara Ramirez, so, in way, the implication might still be there. Not sure
Agree with you 100%. Consider that DisneyWorld (in Florida) and DisneyLand (in California) are two of the states with more Hispanics\Latinos in the US, it is amazing that Disney couldn’t come up with a more authentic princess. The scary part is that I am guessing Disney did a market research that involve a lot of children and parents, and this is the result, a doll that is Hispanic enough to be commercialized and purchased not only by other races, but principally by Hispanic girls themselves.
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this, haven’t read the whole thing and don’t want to get involved in the major argument here, but it’s not so much skin color, as eye color for me which is the “issue” here. I think she should “at least” have brown eyes if she is supposed to be Latina in some way! I know very few “Latinos” with bright blue eyes like Sofia’s. I am married to a Colombian and we have an Anglo-Colombian son, who has gorgeous brown eyes like his papá, as the “brown” gene will usually dominate even in mixed nationality children. Apparently the disney princess is modelled on Queen Sofia of Spain, she’s about as Hispanic as I am! (she’s Greek)
I understand how you feel. I am the mother of an African-American and Brazilian child who embraces both sides of her culture. when I asked her what she thought of the new princess being a Latina, she didn’t believe it. Although the Latino community literally covers every skin tone, eye color, and hair texture as mentioned before, you can’t look at her and tell if she is Latina immediately. However, has anyone ever asked about Dora? we all know within 5 seconds of meeting her what her race is, and not simply because of her complexion, but also her language and family structure. I think Disney will continue to “water down” ethnic family structures as long as we allow them. From my recollection, Mulan and Aladdin may be the only princesses who are in their movies with a full cast the same race. The other princesses were all “rescued” by a Caucasian. Disney is a big enough company to break stereotypes and show the truth, why they wont do it is beyond me…great article Ana!
I have read that some don’t think she looks Latin enough? Really? Why? Because she has caramel hair, blue eyes and light skin? Because she is not a brunette with brown eyes with olive skin? Like every culture, Latinos come in every color, so I am appauled by these comments. I am very happy to see Sofia the First being unveiled as the first Latina Princess. Her storyline will develop and we will learn more about her and her background soon enough. But for Latinos to say that she does not LOOK LATIN enough makes me sick. My husband and I are both Puerto Rican, our parents, grandparents and on and on are Puerto Rican. We are brunettes with brown eyes and we have two girls. My oldest is a brunette with brown eyes and my youngest has CARAMEL hair, BLUE eyes and LIGHT skin! YES, just like Sofia and I proud of her. My husband and I have all colors in our families and they are all Puerto Rican. If they had created Sofia a BRUNETTE with BROWN eyes I would of been just as proud and excited to see her unveiling. We have a beautiful range of colors in ALL our cultures. I tell all those who don’t think she does not look LATIN enough, to GET OVER IT!
Isn’t the point of inclusiveness that we are people first, and our ethnicities, racial designations, and religious beliefs are incidental? It doesn’t mean those things are unimportant, but that being a child discovering who she is matters most. I was born in Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican mother and “American” father, and we moved to South Florida when I was in third grade. I have wrestled with my identity a few times in my life, and here’s the thing – white, puerto rican, hispanic, spanish speaker, I’m proud of all this but it’s not who I am. These labels are about facilitating communication with others and my opportunity as a bi-cultural person to bring different people together. It’s a choice that a bicultural person can make, to take these resources to build a better understanding between people. Unless Disney wants to use that sort of story line, it doesn’t matter if she’s hispanic, African, or Middle-Eastern (two more overly generalized labels). Unless, of course, they’re checking off a “make latin people happy” box on a program requirement worksheet.
My daughter is the spitting image of Sofia. And she’s Latina. I’m of Mexican heritage and I married myself a German boy. His blue eyes beat out my brown 3/3 kids. And on my middle child, one of our sons, so did the white blonde hair. Funky little things genome squares are!! Yep, this Latina momma with dark hair, eyes, and olive complexion has the gringo-est of children in a tow-headed, very fair, blue eyed boy. People have actually asked if he’s mine. Yes he is. And so are the other two who look a lot like me but with their fathers eyes. So maybe Sofia’s long lost dad is from a German kingdom. That might explain it, LoL. Because my little Latina girl could have been the model they used to make Sofia. Hee hee.
Yep..I hear you! My daughter looks just like Sofia, except that she didn’t inherit her Mexican-Dutch father’s green eyes.
In any case, Sofia is just a beautiful girl that can be anyone we want her to be. That’s really why girls are so obsessed with her.
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