new disney junior princess sofia

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”

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