“Too long for an ask, as a response to your previous call for POC to discuss their feelings when younger regarding Disney.

From a young age, I have had a tumultuous relationship with Disney. The short and long reasoning behind this is that I have never been able to see myself in Disney’s characters, and yet, where can we go, particularly, where can a child go, and not be exposed to them? Disney is seen as both a safe and default option.

That aside, as I have said, I have never been able to relate to Disney’s products. I have never seen myself or those like me represented within them. Worse, what representations have been attempted have been of the most half-assed and derogatory kinds. Prior to Mulan, was any Asian character anything but a walking talking stereotype? What’s more look at, for example, The Jungle Book? Mougli speaks English, the animals speak English to him. The girl-child, the one who tempts Mougli away does not speak; she is less of a person than the animals. For example, Tarzan, where the only non-white voices are those of Apes; POC are non-existent except as animals.

I was lucky in that I was able to grow up with the knowledge that these things were not made for me, were not made for people like me, and ultimately, I should not let them hold power over me. But at the same time, it has always been an element of the story the west uses to colonise the minds of the world, and thus, inescapable.”