Today in media we are slowly starting to progress forward with the representation of minorities in film. More and more films are finally being made focusing on and or involving the culture and perspective of minorities.

Back In November of 2021, Disney released Encanto. A musical film about a family known as The Madrigals takes place in the hidden mountains of Columbia in a place called Encanto. The magic of Encanto has blessed each member of the Madrigal family with a power of their own all except for one. Mirabel is special as she has no gift and must save the magic of Encanto as she soon realizes the danger her family is in.

Disney did a stellar job of letting the diversity of Encanto shine through. As the film shows the representation of a Columbian family who looks different from one another. Stephanie Beatriz who voices Mirabel explained in an interview with The Grio that “Afro-Latino representation in this film is vital”. She says “It is vital for audiences, not only American audiences but global audiences to see that Latinos just don’t look one way, there are so many shades of us, and the fact that all of those shades are captured within a family unit and what a beautiful metaphor that is for Latinidad and like who we are, it’s really stunning”.

Black Panther is another example of representation but in a different way. The 2018 Marvel superhero film Black Panther focuses on prince T’Challa who returns home to Wakanda after his father’s death to be crowned King. After an enemy from his family past reappears and challenges him for the thrown. T’Challa must gather his army and save the fate of the world.

When the film was released it was critically praised as a success. It was different than most Marvel films due to the fact that African culture was incorporated into so much of the film. Different clothes, fighting styles, weapons, languages, music, and so much more. You notice things like the Dora Milaje which is an elite group of woman warriors who protect and serve the country as the main part of Wakanda’s army, as they fight with metal spears and wear red armor. Along with the Border tribe who wear Basotho blankets that are embedded with technology which the tribe wears in order to shield themselves as they protect the border of Wakanda. You also notice a change in music within the film. As in Wakanda, we hear traditional African music unlike when the film flashes to places in America such as California we hear African-American music sung by artists like Kendrick Lamar, SZA, or The Weeknd. The film distinguishes the difference between African culture and African-American culture through aspects like music.

Shung- Chi, another Marvel film shows the difference in culture with aspects of fighting styles. With fighting, techniques known as Hung Ga, Tai Chi, Shaolin, and more are another way of showing the cultural representation in film.

I asked a couple of students at Dakota about how they feel about representation in film.

Jada Hilton is African American and she says “I believe in Disney and other movies with the majority such as white people they keep it the same but within African American culture, for example, The Princess and the Frog or Soul the main characters of both movies who are black are turned into other beings than themselves for 70% of their own movies. I wish we could get a full movie that goes along the lines of black culture without them changing into an animal.”

Bianca Cabarios is Pacific Islander and she says,  “Growing up the only Disney princess I had that looked close to me was Jasmine from Aladdin, but she was Arab. It wasn’t till Moana came out I had a princess that looked like me but it was too late for me to have that role model”.

Another example of this is Disney Pixar’s upcoming film Turning Red. The movie focuses on a teenage girl who turns into a giant red panda when overcome with emotion. Some have looked to it as another movie like Soul or The Princess and the Frog where a minority lead cant stay themselves as the main character is Asian.

All aside we are making progress with representation in media. With things like Phase 4 of Marvel as new movies string along we are getting representation from Women, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latino, Deaf, LGBTQ+, and more. It is exciting to finally see these people take the screen to help share their story and their culture.