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Academic Journal, January 1, 2023, Torch Magazine, Whose Lane Is Whose? The Problem of Cultural Appropriation

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Academic Journal, January 1, 2023, Torch Magazine, Whose Lane Is Whose? The Problem of Cultural Appropriation

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Article, March 20, 2022, Routledge, Landscapes of appropriation and assimilation: the impact of immigrant-origin populations on U.S. cuisine

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Article, March 20, 2022, Routledge, Landscapes of appropriation and assimilation: the impact of immigrant-origin populations on U.S. cuisine

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Research Article, September 1, 2021, Community Psychology, Exploring network derived indicators of acculturation among college enrolled Latinx: Examining language use and homophily in support networks

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Research Article, September 1, 2021, Community Psychology, Exploring network derived indicators of acculturation among college enrolled Latinx: Examining language use and homophily in support networks

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Article, October 7, 2024, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Inclusive Language Series: Cultural Appreciation vs Cultural Appropriation 

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Article, October 7, 2024, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Inclusive Language Series: Cultural Appreciation vs Cultural Appropriation 

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Article, March 7, 2022, University of Maryland, Cultural Appropriation Tipsheet

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Article, March 7, 2022, University of Maryland, Cultural Appropriation Tipsheet

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Cultural Appropriation Tipsheet | Office of Diversity and Inclusion

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Understanding Cultural Appropriation & Halloween. Halloween - Fun for Some, Fright for Others

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Article, October 2, 2024, Emmanuel College, Cultural Appropriation and Racial Stereotyping

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Article, October 2, 2024, Emmanuel College, Cultural Appropriation and Racial Stereotyping

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Home: Cultural Appropriation and Racial Stereotyping: Home

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Home: Cultural Appropriation and Racial Stereotyping: Home

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Article, June 14, 2015, everyday feminism, What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm

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Article, June 14, 2015, everyday feminism, What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm

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So, you just walked into a Halloween party. You think you're wearing a kick-ass costume, but instead of giving you a compliment, someone tells you that your costume counts as cultural appropriation.

And you think that's a ridiculous accusation. You? Doing something racist?

So if you're wondering what the big deal is about cultural appropriation, I've got you covered.

Read on for some perspective on why people might get upset if you borrow from another culture.

What Cultural Appropriation Is (And Isn't)

In short: Cultural appropriation is when somebody adopts aspects of a culture that's not their own.

But that's only the most basic definition.

A deeper understanding of cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.

Some say, for instance, that non-Western people who wear jeans and Indigenous people who speak English are taking from dominant cultures, too.

But marginalized groups don't have the power to decide if they'd prefer to stick with their customs or try on the dominant culture's traditions just for fun.

When the last living survivors of massacred Indigenous tribes are fighting to save their language before it dies when they do , and Native students are suspended for speaking in their own Indigenous languages , mirroring the abusive US boarding schools that tried to wipe out Native American cultures up until the 1980s, it's clear that not every person who speaks English does so by choice.

In other words, context matters.

Which means it's not about saying that you, as an individual, are a bad person if you appropriate someone else's culture.

So if you're still baffled about why people would get upset about this issue, consider the following contexts.

1. It Trivializes Violent Historical Oppression

To you, it can feel like a big deal to have to give up something you've borrowed from another culture and incorporated into your life, especially if it's meaningful to you in some way.

The fans and the NFL are emotionally and financially invested in the name and don't want to take extra time and money to change it. And that makes sense.

But consider this: When violence systematically targets a group of people through genocide, slavery, or colonization, lasts .

So here's what's at stake for the Native people: The term n" comes from the time when the colonial and state governments and companies paid white people to kill Native Americans and used their scalps or even genitalia (to prove their sex), aka "red skins," as proof of their "Indian kill."

We should be ashamed of this time in our history - and we should be working to heal the damage from it.

But instead, the NFL (and other sports teams) insist on celebrating the genocide of a people for fun and profit.

2. It Lets People Show Love for the Culture, But Remain Prejudiced Against Its People

White people don't ask to be born with privilege, but what they choose to do with it is another story.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, I witness people taking what they like without wanting to associate with where it came from all the time.

Here, recent transplants to the area write Yelp reviews in search of "authentic Mexican food" without the "sketchy neighborhoods" - which usually happen to be what they call neighborhoods with higher numbers of people of color.

That's how it goes with cultural appropriation: not sharing so there's more for everyone, but taking advantage of the power imbalance between groups to have more for well-off white people, and less and less for poor people of color.

And this can happen because we live in a world in which racist white people can essentially say "We want your stuff, but we don't like you" by taking people's traditions while being biased against who they are as a person.

Cultural appropriation shows that you don't have to like a person or respect their identity to feel entitled to take from them.

So is every non-Mexican who enjoys a good burrito guilty of cultural appropriation? Say it ain't so! That would include me and nearly everyone I know.

3. It Makes Things 'Cool' for White People - But 'Too Ethnic' for People of Color

The US is a white-dominated society, and for proof of that, search no further than the way immigrants, Indigenous people, and people of color are criticized for the things that distinguish us from white Americans.

So for me, wearing my hair naturally is a meaningful declaration that I believe in my natural beauty. It's risky to make this declaration in a society that says I must aspire to whiteness have value.

When Black women have to fight for acceptance with the same styles a young white woman can be admired for, what message does that send to Black women and girls?

It says that our natural beauty isn't beautiful at all - and that our features are only appealing when they're adopted by white women.

4. It Lets Privileged People Profit from Oppressed People's Labor

Supposedly, in the good ol' US of A, we're all free to pursue the capitalistic American dream of building our own wealth.

But in reality, it's not that simple.

For many people, barriers like, mean they don't have the right look, language, or position of privilege to earn income with their culturally specific tools - and yet oftentimes, white people can turn those same culturally specific tools into profit, thereby hurting the community they're borrowing from.

So, for example, say a middle-class white woman gets into Native American spirituality, and sees the chance to start a business based on what she's learned. That might seem innocent enough. She has an interest, and she wants to make money off of it. That's the dream, right?

But the problem is that in order to sell her products, she has to participate in a discriminatory system. This system includes federal government policies that make it hard for Native people to start their own businesses, as well as a professional culture in which white women and middle class women can fit more easily than poor Native women.

So white women dominate the industry of New Age materials with watered down versions of Indian spirituality practices, drowning out the Native voices speaking up about what Native communities need to survive.

Someone with white privilege and class privilege has other options for earning income, so they don't have to resort to profiting from someone else's labor or culture. And the risks involved for marginalized people show that it's more ethical to pursue another path.

5. It Lets Some People Get Rewarded for Things the Creators Never Got Credit For

Who comes to mind when you think of rock and roll?

Is it a white person?

Who do you think started rock and roll? Is it Elvis Presley, the so-called "King of Rock and Roll?"

Surprise! Rock and roll came out of the blues and was initially largely shaped by Black artists. The problem was that in the 1950s, racist white people were clear that they didn't want to support a Black artist. So guess what they did.

The record industry found success with popular white stars who molded a mainstream look and sound after Black artists their racist white audiences would never support. Sam Phillips, the record executive who discovered Elvis, summed it up when he apparently said, "If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars."

And while Elvis never claimed to have started it (and was clear about the Black artists who influenced him), our media has rewritten history to claim that Elvis invented rock and roll. And now it's hard to think of rock and roll ever having been music that came from the Black community. Have you ever even heard of Sister Rosetta Tharpe?

This tradition of "borrowing" from Black artists and promoting white artists over more talented Black artists continues to make the record industry billions today .

When Iggy Azalea gains fame and fortune through Blackface imitation, Black folks and hip-hop fans rightfully When Macklemore won four Grammy Awards, even Macklemore and thinks Kendrick Lamar should have won the Best Rap Album.

6. It Spreads Mass Lies About Marginalized Cultures

People say that sharing between cultures is supposed to help us learn, but cultural appropriation is teaching us all the wrong lessons.

Oftentimes, our most common reference to something atrocious totally misrepresents the truth, making us think it's all in good fun.

For instance, if you think about the real story of Pocahontas , having your daughter pretend to be her on Halloween is pretty disturbing. The real Pocahontas , whose given name was Matoaka, was abducted as a teenager, forced to marry an Englishman (not John Smith, by the way), and used as propaganda for racist practices before she died at the age of 21.

We don't hear the real stories, and most of us don't live with a direct connection to their suffering.

Does the truth matter, when it comes to a little girl just trying to enjoy a holiday? You might think it does if she wanted to dress up as someone whose tragic truth is more familiar, like Anne Frank.

They're both girls with harrowing stories. But more of us believe that trivializing Anne Frank's life is in very poor taste. Can you imagine the outcry if Disney tried to romanticize her diary by aging her into a young woman with a love affair with a Nazi officer and a happy ending?

Now imagine if that Disney movie was mainstream culture's primary reference for the Holocaust. And if it was marketed to Germans, who were told that the historical figures who oppressed the Jewish people were their country's heroes.

Creepy, right?

How can so many of us be so undisturbed by some victims' stories that we can turn them into costumes?

That shows privilege - and a huge failure of our educational system. We shouldn't dismiss injustice to act on that privilege.

7. It Perpetuates Racist Stereotypes

As Dr. Adrienne Keene of Native Appropriations puts it, "You are pretending to be a race that you are not, and are drawing upon stereotypes to do so."

With her single "Unconditionally," Perry sang about undying love while playing up the image of a passive, submissive sexual object of an Asian woman.

For her, it was just a character - but this stereotypical image has real consequences for Asian women in the US. Their experiences with , racialized sexual harassment , and fethishization reveal that white men actually expect Asian women to live up to the "exotic geisha girl" stereotype of being sexually submissive and docile.

At the end of the day, Katy Perry got to take the costume off and return to the millions of dollars it helped make her and to the people who see her as a dynamic human being, and not just a demure caricature.

Asian women, on the other hand, have to deal with the racist and sexist social norms that Perry helped perpetuate, which is what happens when the only mainstream image of your sexuality is a negative stereotype reinforced constantly by cultural appropriation.

It's certainly not harmless or respectful to misrepresent people's culture and spread the toxic myths that harm them.

8. White People Can Freely Do What People of Color Were Actively Punished for Doing

It can feel like a slap in the face to see carefree white people enjoy the practices your ancestors were penalized for.

It's also an unsettling reminder that the process of taking our practices from us isn't over, as white folks end up having more access to our practices than we do.

The sweeping trend of yoga in the US is an example of this.

These days, it seems like yoga's everywhere, and practitioners don't have to challenge the rules of the government to reach it. It can bring up some sensitive feelings to say that non-South Asian people who do yoga are appropriating culture, because the practice benefits many people throughout the US.

But you know who's not benefiting from the commercialization of yoga like middle class white women are? The South Asian people for whom yoga has a deep cultural and religious significance.

As Susanna Barkataki writes , dividing yoga from its true roots and purpose, and from the people who had to fought to keep it alive, means "eventually eradicating the true practice, as was accomplished in many places under Britain's occupation of India."

There's a reason the British used attacks on yoga as a tool for oppressing an entire country of people. Removing a culturally significant source of wellness and spirituality is one way to rip apart critical connections that help people survive.

That's what the commercialization of yoga is doing to South Asian people today - increasing white people's access, while continuing to take it away from people who had to fight to keep it alive in the first place.

Barkataki also says that this doesn't mean white people can't practice yoga.

But if you're doing it in a way that contributes to excluding Indian people from it , prioritizing white practitioners' desires over South Asian people's needs, or making white people the image of yoga, you're part of the problem.

9. It Prioritizes the Feelings of Privileged People Over Justice for Marginalized People

One of the main objections to avoiding cultural appropriation comes down to "free speech."

You should have the right to express yourself however you want to - and you do. Nobody can force you to stop taking things from other cultures. The marginalized people whose cultures are appropriated don't have the institutional power to force you to stop, even if they wanted to.

But claiming that the dominant culture has a right to take freely from disempowered groups sounds a lot like the lie of the from the past. Colonizers used this concept to claim they had a "duty" to take land, resources, and identity from Indigenous people - trying to justify everything from slavery to genocide.

We have a lot of work to do to heal from the impact of oppression from the past through present day. Many examples of cultural appropriation may seem like not a big deal, or like we should have "more important" things to worry about.

But changing oppressive everyday norms is a huge part of the work. It's one of the ways we can help stop the way society dehumanizes, erases, and ostracizes people of color.

If the choice is between your freedom to wear a costume because it could be fun, or an ethnic group's ability to maintain the sacredness of a tradition that helps them resist harm, it's clear that skipping the costume puts you on the side of anti-oppression.

And, hint: That's the side you want to be on.

But I am encouraging you to be thoughtful about using things from other cultures, to consider the context, and learn about the best practices to show respect.

Maybe you've worn a costume you didn't know had a violent history, or you had the intention of honoring a culture in a way you didn't realize was offensive. Or you learned about these oppressive histories, but you're just now realizing that what you learned wasn't even close to the entire truth.

So now, what's your next step in incorporating this information into your anti-racist work?

Challenging stereotypes? Calling out appropriation when you see it? Spreading the word about the dire need to change the inaccurate way we learn about oppressed people's struggles?

At the very least, you know you have alternatives to disrespecting cultures that aren't your own.

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Maisha Z. Johnson is the Digital Content Associate and Staff Writer of Everyday Feminism. You can find her writing at the intersections and shamelessly indulging in her obsession with pop culture around the web. Maisha's past work includes Community United Against Violence (CUAV), the nation's oldest LGBTQ anti-violence organization, and Fired Up!, a program of California Coalition for Women Prisoners. Through her own project, Inkblot Arts, Maisha taps into the creative arts and digital media to amplify the voices of those often silenced. Like her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @mzjwords.

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What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation? These 9 Answers Reveal Its Harm - Everyday Feminism

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So, you just walked into a Halloween party. You think you're wearing a kick-ass costume, but instead of giving you a compliment, someone tells you that your costume counts as cultural appropriation. And you think that's a ridiculous accusation. You? Doing something racist?

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Academic Journal, 2021, Rebecca Domas, Unmasking the Mouse: Cultural Appropriation in Disney Films

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Academic Journal, 2021, Rebecca Domas, Unmasking the Mouse: Cultural Appropriation in Disney Films

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Article, February 20, 2025, Britannica, Freddie Mercury

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Article, February 20, 2025, Britannica, Freddie Mercury

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Rock - Rock - Crucial rock musicians: For lexicographers and legislators alike, the purpose of definition is to grasp a meaning, to hold it in place, so that people can use a word correctly-for example, to assign a track to its proper radio outlet (rock, pop, country, jazz).

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Website, 2016, USA for Africa, We Are The World

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Website, 2016, USA for Africa, We Are The World

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Biography, 2025, IMDb, Freddie Mercury Biography

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Biography, 2025, IMDb, Freddie Mercury Biography

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Freddie Mercury. Music Department: Flash Gordon. Freddie Mercury was born on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, sent him off to a private school in India, from 1955 til 1963. In 1964, he and his family flew to England. In 1966 he started his education at the Ealing College of Art, where he graduated in 1969. He loved art, and because of that, he often…

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Article, August 29, 2024, health, What Is Cultural Appropriation? - and How Do You Avoid It?

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Article, August 29, 2024, health, What Is Cultural Appropriation? - and How Do You Avoid It?

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Cultural appropriation means using a racial, religious, or social group's customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits without authority or right. It's taking those cultural identities and pretending they are part of your background.

In the United States, cultural appropriation looks like pop stars dressing up as Geisha girls, social media influencers donning Native American headdresses, and White people wearing cornrows, dreadlocks, or box braids.

The term came to use around the 1980s in academic circles to discuss problems with colonialism and disparities between minority and majority groups. By 2020, the phrase was widespread, with celebrities, politicians, and regular people being called out on social media for acts of cultural appropriation.

Here's what you need to know about cultural appropriation, why it can be harmful, and how to steer clear of it. We'll also explain the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation and how to bridge the gap between the two.

What Is Cultural Appropriation?

Cultural appropriation is the practice of using or taking something from another culture without giving proper recognition or respect to that culture, Mia Moody-Ramirez, PhD, professor and chair of the department of journalism, public relations, and new media at Baylor University, told Health.

But what exactly constitutes a culture? Culture is the "patterns of what has characteristically been constructed as an identity and the behaviors, language, traditions, rituals that are associated with that identity, Neal Lester, PhD, founding director of the Project Humanities initiative at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., told Health.

Where you live, your ethnicity, your race, your religion, and your lived experiences are all examples of identities that can form a culture. And because we all have such overlapping identities, we can belong to multiple cultures simultaneously.

At its core, cultural appropriation is "stealing something from somebody that is not you," explained Lester.

For example, cultural appropriation may occur when you use or wear something that is clearly from outside your identity. And usually, the culture that is being appropriated has been or is marginalized.

"Cultural appropriation is about power," said Lester. "It's about who has the power to steal from somebody else and not offer any consequences."

Another hallmark of cultural appropriation is that the one doing the appropriation might be financially benefiting from it without any credit or compensation given.

Cultural Appropriation Examples

Cultural appropriation includes using customs, attire, makeup, ideas, art, and language. One example that Moody-Ramirez gave is when designers have models wear cornrows.

"People have been wearing cornrows, dreadlocks for years. But when you see it on the runway, all of the sudden, it's the greatest, latest fashion, and that designer invented it," explained Moody-Ramirez.

On apps like TikTok, people show themselves doing choreographed dances and rollerblading routines made by people of other cultures that they pass off as their creations. And those instances have been called out as examples of cultural appropriation.

Other examples of cultural appropriation include wearing a bindi to a party or talking with a "blaccent."

"[The examples] go on and on and on, but it's ultimately about power and disrespect," noted Lester.

Why Is Cultural Appropriation Harmful?

Cultural appropriation can perpetuate stereotypes and exploit groups that are discriminated against, according to Lester.

The Native Governance Center -a Native American-led nonprofit organization that serves Native American nations-stated that cultural appropriation can also cause "confusion" for marginalized groups who want "to learn about their culture and identities."

The Native Governance Center gave an example of how the wellness industry has appropriated practices from other cultures. For instance, having "pricey yoga classes that emphasize fitness (rather than yoga's roots as a free, devotional practice)."

"When a practice is appropriated, we no longer understand its origins and true intent," explained the Native Governance Center.

Cultural appropriation can also have mental health effects, Stephanie Fryberg, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, told Health. Fryberg has spent years studying how Native American stereotypes and logos affect Native people.

Through her research, Fryberg has found that sports mascots that culturally appropriate Native American symbols and imagery "decreased [Native American adolescents'] self-esteem, lowered the achievement-related goals they set for themselves, and diminished both their sense of community worth and belief that their community can improve itself," as has reported.

Additionally, according to a study published in 2014 in the Journal of Black Psychology, cultural appropriation in the beauty industry can lead to mental health issues, particularly among people of color.

"[Black women] are told [certain looks are] not attractive in their culture. But then when it's on White women, it is depicted as being beautiful," and that can be "harmful," explained Moody-Ramirez.

How Can You Prevent Cultural Appropriation?

Think twice before wearing a hairstyle or dancing on Instagram in a style traditionally considered part of another culture. Take a second to consider why you want to do what you're doing. Is it just to be edgy?

If you think what you're about to do would be appropriating a culture, don't do it, noted Lester. If you went ahead with something and it turned out to be cultural appropriation, you can "try to make yourself educated [so] that you don't do it again," added Lester.

You can also try to educate others about cultural appropriation. Halloween is a good time to introduce the topic, especially to children, recommended Moody-Ramirez. As people dress up in different costumes, you can use the opportunity to explain why dressing up in specific cultural attire is not necessarily a good thing.

When it comes to TikTok, avoiding cultural appropriation can be as simple as giving credit when it's due, like shouting out the original creator in your video description and linking to their TikTok account, said Moody-Ramirez.

"Obviously, you still have talent, but somebody else taught you how to do it, or somebody else choreographed it, or you were inspired by someone else. So, that's OK if you say you were inspired by someone else. You don't have to pretend that you came up with it all on your own," explained Moody-Ramirez, adding that she compared it to citing your sources on a research paper.

Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Appreciation

According to Moody-Ramirez, the opposite of cultural appropriation is cultural appreciation. Cultural appreciation is celebrating or showing respect or honor for a culture.

Cultural appreciation could look like this: You're invited to a cultural celebration. The host asks you to join in the special occasion by dressing up and shares with you what the attire means. So, it's possible to appreciate a culture without appropriating it.

Thanks for your feedback!

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Learn about cultural appropriation-including what it is, how to recognize it, how not to do it, and why experts said it can be harmful.

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Blog, October 20, 2022, Nancy Lopez, Selena's Rise to the Top of a Multi-Cultural Universe

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Blog, October 20, 2022, Nancy Lopez, Selena's Rise to the Top of a Multi-Cultural Universe

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Article, December 3, 2023, Medium, Disney's Problem with Cultural Representation

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Article, December 3, 2023, Medium, Disney's Problem with Cultural Representation

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Iconic. Nostalgic. Favorites. These would be some of the many words that could describe the Disney movies that many people grew up watching and starting obsessing over. Even as a kid I remember begging to go see every new movie and absolutely adored watching every new release from the studio. From the first Disney film adaptation in 1937 to today, all of their movies have had a special way of tackling a modern day socio-cultural issue, the most often used topic throughout the years being cultural representation. A majority of the original Disney movies struggled with proper representation as the sources the company used were of European descent, meaning a majority of the cast were typically white. The studio has been known to influence young minds through their films and often force a certain ideal or theme onto the audience.

Cultural representation is extremely important because as society is evolving, the diversity of its people is also expanding. Many underprivileged groups have had to deal with prejudice and struggle in the past, and while there has been an improvement, problems such as cultural appropriation and particularly improper representation in media have arisen throughout the years. Although they are one of the biggest studios in the world, Disney has been known by many to have an unstable history with genuine representation, due to the repeated use of controversial topics like stereotypes. Yet, it would be going too far to say that Disney has not made any progress. With the movie "Frozen", it emphasizes ideas on independence and self-discovery with Elsa's character development and depiction of letting go of her fear of her powers. On the other hand, Disney never had much trouble or received any backlash with depicting white characters.

"Coco" shows the diversities of Mexican culture but more importantly shows the importance of dealing with death healthily with the depiction of Dia de Los Muertos and the afterlife. It gives a lesson on how even if a person passes away, as long as we remember them, they will live on.

Newer films like "Encanto" accurately portrays the Colombian lifestyle with authentic foods and structures while giving a lesson on the pressures of living up to high expectations. For example, many members of the Madrigal family from the movie are given magical gifts and many of them are expected to be great. Especially Luisa, who is given superior strength, but both literally and figuratively has to carry the weight of her family on her shoulders. I can personally relate to this film because after getting out of middle school, the expectation to excel in school skyrocketed with my parents. It took a toll on my mental health and I was already severely burnt out of school by the end of freshman year. My grades began slipping and my energy and efforts slowly dwindled, which felt similar to how the characters in the movie begin to lose their powers over time. While there has ultimately been some improvement, the studio has still had a long history with the problematic treatment of minority representation and still have significant issues to deal with today.

The first Disney movie with some kind of cultural representation was released in 1942, under the name "Saludos Amigos". The film follows popular Disney characters such as Donald Duck and Goofy as they go on adventures in South America. The film was a success which caused a second film to be released titled: "The Three Caballeros". According to CBR, many people complained about the film and "the 'touristy' way that Donald engages with the unique cultures of the region and the lack of genuine representation, focusing much more on a surface-level and at times even insulting appreciation of South America in an attempt to glorify the US."

To me, it felt like Disney failed to capture the true culture of South America and instead of an attempt at cultural representation it came off as a random and superficial way to impress the regions of South America in order to maintain relationships during World War II. Which leads into the main reason why the movie was made in the first place: propaganda. The film was issued by the government in order to make sure that Latin America would not defect to aid Germany in the war effort. They would have succeeded significantly more if they had tried a genuine representation with pure intentions and done more in depth research into the complexities and diversity of the regions in which they explored, rather than what they went through with.

Following up was Disney's "Pocahontas." The animated movie, which was loosely based off of the historical figure, was how Disney tried to bring representation to the Indigenous Peoples community. However, the term "loosely" is emphasized, as the film's contents pictured John Smith as the love interest to Pocahontas and depicted them as the stereotypical prince and princess archetype, rather than the actual Pocahontas who was taken against her will and whose homeland was colonized. I understand that they cannot show the true events of what really happened, as the movie's target audience was children, but putting John Smith as the love interest rather than a villain felt like a huge mistake to me as it messes up the story of Pocahontas and taints her history. And those very children who watch the movie would be influenced by the film and could turn fiction into fact in their minds. This would then lead them into being convinced that the Indigenous Peoples were not poorly treated in the past when they actually were, and this unsatisfactory portrayal does not aid in the community's fight for proper representation and respect as a minority.

But the biggest mistake from Disney came from "The Princess and the Frog." This movie was Disney's first attempt at representing the African-American community by introducing a black princess. At first glance, this would be a big step for better cultural representation for Disney, but they made a grave mistake. According to King Street Chronicle, a majority of the movie has mainly African-American style characters depicted as animals from a swamp. And the only other main black character was the villain, so what does that say for Disney? After reading this article and looking over the movie again, the company's reluctance to depict a person of color properly is clearly shown to me in Tiana's, the main character, introduction, where she is revealed to be working hard to scrape together as much money as possible in order to open up her own restaurant. With traditional Disney princesses, they originally came from or did not have to work for royalty and riches, but Tiana's "princess" story is far from traditional.

As she was, and still is, the only African-American princess, giving her a background that makes her poor and turning her into an animal that would elicit responses of disgust by the average person disrespects the African-American community and paints them in a negative light. Many children around the world watch Disney movies growing up and learn valuable lessons from it, however, when they watch this and see the main character, who is supposed to be a princess, they could believe that if they are a different color, then they will not be as successful later on in life.

More recently was the release of "Raya and the Last Dragon." While the movie was not an adaptation of a typical fairy tale, the film still follows the general conventions and clichés that a traditional one might have. Those of Southeast Asian descent, including me, thought that the film's representation of the culture had its merits, specifically the depiction of the cuisine and certain traditions. Despite that, the line was drawn with the movie's overall world building and characters. The studio made another attempt at representing Asian culture as they previously succeeded with "Mulan", however, rather than basing it off of a singular country's culture, Disney tried blending multiple cultures together in order to broaden inclusivity and receive a better output from the audience. A Medium article written by Jasmin James, who is of Indian ethnicity, wrote that the movie "essentially homogenizes the cultures of 670 million people." Southeast Asia is chock full of unique cultures, the film does not seem to connect to any specific one. James further writes, "Where other, similarly flawed Disney adaptations have their heroes connect to their respective cultures, finding solutions to their problems in their own cultural identities, Raya has nothing of the sort." When I first saw the film, I was excited to finally see another Asian protagonist in Disney films. However, as each of the regions were introduced, it felt like all of them were connected and not in a good way. Each of them felt bland with no actual representation of the region they were based on. For example, Spine. Spine is pictured as a cold and snowy forest with sharp winds and is shared by the production crew to be based off of Vietnam because of the amount of bamboo.

Being from Vietnam myself and actually traveling to the country on several occasions, I felt like this was the complete opposite of what Vietnam's climate is, which is typically humid and sunny.

Even the movie poster does not show many clear hints as to what culture the movie is trying to represent.

In comparison to "Mulan", whose poster clearly shows a conventional Chinese blade and paints one of the characters as a traditional Chinese dragon of myth, Raya's dragon is displayed as a Naga, who is seen in several different Southeastern Asian cultures. And although dragons are a stereotypical way to represent Asian folklore and culture, at least "Mulan" aimed to have the mythological creature represent the country the movie is set in. Speaking of stereotypes, there was another popular stereotype in another Asian representation movie: "Turning Red." Being the most recent Disney film with an Asian main character, I thought the stereotype of a tiger mom was actually well used and was depicted accurately. Painting the tiger mom as the villain felt like it represented the controversy behind the idea of tiger moms and that style of parenting.

Overall, Asian representation in Disney movies have felt weaker than a majority of their other movies and it leaves a majority of the Asian community, including me, feeling unrepresented and even offended at times because of the lack of proper cultural representation.

Still, there are shows that have been growing in popularity over time that discuss topics including discrimination, mental health, LGBTQ, and more. Even popular studios that produce shows like "Adventure Time '' and "Avatar: The Last Airbender" that were mainly directed towards kids have received praise from its audience for having an exceptional portrayal of certain themes. "Avatar" did what "Raya and the Last Dragon" could not, as it successfully depicted each region uniquely. Watching this show, I was amazed with the world building and the cultural diversity of each kingdom. Like how the Earth Kingdom where the king was actually just a puppet for the black ops division so they could maintain control, how the Water Tribe was pictured as an agricultural styled area, or how the Fire Nation was a monarchy where power was everything.

Similarly, "Adventure Time" had many instances where it promoted acceptance of different races. Specifically in one episode, when Jake took on his true appearance, Jake's brother Jermaine helps Jake accept that no matter how he looks, he will always be himself.

Watching this for the first time helped me feel comfortable, which is what proper representation must do. Representation should help people and shouldn't feel forced which is exactly what Disney has and still is doing, and the studio has shown progress but consistent issues accentuate the need for authentic inclusivity.

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Disney's Problem with Cultural Representation

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Iconic. Nostalgic. Favorites. These would be some of the many words that could describe the Disney movies that many people grew up watching and starting obsessing over. Even as a kid I remember...

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Article, March 26, 2025, Independent, The 19 most offensive movies ever made, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to Forrest Gump

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Article, March 26, 2025, Independent, The 19 most offensive movies ever made, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to Forrest Gump

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Louis Chilton selects some of the most controversial movies ever released

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Article, February 24, 2021, Andrews University, Harlem Jazz and Louis Armstrong: His Life and Impact

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Article, February 24, 2021, Andrews University, Harlem Jazz and Louis Armstrong: His Life and Impact

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Photo by Public Domain

This month, the month of February, is officially observed and celebrated as Black History Month. It is also known as the African-American History Month - the time when we remember and celebrate the history and the accomplishments of numerous African Americans who are recognized in various fields. Jazz is one of those accomplishments that are widely recognized and appreciated by people all over the world. It has greatly impacted people and music since the 1920s and it continues to do so today.
The genre of jazz blossomed in the 1920s, after when the era of Civil War (1861-1865) and the era of Reconstruction (1865-1877) ended. During this time period, African Americans who had previously been enslaved were still treated horribly with inequality and racism. Many of those who were living in the South of the United States moved to the North, searching for a better life for themselves and for their family. This moving from the South to the North, which continued for about 50 years, is called the Great Migration. It led the African Americans who gathered in the North to begin the Harlem Renaissance in the city of Harlem, Manhattan, New York. The Harlem Renaissance was "a blossoming (c. 1918-37) of African American culture, particularly in the creative arts, and the most influential movement in African American literary history" (Britannica). One of the pioneers and the most well-known African American musicians of this time period is Louis Armstrong. He and his music inspired and influenced other African American artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
Louis Armstrong was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and a singer. He was born in 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana to a couple suffering from poverty. His family did not last long because his father abandoned his family and his mother did not take care of him. Instead of his parents, he was raised by his grandmother and he had to quit school in 5th grade in order to support himself. In 1912, he was sent to the Colored Waif's Home for Boys because he got arrested by a police officer for firing his stepfather's gun in the air during a New Year's Eve celebration. Interestingly, his love for music began there. While staying there, he was given music lessons and taught how to play the cornet, which is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet. After being released from that place in 1914, he sought to begin his career as a musician as he worked to support himself.
Despite his unfortunate conditions, with the mentorship of Joe "King" Oliver, Armstrong continued to grow as a musician and got to join a band in Chicago in 1922. His musical career expanded as he joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra and recorded multiple solos with the jazz orchestra. In 1925, he formed a band named Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five. He became well-known for his solo recordings and for his songs such as "La Vie En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World" which are still greatly loved and listened to by people. Moreover, Armstrong became famous for his rhythmic style called swing and became the first African American jazz musician to write an autobiography and to host a nationally sponsored radio show.
Just like Louis Armstrong did, numerous African American artists such as Langston Hughes, Nina Simone, Earl Hines, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Bessie Smith left their mark. They have led the way to begin the era of African American artistic and cultural bloom in the United States of America. By doing so, they showed the world that they are talented intellectual beings who deserve to be treated as full human beings when the others were telling them otherwise. Their music continues to impact people all over the world and their legacy remains for us to celebrate.

Sources
Hutchison, George. (2019, August 19). "Harlem Renaissance." Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art
History.com Editors. (2021, January 21). "Harlem Renaissance." Retrieved from
https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/harlem-renaissance

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Harlem Jazz and Louis Armstrong: His Life and Impact

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This month, the month of February, is officially observed and celebrated as Black History Month. It is also known as the African-American History Month - the time when we remember and celebrate the history and the accomplishments of numerous African Americans who are recognized in various fields.