It’s really easy for me to remember all of the Halloween costumes I have ever worn. When I was four years old, my mom dressed me up as Minnie Mouse. I have always had a great love and appreciation for everything Disney, but my Disney costumes stopped right there. The next year my mom dressed me up as what was supposed to be Mother Nature, and every year after that I dressed up as some kind of witch (it’s amazing how big of a variety there is in witch costumes). I did that for about eight years before giving up on costumes altogether.
      My mom made me an Alice (“Ale”-ce) in Wonderland costume two years ago. I kept putting it on and taking it off all through the night; I didn’t feel comfortable wearing it, even if it was a step up from all the years I was a witch. I didn’t look anything like Alice in Wonderland so I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be wearing the costume. And it’s not like I ever wanted to be a witch in the first place; I really wanted to be a Disney Princess just like every other little girl but I didn’t think I was allowed to be because I didn’t look like any of them. I have tan skin, dark almond-shaped eyes, and dark ringlets. I’m average height and even though I do have curves, I am not considered slim. There’s no doubt that our Disney Princesses are an integral part of American culture, setting the standard for beauty amongst little girls everywhere, but why aren’t girls that look like me contributing to the standard?
      When I was a little girl, I had the option to choose from Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Mulan, Jasmine, and Pocahontas. Cinderella and Aurora are blonde, Ariel is a redhead, and Snow White, Belle, and Mulan have skin too fair in comparison to my own. I guess I could have been Jasmine or Pocahontas but they never did get to wear big dresses, and there was no fun in being a princess if I didn’t get to wear a big dress, jewelry, and heels (even the princess with the FINS got to wear a big dress at some point). Besides, the European settlers mistreated Pocahontas for what she looked like, calling her people “savages” numerous times – She happen to be the one to look like me the most, and I didn’t want the other kids to pick up on that.
      I wore my Alice in Wonderland costume one month before Disney’s Tangled hit theatres. It had been almost ten years since Disney had inducted a new princess and of course this one had fair skin, blonde hair, and colored eyes too. I guess that’s why Tiana, the very first African-American princess, took the world by storm. Would six-year-old me have considered dressing up as Tiana for Halloween? Maybe. The fact of the matter is that I don’t look anything like Tiana either. There isn’t a Disney Princess that looks like me.
      It hasn’t been long since Nancy Kanter, Senior VP of Programming for Disney Junior, explained that Sofia the First was never meant to be Latina in the first place. While some do think it’s time for Disney to introduce a Latina princess, others were relieved to find out that the company was not going to portray Latinos as people with fair skin, auburn hair, and colored eyes. Do I stand amongst those people? No, definitely not. I understand that being Latina/o is not about complexion so, honestly, I don’t care how Disney chooses to label Sofia the First. I do eventually want to see a princess that looks like me, even if she isn’t labeled Latina – hey, we don’t have to label her at all (isn’t it nice how we seem to forget that Belle is French and Rapunzel is German?). I know I didn’t have a full understanding of my racial and ethnic identities at six years old anyway. I just wish I could have at least felt like I had more options in costumes. Soon, Disney, soon…
      This blog would not be complete without mention of two other Disney heroines. When I first expressed my concerns to a friend, he suggested I move beyond the princess realm and start looking into all of the female characters to see if there were any that resembled my looks. I think I would have enjoyed dancing around and playing the tambourine in an Esmeralda costume, I don’t know why she never crossed my mind. It’s such a shame, though, that the only character that looks like me is a gypsy – not that there’s anything wrong with gypsies, but they’re often depicted as tramps and thieves. I also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Merida from Brave (2012). The daughter of King Fergus and Queen Elinor could never be inducted as a Disney Princess because Pixar Animation Studios produced the movie. My friend and I even had to wait in completely separate line to take a picture with her at Disneyland because she couldn’t be included in the Princess Fantasy Faire. Whatever. It was the best picture we took.