This shouldn’t need pointing out, but Disney doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to the representation of Asian people in its films, and we’re including both its live-action movies and its animations in that statement. Although the company has been trying to take steps forward and redress the balance in reach years, Disney productions tend to be very white, and very American even when they’re set in parts of the world that are thousands of miles away from America. Not all of the blame for that should be laid at the feet of the people who run Disney today, as many of the company’s ‘classic’ animations were made during the mid 20th century when views weren’t as progressive as they are today, but there’s still something of a historical dearth when it comes to positive representations of Asian characters.
Aside from the lack of positive representations, Disney has sometimes got things wrong in the past when it’s tried to include elements of Asian culture. We probably don’t need to remind you of the ‘Siamese Cat song’ from ‘Lady and the Tramp,’ but suffice to say there are reasons why the song – and the accompanying animation – were removed from ‘Lady and the Tramp’ when it was made available for streaming on the Disney Plus platform. At the same time, though, we should also acknowledge that the company has sometimes – but not often – got it right.
We’ve spent enough of this article focusing on the negative. The truth of the matter is that Disney is trying to improve the way it portrays people of non-white origin in its films, and those efforts should be applauded. The company sometimes can’t seem to do right for doing wrong, as we saw with the comparatively recent Mulan casting controversy, but any step in the right direction is a step that we ought to encourage. With that in mind, here are five Asian characters that Disney got right.
Li Shang
Mulan is almost upstaged in her own film by the character of Li Shang, who’s best remembered for the song “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” in the 1998 animated film. It’s a little disappointing that Donny Osmond provided the character’s singing voice in the movie, but Shang’s voice actor BD Wong was at least authentically Asian. Shang is everyone the audience should want out of a Disney Prince – and let’s be honest, his rank might be ‘Captain,’ but in terms of the way he’s presented in the film, he’s a prince. He’s handsome, he’s brave, he’s kind, and he’s gentle. Perhaps more importantly, he’s a strong narrative influence in ‘Mulan’ without overshadowing the title character, which can’t be said of all male characters in female-led Disney productions. Li Shang is an enormously popular creation – which is why it’s crying shame that the part has been cut from the 2020 live-action film.
Silvermist
It would be unkind to say that there was nothing good about the 2008 Disney film ‘Tinker Bell.’ Granted, it went through over twenty script rewrites, single-handedly ended Disney’s straight-to-DVD movie department, and brought in only ten million dollars at the box office against a budget of fifty million dollars, but it at least gave us the character of ‘Silvermist’ as played by Lucy Liu. This water-talent fairy has all the grace and poise of Tinker Bell herself, blended with a pinch of Iridessa. Somehow the character survived the complete failure of the first film and went on to appear in a number of sequels, with the character becoming a popular one to visit ‘in real life’ at Disney theme parks.
Hiro Hamada
We could have picked either Hiro Hamada or Gogo Tomago from “Big Hero 6,” but we went with Hiro because it’s technically his film. Like all good characters from the more adventurous Disney films, Hiro is a blend of brave and smart. He’d be useless to you if there were a problem that had to be solved with a fist or sword fight, but if you need a super-intelligent robot building in a hurry, Hiro Hamada is your man. The plot of “Big Hero 6” is somewhere between “Power Rangers” and “Transformers,” which is odd territory for a Disney film to find itself in, but Hiro carries the story as the central character and provides the audience with a reason to care about the outcome. His transition from socially-awkward nerd to confident leader makes him an excellent role model for teenage boys.
Jasmine
Yes, we realize that this is a contentious inclusion. Disney fandom doesn’t appear to be able to make its mind up about whether Jasmine is Asian, Indian, or Arabic. We include her here because the general consensus seems to be that she’s Asian, and therefore she should be eligible. She’s arguably the most famous non-white female Disney character of all time, and we even considered putting her at the top of this list, but the fact that Linda Larkin voiced her most famous incarnation counts against her a little in terms of authenticity. The character is considered to be something of a feminist icon because she pushes back against a forced marriage in favor of marrying for love – although even that proved controversial, as some writers have interpreted that as a rejection of traditional customs. You don’t get to be controversial without being famous, though, and Jasmine belongs on this list for fame alone.
Mulan
Yes, of course we’re going to finish with Mulan. Who else could it possibly be? The controversy about the alleged ‘whitewashing’ of the cast for the 2020 film doesn’t take away from the impact of the character herself. Aside from being based on a (possibly) real-life figure, Mulan has crossed over the cultural divide into multiple movies, television shows, comics, books, and even online slots games. Somehow, even though Disney has done an excellent job of removing or banning every single other online slots game that features a character that belongs to them, there’s still a game called ‘Hero Mulan’ available in some territories, as popular as Chilli Heat online slot. We’re not sure that Mulan herself would approve of online slots, but the fact that such a game exists and draws money is proof that she’s not just a character; she’s a brand. Strong, independent, and heroic, Mulan is a role model for young girls in Asia and across the world. You can’t ask for more from a Disney character than that.
If this article has a conclusion, it’s that Disney needs more Mulans and fewer singing Siamese cats. If the company could work toward that objective in the next ten years, we might be able to make a much longer list in the future.
