{"id":11,"date":"2022-01-15T04:56:57","date_gmt":"2022-01-15T04:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themagicalworldof.com\/?p=11"},"modified":"2022-08-11T02:59:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T02:59:33","slug":"the-problem-with-honey-lemon-in-big-hero-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalworldof.com\/blog\/the-problem-with-honey-lemon-in-big-hero-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem with Honey Lemon in Big Hero 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Big hero 1<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Shop now at Amazon.com<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t mean to be a wet blanket. I really don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I loved Big Hero 6. It gave me way more feels than I planned on having this week. I fell madly in love with Baymax, and the movie should be lauded for its storytelling, animation, and, especially, its commitment to a diverse cast that never resorted to belittling tokenization.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was refreshing. But that doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t room for criticism or improvement. And I, for one, am really confused about the identity of this character: Honey Lemon.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mind that she\u2019s practically a carbon copy of Rapunzel\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026or that she inexplicably chooses to wear heels to a fight scene\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2026okay I lied. These things also bother me greatly. I mean, c\u2019mon lady, you\u2019re seven feet tall\u2026why do you need heels!? To make your non-existent butt look better? You have a one inch circumference! You\u2019re gonna get your friends killed because you tripped and fell while wearing your Elton John wannabe pumps. You\u2019re trying to take down a super-villain here; put on some sneakers.<\/p>\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n

The problem with Honey Lemon is that Disney is claiming that she is another example of a \u201cstrong woman of color<\/a>,\u201d along with GoGo \u2014 who is in fact an excellent example of a fully developed\u00a0woman of color. But Honey Lemon\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s hispanic!\u201d says Disney.<\/p>\n

Oh, because she\u2019s voiced by this lady?<\/p>\n

Because I\u2019m pretty sure Mindy Kaling voicing Taffyta in\u00a0Wreck it Ralph<\/em> didn\u2019t make Taffyta any less blonde and caucasian.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I understand that many hispanic people are fair skinned and can, indeed, be blonde. And this doesn\u2019t make them any less hispanic or in touch with their roots.<\/strong>\u00a0But, besides an accented pronunciation of Hiro \u2014 which to me didn\u2019t read so much\u00a0\u201cLatina\u201d as it did\u00a0\u201cpretentious foreign exchange student trying to seem native\u201d\u00a0\u2014 there was no indication that she is, indeed, a woman of color.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does it have to be so obvious? Why does everything have to be about race? Does every Latina have to look the same?\u201d<\/p>\n

No. Of course not. Hispanic women come in many shapes and sizes. But fair skinned women are represented in the media in spades \u2014 as evidenced by Honey Lemon\u2019s twin sister Rapunzel. We don\u2019t see enough representation of dark skinned, Latina women. Or men, for that matter. And as the United States\u2019 hispanic population increases, this becomes even more pressing. Last time I was in Disney World, watching many different hispanic girls running around in\u00a0Rapunzel\u2019s blond tresses (which, of course, is still wonderful), I just kept thinking, \u201cWe really need a hispanic princess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little girls long for heroines that look like themselves, so they can take pride in their ethnic identity. And anyone who thinks ethnic representation in media doesn\u2019t matter should take a look at this photo set<\/a>\u00a0or watch the full video:<\/p>\n