Just announced today, Vietnamese-American actress Kelly Marie Tran will be starring as the lead role in the upcoming Disney animated movie, Raya and the Last Dragon! Vietnamese herself, Raya will be the first South East Asian Disney Princess, and this will be Tran's second major role under the entertainment empire. Continue Reading to learn about the complicated relationship between women and Star Wars, and why I'm so fired up about this casting news! Being a woman and being a fan of Star Wars aren't always two things a person can be in the same room. If you're unfamiliar with Star Wars fandom and why they get the nickname "the Fandom Menace," this is going to be a wild ride, but I'll try and make it quick. When Kelly Marie Tran first appeared on our screens as Rose Tico during 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, much of the audience, myself included, saw her as a step forward in film. She was not only a woman, but a woman of Asian descent, as a main character in Star Wars! This moment was meant to be one of celebration and unity, but was torn apart by a loud minority (although I question that bit). A sector of Star Wars fans, referred to now as the Fandom Menace, saw Rose as a threat to the maleness and the whiteness of Star Wars, and decided to make it their goal to ruin Kelly Marie Tran's life. As a woman of Asian descent and a not-so-stereotypical Hollywood body-type, they saw her as the perfect target for their unjust rage. Mixing horrific anti-Asian sentiments with sexism and plain cruelty, the Fandom Menace latched on to Tran and spammed her every social account with their hatred of her, spewing racism, sexism, and bold-faced lies to try and hurt her and remove her from the franchise. Just like they had with actress Daisy Ridley, they forced Tran to delete all her social media by completely filling the platforms with rancid hatred. There have already been a lot of articles, pointedly and rightfully angry ones, discussing the Fandom Menace, so I'll leave those at the bottom if you're looking for more details. For a fandom that so often quotes the line, ‘Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering,’ these Star Wars fans are full of all of the above. Kelly Marie Tran did NOT get kicked out of the series, of course, but another female character of color was added to take the heat off of her, in a sense. That being said, many fans of Rose claim the addition took away any possibility for further character development, therefore ultimately being almost as bad as cutting her altogether. As for Tran, she stopped trying to make everyone happy, and she stopped apologizing for it. Her presence at red carpet events for the press went from bubbly to straight flat, giving the people who tried to take her down as little as possible, whatsoever. While her social media platforms are still down, her fans online have continued to cry her praises and defend her name. This brings us to today, when the news of Raya and the Last Dragon dropped. With Kelly Marie Tran being cast as the lead, the movie is already making long-due historic firsts. Before anyone starts saying its just like Mulan, let me say a few things. Mulan is a story of a rich Chinese girl, raised to be a wife and mother, who joins the army, learns to fight, and inspires her people to fight back and win the battle against the invading Mongols. Raya, on the other hand, was born a Princess, but a princess who "flips the narrative" on what that title means She grows up an impressive warrior, and leaves her city to find the last dragon, whom she believes can save her people. If you think those descriptions are too similar, you probably aren't familiar with the many other all-vaguely-similar Disney Princess films, so I don't recommend you see them. Another exciting point about the Raya movie is the script is being handled by Adele Lim, script writer for Crazy Rich Asians. CRA is recent Asian-culture-forward film, made by an Asian team. It did a phenomenal job of showing a side of Asian culture many Americans would never even think of, and was a supremely enjoyable movie. Having Lim on board for another female-centric Asian cultural film is a good sign already. Tran herself is a fan of CRA, being the child of Vietnamese immigrants, so it's appropriate she play a Vietnamese Princess. She'll be starring alongside CRA star Awkwafina, as well. Awkwafina stars in her own HBO series, Nora From Queens, where Asian-American culture is explored through a modern lens. There is so much to be said for proper representation in all media formats. Asian culture has so much to offer, so much to teach, and is full of so much beauty. I'm thrilled Disney is putting in the effort to make this a proper South East Asian Princess movie. Raya will have to fight a battle all the way to the theaters, unfortunately. America is notorious for harboring and ignoring our massive distaste for Asian culture. From internment camps in World War II, to horrific war crimes in Vietnam, to racist slurs still used commonly today, to the recently rediscovered hatred being spewed after the year's COVID-19 situation. American has a history of being racist towards Asians, and never admitting it. It rears it's ugly head from time to time, such as with the recent pandemic, when many Chinese mom-and-pop restaurants were forced to close after uneducated white folks stopped visiting for fear of being infected (totally false assumption, by the way). Even with home entertainment, Americans get racist against Asians. When Disney announced the live-action Mulan film would premier online, I remember seeing a poll released by Disney+. Will you pay $20 to rent New Mutants, and would you pay the same for Mulan? An alarming response said they'd pay for New Mutants but wouldn't pay for Mulan. On a Disney+ website poll. Even this big-budget, female forward, action adventure princess story will have to fight it's way through the box office, simply because the cast is Asian. I expect the same will happen for Raya, although I wish it wasn't the case. No matter the struggle, I will be supporting Raya and the Last Dragon from here on out, completely. Kelly Marie Tran is a gorgeous success story of women--Asian women--overcoming hatred and bouncing back even better than before. From Star Wars to Disney Princess, this is only the beginning of Tran's career, and I look forward to watching her succeed. For more information on Tran from an EW interview, Click Here! For EW's original article announcing the new film, Click Here! Raya and the Last Dragon is set to hit theaters March 12th, 202o! Here are some links to articles about what Kelly Marie Tran was put throuh by the Fandom Menace:
By well-known nerd writer and reviewer, and proud Black man, Marc Bernardin. By Amy Zimmerman for The Daily Beast, following Tran deleting her social media pages. By Dom Nero for Esquire, discussing the lack of logic between Star Wars fans' own values and that of the franchise.
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