Review: Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall & Carlos López Estrada, 2021)

Warning: This review contains spoilers!

In his business memoir, Bob Iger, the (former?) CEO of The Walt Disney Company, raised a question in connection with Disney princesses: “[w]hat are the attributes of a Disney princess in today’s world and how should they manifest in our products?” (Iger 2019, xx). Iger’s query outlines both the commodification of the Disney princess, and the notion that her portrayal must reflect the societal changes of the 21st century. That being said, if you think that one of the company’s latest animated features, Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, 2021) depicts another Disney princess, then you are correct…and wrong at the same time. Although Raya is indeed a princess, her visual and verbal portrayal positions her in contrast to a “stereotypical” princess.

As per the film’s narrative, the movie tells the story of Raya, the daughter of Chief Benja, who lives in a land of Heart that used to be a part of the ancient Kumandra, a cross-cultural utopian country. Although Kumandra is a prosperous land, its population is threatened by evil spirits, the Druun, that turn people into stone. In order to fend off the Druun, the dragons of Kumandra create a gem; however, the dragons end up being petrified as a result of their efforts. Nevertheless, people’s lust for the magic power of the orb eventually caused the twilight and the division of Kumandra, resulting in its collapse into five different lands: Fang, Heart, Spine, Talon, and Tail, around a river that resembles a dragon (Fig. 1).

500 years later, Raya becomes a trained and very skilled guardian of the orb. While she is ready and keen to fight the other tribes, her father appears to be a pacifist. He encourages Raya to have trust in others, and still believes that the tribes can be united again. In order to initiate this reunion, Benja invites the representatives of the other tribes for a feast. Unfortunately, the feast is a disaster. Despite Benja’s efforts to convince others “to come together and build a better world”, he gets shot and eventually turns into stone due to a Druun attack. As a result of a concurrent betrayal of her friendship with Raya by Princess Namaari of the Fang Tribe, the dragon gem is stolen and each tribe runs away with a piece of it.

Six years later, Raya is on a mission to find the last dragon; she is successful in her quest, and summons Sisu, the last dragon. Together with Sisu, they go to the other tribes to recover the pieces of the orb. Yet, Namaari is on their trail throughout their journey. Raya and Sisu are joined by a diverse cast of characters from each territory. Eventually they travel to Fang to recover the last piece of the gem. Sisu, like Reya’s father, strongly believes in trust and manages to convince Raya that she should give Namaari another chance and ask for her help. Raya approaches Namaari with a gift (a dragon necklace that she got from her when they had first met six years earlier). However, yet again, Namaari appears to betray Raya’s trust: while Sisu tries to persuade Namaari to change her mind, the dragon gets shot and falls into the water. When it seems that everything has been lost due to the overwhelming Druun attacks and the fight between the two princesses, Raya realises that the only way to save their world is to have trust in each other. She takes the first step and gives Namaari her piece of the orb, and then she turns into stone. The other characters from Raya’s group follow her example. Namaari puts the pieces together, and they all petrify. Finally, the reassembled orb defeats the Druun and everyone is brought back to life, including all the dragons and Raya’s father. The film ends with reunions between the protagonists and their loved ones, and the diverse tribes come together to celebrate the rebirth of Kumandra.

From a visual perspective, Raya and the Last Dragon – produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios – takes its audience to a literally magical place – a land where dragons fly through the sky. It is similar to Moana (Ron Clements & John Musker, 2016) in terms of representing the “exotic Other”. However, while the scenery in Moana recalls Polynesia, Raya and the Last Dragon was inspired by Southeast Asia. Indeed, one may say that Raya is another example of multiculturalism, “Disney’s [current] buzzword” (Kiyomi 2000, 47). Of course, this claim can be critiqued by examining such portrayals as those in Pocahontas (1995), a film which some have argued depicts neo-colonialist rhetoric (Buescher and Ono 1996), but which others have argued represents “politically correct . . . ideas of diversity” (Brode 2005, 269). Nevertheless, in Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney takes multiculturalism to another level by representing Kumandra as a multicultural country, a device which provides the opportunity to portray five aesthetically-distinct lands within one movie. Thus, audiences are introduced to the canal-protected Fang (Fig. 2), the flourishing Heart (Fig. 3), the bamboo forest Spine (Fig. 4), the floating market Talon (Fig. 5), and the desert-land Tail (Fig. 6).

It could be argued that one of the overarching themes in Raya and the Last Dragon is trust (Loayza 2021). Lack of trust is identified by Raya as the reason why the world is so broken and splintered into warring factions. This division is not unlike our own world Disney appears to be implying, especially when societal polarisation and trade conflicts are in the headlines almost daily. But the cause – and the eventual solution – to the world’s problems in Raya are perhaps too simplistic: a lack of trust and the eventual regaining of trust among the diverse cast of characters is what allows them to come together and save the day.

Fig. 9 - Rey on the desert planet Jakku in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015). — **Fig. 9 - Rey on the desert planet Jakku in *Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens* (J.J. Abrams, 2015).**

Interestingly, another central theme of the movie is where Disney is taking the portrayal of their version of the princess trope. Raya and the Last Dragon is thought-provoking not only because of the “next-level” multiculturalism, but also due to Raya’s gender characteristics. Her visual depiction, particularly in those scenes when she is first seen as an adult in the company of her armadillo-lookalike sidekick Tuk Tuk in the land of Tail (Figs. 7 and 8), strongly resembles Rey on the desert planet Jakku in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015) (Fig. 9). This especially appears to be the case when considering the similarities between Tuk Tuk and BB-8. Nevertheless, Raya’s gender features are even more revealing when contemplating her verbal depiction. In the scene where she first meets Namaari, the two little girls question each other about their various preferences. When Namaari asks whether Raya goes for “dressy or casual” attire, the Heart tribe princess responds, while pointing out the tightness of her own clothing, “Only a monster would choose to wear this outfit on the regular.” There are two points that need to be raised in connection with Raya’s comment. First, the look, and more importantly the dress, of a Disney princess is a crucial signifier. In Moana, Maui firmly states that “If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you’re a princess.” This is likewise echoed in audience research conducted with preschool girls by Julia C. Golden and Jennifer Wallace Jacoby, who argue that a princess’ dress seems to be “an integral component of the princess persona” for most girls in the audience (Golden and Jacoby 2018, 307). Second, by considering the “classic” Disney Princess ball gown that includes a corset as well – such as the attires of Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle – the refusal of such uncomfortable dress, and even comparing those princesses to a “monster”, suggests a (perceptually, at least) radical change in the way Disney approaches their princess characters’ costumes.

As discussed above, the overarching theme in Raya and the Last Dragon is trust (Loayza 2021). Nevertheless, the steps that Disney has taken with Raya in connection with the princess’ gender portrayal are – arguably – just as important a message as the notion of trust, despite discussions of gender roles and depictions being not that apparent in the movie. In the end, Raya’s character outlines the potential future direction of Disney’s princess franchise. From the audiences’ perspective, it can be argued that Disney may add “to the gender empowerment of children worldwide” (Hine et al. 2018, 8). However, the animated feature also provides a clear response to the question by Bob Iger that this review began with, as well as further contributing to Disney’s continuous redefinition of the princess’ trope (Kapurch 2015). Indeed, the fact that Disney came up with a new princess (though whether Raya will be part of the franchise or not is still an open question) strongly underlines that the Princess Phenomenon remains culturally significant. Ultimately, Raya’s depiction implies that a princess as a concept is an ever-changing notion that reflects the cultural and societal patterns of diverse societies.

**Article published: March 26, 2021**

References

Brode, Douglas. 2005. Multiculturalism and the Mouse: Race and Sex in Disney Entertainment. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Buescher, Derek T. and Kent A. Ono. 1996. “Civilized Colonialism: Pocahontas as Neocolonial Rhetoric.” Women’s Studies in Communication 19, no. 2: 127-153.

Golden, Julia C. and Jennifer Wallace Jacoby. 2018. “Playing Princess: Preschool Girls’ Interpretations of Gender Stereotypes in Disney Princess Media.” Sex Roles 79, no. 5: 299-313.

Hine, Benjamin, Katarina Ivanovic and Dawn England. 2018. “From the Sleeping Princess to the World-Saving Daughter of the Chief: Examining Young Children’s Perceptions of ‘Old’ versus ‘New’ Disney Princess Characters.” Social Sciences 7, no. 9: 1-15.

Iger, Robert. 2019. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons in Creative Leadership from the CEO of The Walt Disney Company. London: Bantam Press.

Kapurch, Katie. 2015. “Rapunzel Loves Merida: Melodramatic Expressions of Lesbian Girlhood and Teen Romance in Tangled, Brave, and Femslash.” Journal of Lesbian Studies 19, no. 4: 436-453.

Kiyomi, Kutsuzawa. 2000. “Disney’s Pocahontas: Reproduction of Gender, Orientalism, and the Strategic Construction of Racial Harmony in the Disney Empire.” Asian Journal of Women’s Studies 6, no. 4: 39-65.

Loayza, Beatrice. 2021. “‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ Review: Fool Me Once.” The New York Times, March 4, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/movies/raya-and-the-last-dragon-review.html.

Smitch, Ben. 2020. “Bob Iger Thought He was Leaving on Top. Now, He’s Fighting for Disney’s Life.” The New York Times, April 12, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/business/media/disney-ceo-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage.

Biography

Anna Zsubori is a Lecturer at Coventry University and at DMU, as well as a PhD researcher at the University of Leicester. She is also a YECREA representative to the Audience and Reception Studies section of the European Communication Research and Education Association. Her research focuses on tweens’ understanding of identity through the Disney Princess phenomenon.