Is Disney’s Newest Princess, Sofia the First, A Latina?

Disney is bringing a new princess to town, and this one is causing a little bit of controversy  Debuting on November 18th as a Disney Channel animated movie, Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess is the beginning of Disney Jr.’s latest line up addition and Disney’s newest princess.

 

“Sofia the First: One Upon A Princess” – Disney will introduce its first little girl princess with the debut of “Sofia theFirst: Once Upon A Princess,” an enchanting, music-filled animated Disney Junior television movie for the whole family, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 (7:00-8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel and THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22 (9:00-10:00 a.m., ET/PT) on Disney Junior,the 24-hour channel. The primetime television movie special stars Ariel Winter (“Modern Family”) as the voice of Sofia, Sara Ramirez (“Grey’s Anatomy”) as her mother, Queen Miranda; Wayne Brady (“Let’s Make A Deal”) as Clover, a wise-talking Rabbit; and Tim Gunn (“Project Runway”) as Baileywick, the family’s Royal Steward.  A “Sofia the First” television series will debut in early 2013.

So why would this adorable, animated tot be causing such an uproar? 

As it so happens, Sofia the First, may be the first LATINA princess. However, if you ask Disney Jr. themselves…she isn’t…well, kinda. Maybe.

Confusing right? Especially when sites like Entertainment Weekly and Hispanic Business say she is, but then when Ana Flores reached out for Babble, Disney didn’t clarify.

So, since I was the one that actually asked the question that sparked this all (ahem, EW- “one blogger” has a name). Here is the transcription of my question to Sofia the First Executive Producer Jamie Mitchell, Creator Craig Gerber and the VP of original programming Joe D’Ambrosia.

(starts around 21 mins into junket)

Me: Sara Ramirez, playing Miranda, just wondering, cause Miranda is also colored darker than the rest, I’m wondering if she is Latina for one? And if so, are you going to incorporate that in the story like bring in some culture here and there?

JM: She IS Latina (referring to Miranda) and we are integrating that, we also have Freddy Rodriguez from Six Feet Under-coming in to play Miranda’s brother

Me: So that would make the Queen Latina, and Sofia the first.. Latin princess?

EP: Well, we never call it out cause again, when we go into schools, is what I find fascinating is that every girl thinks that they’re Sofia, so uh, you know, I think Galdize, is where Miranda is from …

CG: We create a kingdom called Galdize, where they’re from, cause all the kingdoms are made up, except for France cause of the song, we’re stuck with France but every other Kingdom is made up and so she is Latina, Miranda is Latina.. she’s from this other Kingdom and Sofia was born in Enchancia, so Sofia is half Enchancian and half Galdizian. The two families come together in one of our episodes. The episode is all about them learning about each other differences…

JD: It’s sort of a matter of fact situation rather than an overt..you know, it’s just who she is and that’s who Sofia is

CG: We try to keep everything in a fantasy place, you know, in our own storybook world. But the things that happen, kids in the modern world can relate to. But we like to keep everything in our storybook world…if there’s a holiday, it’s a holiday that only exists in Enchancia so that’s why we’re doing it that way, just to keep, so it still sorta feels like a fairy tale. But still be something so that kids can watch it and be like I understand what they’re going through.

JD: A fairy tale that’s relatable to them, to now.

There you have it. So the confirmation is that Miranda is Latina, however, the question of Sofia being Latin is vague. However, to me personally, being the mother of a half caucasian, half latin child, if one of her parents is Latin, then she is, by default, also Latin. Why would the EP, the VP and the Creator say the mother (who by the way is the Queen), is Latina, but when Disney Jr. is asked about it,  but won’t say the same of Sofia?

What do you think?