Disney never falls short in creating great children’s movies. However, time and time again Disney always seems to represent every character of color as animals. 

Most people who have watched “The Princess and the Frog,” “Brother Bears,” “Soul,” and “The Emperor’s New Groove” would agree that these films are all great. But the only problem with these movies is throughout most of the film these characters of colors are seen as animals. 

The way that these main characters are represented affects children of color who watch these movies. They need to see people of color in their natural states so they are able to relate to them and be inspired by their favorite characters. 

“My opinion on having people of color represented as animals in the majority of movies is ‘a disappointment.’ Like what I said in my previous answer, not seeing ‘a representation’ for yourself can be sad and can bring a child down because their only representation is an animal. I feel like it can also sprout some ‘self-esteem issues,” said Jiapsi Aldaco, a junior at Segerstrom high school.

For example, in “The Princess and the Frog” Tiana is a frog for 60% of the movie and only human for 40% of the movie. She is also the only black princess in the movie.

Disney also  tried to be slick with the movie “Soul.”  “Joe Garden,” is a soul and a cat. He gets trapped in the body of a cat and the soul he is mentoring gets trapped into his body.  

The films Disney makes aren’t terrible but Disney needs to fix this problem of always showing people of color as animals.

“I think that it’s important that Disney keeps characters of color human throughout the entire movie so that we normalize them being actual human beings and not animals. Because when we think about it, why is it that Disney makes certain races animals? Isn’t that like a racist stereotype? It just doesn’t seem right. You never see white people represented as animals,” said Mariana Garcia, a junior at Segerstrom high school.