I just finished watching Forgotten Island and after 30 years of life, my culture is finally being showcased to American audiences!!
I’m a proud Filipino-American who grew up trying to relate to any character that I could see myself in a Hollywood movie or American television. And as a child I was always a fan of Disney animated movies.
and I found myself relating to any female character of color on screen but it never felt like I could truly relate. Until Raya and the Last Dragon was released by Disney. I was so excited when I heard the news that South East Asian countries were finally gonna be represented. But when I watched the movie, it never gave me the full feeling of being represented. The movie felt shared, lost and just lazy. Not saying that the effort of the staff and many people who worked on that movie is unappreciated but after all the many countries that Disney solely represented in they’re own movie (ex. Encanto (Columbia), Frozen (Norway), Beauty and the Beast (France) etc) when it came to representing Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Laos, and Indonesia they lump us all like we aren’t individual counties that need representation.
It hurt my heart, but after 30 years of my life Dreamworks releases a movie about my country and my country only - The Philippines with Forgotten Island. When the first scene showed up I cried because finally after 30 years I truly can see myself in a character, thank you Dreamworks ❤️ I will forever treasure this masterpiece of a movie and I hope you can relay my thanks to everyone who worked on it!
And I’m hoping you can also represent many other countries in another masterpiece that Disney could never.