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As kids, everyone dreams of becoming royalty. The luxurious castle, the never-ending closet filled with beautiful clothing, the constant service, the incredible food鈥攚hat鈥檚 not to like? Historically, Disney has represented this lifestyle through its many princess movies such as 鈥淐inderella,鈥� 鈥淭he Princess and the Frog,鈥� 鈥淭angled鈥� and 鈥淎laddin.鈥� Everyone had their favorite princess or the one that they felt represented them. Since there were no South Asian princesses, however, I never felt that connection or saw myself on screen. I would often get compared to Jasmine; although she was Middle Eastern, she was what others saw as the closest comparison to me and many other South Asian kids.

Even though Jasmine was marketed as more diverse and representative of Middle Eastern culture, that was not what I saw on the screen. To me, Jasmine is an inaccurate depiction resulting from Disney鈥檚 efforts to combine many cultures in the name of being more diverse. The movie was based on the U.S.鈥檚 perception of the Middle East, not reality.

Even in TV shows, I saw little to no representation of South Asians. The little representation I did see all fell into stereotypes such as the nerdy best friend. One of my favorite television shows as a kid was 鈥淧hineas and Ferb,鈥� but the character Baljeet represents how South Asian characters are there to fill a diversity quota in a stereotypical way. Baljeet is a side character who assists Phineas and Ferb in whatever adventure they embark on. He is depicted as the nerdy kid who鈥檚 overly obsessed with his grades, and he retains a thick Indian accent. Phineas and Ferb are just as smart as Baljeet, but because they are white, they are portrayed as less geeky. With the enforcement of these stereotypes, South Asian kids appeared labeled in a certain way, and I felt as if I never got to see characters who I could relate to and feel represented by. As a kid, I wished I could look at the characters on my TV screen and feel more of a connection to them. I wanted to see more than just one token South Asian character with the same personality as every other. These stereotypical characters made me feel like that was how others saw me, and there was nothing I could do to change that.

More recently, Disney movies and shows have become more diverse. Disney has added more representation through shows and movies such as 鈥淓ncanto,鈥� 鈥淪oul,鈥� 鈥淢oana鈥� and 鈥淭urning Red.鈥� While watching Disney Channel last summer at my sister鈥檚 insistence, I was impressed by an ad promoting a new movie called 鈥淪pin.鈥� The ad showed the main character discovering her identity as a South Asian American while also following her dreams and handling the life of a teenager. (Still, it wasn鈥檛 perfect鈥攁lthough this movie featured a South Asian girl as the main character, it contained some inaccurate aspects regarding the depiction of holidays.) Also, while the character Priya in the Pixar movie 鈥淭urning Red鈥� wasn鈥檛 the princess I had always hoped to see, she represented another depiction of South Asians that steered away from stereotypical tropes. While I grew up seeing one side of Disney, I am glad that I鈥檝e also been able to watch my younger sister and cousins see themselves represented more accurately on screen.