In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—discuss diversity and representation in Disney’s Encanto.
Listen to it here on Podbean or find us on your favourite podcast app.
What we talked about
- All the ways in which diversity shows up in Encanto, from skin colour to body type, to the different roles the characters get to play
- How no cultural artefact, including Encanto, can speak for an entire community, and why that is OK
- How Encanto is a step in the right direction as far as diverse representation goes
(Re)sources mentioned on the show
We didn’t mention all of these during the episode, but these are some of the resources we dug into while preparing for the recording.
- “With ‘Encanto,’ Colombia Is Finally Seen and Not Just Heard” by Leila Cobo: https://www.billboard.com/music/latin/encanto-colombia-positive-image-1235017931/
- “Encanto Still Has Charm, Despite Generic Representation of Colombia” by Camilo Garzón: https://www.latinxproject.nyu.edu/intervenxions/encanto-still-has-charm-despite-generic-representation-of-colombia
- “I’m Colombian. Here’s what ‘Encanto’ means to me” by Arturo Serrano: http://www.nerds-feather.com/2021/11/im-colombian-heres-what-encanto-means.html
- “11 Latina Critics on ‘Encanto’” by Mujeres Problemáticas: https://latinamedia.co/encanto/
- “Disney’s Encanto isn’t just about representation – it’s an act of defiance” by José Mariá Luna: https://www.polygon.com/22851932/encanto-disney-latine-colombia-in-movies
- Mariëlle’s 52 Weeks of Writing Author Journal and Planner: https://mswordsmith.nl/journal
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