Raya and the Last Dragon popped into my head today and I kept thinking about how the incredibly unsubtle and poorly executed message of trusting others felt like a first draft.
What do you think about it? Would a revised script with the same story premise fix that film? Or was it doomed from the get go in what it was trying to say?
Good question! I go back and forth. I think the movie's biggest weak point was its writing, so I guess I'd say, "a revised script with the same story premise would fix it!"
There's nothing wrong at all with a message like "Without trust, we can't stand together." Because it's very true. Everyone has priorities, and there's always a chance they'll choose themselves over you, or over the "greater good." But if you keep trying to take control of the situation by believing the worst about them before it happens, you'll be exhausted & jaded, they'll be exhausted & jaded, and all your time and energy will be spent on competing with each other for the grand prize of "who can look out for their own interests better."
I think Raya and the Last Dragon's premise works for a truth like that. It makes total sense to have a girl who's competitive become jaded and control-freaky when her father, the symbol of the virtue of trust & good faith, is murdered by betrayal. And not just any betrayal, but betrayal from someone she directly tried to befriend and trust as a sort of "first experience" with that good faith her dad was always talking about. Makes total sense. And it's impactful; something that traumatic and personal would cause a relatable character flaw that the heroine needs drastic measures to overcome.
I actually love the concept of Sisu too. I like the idea that she's this pure, selfless soul who's got childlike faith—but, all the jaded people in a post-apocalyptic world respect and consider her worldview because she's a revered dragon. So she really does change minds just by being around them, just by coming back and existing in the first place. I mean, if she had been just a sheltered girl from, say, a different country, who came into the broken Kumandra with stars in her eyes, the bad guys wouldn't have thought twice about whatever she exemplified. But she's a dragon.
And step back and think about it: having a group of characters from every walk of life come together as a mini-experiment in trust and unity during the course of the adventure is a great idea. It's not flashy or original, but it's classic and true. Avatar the Last Airbender has a crew of characters from each tribe combining to defeat evil. When Kenai has a prejudice against bears in Brother Bear, how is that character flaw solved? Not just by him turning into one, but by him having to travel with and get to know one.
What they get to know is that they all have something in common: they've all lost people to the great evil in the world. And, they all want the same things, despite cultural differences. They all want their families back, they all want safety and success.
So yeah, the pieces are all there. The problem is, the writing was just super clunky. Theres a lot of telling, when it comes to the story, instead of showing. There's not no showing. There's just not enough.
I know this is already a long post, but I'll just point out: Aladdin's message had a lot to do with trust, too. But no character ever said out loud, "you have trust issues and you need to work through them." Certainly not more than once. The closest you get is Genie telling Aladdin to be himself.
Instead, you're just shown that Jasmine is the type of girl to give an apple to a hungry kid without even thinking about whether or not the shopkeeper wouldn't want her to do it. She's the type of girl who plays along with a scrubby boy from the marketplace trying to help her. She's the kind of girl who goes out with a Prince even though she has reason to believe he's already lying to her. She just does those things, and never says, "hey, why did you lie to me--you have trust issues!"
Meanwhile Aladdin's whole story is him bending over backwards to control what everyone thinks of him, because he can't trust them to accept him as he is. But he never says, "Trust gets me hurt." He just says, "if Jasmine knew I was really some crummy street-rat, she'd laugh at me."
Those sentences that the characters say are well-written because they are realistic. Only in our modern psycho-babble Instagram-influencer culture, where everyone thinks they're an expert on the human psyche, are teenagers starting to say things like "My trauma causes me to struggle with trust."
What Aladdin says is much more immediate, much more down-to-earth than that. It shows where his brain is in that moment. He's not thinking about the general philosophy of truth and trust. He's just thinking about what he should or shouldn't say on his date, and how scary the idea of getting laughed at is. We, the audience, are smart enough to infer that it's all rooted in trust issues. We don't need Genie to deliver a speech six times to make it abundantly clear.
I'm capable of identifying that as the problem, but I'm not great at doing it, myself. I know the language, I'm not great at speaking it. But actually I'm going to punt this part of the question over to @doverstar , who is very skilled at "show, don't tell," especially in dialogue. How would you re-write that scene where Sisu is trying to convince Raya of the importance of trust?
One final thing that I think handicaps Raya and the Last Dragon is that, because of the way they're written, the characters lose likability. Theres a way to have a traumatized, defensive girl who thinks she knows everything still be likable. Just like there was a way to have a selfish, insecure liar be likable in Aladdin.
I think there are other issues—I'd have completely written out the baby and the monkeys, and I'd have cut the fight sequences between two teenage girls way shorter because nobody cares about them. But that can be for another post.
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MAY I PRESENT, THE PRINCESSES OF KUMANDRA!
Raya, giggling: "Nami, you're blushing!"
Namaari: "I'm the cold Warrior Cat..."
Raya, teasing: "Of course! But you don't love me too much to do that..."
Namaari, softly: "And what if I do?"
Bonus...
Raya 😳: "I did not expect her to say that..."
MY FIRST ACTUAL LEGITAMATE PRESENTABLE DIGITAL ART PIECE!!!!!!
Let's just say, that sometimes when you're sketching for pleasure thinking it will not become anything too great and you figure out how to actually get past the big* roadblock that was keeping you from rendering digitally... something like this comes out.
Soooo, here I am, finally UNDERSTANDING how to use procreate after *months* and really going through with the rendering process and finding my own workflow instead of abandoning the piece!
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Daily Dose of Disney (Princess): Raya
Let’s end this series with the latest Disney princess, Raya!
Princess: Raya
Movie: Raya and the Last Dragon
Year Released: 2021
Fun Facts:
~ Raya is the first Southeast Asian-inspired Disney character.
~ Raya's fighting style using two sticks is based on the Filipino martial art Kali.
~ The land of Kumandra is inspired by the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Laos.
~ Raya means "great" in Indonesian. Raya means “hibiscus” in Malay, and is also the national flower for Malaysia.
~ Raya and the Last Dragon is the second of the Disney princesses to not be based on a fairy tale. The first was Brave’s Merida.
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Kingdom Hearts IV predictions
Kumandra (Raya and the Last Dragon)
Takes place after the movie.
Is visited by Sora.
Starring the voices of:
Awkwafina as Sisu
Ross Butler as Spine Chief
Gemma Chan as Namaari
François Chau as Wahn
Dumbfoundead as Chai
Sung Kang as Dang Hai
Sierra Katow as Fang Officer
Daniel Dae Kim as Chief Benja
Dichen Lachman as General Atitãya & Spine Warrior
Sandra Oh as Chieftess Virana
Lucille Soong as Dang Hu
Kelly Marie Tran as Raya
Thalia Tran as Noi
Alan Tudyk as Tuk Tuk
Izaac Wang as Boun
Benedict Wong as Tong
Back to index
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I know that I already filled a meme of worlds I would like to see in KH4, but filling in this one kind of feels like upping my chances of it happening. I know that it sounds crazy, but even if Treasure Planet or Moana don't become one of the new worlds in KHIV, I would be okay of them appearing in other KH games, that come after KH4 (if we're lucky).
With the division of Kumandra being due to people living in distrust and envy of one another, as well as greed for the Dragon Gem's power, is sounds like the kind of place that the Heartless would be drawn to. That is why I think that Kumandra would be an interesting choice for Kingdom Hearts world. Even if Sora, Donald and Goofy aren't the ones who get to visit it, seeing one of the other Guardians of Light learning from Raya's story would be enough.
DeviantArt meme template used: Kingdom Hearts world meme template by The-Darkes-Nightmare.
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Watching Raya the last dragon again and dissapointed with the potential again -(and also a bit teary).
Like, that was a pretty cool narration of the malay world/ASEAN, of fighting each other when they could be allies. It's pretty good, the cultural reference aren't too on the nose or too vague.
Great fight scenes.
There wasn't a single character song.
Okay I'm gonna be honest that's really a big point for me, a disney princess without a single song I can sing.
Where's Raya's song, where's Sisu's, where's Boun's (sniffle), where's Tong's (sniff), where's Namaari's, even that crazy ninja-baby Noi and her congi pals.
Where's their internal narration in song form that give them extra depth I can hyper analyze for characterizations and character motive.
I literally had to watch it again because I barely remember anything (which could be good because I'm crying again), it's kind od easily forgettable as a disney princess without a song.
... Sigh, I'll go see if there's some fan made or something to satisfy my craving... Maybe with the lockdown over maybe they'll release some songs..... One can hope.
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I don’t know if there are earlier announcements to the effect, but Raya is now an official Disney Princess! With World Princess Week, the princess of Clan Heart of the world of Kumandra is being celebrated with:
An appreciation of the cultures of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, three mainland Southeast Asian nations that influenced the story of Raya and the Last Dragon.
Raya as one of the characters in the Disneyland Resort Main Street Electrical Parade (only until September 1).
Raya in the Disney Magic Kingdoms game.
Raya emoji in the Disney Emoji Blitz.
Raya Costume for Kids
Raya Classic Doll
Raya Costume Boots
And of course, the Raya and the Last Dragon movie.
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