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Disney has released a trailer featuring a new character by the name of Princess Sofia, notable because the company considers her its first Latina princess. The thing is you probably wouldn't guess it from looking at her, notes Mashable. It rounds up tweets on the subject that fall into two camps: Those who think she looks white, and those who point out that not all Latinos have dark complexions.
Other takes:
- The point that many Latinos are fair-skinned is true, writes Caity Weaver at Gawker, though "it does seem odd that Disney would decide to make its first Latina princess look like a blue-eyed version of Belle from Beauty and the Beast."
- Alyssa Rosenberg at Talking Points Memo cuts Disney a little more slack on that front, but complains that the upcoming TV show looks to be of the stale "European fairy tale" tradition instead of something more innovative. "The whole project looks less like an original story and much more like an opportunity for marketing."
- Entertainment Weekly has background on how Disney producers have chosen to take a low-key approach to Sofia's ethnicity. "We never actually call it out," says one Disney Junior exec.
