The problem with Honey Lemon is that a lot of her concept art–late-stage concept art, where her outfit and accessories are as they appear in the final film, not just the early stuff where ideas are being tossed around–showed her with much darker hair and skin. (For instance, here and here.) Why did she wind up lightened and blond? Was Disney afraid to release a movie with no white, blond characters? (Probably!)
And this is not to say that a Hispanic or Latina actress cannot or should not portray a light-skinned, blond character of indeterminate origin, or that no Hispanic/Latina girls have those physical characteristics. But I do think it’s beyond doubt in this day and age that young Hispanic/Latina girls with darker skin and hair are lacking positive representation in this kind of media–they deserve to see themselves as fashion-forward science geniuses, too, and it’s okay to be disappointed that Disney was clearly going in that direction and pulled back.
In the original comic series, Honey Lemon’s real name is Aiko Miyazaki. In the film, her real name is unknown and Honey Lemon is just a nickname given to her by Fred.
She is also fluent in Spanish. Due to her accent, it is implied that Spanish is a language she spoke growing up.
[…]
Her voice actress, Genesis Rodriguez, has stated Honey Lemon is Latina, which would explain her fluency in Spanish.
Honey Lemon in concept art was both blonde and brunette, both light skin and dark skin. They basically didn’t make a decision until quite late. There were drawings of her with a whole host of styles including ones with red hair, black, white, etc.
I’m not sure what your point is with regards to Honey Lemon’s ethnicity? I mean, that was kind of what I was saying, that they didn’t make a final decision against her being dark-skinned and dark-haired until a very late stage, which supports that they had a strong intention for the duration of preproduction for her character being not white.
I’d be very surprised if they hadn’t explored blond designs for that kind of very feminine, fashion-conscious character. They also explored directions for her as a cheerleader, a gothic lolita fashion enthusiast, and a ninja. Either way, someone looked at the choice between white/blond and brown/brown and went with white and blond, which is a very common and problematic selection in US media.
If we’re going straight canon she’s pseudo-Asian-American like all the protagonists in the movie, which is a complete white wash. Though the comic character is worse IMO (low bar).
If you cut the male characters down to the protagonists, there’s a similar ‘type’ that emerges. But even so, there’s something about the characteristics of the male ‘type’ in comparison to the female ‘type’ that speaks of youthful vigour as opposed to child-like-ness - so although I’m not sure that the issue is the diversity of the female characters relative to the male ones, I’ve certainly got questions about the characteristics depicted.
Popular art and media has always affected what we see in animation. Disney has been influencing anime for decades, and now anime has been influencing Disney – we’re seeing larger eyes and larger heads. Dreamworks steals from Disney, Disney steals from Dreamworks… when things work and the public responds, they get used again. That’s always how popular media’s worked.
I’m Jewish and no one ever guesses that about me, so I get what you are saying. Surely at least if my life were made into a movie that aspect of my life might still be shown despite me looking nothing like the stereotypes of a Jewish woman?
Perhaps if I saw the movie again I’d notice the voice artist’s accent or the little elements she put in that might hint at the character’s background, but not knowing that going into it, whatever clues they gave about her being Latina didn’t register.
DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!?! THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN ARGUING ABOUT AN ANIMATED DISNEY CHARACTER’S ETHNICITY. My whole world will be destroyed, unless I know the truth.
I’m afraid I still don’t understand your point as it pertains to the discussion. Are you saying that people shouldn’t be disappointed that Disney chose to present Honey Lemon as white and blond instead of dark-haired and dark-skinned because there was preproduction art of both?
I mean, that’s my only point–that it’s disappointing to me and others that, given a selection of preproduction art that included both white/blond and brown/brown, Disney elected to go with white/blond even though there’s more than enough representation of those features in media of this type and a dearth of prominent dark-skinned and dark-haired characters, particularly women and girls.
Yes, I am not disputing that. However, it’s been demonstrated right here in this thread that people unaware of the larger production context were unable to recognize that Honey Lemon is Latina–which yes, says a lot about perception of what “Latina” means, but do Latina viewers identify with Honey Lemon? What are the challenges faced specifically by light-skinned Latinas that a role model of this type should address, and is Honey Lemon successful at that? Should Latina characters also challenge the stereotypes held by non-Latin@ viewers about Latina women, and (if so) is Honey Lemon successful at that (considering that non-Latin@ people seem to have trouble identifying her as Latina)? I can’t answer those questions.
But in a media space (i.e. US movies and television) where dark-skinned Latinas are almost universally portrayed as immigrants and maids with poor English skills, I personally feel that it would have been more positive for Disney to choose to create a role model of a dark-skinned Latina as a scientist and superhero. She’s a very positive and much-needed character either way, as far as women and particularly feminine women in science are concerned, I just feel that Disney could have chosen to make her even more positive.
Anyway, thank you for the discussion, but I get the feeling that we may just be repeating ourselves going forward.
Why is it that the responses to “hey, look at these examples demonstrating a trend in $thing” are inevitably a flood of “BUT HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF $thing THAT DOESN’T FIT THE TREND,” all using the same single counter-example as if one data point versus 15+ invalidates the observed trend?
The counter-examples are often far more memorable… which backs up the original message that having most of the characters all look the same is a bad thing.
Not usually what people intend by trotting them out, obviously, but partly an explanation for why they do.
A similar trend is seen in live-action movies and TV shows as well. The vast majority of female lead actresses have small noses, heart-shaped faces and wide eyes. Meanwhile, plenty of male actors can get away with rather ‘unconventionally beautiful’ features and still be leads/protagonists.
