Disney Just Revealed Its First Latina Princess, Elena of Avalor
(Via Disney)
Disney is finally introducing its first Latina princess, and it looks like she’s going to be pretty awesome.
According to The New York Times, the Disney Channel will be debuting its new princess show, Elena of Avalor, on July 22. It’s about Princess Elena, a 16-year-old orphan princess who has just wrested control of her kingdom back from an evil sorceress and stepped up as the crown princess when the show begins. Throughout the show, Princess Elena will be having adventures and learning about using her political power as she prepares to become queen when she comes of age.
The Times reports that Disney already has a five-season story plan, and that the show will be broadcast in 163 countries and translated into 34 languages. Disney says the goal is to make it cinematic so it feels like a movie, but lasts way longer.
“Disney has loaded each 22-minute episode with Latin folklore and cultural traditions. Avalor has Aztec-inspired architecture. Episodes will include original songs that reflect musical styles like mariachi, salsa and Chilean hip-hop,” the Times reports.
ABC News reports that Aimee Carrero is the voice of Elena and also sings the title song.
“Disney’s been in my family for a very long time and just to see my own images represented, my own culture represented, is really special and I hope it will be for everybody watching,” Carrero said. “What I love most about Elena is she’s her own hero. There’s no ‘Prince Charming,’ so I hope people at home watching will just be inspired her sense of self, her confidence and her leadership.”
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRpmMwQ0aR4]
It’s particularly cool that Elena is going to be queen, and that’s presented as a status upgrade that she’s going to have to be working towards, because it comes with a lot of power and responsibility. So often the “princess” story ends with princessdom, as though the goal were to be young, rich, pretty, and wear fancy dresses without actually having to do much for the rest of your life. That’s nice, but we can’t all be Kardashians. Elena’s young, pretty, and wears fancy dresses, but her role is about learning to responsibly wield actual political power. Someday she’s going to be the boss of everything, and that’s pretty cool.
The first episode is available for preview on the Disney Channel app, and if you happen to want to buy a metric ton of Elena merchandise, Elena is already in stores on backpacks, toys, shoes, clothes, etc. Books are on the way, and costumes will almost certainly be on the shelves in plenty of time for Halloween.
