14 DAY TRIAL // Disney is again under serious fire after the trailer for its latest made for TV movie, “Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess,” emerged online. Sofia is Disney’s first Latina princess but, the network fights back, we must not forget that she is also a fantasy.
As such, she will never represent faithfully elements from real life, so it’s ridiculous to expect it from her.
The statement comes from Nancy Kanter, senior vice president of original programming and general manager of Disney Junior Worldwide, who says that Sofia is a fantasy, so she’s representing a fantasy world, not the real one.
“What's important to know is that Sofia is a fairy-tale girl who lives in a fairy-tale world,” Kanter says in a statement cited by CS Monitor.
“All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures,” Kanter adds.
At the same time, other Disney officials are stating that the claim that Sofia is Hispanic never came from them; it was just interpreted this way in the media. We also told you of a similar stance on part of the studio, right when the Princess Sofia Disney scandal first broke.
As users took to online forums to voice their outrage (why say you have a Latina princess when she’s not even remotely so?), Disney stepped forward to say this was a classic case of tempest in a teacup and not one of hypocrisy or discrimination on their part.
“We never actually call it out. When we go into schools [to talk to young students about the show], what I find fascinating is that every girl thinks that they’re Sofia,” Joe D’Ambrosia, vice president of Disney Junior original programming, said, as we also informed you.
Below is the official trailer. “Sofia” airs a month from now as a family special, and will also be turned into a film.