Zoom the World
International Cultures Club
What is this
We proudly introduce to you the “Zoom the World” event series. Through this series of events, we aim to share more about the complexity of international identities in the virtual platform
What do we do?
We promote cultural awareness and diversity through events we organize and run. Topics we tackle include global issues, national heritages, politics, and sustainability.
Royals Beyond Borders: The Disney Princesses Reimagined by International Students
by Andrea Saravia, 04/25/2021
The International Student Club has created a modern version of what Disney Princesses look like, but with a twist. In the spirit of representation, each princess is from a different country and members of the club designed what the princesses would look like if they came from their home countries. It took the club over two months to develop a unique version of various princesses from the Disney franchise. However, their process started by choosing five countries. The members of the club then started to ideate what would these five countries look like, if they were princesses? After months of research, they came up with Aeri, Belén, Roro, Curi Coyllur, and Mei.
Aeri
When wondering what South Korea would look like as a princess, the club came up with the concept of “Aeri.” Aeri is a sixteen-year-old girl from South Korea who comes from an upper-class family with high expectations. Based on the Little Mermaid, instead of wanting to change for a prince, Aeri wishes to visit a plastic surgeon who changes her entirely in order for her to become the k-pop star she wanted to be. Instead of giving up her voice, she gave up her original appearance. Similarly, other princesses change certain aspects of the original story to fit into a narrative that goes along with the country they are based off of (in this case, it was the k-pop scene.)
Aurora, for example, is reimagined as a woman from Buenos Aires called Belén. Rather than literally sleeping, in this version Aurora turns a blind eye to the abortion debate and feminist movement. This ignorance is her “sleeping” on these issues until she herself has to abort a child and later becomes an activist. Her “waking up” is not caused by “true love’s first kiss” but rather by the enlightenment of sorts once she realizes the social issues that are in her country of Argentina.
Belén
An Indonesian version of Elsa, named Nyi Roro Kidul, is the Queen of the Southern Sea. She is called “Roro” in the official lineup, which the public can see in the International Club Website. Donning traditional Javanese clothing, Roro helps maintain a balance among the sea spirits so as to protect humans. However, despite being the protector and spiritual consort of the kings of Yogyakarta, her people antagonize her. Even so, she is rebellious and fierce in the face of those challenges.
Roro
Mei is a Malaysian-Chinese girl who grew up in a strict Nyonya household in which Buddhism had a strong presence in. It was in this household that her mother warned her about falling in love with a Malay man, as she would have to convert to Islam, even painting them as “beasts.” A twist on “Beauty and the Beast,” here the “beast” is a kind Malay man named Zaidi who is injured in a vehicle accident. Mei finds him and takes care of Zaidi, and while at the hospital falls in love with him. Here, Zaidi is considered a “beast” by Mei’s traditional mother who does not approve of the union of the two until Mei has a chronic disease and is taken care of by Zaidi. The transformation from “beast” to “man” is not a fantastical one, but rather one of an individual’s assumptions and stereotypes breaking to the point that she no longer sees him as a beast, and gives Mei and Zaidi her blessing.
Mei
Curi Coyllur
The fifth princess to be featured in this project is a Peruvian version of Rapunzel named Curi Coyllur. In this version, similar to Rapunzel (the Disney version) is the element of a relationship between a commoner and a princess, who have a daughter named Ima Sumac. Because of the nature of the relationship, Curi was imprisoned in Acllahuasi for many years and was not released until her daughter begged for clemency. By then, so many years had passed, that Curi had grown the long hair Rapunzel is known for.
While this is a briefing on what the backstory of each princess is, the International Club website offers a more detailed description not only of the characters but of the stories. Each has many elements pertaining to cultures, of which there are multiple.
Wonjun Gye and Christina Park worked in the concept art of Aeri and Belen respectively, both artists come from South Korea and are members of the club. Aura Victoria, from Indonesia, was the character and visual artist of Roro whose story is based on Indonesian lore. Elena May Saini Jeffery is from Malaysia, similar to Mei whom she designed and drew. The character designer for Curi Coyllur, Marisol Salazar, is also from Peru like the character. The club features a variety of different countries. Some of them are Kosovo, Venezuela, Argentina, Greece, China, and Taiwan are other places from which the members of the team come from.
Having princesses that look like them, and not a Westernized fantasy, is a great step towards having more diversity in media of all kinds. And what better way than to start in an art school to bring forth that change. Shpresa Mehmeti, the project manager, designer, and concept developer of the club, shares a quote that reflects the goal of this project.
"Representation matters because it can shape how people are viewed by society and how they view themselves. Through this project, we wanted to recreate princesses and reclaim the role models we grew up watching on TV. The princesses were developed by the members of the club and reflect their cultural backgrounds.”
To see more from these creatives from across the globe, I implore everyone to follow their social media and to stay tuned for what the International Student Club does next!