With Halloween just around the corner, the decorations are going up and you’re probably seeing more costume stores in your area. It’s a time for kids (and adults, too!) to let their imaginations run wild and be creative with their costumes. While there is an overwhelming amount of options for kids costumes, parents are divided on whether they should allow their kids to dress up as a specific Disney Princess — Moana.
If you haven’t seen her movie yet, it’s not too late. Moana inspires viewers to not be afraid of going in the direction they think they should go, which is a wonderful thing. But parents aren’t so sure they should allow their kids to dress up as this inspiring princess because of cultural appropriation.
The controversy seems to stem from a 2017 post written by Sachi Faris, titled “Moana, Elsa, and Halloween,” on her blog Raising Race Conscious Children. In this post, she talks about whether she should let her white daughter dress up as the popular Polynesian princess. She wrote, “Moana is based on real history and a real group of people… if we are going to dress up a real person, we have to make sure we are doing it in a way that is respectful. Otherwise, it is like we are making fun of someone else’s culture.”
And the conversation continues as this Halloween approaches. People on social media are sounding off, saying that it’s just a costume, but others agree with Faris.
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However, Moana wasn’t the only princess Faris had something to say about. She had her concerns about Elsa, too. “I feel like because Elsa is a White princess, and we see so many White princesses, her character sends the message that you have to be a certain way to be ‘beautiful’ or to be a ‘princess’… that you have to have White skin, long, blonde hair, and blue eyes. And I don’t like that message.”
Would you let your kids dress up as Princess Moana this Halloween?
