Disney’s First Southeast Asian Heroine

[Indos]

Disney’s First Southeast Asian Heroine

With a name like Raya, there is definitely much to be celebrated. Raya is a common word in the Malay and Indonesian languages, and it is used to define something huge, big, or of great importance. As the first Southeast Asian heroine, we can confidently say that this is an apt name for the character.

Of course, Disney has dabbled with Asian characters before, with Princess Jasmine from Aladdin being the first West Asian princess and the aforementioned Mulan being a star in her own right as the first East Asian lead character in a Disney movie. In fact, this is Disney’s first major return to an Asian setting since Mulan in 1998, so it is great that they chose the Southeast Asian region for this occasion.

Why Southeast Asians Should be Excited About Raya and the Last Dragon

With a name like Raya, there’s a lot to celebrate.

sea.ign.com

 

[Indos]

The inspiration must be coming from Komodo dragon, ancient animal only live naturally in Indonesia.

Labuan Bajo, the place where the Dragon live

Local people traditional house

 

[Indos]

And the song is a collaboration of 4 South East Asian Countries (Indonesian, Thailand, Philippine, Malaysia) singers.

Indonesia is represented by Raisa Andriana ( women singer )

 

[Indos]

If Disney want to make the movie using real people like the way they do with Mulan, so I suggested Disney to use this Indonesian singer/actress, Maudi Ayunda. She is young, South East Asian look, good in English and clever (Master degree graduate from Stanford University)

 

[Indos]

 

[Indos]

Another recommendation for Raya

Yoriko Angeline, big eyes like Raya and brown skin, 18 years old. Just watch her interview in English, basically she gets good basic already and she will study 2 years in US that will improve her English.

Raya sword is basically Keris, one of traditional Indonesian weapon (Javanese weapon)

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

The inspiration must be coming from Komodo dragon, ancient animal only live naturally in Indonesia.

View attachment 682832

Labuan Bajo, the place where the Dragon live

View attachment 682839
View attachment 682840

Local people traditional house

View attachment 682841

Lovely scenery... Indonesia is really beautiful.

Is there a thread with more pictures of Indonesia ?

 

[jamahir]

If Disney want to make the movie using real people like the way they do with Mulan, so I suggested Disney to use this Indonesian singer/actress, Maudi Ayunda. She is young, South East Asian look, good in English and clever (Master degree graduate from Stanford University)

Maudi is pretty and the Stanford U campus is quite beautiful.

Raya sword is basically Keris, one of traditional Indonesian weapon (Javanese weapon)

View attachment 766274

So basically the American sci-fi writer Frank Herbert got inspiration from the Javanese Keris weapon for the Crysknife in his Dune book series. In the books :

A crysknife was a knife whose blade was made from the tooth of a dead sandworm of Arrakis. It was the weapon of choice for the Fremen, the natives of Arrakis. It was a curved and double-edged like a kindjal, and 20 centimeters long, milky white in color and iridescent, and had a black handle with deep finger ridges separated from the blade by a slim round ring instead of a shearing-guard.The tip of a crysknife was also commonly poisoned, with an unnamed poison residing where the nerve of the tooth used to be. This poison is quick-acting and powerful as shown with the killing of the Laza tigers by Leto II.

Crysknives usually came in two forms:

• Unfixed: Knives where the blade would disintegrate unless they were kept close to a human body's electrical field,
• Fixed: Knives that had been treated so that they would not disintegrate, and could be put into storage.

To the Fremen, the crysknife was sacred, and they maintained much tradition around it. If it was drawn, it could not be resheathed until it had drawn blood. Moreover, the blade was not allowed to be seen by those considered to be outsiders by the tribe; otherwise they would have to die by it, or be "cleansed" in an elaborate ritual.

The sharpness of a crysknife was unparalleled. It was usually perceived to glow with a faint light. They averaged 20 cm in length.

 

[Indos]

Lovely scenery... Indonesia is really beautiful.

Is there a thread with more pictures of Indonesia ?

Thanks for Allah that has made the islands beautiful....

My recommendation is Lombok island, next to Bali but populated by Muslim ( no need to worry on food )

They have several beautiful beaches that is more beautiful than what we can see in Bali

My parent hometown in Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra, is also a tourist destination. One of the tourism site is Sianok Canyon (Ngarai Sianok). There my big family still have land in the canyon where it has potential to be used for tourism but no one in the family interested to do that......

Special thread for Indonesia tourist sites

Beautiful Indonesia

Bandung city, West Java capital Ranca Upas, South Bandung Ranca Upas, Drone View Pengalengan, South Bandung Tangkuban Perahu, West Bandung

defence.pk

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Thanks for Allah that has made the islands beautiful....

My recommendation is Lombok island, next to Bali but populated by Muslim ( no need to worry on food )

They have several beautiful beaches that is more beautiful than what we can see in Bali

My parent hometown in Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra, is also a tourist destination. One of the tourism site is Sianok Canyon (Ngarai Sianok). There my big family still have land in the canyon where it has potential to be used for tourism but no one in the family interested to do that......

Special thread for Indonesia tourist sites

Beautiful Indonesia

Bandung city, West Java capital Ranca Upas, South Bandung Ranca Upas, Drone View Pengalengan, South Bandung Tangkuban Perahu, West Bandung

defence.pk

Thanks, I will check these out..

Once covid ends, I have a trip to Indonesia lined on the invitation of my sister in law and her family.. pretty excited.

 

[Indos]

Maudi is pretty and the Stanford U campus is quite beautiful.



So basically the American sci-fi writer Frank Herbert got inspiration from the Javanese Keris weapon for the Crysknife in his Dune book series. In the books :

View attachment 766275

Ya, she is already in Disney radar as she sings for Disney in 2016. Her skin tone is also brown, typical South East Asian

Her English is good and it is typical Indonesian English accent as well, not British or American accent, so more natural

 

[Indos]

So basically the American sci-fi writer Frank Herbert got inspiration from the Javanese Keris weapon for the Crysknife in his Dune book series. In the books :

View attachment 766275

Keris is believed by Indonesian pre-Islamic as having mystical power since they do some ritual after making the blade. This pre-Islamic belief is also used in the Disney movie, so you can see in Raya movie that the Keris can change its form, something that I see rarely used by other action movie ( actually I see none )

Real Keris

 

[SQ8]

I thought they were showing a homosexual tension between Raya and the other girl in there.

 

[Indos]

I thought they were showing a homosexual tension between Raya and the other girl in there.

I doubt it, Have you watched the movie ?

That is the movie for kid, I believe Disney understands the moral boundaries. I will try to watch it somewhere from now until next week, actually I dont have any interest to watch cartoon.....

 

[Titanium100]

The only Indonesian super-heroine I know is her..