From music, to fashion, and now films, Rihanna is on a roll. The singer scored the leading role in Dreamworks newly released 3-D nimated film ‘Home’ which grossed over 59 million in sales over the weekend.
In the film Rihanna [who plays ‘Tip’ ] is on the quest to find her mother when she stumbles upon ‘Oh’; a space alien on the run from his enemies back home. Jim Parson [plays ‘Oh’] in the film and Jennifer Lopez [plays Tip mother]. With an allstar cast and great story line; its of no surprise to me that this movie was number #1 at the box office.
” In 2013 a study from the University of Southern California found that across 100 top-grossing films of 2012, only 10.8% speaking characters are black. The percentage of ‘underrated’ characters in animated movies remained below 13%. ”
Let’s be honest here, after The Princess Of Egypt debut in [1998]; it has been more than a decade since brown girls bore witness to their reflection as a lead star in an animated film.
n 2009 Walt Disney pictures debut Tiana in The Princess and the Frog but in between the years up through the current, we often see ‘people of color’ play ‘stereotyped characters’ and not the role of ‘heroic’ persons.
The key point here is that ‘Representation’ is important to every race among the earth especially brown girls. I literally gushed over the trending pic [above] that hit the internet earlier this morning, and couldn’t help to think of my daughter [who is light brown], and mirrors the same resemblance as the character ‘Tip’.
My daughter has been nagging me constantly [to see this film] since commercial airings debut, and she’s super excited to see the film this weekend. Now, my children often get excited when Dad and I take them to the movies but this particular film draws a closer connection to my daughter than my son. Why? Representation and Reflection.
This is also the first time we’re seeing animated lead star with ‘naturally curly hair’ as well. This movie was well timed if you asked me.
Thanks to the many social media pioneers who are shaping the new world order in natural hair acceptance, brown girls everywhere have a ton of access in learning, loving and celebrating their ‘natural’ beauty from head to toe.
One Love PLUM’s!