Moana, Elsa, and Halloween
by Sachi Feris
My five-year-old, who I had successfully shielded from Disney princesses until recently, finally figured out that “Let it go” (which she had been singing with her friends for a over a year), was from the movie “Frozen.” My daughter promptly demanded to see “Frozen” along with “Moana,” inspired by a Moana-themed birthday party favor (sunglasses). We saw both films within the month and, in early August, she declared that she wanted to be “Elsa” from “Frozen” this Halloween, and “Moana” the following Halloween.
I had some reservations regarding both costume choices…about cultural appropriation and the power/privilege carried by Whiteness, and about Whiteness and standards of beauty…and so our conversations began:
“Elsa is an imaginary or made-up character. 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.”
Hearing me push back against her Moana choice, my daughter re-asserted her desire to dress up as Moana (for Halloween 2018!). I closed this initial “Moana” conversation by telling her: “We would have to do some research and figure out if there is a way to dress up as Moana that is respectful of her culture.”
Since her 2017 Halloween choice was, in fact, Elsa, I returned to this costume choice and shared: “There is one thing I don’t like about the character of Elsa. 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. You are White, like Elsa—if you dressed up as a character like Moana, who has brown skin, you would never change your skin color. But I’m not sure I like the idea of you changing your hair color to dress up as Elsa—because I think Elsa’s character could also be a short, brown-haired character like you.”
“No,” my daughter refuted. “I want you to make be a long, blonde braid like Elsa’s.”
“We can do that,” I agreed. “When we are dressing up as a made-up character who is White, it is OK to change how your hair looks, but I just want you to know that if you wanted to, you could dress up as Elsa and not change your hair.”
Later, as my daughter continued her daily ballads/sing-alongs to “How far I’ll go” from Moana, I began doing some research of my own with regard to if/how my daughter, a White child, could dress up as Moana in a respectful way, in case her 2018 costume choice got bumped up.
“What are you doing?” my daughter asked as she peered over my shoulder while I looked at my smartphone.
“I’m trying to find more information about if a (White) person can dress up as another person’s culture in a way that honors the culture, without making fun of the culture or using the culture in a way that uses stereotypes or makes people who identify with that culture feel uncomfortable…” Through some additional back and forth, I elaborated on the idea of stereotypes (click here for a conversation about stereotypes from when my daughter was much younger) and the concept of cultural appropriation, though without using this phrase.
I came up with three ideas:
First, I considered whether my daughter and I could find Polynesian artists that made traditional clothing and both learn about and support their work—but I wasn’t coming up with such artists…and, moreover, it still felt problematic to “dress up” as another culture, (even while trying to learn about and honor it). So much for idea #1.
My second idea, which I shared with my daughter, involved thinking about different qualities that Moana exemplifies, like bravery, strength, love of family, and caring for the environment, and using those qualities as inspiration to dress up as “Moana’s sister”.
My daughter was not impressed. “No! I want to be the real Moana!” she said with a scowl on her face.
Since we were talking about Halloween 2018, I wasn’t overly concerned, but a day or so later, it occurred to me to ask my daughter what her costume would look like if she were to dress up as the “real Moana.” I thought, perhaps, her answer could open up a possibility that hadn’t occurred to me.
“I need to see a picture of Moana,” she replied. We googled an image of Moana and my daughter affirmed that her costume would need to be “exactly like the one in the picture.”
“But I don’t have the exact clothing that Moana has—how about if you just wore similar colors as Moana, like a red shirt and a skirt?”
“No, I want you to use your sewing machine and make a costume like Moana’s.”
I reminded my daughter that I had given my sewing machine away (and, by the way, she had grossly over-estimated my sewing skills!).
“Anyway,” I added, “I don’t like the idea of dressing up using the same traditional clothing that someone from Moana’s culture may have worn because that feels like we are laughing at her culture by making it a costume. A child whose family is Polynesian could dress up using that type of traditional clothing but Moana’s culture is not our culture. If you want you could dress up as someone from one of your cultures, you could be a tango dancer from Argentina…(or as Che Guevara!). Otherwise, maybe you could be a modern-day Moana and dress up in the clothing you think Moana might wear today.”
After a few days of the same conversation, my daughter decided that she would, instead, dress up like Mickey Mouse for Halloween 2018.
“That is a great solution,” I told my daughter. “And with Mickey Mouse, we don’t have to worry about making fun of anyone or dressing up as a culture different from our own because Mickey Mouse is a pretend mouse!
This brings be to my third “idea” on “how to dress up as Moana”…which was to tell my daughter she could not do so. In the end, my daughter came to this on her own.
As far as my concerns about Elsa, I did some more googling and came up with images of a brown-haired Elsa and a
short-haired Elsa, which I showed to my daughter. “See?” I told her. “In these pictures, Elsa doesn’t even have a dress on, she has regular clothing. So there are lots of ways to ‘be’ Elsa. This is what I was saying about Moana—that you could dress as a modern Moana in regular clothing and still ‘be’ Moana.”
I was immediately shot down. My daughter would have a long blonde braid as “Elsa” and I would have to grin and bear it. Today, our Halloween discussion continued as my daughter required me to remember various costumes from my childhood and considered briefly dressing up as a telephone instead of “Mickey Mouse” in 2018. One thing is for sure, our discussions around appropriate and inappropriate Halloween costumes will continue.
Post Script: A friend shared with me that when her daughter encountered Frozen for the first time, they found a staged version with a Black woman playing Elsa (click here for a video about an artist who drew Elsa as Black). My friend also told her daughter that Idina Menzel, who sings the part of Elsa, is Jewish (as are my friend and her daughter) and that Idina Menzel looks nothing like Elsa. Finally, she shared that the husband and wife who wrote the music and lyrics to Frozen are a White woman and an Asian American man, just as in her daughter’s family (my friend is White and Jewish and her husband is Korean).
Please read this follow-up to this post,
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Sachi Feris is a blogger at Raising Race Conscious Children, an online a resource to support adults who are trying to talk about race with young children. Sachi also co-facilitates interactive workshops/webinars and individual consultations on how to talk about race with young children. Sachi currently teaches Spanish to Kindergarten and 1st grade at an independent school in Brooklyn. Sachi identifies as White and is a mother to her five-year-old daughter and to her two-year-old and three-month-old sons.
I found it really helpful to watch the extras for Moana that interview the costume designer, as well as other Polynesian artists for all aspects of the film. It makes me comfortable that Disney did a good job being respectful and that honoring Moana as a fictional character through cosplay would be respectful to Polynesian culture in general. Money can be an obstacle but would buying an actual Disney costume minus the wig be an option to avoid misrepresentation?
I admire your perseverance in interacting with your daughter. I realize talking about race and culture is an ongoing deeply important conversation. You also have given her essential values along with guidelines so she has the opportunity to grow, be creative, learn and find her way in the world with many ways to celebrate and play with her own race. Thanks for the great blog.
This feels murky. Is the distinction that Moana is based on a legend and Frozen based on a HCA story? I think it would be confusing for a child, and an adult, because they’re both representing different cultures. Of course, Moana’s diversity is easier to spot. I recognize the need to be sensitive, I’m just wondering how you parse the nuances for a child. The obvious difference feels like skin color, but would it be okay to dress up like Anna who doesn’t wear a sparkly gown and instead wears a more traditional dress? I would think no because that’s treating Norwegian dress like a costume, but it’s less blaring because she’s white.
I would be very interested in your response to this article by a woman originally from Fiji, living in New Zealand: https://thespinoff.co.nz/parenting/01-02-2017/how-to-dress-your-pakeha-child-up-as-maui-or-moana-without-appropriating-pasifika-culture/
This comment is not a disagreement with your article, I have the same gut reaction as you, and I love-love-love this as a model conversation with a five-year-old no matter the outcome.
Very helpful article. I do think there is a way to dress-up as favorite characters that are from another culture that is resepectful. This article gives a great starting point for thinking about this.
But I also love Sachi’s article. I think her situation is a great opportunity to discuss cultural/racial awareness with kids.
Is there any way a White child can dress up as a character of a different race than their own without appropriating another culture?
Dressing up as a specific “character” who is a person of color may sometimes be possible—as long as the extent of the costume is attached to essentials of who they are that do NOT have to do with their race and/or culture. A child could dress up as Doc McStuffins, for example, being a made-up character, without changing her skin or hair. Or consider the White child who dressed as Malcolm X without changing his skin color as a way to honor Malcolm X’s legacy.
To return to my conversation with my daughter about Moana…had my daughter been interested in dressing as Moana by wearing a skirt and a red scarf as a sash over a red T-shirt, and donning a necklace with a stone, she may have pulled off a “Moana” costume in a way I felt comfortable with and without appropriating Moana’s culture (she rejected this option). But even the store-bought costumes, in my book, do not enable a White child to “dress up” as Moana as a character without dressing up as her culture.
Whatever decision a parent makes, what is most important to us at Raising Race Conscious Children, is that “race conscious” conversation about the costume choice is had—that Halloween is used as an opportunity to raise awareness through conversation with children, not used as another way to reinforce a “color-blind” narrative that ignores the realities of racism.
As I have been thinking about it, I suppose we draw the line in a different place. Because I am passionate that representation matters in children’s media both so children of color see themselves in art AND because my white Jewish kids should look up to protagonists of color as heroes, I see wanting to dress up as those heroes is a natural extension of the normalization. As long as they aren’t using historically problematic symbols of a culture or race in the costume, I’m good with it.
Thanks for a great conversation!
The discouragement of cultural appropriation seems to assume very negative motives. Perhaps dressing up as someone from another culture is motivated by a desire to honour that culture.
I think we have to look at history as the guide. In a country where people dressed in black face and dressed as “Indians” who were then shot by cowboys (a sterilized version of the genocide of the native americans), we continue with the trauma by dressing up as people of color. I think we have to be clear that this is the distinction, white people cannot dress up as people of color (whether they be real or imaginary) because it invokes the history of and current practice of racial oppression.
Celine,
You make a very good point. I think we need to make cultural sensitivity the priority. Especially as instituational racism is hardly a thing of the past.
However, I agree with Rebecca and Marlene that there needs to be an appropriate way for white children to value and appreciate fictional and non-fictional people of color both past and present.
Certainly, blackface is never appropriate in any form. Nor is it ever appropriate to use cultural items as part of costumes. And I also think there is a responsibility on the part of the parent to do quite a bit of research and to not just pick up the Disney costume (which may not be particularly culturally sensitive). It’s definitely not something to be entered into casually.
My standard has been that it is ok to dress up as a character but not as a culture. So you could dress up as pocahontas, or tiger lily, but not as a Native American. So following that reasoning Moana would be ok, but not just as a person from her time and culture. I like what you told your daughter about how it would be ok to be Elsa with brown short hair. I think that communicates that you can embody the spirit of a character outside of their physical appearance.
I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this.
Is there any way a White child can dress up as a character of a different race than their own without appropriating another culture?
Dressing up as a specific “character” who is a person of color may sometimes be possible—as long as the extent of the costume is attached to essentials of who they are that do NOT have to do with their race and/or culture. A child could dress up as Doc McStuffins, for example, being a made-up character, without changing her skin or hair. Or consider the White child who dressed as Malcolm X without changing his skin color as a way to honor Malcolm X’s legacy.
To return to my conversation with my daughter about Moana…had my daughter been interested in dressing as Moana by wearing a skirt and a red scarf as a sash over a red T-shirt, and donning a necklace with a stone, she may have pulled off a “Moana” costume in a way I felt comfortable with and without appropriating Moana’s culture (she rejected this option). But even the store-bought costumes, in my book, do not enable a White child to “dress up” as Moana as a character without dressing up as her culture.
Whatever decision a parent makes, what is most important to us at Raising Race Conscious Children, is that “race conscious” conversation about the costume choice is had—that Halloween is used as an opportunity to raise awareness through conversation with children, not used as another way to reinforce a “color-blind” narrative that ignores the realities of racism.
This is a really intriguing conversation, and so I have more questions. I would have thought that Disney’s desire to represent more diverse princesses is quite positive, as long as they do so respectfully and by having people from that particular culture on the creative team. So if my kids wanted to dress as Moana, I would have been proud of them for not only admiring people who look like we do. You’ve presented a different side, and it’s raised a number of questions for me.
My family is a mix of Italian/Irish/British/Czech. So do they have to limit themselves to characters from those cultures or risk being culturally insensitive? Can they be people of other cultures as long as they don’t wear a wig that makes it look like they are imitating them? What about characters from made up places (like Elsa or Star Wars)?
Thanks!
The basic idea is no, they can not dress up as another culture (wig or not) because you are not that culture/identity. It is seen as disrespectful. Made-up characters are fine, IMO, b/c they are pretend.
Hi! My mom gave me this to read and we talked about it and I have to admit it makes me pretty confused. I’ve always thought of Halloween as a time when we get to be someone else. That’s kind of the point. I’d like to be Rosa Parks — she’s someone I really admire and I read her biography for school. I would never wear make-up to look like her — I know that’s really rude. But I did want to wear a wig and pretend glasses because that’s what you do on Halloween. I have no interest in being “Rosa Parks’ fan” or a “modern day Rosa Parks of German heritage” or whatever.
So my family is partially of German heritage but we’re Americans. I would never dress up as Hitler or wear lederhosen because that doesn’t feel right to me. But I wouldn’t mind if anyone else wore lederhosen, even if their family wasn’t German, because it feels like so obviously a costume and, well, that’s what we do on Halloween — wear costumes and be someone else. Obviously being Hitler for Halloween is pretty nasty. I’d rather be someone I respect as a way of honoring them.
And I’m not sure how your rules translate to other areas. Would you let your daughter have a Moana doll? Is it cultural appropriation for a white girl to have a doll that is black or Native American? When I was little, if I had told my mom that I only wanted white dolls then she would have been pretty disappointed. And what about the other Disney princesses? Is the Scottish girl from Brave okay even if you aren’t Scottish? Or Tiana? Pochohontas?
I don’t know — my grandmother is always rolling her eyes and saying that “this generation is taking things too far.” If she read that moms weren’t letting their daughters be Elsa because they don’t look like Elsa she would just throw up her hands in disgust. I read in the paper about a little boy who dressed like Elsa for Halloween and his school supported him and I thought that was great! Someday, if I have a daughter and she wants to be Moana rather than one of the silly Disney Princesses, I will be super proud of her and I would help her make a costume.
Celine, trying to understand fully what you’re saying. Is it inappropriate for a white child to dress as let’s say Doc McStuffins? What do you think is the best way to address it with the child so that she isn’t then left with the impression that she can only dress as white characters. I’m afraid the unintended consequences of that are that she’ll eventually reject the characters that are not white and right now I think it’s awesome she looks up to many characters and real people in her life of color.
The problem I see here is you (as a parent) are perpetuating the ideals of racism. Children don’t see Moana as anything different (fundamentally) from themselves. They see a young strong role model and that is what they want to (and should) emulate. By bringing “cultural appropriation” concerns into the conversation you are injecting the very thing you seek to eliminate. In addition, this seems to be a one way standard (unless you all plan on condemning any non white Snow White, Cinderella, or Belle you see).
These are children, they don’t understand racism, they don’t understand “cultural appropriation”, and the only way those concepts penetrate their world is if we put them there. The example of cowboys and Indians is well taken, and those kinds of “us vs them” mentalities should not be perpetuated. Why then should we replace them with an indictment of white children wanting to dress up like the characters they admire? Not because they’re Polynesian, or another race, but because they admire what the characters stand for in their minds.
I’m sure anyone reading this will shout “white privilege” at me, and that’s all fine and well, I understand that there are a multitude of things I don’t understand due to the color of my skin. However, I don’t think it’s fair to make a child feel bad for making a decision to emulate someone else’s values in a positive way. Otherwise, this thing cuts both ways, and I want every non-Irish person banned from celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, non-Scots blocked from attending Scottish Highland Games, and non-Germans stopped at the door when they show up at Octoberfest.
Yeeeess!! 👏👏👏 by the way, I am in no way white, just in case it matters 😒
Thank you! I would hate to not be able to wear my Henderson tartan because I’m not technically Scottish. The same goes for every person who cosplays. We dress as our favorite characters because we admire them and seek to inhabit their qualities through costume. To deny someone who absolutely admires Kenshin from dressing in his traditional hakama and kimono because he’s not Japanese retracts from the purpose of cosplay, and costume wearing in general. It is human nature to seek to emulate that which we find of quality.
That was a very thoughtful article on appropriation but did it dawn on anyone that the very celebration of Halloween in this country is one massive appropriation of ancient Celtics and the Mexican Day of the Dead? Why is no one also focusing on the fact that dressing up one’s child as a Disney Princess, or anything else for that matter, is making lite of other culture’s traditions
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating and carving jack-o-lanterns.
Would any of the people on here supporting this article tell their black child that it was inappropriate to dress up as a white character or support a parent who did?
Of course not. If I had a child of another race who wanted to be Elsa for Halloween you better believe they would get to be Elsa, irrespective of Elsa’s original race or origin. It’s Halloween, they’re kids, not letting them dress up as a character they like because of the ridiculous idea of cultural appropriation is just nonsensical.
My son in an 8yr old, white, Jewish kid w a bushy head of blonde hair.
He chose to be the Black Panther this year for Halloween.
He picked it out himself bc he thought the Black Panther was cool in Civil War and the Marvel cartoons he watches. My son just sees him as another Avenger alongside Iron Man and Captain America.
Did we get some side eye looks when he was trying it on at Party City and again when he wore it to NY Comic Con? Yes, he did…but that’s those people’s problem, not mine or my son’s.
Maybe other people see a white boy dressing as a black character.
My son just sees it as he’s dressing up like one of his favorite superheroes.
I really feel like more and more it’s adults that are ruining things like Halloween for children by injecting their own internal racism or insecurities. I think some would like to see all races and cultures completely segregated again, where we live in our own bubbles and neighborhoods. We should be encouraging kids to appreciate other cultures, not making them feel guilty for wanting to emulate others. My son is 1/2 white and 1/2 black, by these standards of not appropriating others, he won’t be able to celebrate Halloween at all soon enough.
Wait – what? As somebody with a strong Danish lineage and even a direct (but admitedly distant royal heritage) – I have to respectfully disagree. The characters in Frozen are most definitely based on a real and very rich culture. Heck, a Danish guy(H.C.A) wrote the SNOW QUEEN – (which Frozen is based on) – about Danish royalty. She is a fictional character – just like Moana, but her culture is very real. I personally do not feel at all weirded out when a child dresses like Elsa or Anna. I don’t think it’s strange when kids dress up like police officers or historical figures. They are kids, and in the same way they’d put together crappy costumes for a history report on Frida Kahlo, or Laura Ingalls Wilder – they are using their imaginations to put themselves in another person’s shoes (literally), another place, another time, another way of life. God I wish everybody would take a day to do that.
It’s called cosplay… it’s an appreciation of the character. Cosplay has no race or gender. If you like a character and want to be that character DO IT. Female Gaston, Male Elsa, nothing wrong with those, nor does your skin tone does not define your love of a character. So tired of all these people worried about stepping on toes for being a character. If you’re not saying “hey I represent all Polynesian people!” then there’s nothing wrong with it. If you are however, or black facing, wearing a native american headress to be an “indian” and not being one of the Village People then yes, there is something wrong with that.
I’m Polynesian and my husband is of Nowegian decent. I have a blonde, fair skinned, blue eyed daughter. If my husband is taking the kids trick-or-treating and my fair skinned daughter were to want to dress up as Moana is that considered cultural appropriation? I’m so confused by these standards.
While I appreciate your effort to get your child to think about the history and culture behind their favorite characters, they are just that- characters. And, Halloween, for a child that age, is about having fun. In a different context, I think it might be OK to try to be culturally sensitive about costumes (if your daughter were in Irish dance, you’d want to be respectful of Irish costume. If an older child did a school report on Polynesian culture, you’d want to be careful.) “Cultural appropriation” is different than respectfully paying homage to a culture. Hawiians don’t balk at giving out Leis when you arrive. It’s a part of their culture that they want to share with visitors. In many countries, it is expeceted that visitors dress in the manner of the native culture (like in Africa, where women are encouraged to wear long skirts while visiting. Or in Islamic countries where women are asked to cover their hair in certain places.) Finally, no matter how much you want your child to grow up culturally sensitive, I don’t think it pays to draw such sharp lines racially at such a young age. I’m all for understanding and learning a bout other people’s cultures, but be careful not to mix up race and culture. (i.e. Elsa is white but has a different culture than you.) Your article is inconsistent. It’s OK for your daughter to dress up as a character with white skin, but you also showed that that same white character can be portrayed as black and it’s a-ok. If you’re going to make rules about who can dress up as who it has to go both ways… the rules can’t just be for white people.
“Elsa is an imaginary or made-up character. 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.”
1. Just as Moana was inspired by Pacific islanders, Frozen was inspired by Norwegians.
2. “Real history”? When in human history did we ever have shape-shifting body builders, fire-goddess islands, sentient ocean water, or giant crabs that covered themselves in gold and sang David Bowie songs?
I read up to this point,
“Elsa is an imaginary or made-up character. Moana is based on real history and a real group of people.”
and stopped.
Moana was most definitely not based on real history nor a real group of people. Both stories were based in non-existent places and on non-existent people.
Unless you’re trying to lump ALL Polynesians into the same group? (And you better not be. Trying to say people here in Hawaii are the same as people from New Zealand is incredibly disrespectful of the differences in those vastly different cultures. It’d be like trying to say Spain and Sweden are the same people, because Europe).
Sorry, but with all due respect it, I find your article to be oppressive, unfortunate and lacking in a true understanding of life in a very mixed cultural environment. Having grown up in New York and New Jersey I lived in two very different worlds, and in my adult life having lived in Las Vegas Nevada, San Antonio Texas and Salt Lake City Utah I’ve been fortunate to have been introduced to diverse cultures through friends, family and sometimes complete strangers. Sharing one’s culture with another person brings you together, while labeling others and desperately trying to walk on eggshells divides us.
Halloween is a day you get to be someone else. This kind of thinking is culturally ignorant and sterile. If my child admires someone from a different culture I know I’m doing my job correctly. It means I’m teaching them about the many cultures that make up America. I also find it very important to teach them about the history of our country, how we rose to become the nation that we became and why today we’re so divided.
I have taught my children that we don’t refer to people by their race we refer to them by their name, title or miss, sir and the occasional ma’am. At a time of division that we’re seeing now, is not the time to stop our children from celebrating people from other cultures by dressing up like them. This doesn’t help anyone it only further divides us all, and it’s becoming quite evident that there is a movement in this country to keep us divided. I wonder why they’re such a strong movement To divide us and keep us as divided as possible.
As Morgan Freeman said in many different interviews when I asked if he considered himself an African-American, he said no. I’m an American. Well, I agree with Morgan Freeman because we’re all Americans and only together can we change things for the better.
There will always be those who are haters, there will always be those who are constantly offended and yet we can rise above such ignorance and treat our fellow Americans and all people as well and as sincerely we would treat our own grandmother.
In order to achieve this, we must return to the Understanding that most people don’t hate, and most people aren’t going to be offended and If you take the time to get to know a lot of different people you find out that most people will welcome you into their tribe if you’re just honest, respectful and fun.
Who else obsessed over the American Girl collection of books? “Meet Addy” “Meet Molly” “Meet Felicity” books that empowered women from every culture. One year I dressed up as Molly and my friend (mix race) dressed up as Addy. I love those books and maybe that is why I struggle to understand what is wrong with sharing culture. I also didn’t grow up with t.v. or radio or any connection to the media world other than news papers and the news every morning while getting ready for school. If I got bored and none of my friends were home to go play with, my dad handed me a book. If I had a question that could be found in a dictionary, encyclopedia, or a history book, my parents answer to the question was “Look it up.” My mom bought me and my sisters journals every summer and we wrote in them every night before bed. The only limits placed on us were the limits of our imagination(unless we were doing something illegal or harmful). I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a CoC who want’s to dress up like Elsa and trick or treat with her white friend who wants to be Mona but has to worry about culture. Let them be children and experience the different cultures. My Mexican friends took me to their dance classes where I learned the “Salsa” and I took them to my Irish dance class. They laughed at my Spanish and I laughed at their English and we all struggled with German. My Latino friends introduced me to “The House on Mango Street”, I introduced them to “Seven Alone”, and our Native American friend introduced us to “Ceremony” and we all laughed when I had to read both books in College. We all played “cops and robbers” and “cowboys and Indians” We now all struggle with this new concept of culture.
When I went to Korea I wanted to learn and practice Korean with the Koreans. They wanted to practice their English with me. When a Korean gave a swastika pin to wear on my shirt and take home as a souvenir I had to set a side my initial response of taking offense to understand that in their culture it was symbol of good well and luck. It is also rude to reject gifts in their culture. That to me is cultural awareness.
I think this attempt to censor what kids wear for Halloween is separating them from cultural differences, not exposing them. It’s also telling them they can’t be part of something because of x,y,and z which is contradicting the whole idea of acceptance. I believe it is also depriving them of forming empathy. In other words experiencing, as closely as possible, what it is like to wear moccasins, carve out a bow and arrow, walk a dusty trail with covered wagon and farm animal, wear a feather in their hair and wear leather clothing, pick rice, potatoes, and harvest crop. You are reducing their imagination to what is deemed appropriate to someone other than themselves. I don’t care what race you are. If your child wants to imagine they are someone or something they aren’t for Halloween, let them. Otherwise you are telling them that their imagination is not their own. Something as private and intertwined with learning and building a healthy sense of self and individuality as imaginations and you are telling them that they have to sensor that for the sake of another culture or person who would not do the same for them in return is damaging your child.
As for my children. They will grow up reading books from every culture they express interest in. They will learn other languages or at least become familiar with them (lets face it. I can read Spanish and understand some of it when spoken, but I get laughed at when I try to speak it.). They will exercise their imaginations even if I have to have to cope with Indian calls and sew customs all night the night before Halloween. I will introduce them to anthropology so they can be introduced to deadbird the documentary(of course at an appropriate age) because that is a piece of African culture that shows a side of humanity that few know even exist. but illustrates the way humans learn and adapt to environment. Which is exactly what I want my children to learn. Otherwise what is the point of culture? That’s just me though.
I first encountered this article on Redbook Magazine (online). It introduces a vile Slant of Segregation, rather than the thoughtful consideration of your original article. The Redbook reprint includes a link to a repost of this article in the New York Post that does not have a jaded slant.
Thank you for your thoughtful insight on the real world of multicultural living, and wearing a costume that emulates respect to a cross-cultural character while remaining in your own skin.
The reprinted article in Redbook Magazine is nothing but 1950’s racism through segregation purporting that white children cannot wear costumes of characters from other cultures and vice versa. We have enough backwards thinking in the world today without it ruining Halloween for children who want to dress up and pretend to be their favorite person or character. It is not racist to desire to portray someone you love in your own skin.
If they were smearing black paint on their faces, and using white paint to make exaggerated eyes and lips like those foul comedians of the 1920s & 30s that would be hateful racism.
http://www.redbookmag.com/life/mom-kids/news/amp52626/moana-halloween-costume-racist/
I think people are only looking at Caucasian kids as having limits which is not fair. You should not keep one child from dressing up, out of admiration, as another culture just because it is not their culture. If that is your belief then that should be the stance for ALL children. If there is no malicious intent, and it is done tastefully, I do not see a problem with children of any race or ethnicity dressing up as someone they admire, from a different cultural background. By telling children you can’t do this because you are not “blank” we are creating a stronger division earlier in life. If we make them aware of the difference in culture and teach them about what they want to dress up as, then there is no problem in my book. It is a teaching and learning experience for you and your child. Allowing for crosses in culture is what will make for a more tolerant world. The US has always said we were a melting pot not a salad bowl, but the mentality that an innocent child can’t be their ideal because they are a different ethnicity turns the US into a salad bowl and creates a deeper division.
Saying someone shouldn’t do something because of their race is textbook racism in itself… Just think about that for a moment.
As a member of a minority group (Native American), I think you are overdoing it. Seeing white kids wear a headdress and buckskins doesn’t bother me, nor does seeing a troop of little white “braves” with warpaint. Let kids be kids. By going into all of this depth, you are deepening the racial divide. I am American; white kids are American. SO my culture is their culture.
We just got back from Disneyworld two days ago. By far, the costume I saw girls wearing more than any other was Moana. When they brought her character out for meet and greets when the movie came out, she was so popular and the line was so long that they had to take her out temporarily until they built her own space with lots of waiting room. We are finally to a place where Disney and other children-centered movies are beginning to show more diversity in their heroes and heroines and like any other time, children will “idolize” them because they have always done that – whether it’s dressing up as superheroes, princesses, cowboys, whatever…children emulate what they see and what they like. We’ve come a long way, just having a Polynesian princess in the first place, and the fact that she’s the most popular is a good thing, not something to be told “Look but that’s all you are allowed to do.” Emulating and accepting other cultures is a good thing. That’s how we teach kids to respect others and to realize that being different from one another isn’t bad. Now, I am a white woman. And I am a white woman, who as of late, as developed an incredibly acute sensitivity for race relations and who absolutely does not condone or defend demeaning or disrespecting other races of people. However, I think when kids do it, as innocently as they do, you absolutely encourage and let them emulate people of other cultures, while also teaching them in the process. I think it’s good when you have the discussion that Moana is from a real place and this is who they are and what they look like….but part of the appeal to little girls or boys is wearing the dress or costumes and mimicking things they do. The biggest appeal to my daughter of Elsa isn’t her skin color (I know, that seems like a ridiculous argument since we are white) – it’s the fact that she’s kind of superhero-ish, in that she can control ice and freeze things. When she dresses like her, she will go around the house pretending to freeze everything. Yes, she’s beautiful and yes, she happens to be white, but that’s OK. She is Danish and Danish people are white. And girls who aren’t white can still dress like her and act like her, even if they don’t look like them. I think for too long, girls of any other race besides Caucasian have had no characters to look to for representation and now, Caucasian girls are able to see differences in their heroines and I think it’s a step in the right direction that they want to be more like them, especially Moana, who actually is different than all other Disney “princesses” in that she wasn’t dependent on a man to rescue her. I think that’s certainly one we need to encourage our girls to be more like.
Ok racism for the most part is not a kindergartners issue. No one would find it inappropriate for a child of color to dress up as Elsa. Even though she is based on a non specific royal early Norwegian family. Cause your five year old isn’t trying to be a Norwegian she’s trying to be a singing cold controling princess just how a child dressing as Mona isn’t trying to appropriate Polynesian culture she’s just trying to be a singing princess that can move water. My child knows she isn’t from the Pacific Ocean she’s not under the impression she had nomadic sailing ancestors and she knows her colors so she knows they aren’t the same but that’s the amazing thing about kindergartens they don’t separate princess or people by color that is something that is learned later. So it’s not the culture she is trying to appropriate and dress as. It’s just her favorite princess who sings her favorite song and has a pet pig which is her favorite animal. If your child wants to be a strong brave honorable female character let her don’t teach her to make decisions based on skin tone.
This is an interesting article and definitely food for thought. I don’t want to sound like I am attacking your perspective, this is your family and you need to educate and parent the way you and your partner see best, but not allowing your child to dress up and emulate a character of another race for Halloween seems fearful rather than respectful of that culture. My thought would be to allow her to dress up as Elsa or Moana, but to share with her why these two different cultures, Danish and Polynesian (Disney pulled from multiple Polynesian cultures here, mainly Hawaiian and Samoan), are special and unique cultures. Making it a fun learning moment rather than a fear of offense moment. The respect that she develops for other cultures in this country and outside this country starts in your home, and I do admire you for wanting to have the continuing and hard conversations about race. Well meaning white people are so afraid of offense these days, that I wonder if we would do better (as white people), to just shut up, listen, and acknowledge the truth of race and white privilege in this country. Owning the $h!t of our past is so essential to healing. We can’t change the past…., but we can do better moving forward…, and personally, I think the idea of us parents allowing our kids to admire, dress up as, and have heroes of other races and cultures is freaking awesome, but I do agree that when doing so…, it’s important to keep the dialogue of race and culture open and ongoing and positive.
Omg!! I never realized this was an issue. I’m Samoan raised in Samoa (one of the Polynesian countries) I always thought that we can be whoever we want on Halloween. Never thought about “culture appropriation”.
You won’t offend any Polynesians if your daughter dressed as Moana. Polynesians consists of many cultures. Also the word “Polynesia” is a western term. Many of us don’t use the term as our ethnicity/race. We say “Samoan, Tongan, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Maori and so forth” We may have similarities, but we are different. Like Europeans, similar and yet, different.
The movie Moana is fictional, it’s an animated movie. Our people are known as voyagers by early westerners who travelled the Pacific in the 1700’s.
Let your child be Moana. It’s Halloween.
Faafetai
Kids don’t care about race. What do u think your kid is going to tell her friends? She can’t be Moana because Moana is different race and culture? Then when one of her friends is dressed as Moana she’s going to tell her it’s offensive because she’s not the same skin color. This is literally forcing your kid to be racist. I understand and admire the efforts to remain respectful but she’s 5. This is too much too soon and causing exactly what you want to prevent, in my opinion.
As often is, there seems to be a lack in volume from the voices of the people who are being affected directly but much discussion by everyone else so I am going to speak up.
I am a Polynesian living in Oceania – this is my world.
I understand the argument and thank you for thinking of us however I am going to disagree with you.
I do want to point out though that the answer is right in front of you.
You say
“We would have to do some research and figure out if there is a way to dress up as Moana that is respectful of her culture”,
The most respectful way to dress as Moana would simply be to dress as Moana…as in BUY an official Disney Moana costume.
As far as you, (a non-Polynesian) is concerned, please accept that the research has already been done by Disney. Although obviously we were not all consulted, there WAS a consultation process done for Moana. (And Moana is not a real person by the way, the entire movie is pan Polynesian)
By doing ANYthing else other than buying an OFFICIAL Moana costume to avoid offense….is most likely to cause offense.
To MAKE a Moana-like costume and to stray in your own mind and create what YOU think is Moana… you will most likely miss the mark. Because if it’s not your culture, you won’t know what is and what isn’t acceptable.
It’s too far gone.
It’s too late to try and find a way to be too deep into PC when our culture has already made it’s way to mainstream via Disney of all platforms. Moana is already out there. The safest and most respectful way you can honour us is to go the Disney way, sigh.
If your kid wants to be Moana, buy a Moana costume.
If the costume offends us, the world will hear from us (remember the Maui costume?) I appreciate that you are concerned, but in all due respect, we are not defenseless people.
Just because you yourself can’t hear or see us, doesn’t mean we are not here flourishing in our world.
While this was an issue running through your mind, did you ever think to consult US? There is a list of Story and Cultural Consultants in the end credits of the movie but also a public shout out would have done wonders.
Here lies the issue :
when others create problems for us when we didn’t suggest that it was a problem in the first place.
The majority of my people are literate and we have access to the internet. We have multiple media outlets – owned, managed and run by our own. If we want to make a big deal about something, we can and we will.
We Polynesians have navigated our universe for thousands of years – we’re still here. We fought our battles and we held our own. We are a warrior people and we know how to fight, but we are wise in our strategies about how, when and if we attack.
I apologise if you feel I have attacked but this point of view has rattled me.
My suggestion is, next time you have an issue of this nature – contact but most of all INCLUDE the people you are discussing directly, like you include your children. By worrying about causing offence via a costume and discussing our apparent offence online as if we are not here defeats the purpose of bringing it to light with your children, don’t you think?
It doesnt make any sense to me.
It’s common courtesy and I assume that you don’t discuss people in front of you while they are there listening and watching without including them, so don’t do it to us. We are not invisible.
My name is Hana Kupu, I am on Facebook and I have posted a public reply to the ‘controversy’ here : https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1784634648500495&id=100008619301352
If the link fails, please look up my name.
I encourage you all to join me on my post and listen to what I have to say.
I am one voice. But my one voice is more powerful than you must know, judging by this blog post being written in the first place.
This article makes me so sad. My White friend’s daughter last year wore a princess Elena costume (she the Disney channels Hispanic/Latina princess). Her daughter is blonde and has pale skin. She though it was weird since they don’t look alike. As a Latina it warmed my heart. I saw a White girl wanting to be like a a Latina. She didn’t look down at her. She wanted to emulate her. My son who’s is half White and Half Latino )Puerto Rican and Mexican) is going as Black Panther. He likes his character and his cool moves.
It’s a celebration of all things Polynesian and should be worn with pride and love. Please don’t make dressing up like Moana about white wearing brown.
Elsa is not any more “made up” than Moana. Elsa was inspired the Danish folktale “The Snow Queen”, which itself drew from old Norse mythology (ie, the religion of the pre-Christian Norse peoples).
Scandinavian culture dress is everywhere in Frozen. Basically every outfit is pulled straight from Scandinavian culture, with the exception of Elsa’s iconic blue dress, which is a mish-mash of traditional and modern elements.
A non-Scandinavian person wearing, say, Princess Anna’s outfit would absolutely be engaging in cultural appropriation – IF you apply the same standards you apply to Moana.
Whilst I love the fact you’re trying to be sensitive to another culture it is a little too much. I’m from New Zealand and have a mixture of Polynesian, native Maori and European (English/Welsh) ancestry. I watched Moana for the first time a couple of months ago and loved the movie but I could clearly tell that the writers drew inspiration from different Polynesian groups. For all our similarities we also have unique differences too. I actually loved the fact that Disney put out a movie that reflected a strong female character of Polynesian descent because we’re not a large group. If people get even just a little insight into aspects of my culture I think it’s great and if little girls want to dress as Moana (even if the dress isn’t completely authentic) then great! If I saw a little girl of non-Polynesian decent dressed as Moana I would think it adorable. I’m more sensitive towards people appropriating tribal inkings (because they have cultural significance) than I do with a dress code.
That your white child would want to emulate a Polynesian or African character for Halloween is, to me, a sign of exactly the kind of thing Martin Luther King would have wanted to see: The child is judging people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. The children aren’t exercising racism here, we are.
I don’t understand why you think Elsa is more of an imaginary character than Moana is?
Moana’s island culture is a respectful representation of Samoan life and mythology and draws many references from that culture but she and her story were never real.
In the same way, while Elsa and her story were never real, Elsa’s kingdom’s culture respectfully draws on Scandinavian life and folklore (specifically Danish culture for Anna and Elsa and Sami culture for Kristoff).
You could make the same argument about cultural appropriation for both characters, and I think that it’s great that you do have conversations about these kind of issues with your daughter but I also can’t personally see a problem with her dressing up as a character she clearly admires. It is such a good thing for Moana to exist so children can see cultural diversity in their idols and role models, and imitation is a way of expressing that admiration, and Moana herself is a Character, not a Caricature.
Very thoughtful article