The people that keep saying that Asha is a copy of Isabela are actually just stupid racists, and no, you can’t change my mind.
I simply cannot take you seriously if you can pinpoint the differences between all of Disney’s white women but won’t give their women of colour the same grace. Isabela and Asha are both brown-skinned women that wear purple dresses and part their hair to the same side, but that’s about where the similarities end. Let me point out the differences for you so that you don’t keep sounding like an actual idiot!
Racist Tangled and Frozen fans arguing that Anna/Elsa and Rapunzel look totally different and it's impossible to tell them apart:
Those same racist stans when two women of color from two completely separate movies/worlds who DON'T conform to white femininity(and aren't even the same race) appear:
You explained this so well and I love that. It’s insane to me that white character designs are given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being seen as individuals, but poc characters aren’t often afforded that same luxury.
If it’s this easy for people to make “they look the same” comments about animated characters, you might begin to wonder how they perceive poc in real life.. these racial biases always find a way of showing
They look the same because their character design’s literally call for it
The same case happened with Sisu’s final design. You can see in the concept art for both Sisu and Asha the designers had vastly different ideas of how to design the characters that match their cultures. At the end of the day though, Sisu has to look like Elsa and Asha has to look like Isabela because Disney knows that sells and they love playing it safe
Are there racists that complain just to complain? Of course. But they are too busy complaining how they don’t want an original Black character to be in fantasy Spain, despite acknowledging Black people lived in the area at this time period
But I promise you a lot of Black people saw Asha and thought “Isabela?” for a reason. Most of us couldn’t even tell she had braids, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised they were designed by a White person. And this was before we found out she’s supposed to be from Spain but also Amazigh. They gave her “box braids” even though that’s not what North Africans typically would wear at this time, and if they did it would not look like this. They can’t even animate the movement of her braided hair properly, it’s so stiff and lifeless, because they are trying to mimic straight hair logic like Isabela’s
When it comes to character design, especially for something like Disney celebrating their 100 years of animation, this is terrible. Yes Black people have eyes we can see the physical differences between Isabela and Asha. You have to look closely at those details though. You take a glance at them and easily mix them up because their color pallets and silhouette shapes are similar. “But Isabella has a thicker body” that means nothing when most of it is covered with a dress, and long hair shaped like Asha’s. That’s the issue here.
You can tell the difference between a silhouette of Cinderella’s and Elsa’s designs if you black them out. And in the case of comparing it to Elsa and Rapunzel(since they have the same 3D animation), again you can tell the difference, because Rapunzel’s long hair is just that dynamic
But when you do the same for Asha and Isabela?(these photos are of courtesy to that one blog trying to tell me these look vastly different btw)
It becomes a lot more difficult to distinguish between the two. (that one blog also told me I seem to hate protective hairstyles by suggesting they give Asha hair accessories to break her design apart a bit……as I wore box braids at this time) Then when you do include colorized versions you see the same shape, brown skin, long dark hair, and purple asymmetrical dresses
Btw I’m not trying to come at you OP, because I can clearly see your main concern here stems from racists doing their thing and acting frustratingly aloof as always. Which they are, I literally saw one of them complaining about how Asha and Isabela look similar the other day. Thing is, they are not someone that knows the rules of character design, and they only brought it up to rant how Disney pushes agendas of darkskinned propaganda or something. They did not care for cultural accuracies, or design philosophies
Also these are not real people. They are animated pixels that look the way they do depending on the artist. What we see now is what the artists(and corporate Disney) decided was marketable and easy to sell. So when people say they look the same, it’s most likely not because they can’t tell the difference between two racial groups. It’s because they are pixels that literally have no say how they are designed and portrayed
But you are going to see actual designers, including Black ones point out this is a bad design for reasons I listed here, and then some. Black people, especially those of us that design characters either for a living or as a hobby, are going to be extra critical here. Disney keeps on thinking they can put in minimum effort when it comes to us, and we’re tired
these two things can both be right.
i look at isabela and asha straight on and am like....that's the same shape. their actual features are very different, because the characters' ethnicities are different, yes, but also -- disney definitely did not put enough detail/differences into their characters.
the animation style frustrates me too because if this were 2D animation these women would look as different as they should look. but it's 3D, and this "baby faced women" problem in animation we've got going on is rampant. disney didn't do the work.
all that said, to say they look the same because brown skin and purple and side part and "round face" and brown eyes is racist and it should be called out as such.
Damn no reading comprehension?
No actually, you know what? That was really rude. You're seriously going to subtweet "skill issue" because a random person on the internet didn't respond beat for beat to your take on the discussion?
This is a blog website, not an academic discussion forum. Glad to see stuff like this is discussed in places like this, but nobody is under any obligation to write a thesis to participate in a discussion. I could have just reblogged and gone about my day, as can anyone, but I had something to add. I said my points. If you have an actual response, say that, but don't just go on your high and mighty horse and insinuate that someone isn't nuanced, skilled or intelligent enough to even be qualified to comment on your academic diatribe. Screw you, actually.
I deadass stopped reading after "No actually, you know what?"