Disney has received widespread backlash after its recent casting announcement for their live-action remake of Lilo and Stitch - with our very own Niu FM host getting over 2 million views on her TikTok video questioning the choice.
The decision has also sparked conversations regarding the film industry’s ongoing history of colourism, whitewashing and erasure of indigenous and darker skinned communities.
Niu FM Nights host Soana Aleva's Tiktok video last Friday, in response to the casting announcement, highlighted the question on many minds ‘why does this actress look nothing like Nani?’
Aleva says her viral video was motivated by wanting to see the popular cartoon role being portrayed by an actor who embodied what the character represents to so many in the Pacific.
“We just wanted Nani to be represented authentically so we can relate to her and the story - now it seems commercialised. It’s not about hating on the actress, I’m sure she is a great talent.”
Rising actress Sydney Agudong was selected for the iconic role of Nani - who is the older sister and legal guardian of young Lilo - while the character in the original movie had darker brown skin and a curvaceous Polynesian build.
And given Lilo and Stitch is beloved across the Pacific for providing a genuine expression of Hawaiian culture, many on social media say Disney has missed an opportunity to give Pacific people the chance to be authentically represented in the mainstream media.
Aleva joined local Pacific actress and Niu FM’s Morning Shack host Gaby Solomona earlier this week to discuss the casting decision and Aleva points out that many of the comments on the video said they wanted to see that "brown skin magic" being cast.
“This is an opportunity that young girls like our nieces could have seen themselves on screen,” Aleva says. “We saw ourselves in Nani the cartoon. She was thick, she had a little stomach pudge - which a lot of us have - she was feisty, strong and resilient.”
“Her character represented what some of us girls had to be in our families. We had to be the strong ones, we had to be the main providers, we had to be the ones who lift up the morale in the family.”
On Tuesday, Disney announced Kahiau Machado to star as Nani’s love interest David Kawena.
Sydney Agudong and the makers of Lilo and Stitch have not yet commented on the casting announcement.
Photo supplied