(PNS reporting from BURBANK) Now that an embarrassed Disney has explained that the animated character Princess Sofia the First is NOT a Latina princess, the studio was quick to announce that a real Latina princess is in the works, this time for a feature-length film.
Princess Malinche will be the heroine of Disney’s next animated film, due for release in the summer of 2014, according to a statement issued today.
The tentative cast already includes Catherine Zeta Jones as the voice of Malinche, Justin Bieber as Cortés and Paul Rodriguez as Fray Xicken.
The story of Malinche follows her idyllic upbringing in the then-Aztec empire in what is now Mexico during the early 1500s to her whirlwind romance with Spaniard Hernán Cortés, and finally to the epic drowning of her own children in the river.
When asked whether the genocide in Latin America was an appropriate topic for a Disney movie made for children, Disney Vice President for the Animation Ron Goldman said that, if it worked for Pocahontas, there was no reason it couldn’t work for Malinche.
“We’re not going to focus on the genocide of millions of native Americans per-se, but we’ll probably gloss over that part in a colorful thematic musical number,” he told PNS. “Ultimately, what we’re going for is the Latino moviegoing audience, which as you know, is one of the biggest buyers of movie tickets these days.”
Some of the planned songs for the film already include:
- “My Beating Heart Is In Your Hands”
- “‘Áiac xictli in tlaltícpac’ Means ‘I Love You'”
- “Someday my prince with come with smallpox”
- “Under the sea… lay the bodies of my children”
L.A.-based activist Xochitl Narvaez said the film was an abomination to Chicanas everywhere, and Latinos, too.
“This is an outrage! This film not only offends me personally as a Chicana, but it depicts my community as one that needs to celebrate our conquerers!” Narvaez said.
Although she didn’t plan on seeing the film, she said her niece already made her promise to get her the Malinche action figure and accompanying book for a birthday gift. Narvaez also said that a Latina princess would make a pretty bitchin’ piñata.
A Disney press representative said that any backlash would serve as a helpful way to rewrite the history of Malinche, making it more cheery, and to market the story of the iconic first mother of the Chicano not as one of conquest and genocide, but of colorful jungles and catchy maraca-filled songs.