Up's Russell Growing More Maybe-Asian By the Day
When we theorized a while back that Up's Russell was the new Adam Lambert, we didn't know just how close Pixar's chubby hero would hew to Lambert's coy trajectory. Like a certain glam runner-up who's willing to don glitter and platform shoes but won't come out of the closet, clues are being dropped to Russell's ethnicity without it being confirmed outright.
Today, Slashfilm's David Chen picked up on the same oddity we did: namely, that it's strange how Disney is excited to promote the upcoming racial diversity of The Princess and the Frog, but won't confirm outright whether Russell is supposed to be Asian (despite the fact that he's played by an Asian boy, Jordan Nagai, and is partially based on Pixar animator Peter Sohn according to a Scifiwire interview).
Does a post-Mulan Disney feel that Russell is a case of "been there, done that," or does Pixar itself have a mandate to treat the issue differently? After all the race wars caused by Monsters Inc., perhaps none of us can be too careful.
· Marketing Up's Asian-American Lead Character [Slashfilm]
· Up director Pete Docter on talking dogs, youth scouts and adventure [Scifiwire]
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Comments
I think we'd all know if this charachter was really asian because This is a Disney film people. Is he super smart at math? Does he use chopstick to do anything and everything? Does a gong sound everytime he comes on screen? Does he only travel via rickshaw, or the orient express? Is his best friend a wise-crakin dragon?
If the answer is no, no, no, no, and no, then I don't think Disney made this kid Asian.
A family member of mine works at Pixar, and confirms that Russell is meant to be Korean.
What do I get for solving?
If there's one thing Pixar is about, it's story, story, story.
I've had the pleasure of seeing UP and perhaps the reason Disney/Pixar isn't commenting on Russell's race is that it's COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT to the story. Russell is an 8 year-old kid and he has a whole lot more in common with other kids than he does with a particular race or nationality.
Yeah... this is Disney's subsidiary Pixar, not Disney itself. They go by different and more glorious, heartwarming and innoffensive rules.*
When I die I want my ashes sprinkled over Pixar studios.
*Except for if your fat. They hate fat people.
You're missing the point. It's great yes that race is not essential or important to the character but to leave it ambiguous comes across as a half-hearted attempt by Disney/Pixar in not owning up to what his background is in fear of mainstream disapproval.
Though his possible Asian ethnicity is still up for debate, at least it's safe to say Russell is definitely not black. The movie would have had to be named Get Down.
Ah, the double-edged sword of ethnic casting. Play it up and you're a pandering asshole. Play it down and you're afraid of pissing off Middle America. I personally think it's terrific that, thus far, Pixar/Disney hasn't jumped down our throats and thrown themselves one of those dragon parades you always used to see in movies whenever the main (white) characters chased a criminal into Chinatown.
While we're on the subject, I'd like to applaud Grey's Anatomy (an ABC/Disney show) for having a crazy diverse cast without batting an eye. Have no idea if it's written that way or simply cast that way, but it's nice to see. Speaking of diverse ABC/Disney shows... Lost anybody? Maybe those minority watchdog groups have finally beaten the higher-ups at Disney into a zombie state with their scorecards of color.