Amidst all of the Halloween madness, I read an article about a mother who would not let her daughter dress up as Moana for Halloween because it would be "cultural appropriation." After talking with her 5-year-old daughter, the two finally settled on an Elsa costume instead. The mother said she was still unsure about letting her dress up as Elsa because she didn't want her daughter to think you had to be "white, blue-eyed and have long flaxen hair to be a 'beautiful' princess."
There are so many things wrong with this, but let me start off with establishing one thing: cultural appropriation and appreciation are two vastly different things.
This is cultural appropriation:
This is not:
Now I know what you're thinking: "This white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl is trying to give a lesson on cultural appropriation when she hasn't even experienced it." No, no I'm not. I'm trying to defend the innocence of childhood.
When I was younger, I dressed up like Mulan for Halloween. I had the whole costume right down to the jade beads you hear about in "Honor To Us All" and I was loving it. Never once did it cross my mind that I couldn't dress up as Mulan because I wasn't Asian.
Another year I dressed up as Lilo from "Lilo and Stitch." Again, the thought never crossed my mind that I didn't look like Lilo, so I couldn't dress up like her.
I loved both movies and both characters and that is why I wanted to be like them. I loved how brave Mulan was and I loved how Lilo and Stitch were such good friends.
I didn't dress up like their culture, I was appreciating who they were as characters.
I get it. I get it. Obviously, I'm not fond of the cultural appropriation in some costumes, but this isn't the case. Whether it's Moana, Elsa, Tiana, or Belle, these little girls want to be these characters because of who they represent. They aren't trying to ruin or disrespect cultures. They simply admire these characters. These characters are icons that will begin to shape girls into the women they will grow up to be.
