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Backlash on Live Action Lilo & Stitch's Nani is outrageous
I've been seeing so many people talk stink about Sydney Agudong being cast as Nani for the Lilo and Stitch live action movie on social media, and I am sick of it. She is Native Hawaiian and Filipino, born and raised Kaua'i, studied UH, and people are just mad that she isn't "brown enough"?
Culture is not skin deep. I am Native Hawaiian, and while I think I look browner than my sisters and some of my cousins, I get choke fair-skinned cousins who know more ōlelo Hawai'i than myself, graduated from Kamehameha, and who have gotten down and dirty in the lo'i more times in a year than I have in my lifetime. The Hawaiian in them is not any more or less valid because they are lighter or darker than me. My paler cousins didn't ask to be born as white as they are, but that didn't stop them from embracing their heritage.
To me, people that stay insisting the actress should have been cast browner are failing to understand that culture is so much more than what meets the eye. Lilo & Stitch seemed more centric on culture/lifestyle than it did on their skintone. Plus, not all Native Hawaiians/indigenous peoples/polynesians are super tan. I'm just happy to see that people of the culture, from the place, are being chosen to represent the culture, and the place. Of course, I hope to see more diversity in polynesian representation because there are so many beautiful cultures and people under the umbrella, and perhaps this is one step closer to seeing more talents from oceania get out there.
Congrats to the lovely girls who were cast as Lilo and Nani in the new movie, I am so proud to see more locals and kanaka grow, and I look forward to seeing where these talented young'ins go.
I've been seeing so many people talk stink about Sydney Agudong being cast as Nani for the Lilo and Stitch live action movie on social media, and I am sick of it. She is Native Hawaiian and Filipino, born and raised Kaua'i, studied UH, and people are just mad that she isn't "brown enough"?
Culture is not skin deep. I am Native Hawaiian, and while I think I look browner than my sisters and some of my cousins, I get choke fair-skinned cousins who know more ōlelo Hawai'i than myself, graduated from Kamehameha, and who have gotten down and dirty in the lo'i more times in a year than I have in my lifetime. The Hawaiian in them is not any more or less valid because they are lighter or darker than me. My paler cousins didn't ask to be born as white as they are, but that didn't stop them from embracing their heritage.
To me, people that stay insisting the actress should have been cast browner are failing to understand that culture is so much more than what meets the eye. Lilo & Stitch seemed more centric on culture/lifestyle than it did on their skintone. Plus, not all Native Hawaiians/indigenous peoples/polynesians are super tan. I'm just happy to see that people of the culture, from the place, are being chosen to represent the culture, and the place. Of course, I hope to see more diversity in polynesian representation because there are so many beautiful cultures and people under the umbrella, and perhaps this is one step closer to seeing more talents from oceania get out there.
Congrats to the lovely girls who were cast as Lilo and Nani in the new movie, I am so proud to see more locals and kanaka grow, and I look forward to seeing where these talented young'ins go.
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