![Russel from Up
Confirmed: Russel from Disney Pixar’s heartwarming, heartbreaking, inspirational Up is an Asian American character.
The character is modeled on Asian American Pixar animator, Peter Sohn (below right). An interview excerpt from the film’s director, Pete Docter:
“There hasn’t been a lot of discussion in the media about the fact that Russell is an Asian-American, which is probably for the best. I know the character was based somewhat on Pixar’s Peter Sohn, but considering Disney has clearly pointed out that Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog” is the studio’s first African-American princess, I’m curious why the topic hasn’t come up.That’s interesting. Obviously Anglo characters have dominated most of media for a long time so it seemed to me, obviously there’s more diversity of people out there. Pete Sohn is such an entertaining character that we thought, let’s just try to grab him and figure out what he was like as a kid, so that’s kind of where that came from and just trying to be specific and different than things we’d done in the past. We talked early on about making some story point about that but I think by not dealing with it it’s more color blind or accepting or whatever, you just cast that character and move forward.”
The character is voiced by Japanese American, Jordan Nagai, who was 7 years old when the movie was made. Watch his interview with Chanel APA below.
We can speculate on why it wasn’t markedly pointed out that Russel is Asian American the same way Tiana was marketed as African American. I think that’s a type of conversation/argument that occurs often. Whether you have an opinion or if you’re indifferent, I’d be curious about why you think you have that point of view, or why you feel that way. Feel free to comment below or email me. Sources: Chanel APA [via]Photos: 1, 2, 3Keywords: Disney Pixar Up Asian kid character, Peter Sohn, Jordan Nagai, Disney Pixar up Russel is Asian, the kid in up](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kswiibw9Be1qa172uo1_r1_500.jpg)
Russel from Up
Confirmed: Russel from Disney Pixar’s heartwarming, heartbreaking, inspirational Up is an Asian American character.
The character is modeled on Asian American Pixar animator, Peter Sohn (below right). An interview excerpt from the film’s director, Pete Docter:
“There hasn’t been a lot of discussion in the media about the fact that Russell is an Asian-American, which is probably for the best. I know the character was based somewhat on Pixar’s Peter Sohn, but considering Disney has clearly pointed out that Tiana from “The Princess and the Frog” is the studio’s first African-American princess, I’m curious why the topic hasn’t come up.
That’s interesting. Obviously Anglo characters have dominated most of media for a long time so it seemed to me, obviously there’s more diversity of people out there. Pete Sohn is such an entertaining character that we thought, let’s just try to grab him and figure out what he was like as a kid, so that’s kind of where that came from and just trying to be specific and different than things we’d done in the past. We talked early on about making some story point about that but I think by not dealing with it it’s more color blind or accepting or whatever, you just cast that character and move forward.”
The character is voiced by Japanese American, Jordan Nagai, who was 7 years old when the movie was made. Watch his interview with Chanel APA below.
We can speculate on why it wasn’t markedly pointed out that Russel is Asian American the same way Tiana was marketed as African American. I think that’s a type of conversation/argument that occurs often. Whether you have an opinion or if you’re indifferent, I’d be curious about why you think you have that point of view, or why you feel that way. Feel free to comment below or email me.
Sources: Chanel APA [via]
Photos: 1, 2, 3
Keywords: Disney Pixar Up Asian kid character, Peter Sohn, Jordan Nagai, Disney Pixar up Russel is Asian, the kid in up
