(This piece is inspired by @jesncin's post.)
Coral Island, despite its many flaws and bugs and WHAT THE FUCK I CAN'T CATCH THE BUG FOR THE MUSEUM COLLECTION, is still an abashedly Indonesian game. The same can never be said for Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, because as the twins said in our review video, if the movie is meant to represent everyone, then it isn't representing anyone. What's more, the movie is 'selling aesthetic' instead of having an authentic conversation and representation of what our cultural and historical aspects mean.
CORAL ISLAND, HOWEVER, HEALS MY HEART
In the design of King Krakatoa, the first thing that we notice is how many ✨b l i n g✨ he's wearing. And gold is a very important identity for pre-colonial Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. He's wearing golden kelat bahu (symmetrical bracelets on upper arms), golden sumping (earpiece), golden bracelets, and my favorite, the golden crown. Why? Because even though it's stylized, it's reminiscent of the crowns used in wayang orang, especially with the way it curves upwards in the center on the back of his head. The design is having a genuine conversation of 'how would an Indonesian king wear his crown if he was a merfolk?'
Here's a pic of how the crowns look like in wayang.
Since I'm fixating on headpieces, let's talk about the headpieces in Raya and the Last Dragon.
OUR VERY ~AUTHENTIC~ SOUTHEAST ASIAN GURL IS WEARING A SALAKOT, A HAT THAT'S MADE AS A... protection against the sun?
Okay, sarcasm aside, it's not technically wrong for her to wear a salakot or any other Southeast Asian bamboo hat because people still need their protection against the sun. But can we really call her Southeast Asian just because she wears a bamboo hat? It kinda has the vibe of white people buying and wearing bamboo hats in Bali and 'look I'm so quirky and so ethnic I'm practically one with the locals now!' Totally ignoring that headpieces has rich histories unique to each culture.
One example is the putong/pudong, and since I'm not Filipino, I'm going to quote pinoy-culture tumblr post:
The putong or pudong is basically a headwrap worn mainly by men but women did have their own version of it called tubatub and in Panay both men and women wore it which was called potlong or saplung. It can be tied like a headscarf around the head with the ends of the cloth dangling down at the side of the head or behind, or it can be done like a turban with the hair tied up in it.
In precolonial times, the putong was actually pretty important as the color of the cloth one wore symbolized his rank and achievements. Red meant that he has killed a man during war and raids, while an embroidered one meant he has killed more than 7 while the common people wore it as white.
And this is only one headpiece from one country in Southeast Asian. In Indonesia alone, there are a lot of headpieces worn by many people with specific meanings and philosophies. Javanese royalties almost always wears a blangkon, and since Java Island is huge, there are also a lot of forms and ways to wear it. I've never seen a Jro Mangku (Balinese Hindu priest) without his white udeng. The Sundanese totopong, has a lot of styles! While totopong can be worn casually, certain styles has higher significance, for example there's some that can only be worn by a Ki Lengser during a matrimonial ceremony.
Image that illustrates variations of totopong:
Significant markers like this are lost in Raya and the Last Dragon because they're never meant to represent us; they were never made for us. Only 2 of the 5 chiefs wore any headpieces. Which... well... makes me, as an Indonesian, question the actual status of these chiefs.
Especially the leftmost chief, the Fang Tribe's chief, she had no excuse tbh cos in the movie her region is the most prosperous. Not only that, there's something to be said about how her design is reminiscent of futuristic, cyberpunk design that whitewashed a culture. She doesn't wear any signifier that she's an actual respected leader, at least by pre-colonial Indonesian standards.
That's why CORAL ISLAND IS MY LOVE
Queen Nanda Devi and her daughter Princess Miranjani, both also wear ✨b l i n g✨. They also sport a selendang (a type of shawl) around their arms, giving them an ethereal impression. This is not from nowhere, as selendang are also an important signifier of statues, often to note a woman as a celestial being much like in the folklore of Jaka Tarub. Their crowns also has extra decor of thin pieces jutting out, and that reminds me of cunduk mentul, hair sticks that's part of the traditional Javanese and Sundanese bridal fashion.
There's so much more in the game that makes me feel so seen. Betty's heart scene especially, it made me sob audibly and I almost cried, that's why I don't have a screenshot. It show's the Chinese-Indonesian way of respecting the dead, complete with red candles and food before the grave. It's so important because Chinese-Indonesian representation is SO rare.
This is why supporting media like Coral Island is so important, because it's made by Indonesians and for Indonesians. It's when representation is nuanced like this that we can use said media to share and teach other people about our culture in an empathetic and genuine way, instead of trying to commodify it like D*sney did.
Anyway get Coral Island because I don't know how else to end this rambling.
I want to add some points from a concept art perspective on why Raya's design feels disparate and unmotivated from a cultural lens.
@audriserat made mention of Raya's (lead of Raya and the Last Dragon) hat, and I think it makes for a good jumping off point for the film's approach to culture.
More posts I like from the image re-haul adventures. When I say we should talk less about what cultural thing is present in media and more about how culture is presented in media, I mean stuff like this.
