When Disney announced The Princess and the Frog, I was thrilled to finally see a Black princess, especially one from my own hometown of New Orleans. But in the theater, I instead found myself watching two frogs for most of the film. This isn’t an isolated case. Across mainstream animation, non-white protagonists are routinely transformed into animals, spirits, or abstract forms for the majority of the story. From Tiana spending roughly 70% of her movie as a frog, Joe Gardner in Soul shifting between a blue soul-blob and a cat, Lance Sterling in Spies in Disguise being turned into a pigeon, and Kenai in Brother Bear becoming a bear, the pattern is clear: whiteness remains the default for fully human, human-coded characters. This “animalization” or “non-humanization” of people of color (POC) is an unfortunate trend that directly shapes the landscape of representation for children of color, who rarely see human leads that look like them.
Lack of On-screen Diversity Doesn’t Reflect Reality
This ongoing non-humanization ultimately produces the same outcome: under-representation and structural bias. A survey of Western animation found that many modern animated films are still reflective of our discriminatory societies. There are and have been limited portrayals of people of color in the media, with only slow, incremental movement toward more inclusive representation. An analysis of animation produced from 1930 to the mid-1990s found that only 16.1% of cartoons had at least one character that was a member of a racial minority group. On the other hand, around 70% of the cartoons featured at least one white character. This indicates a clear racial bias in animation, but this pattern isn’t exclusive to this medium. The same reductive tropes and limited frameworks that constrain minority-led narratives are reflected across Hollywood as a whole.
Global Box Office by Minority Cast Share, Theatrical Films
Credit: UCLA College of Social Sciences via Hollywood Reporter
Not Niche: General Audiences Desire Diverse Stories
As the movement calling for authentic representation grows, we do see more films bucking this trend to focus on the stories and lives of characters of color. Recent films like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Encanto, Moana, and Big Hero 6 are all led by characters of color who stay human, expressive, and whole through the entire runtime. Kids don’t just enjoy these movies; they absolutely light up when they see faces, families, and worlds that echo their own on the big screen.
The impact of representation goes beyond inspiring joy. These films consistently succeed at the box office. This proves that although we continue to face societal biases, general audiences are not rejecting diverse and inclusive representation. They’re rewarding and celebrating it. As media companies recognize that minority-led stories are not as niche as they expected, more diverse creators and thoughtful design choices are emerging, suggesting the “humanization gap” can finally start to close.
The Power of Media to Shape Perception
When characters remain human, their identities, emotions, and cultural details are preserved. Kids can see their own hair, features, gestures, and imaginations reflected on screen. When a protagonist is transformed, those cues disappear. Children lose a chance to see themselves as full human heroes, and a quiet message lingers: that stories about people of color only work when the person is hidden. Studios can and should choose embodiment over erasure, letting characters of color exist in all their human depth. At the same time, we, as viewers, must keep supporting films like Spider-Verse that prove audiences connect most when the characters are allowed to be fully themselves.
This article was written by a guest contributor, G. Johnson.
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