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Actress Alyssa Wapanatâhk claimed that the production team behind Disney+’s "Peter Pan" reboot put a lot of work into getting the portrayal of the story’s Native American characters right.
Wapanatâhk, who plays Tiger Lily in the upcoming film, spoke to Native American outlet NativeViewpoint.com about how the new film corrects the original animated Disney film’s "problematic" portrayal of the Native American character.
In an interview published Tuesday, the actress, who is of Cree descent, explained that the Disney production team hired a cultural consultant team to make sure that Tiger Lily’s ethnic and cultural roots are portrayed respectfully in the new movie that will be released on the streaming platform on April 28.
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An indigenous actress starring in Disney's new "Peter Pan" reboot claims the film is respectful of Native American culture. ( (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images))
The outlet prefaced the interview by describing the original 1953 film’s portrayal of Tiger Lily as "problematic." In the film, Pan is treated to a peace pipe smoking ceremony after rescuing Tiger Lily from series villain Captain Hook.
Tiger Lily’s father, the Native tribe’s chief, is depicted as a caricature of Native American stereotypes, having a notably red face and speaking in comically broken English. He refers to Peter Pan as his "pale face brother" and himself as the "red man."
Tiger Lily is also depicted doing a native dance on a native drum for the amusement of the main character, who sits watching while wearing a native headdress.
"Historically, the movie Peter Pan has been a problematic film in terms of Native culture," The Native Viewpoint wrote. "But Disney is atoning for this past with a culturally respectful adaptation of its Tiger Lily character that is portrayed by Indigenous Cree actress Alyssa Wapanatâhk."
The film featured two Native consultants, Dawn Jackson (Saginaw Chippewa) and Dr. Kevin Lewis (Minisitkwan Lake Cree Nation), who "contributed from the development stage all the way through to principal photography and post-production," according to the outlet.
The outlet invited Wapanatâhk to speak about this new portrayal, asking, "Disney has made efforts to address a problematic history regarding the character Tiger Lily as well as Native American representation. What are your thoughts on that?"
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She responded by mentioning that this portrayal is accurate and respectful and that she hopes previous harmful stereotypes can now be left in the past.
"My thoughts on Disney’s past is that I hope they leave it where it is," she said. "The past, and I think they will. I watched all the Peter Pan films. There were some films that did not do us justice for sure."
"When I first read that script, I could see the change," Wapanatâhk added. "Once I was actually working with production, I noticed it even more, and it got better and better." She also mentioned the production crew hired a "cultural consultant team" and she wanted to contribute to its work onset.
"The first time they told me that there was a cultural consultant team, I thought I need to be part of that team you know, all hands on deck," she said. "Then I was a part of that team and whenever we needed to discuss things, I was there. I really felt like they were trying."
"Peter Pan & Wendy" seems to be the latest film in the current trend of Hollywood rebooting old, classic film franchises with culturally sensitive and even "woke" themes.
As Fox News Digital reported this month, Disney itself has just come off of a year of pushing diversity/inclusivity-minded, woke reboots that have contributed to the company's financial problems in 2022 and 2023. Two Disney/Pixar films promoting LGBTQ themes, "Lightyear" and "Strange World," bombed at the box office in 2022, and the company recently debuted a reboot of beloved 2000s-era cartoon "The Proud Family" steeped in themes of Critical Race Theory. The woke reboot has prompted serious backlash among longtime Disney fans.
Wapanatâhk also noted that the film’s crew, and especially director David Lowery, were very receptive to her consulting on the Native American element in the film. She claimed it was Lowery who had the idea for her to bring her experience to the film.
"I received an email from him and he wrote, ‘Hey, I know that you’re Cree. Why don’t you bring your Cree background into this character? I was like, ‘Wow, Yeah, I’m there.' That was at the point where I thought, ‘Okay this needs to be done perfectly,’" she said.
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The actress also addressed the state of Native American portrayal in Hollywood today, and said it is being done respectfully.
"All of these different films and TV shows are coming out now that are done so well," she told the outlet. "I’m seeing all these Native producers and Native directors, Native writers, and Native actors and they are all giving us their best work."
Fox News Digital reached out to Disney for a comment, but the company has yet to respond.
Disney+ has a new, more culturally sensitive "Peter Pan" movie debuting on the streaming platform in late April. (Fox News)
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