Cinderella

Growing up, I was obsessed with musicals and theatre in general. One of the first musicals that I saw was a theatrical version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, starring Donny Osmond. I knew every word by heart and dreamed of playing the role of the Narrator for years.

But there was one thing that was almost always the case in all of the media that I loved: none of the characters looked like me.

I don't think that I quite understood the impact of that when I was younger. A lot of the books, TV shows, and movies that I consumed had wonderful characters, but none that I could perform as (unless there was some blind casting going on).

It wasn't something I thought about. I was raised in multicultural friend groups and was used to making friends based on their personalities without any attention paid to the color of their skin.

And then I was introduced to Cinderella.

I'd seen the Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella, starring Leslie Ann Warren, and fallen in love with the music. In My Own Little Corner became one of my favorite karaoke songs. But my world changed when the Cinderella with Brandy and Whitney Houston came out.

Finally, the main character looked like me! Brandy had braids and a beautiful voice, and did I mention that Whitney Houston was her fairy godmother??

It was something that I hadn't really thought possible. I didn't realize how important it was until I saw her and instantly felt a connection to her. It was so special that I even considered watching the Descendents movie just to see Brandy and Paolo Montalban reunite as Cinderella and Prince Charming (though I settled for short clips of the pair in the movie).

Starting from then, I started being more aware of representation in the media that I consumed. I started seeking out books with black characters, and later, black authors. When I started getting better at my writing craft, I started adding characters who were specially identified as being black, rather than just ambiguously describing them so that any reader could connect with them.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Toni Braxton had played Belle from Beauty and the Beast on Broadway! It made my pipe dream of playing Anna from The King and I seem not so out of the ordinary.

When The Princess and the Frog came out, set in New Orleans with a princess voiced by Anika Noni Rose, I was so excited. We finally had an official animated Disney princess who looked like me! I was already an adult by that point, but I watched it anyway and now know the songs by heart. It was a continuation of the dream of seeing a girl who looked like me play a princess.

The other big moment for me was when Black Panther came out. I hadn't read the comics, and I was generally just into Marvel movies because I enjoyed the movie genre. But Black Panther truly became a cultural phenomenon. People dressed in their Kente cloth, headwraps, and so on, filled the theatres. We playfully greeted each other with crossed-armed salutes and calls of "Wakanda Forever!" I even got to see it a second time for free because my pastor enjoyed it so much that he hid tickets under the church seats Oprah-style.

Chadwick Boseman's death hit me harder than any celebrity I'd ever followed. He brought this black superhero to life, and losing him felt personal. When the second Black Panther movie came out, I actually cried with the characters (and the actors) at his loss and the beautiful tribute that the movie was.

My role as a teacher has made me more attuned to the representation of black and brown people in media, especially in books. I actively found books that allowed my students to see themselves in them, especially considering that I didn't have that many when I was their age. I think back to seeing Brandy, where it all began for me, and I wish for my students to have that same experience - much earlier than I did. I want them to feel like they belong, like they don't have to pretend to be someone else, like there is value in being who they are.

In a way, I think that's part of why I became a writer. To tell the stories with people who look, think, and act like me, without color being seen as a deficit or something to overcome.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to rewatch Cinderella, the Princess and the Frog, both Black Panther movies, and gear myself up for the upcoming Wicked movie. (Because Elphaba can be black, too!)