Learning from Disney’s Raya

Meaningful movie: Trust – a word repeated again and again throughout the film – is a central theme of ‘Raya and the Last Dragon.’

“FAIRY tales.. are not responsible for producing in children fear... that is in the child already, because it is in the world already... The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon... it (tells him) that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.” — GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, 1909

This sentiment is paraphrased by Neil Gaiman as “Fairy tales are more than true — not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.”