The lukewarm worldbuilding of Raya and the Last Dragon
This essay contains minor spoilers for Raya and the Last Dragon. I will not reveal any plot elements or pivotal moments, but I will talk about some elements of the film’s worldbuilding that the reader might prefer to learn about on their own.
Raya and the Last Dragon came out in Disney+ and select theatres just a couple days ago, and it seems to have received a moderately successful reception with critics and audiences. Amidst all the talk about plot structure, cultural representation, and derivative themes, the one aspect of the discourse that sticks out to me is how people seem to have received its intriguing worldbuilding. The land of Kumandra presents itself as a far more ambitious attempt at presenting a unique and diverse world than the usual Disney film, so I was curious from the moment it was announced to see what the studio can do when it comes to creating this fully fledged world, a task they rarely set themselves up to accomplish. Disney films generally work really well with a smaller, more vague and undefined concept for their worlds, which is all they need to tell the stories they want to tell. Raya and the Last Dragon attempts to raise the bar, but with that promise of ambition always comes the expectation to deliver a result that lives up to that potential.
I’d like to make clear that I’m not a person of Southeast Asian-descent, nor have I ever studied or researched the myriad of cultures the film draws inspiration from. Therefore, I will not make any attempts to (positively or negatively) judge its portrayal of real cultures or the inspiration the film draws from them. There are plenty of far more capable people out there to tackle that aspect of the film, whereas I’m just a girl who likes to create worlds. This essay will be exclusively focused on the film’s worldbuilding as a writing exercise.
A lot of hard work, effort, and talent was put into making every land in Kumandra feel distinct and unique. Every region feels different, from their landscapes and weather to their fashion, food, and architecture. The filmmaking itself supports this as well, with every land having its own (excellent) companion music and lighting that reflects the ambient and mood of the region. It’s plain to see that dozens, if not hundreds of people really cared about making each and every one of these lands look and feel like its own real place. Unfortunately, plot is queen, and in the end all these regions end up being very shallow due to a simple case of underdevelopment. They look great, they sound great, they feel great…but ultimately they don’t have a lot to offer in the little time we spend in them.
Most of the worldbuilding elements for Kumandra (at least those unrelated to the fantasy elements) are established in a “blink and you missed it” scene in which Raya, a native of the land of Heart, is asked to explain what she knows about the four other lands of Kumandra. She says:
First, Tail, a sweltering desert with sneaky mercenaries who fight dirty. Second, Talon, a floating market famous for fast deals and fighters with even faster hands. Third, Spine, a frigid bamboo forest guarded by exceptionally large warriors and their giant axes. Fourth, Fang, our fiercest enemy, a nation protected by angry assassins and their even angrier cats.
While all these descriptions are extremely brief and basic, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for an introduction, especially considering they’re told from the point of view of a child. The fact that all regions are strictly colour-coded, seemingly only have one defining trait, and are all named after body parts of a dragon can come across as very simplistic, but I can understand that the writers didn’t want to make each land too convoluted or hard to remember in this ninety minutes family film. Complex writing, even when it comes to worldbuilding, doesn’t necessarily equal better.
The real problem here is two-folded. First of all, this is just not a good exposition scene to introduce us to every region of Kumandra. The “Show, don’t tell” rule applies to all aspects of writing, worldbuilding included. For a few seconds, the film completely grinds to a halt with a pretty unnatural conversation just so the audience can become familiar with some of the basic elements they need to know in order to understand and enjoy the locations wel’ll be visiting soon. Raya and the Last Dragon itself provides a considerably better example of an exposition scene, but it does so much later in the movie.
At one point in the film, there’s a scene in which Virana, the leader of Fang, addresses a group of children as she tells the tale of, as she says it, “how the land of Fang rose in spite of all the monsters that wanted to destroy us, because we’re smart, resilient, and we take care of one another”. This kind of scene (similar to the opening narration in Moana) is not amazing, but it works far better to deliver exposition about the world, since it’s accomplishing multiple things at once. Not only does it get the point across, it also gives the character a humanising moment that plays into her motivations, as well as hinting at a systematic structure of isolationism and propaganda that plays into the politics of Fang.
The other problem with the scene with Raya summarising every land, as well as the worldbuilding as a whole, comes when you realise that the brief descriptions Raya provides amidst comic relief are almost everything you’re going to get for this story. The film doesn’t offer much else when it comes to characterising these locations, and it flies by through these lands so quickly that even those basic defining elements can’t leave much of an impression. There is only one sequence for the lands of Tail, Talon, and Spine, and they’re all too focused rushing through the plot to really let the world breathe and allow us to take in the culture in display beyond the visual elements. Unfortunately, all the effort spent into making every land feel unique and intriguing ends up being fruitless when they never turn out ot be any less shallow than they are in Raya’s thirty seconds introduction.
The worldbuilding in Raya and the Last Dragon aims much higher than the average Disney film, but it ends up falling rather flat due to a lack of exploration and nuance, even though the elements to make a great world are already there. I want to learn more about Kumandra and its people, but the film ultimately doesn’t dedicate enough time to it. Were there more scenes in these lands planned and then cut? Almost definitely. And it was probably for the best, since the relationship between Raya and Namaari, which is what really matters for the plot, already feels underdeveloped even with every land going by in a breeze. As far as I’m concerned, it was definitely the right decision to prioritise plot over worldbuilding…but in the end neither of them are developed enough to make the sacrifices worth it. Ironically, despite being very thematically relevant for the film, I almost wish most of these lands had been completely cut so the movie could focus on its plot, rather than setting up locations that are never explored enough to be truly memorable.
I’m not the first one to suggest that this story might have worked better as a mini-series, with five or six episodes spent across all the lands of Kumandra. It is unfortunate that Disney still refuses to explore that format, but hopefully the advent of Disney+ will soon turn that possibility into a reality.
Maybe then ambitious worlds like Kumandra will finally get the chance to shine they deserve.
