These days we’re blessed with so many new Disney+ releases that it’s easy to miss a powerful short like “Reflect,” which was released back in September as part of the latest season of Walt Disney Animation’s Short Circuit series. Widespread audiences are finally talking about the animated project that discusses body dysmorphia, following a young ballet dancer battling her own reflection, to varied reactions.
Reflect is a two-minute short available to watch with a Disney+ subscription features a young dancer who finds herself uncomfortable in her skin being next to thinner peers and being asked to have a “tight tummy” and “long neck” while in form. When she looks in the mirror in disappointment of her image, the mirror begins to envelope and surround her. In order to battle the morphing reflection, the dancer must overcome her perceived flaws and own her passion for dance. Once she does so, the mirror monster collapses into itself and she can enjoy her class. Check out one response to the short:
REFLECT on Disney+ (Series: Short Circuit). Do recommend for anyone that struggles with the image they see in the mirror. So, everyone. But this is especially for those of us that society shuns for having a body that doesn’t match the alleged “perfect” image. #bodypositivity pic.twitter.com/fxr4gy9EPTOctober 27, 2022
Reflect is receiving a lot of good buzz for tackling an important topic through Disney animation. As the above Twitter user says, due to our society's insistence on holding our looks to such a high standard, just about all of us find some sort of struggle with the mirror image. Here’s another reaction:
16 year old me needed this Disney short before I quit ballet because I didn’t want to be the fat girl in class anymore. I’m glad little ones will have this. 10/10 for Reflect! https://t.co/WAqEt3TdpaOctober 26, 2022
It does feel particularly purposeful that the lead of Reflect is a plus-sized young girl, considering being of a body type that’s not stick thin or one of Kim Kardashian may deal with body dysmorphia because it doesn’t adhere to what we’ve learned is the "right" way to look like. Of course, we're all complicated humans and it's impossible for any of us to be "perfect" or fit into societies boxes. One user shared that she actually quit ballet due to looking like the Reflect lead and hopes the generations to come may see this and change their minds about how to view themselves.
One the other hand, Reflect did get buried in the Disney+ lexicon is a rather short depiction of a complicated issue. One viewer felt the short only highlighted how rare it is for the animation company to have any plus-sized characters on center stage, saying this:
it only took 14 years for disney to go from warning about obesity (Wall-e) to celebrating it (Reflect) and yet people still think big corporations are being genuine and not using movements such as the body positivity movement to capitalise lolOctober 27, 2022
It’s true that a disproportionate amount of Disney characters fit the typical mold of what society believes one’s body types should look like, helping feed the kind of body dysmorphia Reflect seeks to discuss. 2008’s WALL-E featured an imagined future where all humans are overweight and in wheelchairs as a “warning about obesity” as the above Twitter user viewed it. Here’s another point:
While it’s great tht Disney have their first plus size heroine in Reflect … does it have to be in a film where the entire thing is about her weight & ‘overcoming her reflection’. Can we not just have a film where the heroine happens to be plus size & it not be the only narrativeOctober 27, 2022
While Disney has certainly made strides in representation and its messaging over the years, the release of Reflect shows there’s still a ways to go, especially when it comes to body positivity. The Short Circuit short is a great first step, but here’s hoping the company and more of Hollywood continues to have this conversation in more ways. The next major Disney Animation project coming our way is Strange World, hitting theaters this November 23.
