There are plenty of reasons to see Disney’s Raya and the last Dragon. The stunning CGI animation and incredible cast including Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Izaac Wang, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim and other well-known actors. The movie has dragons – everyone loves dragons. However, this particular Disney movie is unique in that it was inspired by South-East Asian cultures.
Before the pandemic, members of Disney’s production team traveled to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to learn about their cultures. The martial arts styles from these countries, particularly Pencak Silat were used to choreograph the action sequences in the movie. The weapons that were displayed in many of the scenes were based on weapons found in Pencak Silat, Arnis and other fighting arts native to SouthEast Asia.
“With Raya, her fighting style was really more based on Indonesia’s Pencak Silat and Namaari’s was more based on Muay Thai,” Amy Smeed, co-Head of Animation “Raya and the Last Dragon”
Pencak Silat Inspirations (some spoilers ahead):
1. Kris: Raya’s sword was inspired by Pencak Silat’s most distinctive weapon known as the kris. The wavy-bladed weapon is found across Nusantara (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei). Before Islam entered Indonesia, there were many legends and traditional folktales that claimed that kris possessed supernatural power and extraordinary abilities. In modern times, the kris is considered a cultural symbol of this region and worn by dignitaries in these countries. It is still a staple weapon in many Pencak Silat schools and was claimed as an official Pencak Silat weapon by PERSILAT in the 2020 competition rules.
2. Use of Blades: Raya fought all of her scenes with a weapon close by her. Unlike other martial arts (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or MMA), Silat techniques are always taught with the possibility of a weapon present. Even if weapons are not taught immediately in the syllabus, Silat movement is based on the idea that there might be one hidden and might be revealed at any time. Namaari, Raya’s enemy also held a weapon that resembled a Silat bladed weapon from Aceh, Indonesia called the Rencong. A weapon wielded by the Tail tribe resembles a Silat weapon called a celurit or sabit.
3. Weapon Disarms: In the final fight with Namaari, Raya manages to disarm her opponent through the use of tangkapan or hand trapping technique. This technique is found in multiple styles of Silat as a preferred path rather than to seriously injure your opponent or kill them. Traditional Silat techniques can be brutal, seriously maiming an individual for life, of killing them immediately. The spirit of the art however is to first try to resolve conflict with as little violence as possible. Namaari is also able to disarm Raya in one of the fight scenes, sending her flying with a technique known in Silat as tendangan te or sidekick.
4. Fighting on Multiple Levels/Planes: In several of the fight scenes, Raya lowers her body and rolls from one point to another. She fights on the ground, in the air and sometimes on all fours. She uses her agility to jump from a low stance to an acrobatic kick. This is a characteristic of many styles of Silat, particularly the harimau styles found in Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia. Other Silat styles such as cimande, cikalong and styles from Brunei are usually more upright, which Raya also utilizes.
5. Ready Stances: Pencak Silat is known for its ready stances or Sikap Pasang, that give its unique flavor. Although fighting stances are common in most martial arts as a form of mental preparedness at the start of a match (or for intimidation), Pencak Silat’s use of Sikap Pasang extends even to the combat sport aspect where fighters are encouraged to do Sikap Pasang or Polah Langkah (standard footwork) at the start of every match. Sikap Pasang never have both fists clenched, and often both hands are open as seen in the movie.
As with most martial arts action scenes, there are movements and techniques in this movies made just for spectacle. However, martial arts consultant and co-screenwriter Qui Nguyen focused on creating fight sequences that had coherent fight styles, realistically based in actual Southeast Asian martial arts. “There is no one running on the tops of trees or shooting fireballs. Every punch, kick, and block was grounded in real-world physics.”, Nguyen said. “There are these preconceived notions because everyone’s seen so many movies with martial arts, but the Southeast Asian styles are a lot different than what people have seen before, so we really wanted to focus on those heavily.” – Rob Dressel, Director of Cinematography, Layout of Raya
Raya means ‘celebration’ or ‘great’ in the Indonesian language.
Written by A-Malik Ahmad, a former USA Pencak Silat head coach & international judge, author of Training for Tanding course on Udemy.
