Happy Women’s History Month! This is the first time I am covering a Disney Channel Original Movie (no The Lizzie McGuire Movie mini newsletter doesn’t count because it got a theatrical release!) It might seem silly, but it really is a film that contributed to who I am. My generation talks a lot about how special our Disney Channel years were. Movies like The Cheetah Girls and shows like Lizzie McGuire and That’s So Raven taught young girls about self-love, empowerment, and treating others equally and respectfully. That’s why I wanted The Cheetah Girls to be my first film of Women’s History Month.
In later years I’d learn it was produced by the one and only Whitney Houston, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the plot–young women breaking into the music industry and being taken advantage of by a record producer. It also had excellent representation and taught young girls how to stand up for themselves, believe in themselves, and most of all, never let anyone stop them from being their most authentic selves.
“Together We Can”
One of the main themes in The Cheetah Girls is the power of unity. The world is always a better place when we work in tandem despite our differences instead of allowing those differences to tear us apart. I would advise you to disregard the petty Kendrick Lamar vs Drake feud and take a page out of The Cheetah Girls’ playbook. This is especially important among young women who are often pinned up against each other. The media and social media users have done this to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé for years, but the two have continued to cheer each other on at movie premieres and award shows. Their camaraderie has overpowered the negative voices.
In The Cheetah Girls, all four members come from different walks of life. Galleria and Chanel grew up together in New York, but Galleria came from a biracial family and Chanel comes from a Spanish family. Aqua is new to New York, originally from Texas and Dorinda is white and we later learn that she lives with a Black foster family. One scene that stood out was after their talent show audition when their teacher pointed out all the things each individual brings to the group and how their different backgrounds contribute to who they are. There’s a heavy influence on race and ethnicities throughout the film but not in a divisive way, in an empowering and celebratory way.
“It’s Cheetahlicious,”-Chanel, The Cheetah Girls.
However, things aren’t all gung-ho throughout The Cheetah Girls. There’s actually quite a lot of conflict and fighting. Galleria is very sure of herself but sometimes she gets cocky and steps on other people’s toes. She also acts as the leader of the pack and tries to micromanage everything without taking into account others’ ideas or opinions. Her journey throughout the movie is to learn that all of her friends have something to contribute to the group and they succeed the best when they work together not when they're arguing.
The Cheetah Girls also emphasizes the importance of authenticity and embracing uniqueness. When the girls meet the record producer Jackal Johnson, he doesn’t value or encourage them to embrace who they are. Not only does he want them to lip-sync and perform the songs he wrote for them, but he also wants them to wear animal masks. This is symbolic of the way record labels often try to force their artists into molds that strip them of their individuality. By wearing the masks, the girl group can’t express themselves. However, this is not a movie about a girl group succumbing to industry standards. It is about standing up for what you believe in and never sacrificing who you are.
At one point Galleria becomes so obsessed with success and making The Cheetah Girls a famous girl group, that she also tries to strip her friends of their authenticity. She reprimands Aqua for talking with her mouth full and carrying hot sauce around with her. She even makes a comment about Dorinda wearing the same clothes every day (not knowing about her home situation yet.) Galleria wants the group to come across as sophisticated. However, it is the things that Galleria criticizes them about that make them who they are and sets them apart.
At the end of The Cheetah Girls, the group has fallen apart and everyone is mad at Galleria. However, when they see on the news that her dog Toto has gotten trapped in a hole in a NYC construction site, they come together to help. They claim they're doing it for Toto but it's obvious underneath, they love and care about her friend and are helping out because they know how much Toto means to her. Aqua even takes the subway to the scene despite refusing earlier in the film. In order to get Toto to come out of the hole, they sing together because the dog reacts well to their voices. Their plan works and ultimately unites them again.
They sing the film's final song "Cheetah Sisters" in the end, which wins them the talent show and helps them reconcile. The song is about the significance of sisterhood and chosen family no matter where anyone comes from. They then collectively turn down Jackal's offer realizing how much more important it is for them to be themselves than to get a record deal with someone who doesn't appreciate who they are.
“I Don’t Want To Be Like Cinderella”
If there was one song my mom made me listen to on a loop as a child it was “Cinderella” by The Cheetah Girls. Not everyone knows, but it’s actually a cover and was originally recorded by the group i5 and later by Play. It was quite bold for The Cheetah Girls to include it in the film as it's a Disney film and the company has made millions off their princess films. However, The Cheetah Girls was a film about female empowerment and they didn’t hold back criticizing the characters Disney previously wrote for young girls to look up to. They actually changed quite a few of the original lyrics, likely because Disney could only handle so much criticism. The original song mentions both Cinderella and Snow White while The Cheetah Girls version switches “Snow White” to “someone.”
“I can slay my own dragons. I can dream my own dreams. My knight and shining armor is me, so I’m gonna set me free,”-"Cinderella," The Cheetah Girls.
Either way, it was a song my mom drilled into my head. She always emphasized the importance of getting an education and building a life of my own instead of “waiting for somebody to come and set me free” as the song accuses Cinderella of doing. While there have been different interpretations of earlier Disney princesses in later decades, at the time, the song felt very important. In more recent years Disney has created a few princesses that didn’t have a love interest at all and throughout the 90s they refocused their attention on creating more adventurous female characters. However, in 2003, when The Cheetah Girls premiered, Brave hadn’t come out yet and there was never a princess who didn’t end up with a prince so it was quite profound. Regardless of your opinion on Cinderella, I think it was an important song to include in a movie for young girls.
Mother-Daughter Dynamics
To make the Disney Channel film even more complex, The Cheetah Girls also focuses on the importance and complexities of mother-daughter relationships. Galleria’s mother can be quite intense at times but this is to be expected from someone who is so powerful and self-assured, we can certainly see where Galleria gets her personality from. At the end of the day, she wants to see her daughter succeed in achieving her dreams, but she also doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. Her attitude toward Jackal Johnson is crucial and it's very telling that the film was produced by Whitney Houston. We know from recent events like the Free Britney movement that there are a lot of parents willing to sell out their own children for money and there are a lot of people in the industry who will take advantage of young, naive girls and exploit them for profit.
As much as Galleria’s mother is proud of her daughter, she doesn’t let Jackal walk all over her and she’s onto him from the beginning. She’s not impressed by his money or accomplishments, she is level-headed, makes sure to read over his contracts, and tells him to his face that she’s not signing anything until he makes adjustments that she approves of. There are a lot of young singers who would have been better off if they had parents like Galleria does. However, she ultimately steps back a little to let Galleria meet with Jackal and see how things go. Because of how Galleria’s mother raised her, Galleria knows when to walk away. When things don’t go according to plan, Galleria’s mother is there to console her.
“What matters is what’s inside,”-Chanel’s mother, Juanita, The Cheetah Girls.
On the other hand, Chanel has a somewhat strained relationship with her mother. Her mother is impressed by a French man she’s dating who becomes her number one priority over her own daughter. One of the saddest scenes is when she makes plans to go shopping with Chanel but blows her off to go to a Broadway show with the French guy instead. Chanel then goes shopping on her own, maxing out her mother’s credit card out of frustration. She later admits she was frustrated because she feels like her mother doesn’t prioritize her anymore. However, despite her anger, she expresses deep appreciation and gratitude for her mother when she learns about Dorinda’s situation.
Chanel is the first to find out the truth about Dorinda when she goes to her apartment to give her an outfit she bought for her. While Dorinda has been lying about being rich, she’s actually very poor and lives with nine other foster siblings in a rundown building. Learning that Dorinda’s foster mother is the closest thing she has to a real parent helps Chanel forgive her mother and be grateful that she has a mother who loves her, even if she sometimes acts in selfish ways.
What I Learned From Galleria About Being Unapologetically Confident
Especially with women, society likes it best when people are obedient, submissive, keep their opinions to themselves, and shrink themselves down to make other people feel more comfortable. Last week I wrote about the short film I’m Not A Robot and why I think people in power prefer AI over human beings. One of the reasons I mentioned is that robots don’t have their own opinions so they’re easier to control and you don’t have to pay them the way you have to pay humans. This is also related to Jackal in The Cheetah Girls. It would have worked out best for him if the girl group had surrendered to what he wanted them to do. However, he couldn’t pull those antics with Galleria.
The character was played by Raven Symone, who also starred as Raven Baxter in That’s So Raven and was a huge role model for so many girls of my generation. Raven is a comedic genius and her characters were always outgoing, loud, and opinionated. Galleria is the opposite of all the things I listed above. She’s self-assured, she has a lot of opinions, and she’s not afraid to voice them, and she believes wholeheartedly in her talents and capabilities. She’s also a human being who makes a lot of mistakes and learns from them. She overpowers the other girls and she gets cocky and acts as if she is a more important asset to the group than they are. A lot of the time it seems she just wants to be the lead singer of The Cheetah Girls while the rest of them sing and dance around her. She desperately needs to be humbled.
“If he can’t respect my art, he can’t have my heart,”-Galleria, The Cheetah Girls.
However, the message of the film is not that she needs to shrink herself down, just that she needs to be more considerate of those around her. There is a huge difference between being confident and sure of yourself and being cocky and not caring about others. One of the songs Galleria writes for the group is called "Girl Power" with lyrics like “Throw your hands up if you know that you’re a star, you better stand up if you know just who you are.” The song inspires girls to know that they are special and not be afraid to express this to those around them. The song also has the lyrics “I’ve made mistakes before but I know I’m not perfect” which also plays into Galleria’s character.
When Galleria does learn to listen to her friends instead of running the show, her power uplifts them and allows them to have confidence in themselves too. I will admit, I can’t even remember the last time I watched The Cheetah Girls before rewatching it for this newsletter. There were so many cheesy scenes that seemed a lot cooler when I was watching it as a kid. But I was also impressed by how powerful the film was. I think in this world people tend to tiptoe around children and micromanage what they want them to know about. However, I found it incredibly helpful being exposed to complex stories about identity and empowerment as a child. It built me into a compassionate adult. If you haven’t seen the film before or like me haven’t watched it in a while (potentially two decades?) I hope this was a reminder of how powerful you can be, and how capable we all are when we come together and celebrate our differences.