An artist's argument that 'Lilo & Stitch' contains a dangerous message ignited an intense debate about race online

• On April 11, "Lilo" trended on Twitter as a result of people arguing against an artist's take on the film.
• The since-deleted critique, posted by artist Hailey Lain (known online as SquigglyDigg) argued that the film's central message is a dangerous one to pass on to kids.
• The discourse crossed over into the mainstream as people leapt to defend the film online, causing it to trend.
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This weekend, Twitter erupted with a bizarre, anachronistic bout of discourse over 2002 Disney film "Lilo & Stitch." The debate, which was mostly the general population of Twitter uniting to dunk on one specific take of the film, was sparked by a tweet from April 5 from animator Hailey Lain — better known online as SquigglyDigg — where she reposted a since-deleted response to a question she had received on her Tumblr blog: "Would you mind sharing a quick summary of why you don't think Lilo and Stitch is a good movie?"

The question was sparked by a now-deleted drawing that Lain had posted on her Tumblr blog featuring herself and fellow artist Jessica Kalei Sheffield about how "Lilo & Stitch" is the "worst Disney movie ever." After receiving questions regarding her opinion, Lain elaborated, defending her viewpoint.

The crux of Lain's argument is essentially that rather than showing Lilo having to face the consequences of her bad behavior throughout the film, which frequently comes at Nani's expense, "Lilo & Stitch" reinforces the message that family must take care of each other despite any level of abuse. "Lilo is of the mindset that it's Nani's job to clean up after her messes, and takes that entirely for granted," Lain wrote. "And the message of the movie, 'family means nobody gets left behind,' underscores this and even says that it IS the family's job to fix its members' messes… without holding that family member responsible or accountable." A companion post by Sheffield, who was mentioned in the original post, regarding the representation of Hawaiian culture in the film also circulated on Tumblr and Twitter.

While Lain originally reposted the critique on Twitter on April 5 (and appears to have deleted the tweet on April 13), it began to gain traction as the week progressed, culminating in "Lilo" trending on Twitter on April 11. The ensuing discourse largely consisted of people replying or quoting Lain's tweet or tweeting about it without directly interacting, disagreeing with Lain's take.

One of the biggest critiques of Lain's take was that it was unfairly harsh on a child of color, reflecting biases inherent in society. "Black & Brown Kids do not get to be kids," writer Vita Ayala wrote. "They're held to adult standards demonized from the jump."

Others remarked upon the absurdity of seeing "Lilo & Stitch" discourse on Twitter in 2020, something that was exacerbated by the fact that "Lilo & Stitch" is not only generally beloved, but also nearly 18 years old.

What followed the initial explosion in commentary, however, was a natural progression for the kind of mid-2010s Tumblr discourse that it emulated. While both her art Tumblr blog, SquigglyDigg, and personal blog have been currently set to private, people began to dig up old posts, most prominently one that Lain appears to have reblogged discussing asylum seekers. Insider was unable to verify the screenshot because the original post appears to have been deleted.

Ultimately, discourse about cartoons (even older movies) isn't particularly notable — fandom circles on Tumblr are known for exchanging incendiary takes about shows or movies deemed problematic. Shows like Dreamworks and Netflix's "Voltron: Legendary Defender" or Cartoon Network's "Steven Universe" are known for generating similar discussions, and people pointed out the similarities between Lain's analysis and old school 2010s Tumblr discourse.

What was exceptional, however, was the fact that this discourse made it into mainstream Twitter, spreading out of fandom social circles and inspiring waves of people to defend the film, eventually making it trend.

A final takeaway from the incident: yes, people do go on the internet and get angry about cartoons.

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