My Shadow Is Pink, a sweet new short film about a gender creative boy and his burly, masculine dad, might be just the joy we need in our lives right now.
The film is based on the picture book of the same name, which in turn is based on author Scott Stuart’s own experiences with his son. His son has had a love for Elsa from Disney’s Frozen since he was three years old, as Stuart explained a few years back at The Father Hood. This soon included wanting to wear Elsa dresses. Stuart, who’d been his school’s rugby captain and grew up in “a highly traditional masculine way,” wasn’t comfortable with that at first. When his son came home from daycare after being bullied for having an Elsa doll, however, he told the Star Observer, Stuart began looking for media that reflected boys with traditionally “girl” interests. Finding little, he started writing and illustrating My Shadow Is Pink, a picture book about a gender creative child (presumably assigned male at birth) and his dad.
Stuart is further living the support he writes about. When his son wanted to wear an Elsa dress for the Sydney, Australia premiere of Disney’s Frozen 2, Stuart told him, “There is no way you’re doing that … alone,” and donned an identical (but larger) dress alongside him. Stuart’s video about the event went viral on TikTok and has 4.8 million likes as of this writing.
Here’s the sweet nine-minute film. I love that it’s not simply a reading of the book, but tells the story in its own way. After you watch it, though, go check out the My Shadow Is Pink book and the upcoming (but available for preorder) follow-up book, My Shadow Is Purple, which further explores the many wonderful shades of gender. (You may also want his How to Be a Real Man, which dispels further stereotypes about men and manliness.)