By: T.Y.
Finally in 2009, Walt Disney films introduced their first African-American princess in “The Princess and the Frog”. This triumphant action of progress by Walt Disney, which has been condemned for its sexism and racial ethnocentrism in the past, anticipated an ecstatic welcome from audiences. Initially the film received great praise. But as time has passed, it has received overwhelming amounts of disapproval by critics. Blogs, articles, and even academic journals have criticized Disney’s attempts at integrating African-American women and culture to their film collection. Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” is swamped in controversy.
Finally in 2009, Walt Disney films introduced their first African-American princess in “The Princess and the Frog”. This triumphant action of progress by Walt Disney, which has been condemned for its sexism and racial ethnocentrism in the past, anticipated an ecstatic welcome from audiences. Initially the film received great praise. But as time has passed, it has received overwhelming amounts of disapproval by critics. Blogs, articles, and even academic journals have criticized Disney’s attempts at integrating African-American women and culture to their film collection. Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” is swamped in controversy.
The film was created by Walt Disney Animation Studios, and was their first princess themed movie to come out in over a decade. (disneyanimation.com) the story is about a young, black waitress, living in New Orleans in the 1920’s, who is independent, determined, and hard working. Tiana, the main character, is a talented cook. Since her early childhood years, Tiana and her father dreamt of someday owning a family restaurant. She kisses Prince Naveen, who has fallen victim to a curse which turned him into a frog. Tiana also turns into a frog, and the two travel through the great swamps to seek the help of a voodoo witch. At the end of the film, they must fight the evil voodoo villain-magician, who placed the curse on Prince Naveen. The film is quirky, light-hearted, and follows the traditional musical theme that Disney animated films were so well known for since the 1940’s (Corrigan 308).
Although the film follows the traditional style of older Disney films, the exciting NEW aspect of the film is the feature of a black princess- a black female main character. The fact that Disney animation was going to present a black princess was an iconic symbol of progress for, not just Disney, but the American Society as a whole. For too long has the ethnocentric representation of white producers/directors/writers affected society. Professor Neal Lester provided a great example in his article “Disney’s The princess and the Frog: the Price, the Pressure, and the Politics of Being a First” of how featuring white princesses has affected people’s perceptions. When students were asked to close their eyes and picture Cinderella, they pictured the blonde, white, female portrayed in Disney’s feature film “Cinderella”. These results indicated that the cultural symbol of Cinderella has been defined by Disney. Disney is the “globally dominant producer of cultural constructs related to gender, race, ethnicity, class and sexuality” Professor Lester also explained how Disney’s cultural construct and ethnocentric views have revolved around Disney creators and their “unquestionable privileging of patriarchy and whiteness”.
As seen in the film, “Mickey Mouse Monopoly”, Disney’s past representation of blacks has been minimal and negative. Examples include characters such as the cackling crows in “Dumbo”, and the whimpering hyenas in “The Lion King”. Let’s also not forget the complete lack of black people all together in “Tarzan”, which takes place in Africa! Even Disneyland’s main restaurant, Frontierland, featured a figure of the former-slave, Aunt-Jemima. The figure was removed only after numerous complaints from civil rights groups. (Giroux 108-109)
“The Princess and the Frog” is Disney’s first truly positive representation of an African-American female. The characters Tiana and Prince Naveen are both attractive, idealistic figures. They do not have any traditional stereotypically degrading black features such as large lips or slang speech. Tiana is strong-willed and determined. Throughout the movie, her motto is about how hard work is the best way to reach your goals. She has a positive outlook, and a strong nature. According to author and self-proclaimed feminist Andi Zeisler, women who are strong, independent, and heroic are the ideal examples that the media should be portraying (96-97). That is exactly what Tiana is.
The most important aspect of ensuring positive integration of minorities into Disney would be to include members of that minority into the creative process. According to the book Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Mass Media and Society, “ Women, including African Americans, can achieve parity only if they have the freedom to show themselves through rich, textured portraits and in many different views of appearance, character, and action….” (52) African Americans and minorities must be shown in positive roles in multiple examples, not just one or two instances. The success of African-American representation through characters in shows in the past had a direct correlation with the increase in African-American staff members working for the shows. Examples include “The Cosby Show” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire”. (Alexander 50-52) Disney is properly representing the African-American community, and can prove this because they have hired an African-American, Rob Edwards, as the lead writer for “The Princess and the Frog”. Coincidentally Edwards was a writer for “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire” in 1990 and 1991. (www.imdb.com)
It seems that Disney has finally concocted the right formula to a family-friendly movie. “The Princess and the Frog” was hailed for its politically correct messages of race and gender. The film received an admirable 84% scoring on the trusted website, Rotten Tomatoes! Such contributing critics to the scoring included Ann Hornaday from the Washington Post who wrote: “You can exhale now. The Princess and the Frog is a triumph on every one of the myriad levels it has been asked to succeed on.” Claudia Puig from USA Today wrote: “Where Pinnoccio was about wishing on a star, The Princess and the Frog emphasizes backing up wishes with hard work. That proviso is a thoughtful message for young moviegoers.” (www.rottentomatoes.com)
The movie made 25 million dollars its first weekend at the box office. (www.today.msnbc.com) As Movie Reviewer for the New York Times, Manola Dargis wrote: “Disney finally recognizes that every little girl, no matter her color, represents a new marketing opportunity”. (www.movies.nytimes.com)
But the magic of Disney’s success did not last long. The entire production budget of the film was 105 million dollars, and the film had a pathetic domestic total gross of 104,400,899 dollars. (boxofficemojo.com) Appraisal by critics and audiences went from good to bad- really bad. In modern day America, where free speech is encouraged, and people come from all walks of life, there is always bound to be diverse points of view. Audiences will always interpret media differently. The film only seemed to be Disney’s perfect formula for success, but it is evident that people have been extremely offended by the film. Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” has become a major controversial hot topic,.
The disputes over the film began during production. In 2007, rumors were posted on Wikipedia, stating that Tiana’s original name was “Maddy” who had an occupation as a chambermaid. (Eurweb.com) Whether the information was rumors or facts did not matter. Wave after wave of negative reviews were found in regards to the information on blogs such as Black Voices (bvonlove.com), OCWeekly (blogs.ocweekly.com), and racebending.com. The anticipated release of the film to the public did not discharge the negativity surrounding the film. Outrage came from an array of people who were offended by multiple aspects of the film. The new Disney princess was not met with a royal welcome.
There are two moral lessons narrated in the story of “The Princess and the Frog”. The first is the importance of diligent, hard work; Wishing is not the key to success. Dreams can only be obtained through tireless effort. The second stresses the importance of love. Whether it is the love of family, or a partner, love and having loved ones, has precedents over all. This message has not been received well by all audiences. Some feminist groups argue that the way in which this lesson is taught in the story reveals an entirely different message. One interpretation argues that Tiana’s personality was not meant to be admirable, but simply an example of a work-aholic, career oriented girl. (Gehlawat) Through the story, Tiana wants to follow her dreams, but learns that what she really needs to complete her life is true love. Thus finding a true love is less important than pursuing career dreams. Since the dream of owning a restaurant was originally her father’s, the story depicts a pattern of Tiana’s life dictated by men throughout her life. It is also argued that Tiana’s natural talent as a cook and a desire to own a restaurant is nothing more than a need to be a caretaker for others through a simple domestic chore. (Matyas 39) Diseny’s new princess has not meet the standards of those who wanted to see the long-awaited depiction of a truly independent, strong woman
More so than the gender roles, race is the main source of controversy for the film. Disney’s first film to feature an African-American princess is seen by many people and the media as a truly progressive step by Disney. To have such an immense media power depict a black person in an un-biased manner would bring the African-American culture to the mainstream. The film is seen as Disney’s ability to finally depict black people and culture as equals to whites. Tiana, the African-American princess could stand tall and proudly amongst the all-white princesses of Disney’s past films. But some audiences are upset that the film featuring a black girl, only features a frog in a swamp for the majority of the film. It is argued that the actual on-screen time of the black, female heroine, was simply not enough. (www.nytimes.com)
The other main character sharing screen time with Tiana, Prince Naveen, is “not really black” according to multiple bloggers on the AOL site Black Voices. (www.bvonlove.com) The voice acting of Prince Naveen was actually performed by a white Brazilian man. (Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Look at ‘Princess’) In the film, the African Prince’s skin color is noticeably lighter than Tiana’s. Some people consider the marriage between the two characters an interracial event. Some are outraged by this. As cited in the New York Times article, “Her Prince has Come. Critics too”, African-American avid blogger Angela Helm wrote “Disney obviously doesn’t think a black man is worthy of the title of prince….His hair and features are decidedly non-black. This has left many in the community shaking their head in befuddlement and even rage”.
The location of the story has also ignited issues of racial stereotyping. “The Princess and the Frog” takes place in New Orleans. New Orleans continues to be a predominantly African-American community that is still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. This is seen as a disrespectful and insensitive move on Disney’s part. Former columnist at The Charlotte Observer, William Blackburn stated in an interview with the London’s Daily Telegraph “Disney should be ashamed. This princess story is set in New Orleans, the setting of one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community”. (www.nytimes.com)
New Orleans and other black southern communities are associated with Voodoo. Whether perceived as religion or witchcraft, voodoo has historically had a negative connotation with black people. Stereotypes suggest that all African-Americans practice/believe in voodoo. This stereotype is affirmed in the film “The Princess and the frog”. Such stereotypes have been prevalent in horror films such as “The Skeleton Key” and “Angel Heart”, but to find such stereotypes reinforced in a children’s movie is shocking. As Time Magazine author MJ Stephey wrote in his review, “What’s with the Voodoo thing?”.
The reinforcement of stereotypes by Disney is a minor part of a greater controversial issue. Many people view the film as not just a Disney film featuring an African-American character, but Disney’s attempt to define black culture. It has been argued that this definition of black culture is falsely created under white ideologies. This included the fact that the depiction of the social standings of blacks and whites in the film were completely wrong. The film has ignored the concept of segregation entirely, despite the story taking place in the 1920’s. Multiple articles have been published in the Journal of African American Studies, on this topic. (Gehlawat) (Gregory) (Barker) (Breaux)
This indignation is understandable. Disney’s only representation of Asian and Asian cultures in films has been “Mulan”. Mulan was not a princess, nor did she even associate with anyone who was not Asian in the film. The depiction of Asian cultures was ghastly. For example, the Chinese medical tents had Korean flag symbols painted on the side of them-upside down! As a Nisei Asian American, I personally found the movie incredibly insulting. I can only imagine that if members of the African-American community find “The Princess and the Frog” to be a distressing example of black culture, they must be outraged.
Despite the many fall backs of the film’s reception, some members of the African-American audience are applauding Disney for “The Princess and the Frog”. Many have argued on blogs featured on moviefone.com that concepts such as interracial marriages teach the message of tolerance. The concept and depictions in the film may not be perfect, but they are still a giant leap in improvement in comparison to Disney films featuring African-Americans from the 1930’s. Black celebrities such as Anika Rose have defended the film as a progressive step in American culture. (www.nytimes.com) As blogger Kevin Polowy wrote “Aren’t we all just overreacting here? After all, this is an animated movie for kids about people who transform into frogs...so should race even be an issue?” (blog.moviefone.com)
Disney’s film “The Princess and the Frog” has received both condemnation and appraisal. Much controversy has come about over the messages of sexism and race. Though Disney may have come a long way in incorporating ethnic cultures into their films, they still have more work to do. Of course with the size of the Disney corporation and their dismal past misrepresentation of minorities, it will take Disney a lot of work and time to regain the trust of the skeptical public. There is still a large portion of the world population which loves Disney, and continues to buy their products.
Giroux and Pollock wrote in “Mickey Mouse Monopoly” in regards to “The Princess and the Frog”:
It is difficult not to be cynical about what appears to be less a tribute to African American culture than a barely disguised attempt to round out the Disney Princess market base by targeting young black girls who may find Tiana dolls and products less alienating than the current Princess options.
Disney is a corporation. They make money by selling various products. If marketing to African-Americans is viewed as victimization, then Disney has been specifically attacking Caucasian population for years. It means that Disney has come to understand that in the world of business, money does not discriminate- so neither should they. The key words to the above statement are “less-alienating”. It means that girls of minority can feel a small welcome and a minor part of the Princess world Disney has created. This is a good thing! It is true that Disney has misrepresented the black culture and community. Disney has failed to properly represent minorities into their films. So now along with the African-Americans, Native Americans, Middle-Easterners, and the Rest of the Asians, I too await for a true Disney film that properly depicts our history, cultures and peoples.
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