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Disney's first African-American princess -- back to the drawing board
Filed under: Preschoolers, Big Kids, In The News, Media, That's Entertainment
Here's the good news: Disney is finally creating their first African-American princess. Here's the bad news: They just can't seem to get it right. The first version, The Frog Princess, was scrapped due to complaints that it was too stereotypical. The princess, named Maddy, was to be a chambermaid who worked for a spoiled white woman. Maddy is saved from a voodoo magician by a white prince, with help from her voodoo fairy godmother.
Disney's second version -- The Princess and the Frog --is still a musical set in New Orleans, but the company is keeping mum on most of the details. The heroine will be a 19-year-old named Tiana, and the film will be set in the Jazz Age. Disney says, "Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity." Let's all hope they do exactly that.
Though my girls have gone in and out of the Disney princess phase, because one arm of our family is Ojibwe, we've never let them see Pocahontas. Unlike Cinderella, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty, for example, Pocahontas was a real person, and Disney didn't do history any favors when they fictionalized the events that took place. Though Tiana isn't a historical figure, I really do hope that Disney pays attention to the opportunity they have in front of them, and turn out a movie that's sensitive, appropriate, and fun, all a the same time.
(via Jezebel)
Disney's second version -- The Princess and the Frog --is still a musical set in New Orleans, but the company is keeping mum on most of the details. The heroine will be a 19-year-old named Tiana, and the film will be set in the Jazz Age. Disney says, "Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity." Let's all hope they do exactly that.
Though my girls have gone in and out of the Disney princess phase, because one arm of our family is Ojibwe, we've never let them see Pocahontas. Unlike Cinderella, Ariel, and Sleeping Beauty, for example, Pocahontas was a real person, and Disney didn't do history any favors when they fictionalized the events that took place. Though Tiana isn't a historical figure, I really do hope that Disney pays attention to the opportunity they have in front of them, and turn out a movie that's sensitive, appropriate, and fun, all a the same time.
(via Jezebel)
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ReaderComments (Page 5 of 17)
7-28-2008 @ 12:03PM
cable305 said...The racism and hared you readr on these boards are Insane.
But to :Blahblah and others like him or her or it..
get it straight white men complain more than anyone around
and are quick to make blacks or other races the object ot their
own hate based issues. there is no shortage of hate spewing
ignorant comments by these morons.
constantly crying about how blacks or some one else is gettin an unfair advantage followed by wheres mine.
Reply
7-23-2008 @ 8:41AM
carrie said...PEOPLE it just a movie! I am sick of the "blacks" crying over unfair treatment too but this is about a movie. I am glad to finally see Disney break their shell and come up with another character. Its time for them to come out with another princess movie. I am sorry but I love the name, its the name of my niece! Yes she is biracial. If you want to complain about how blacks always complain about life do it in a chat room. I think that you are doing it in here to make drama. I do agree with a lot that is said in here but this is not the place for it to be done.
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7-23-2008 @ 8:46AM
Nerwen said...lol- everything is related to the war in Iraq, isn't it?
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7-23-2008 @ 8:50AM
Moe said...Please dont let her be an orphan. Disney really needs to work on coming up with characters who have 2 parents! There's always a mom or dad dead and a wicked step-parent.
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7-23-2008 @ 8:49AM
Mary said...blahblahblah....thats why I don't like to post...you can always count on some idiot, cracking a beer, farting, rubbing his over sized preservative filled belly and making some stupid remark...because they are too stupid to voice say anything that makes sense..
______________________________________
I am NOT stupid nor do I swill beer. I am a vegetarian and do recycle almost everything. I care about this country! That is why I picked my candidate carefully.
Obama and his wife has sent racial relations back 20 years.
Mc Cain 2009!
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7-23-2008 @ 11:17AM
Gerry said...Stereotypes - yes they do exist and yes they do reflect reality.
But the operative word is "reflect" - I would expect an intelligent person to be able to look at the stereotypes, accept them for what they are and balance them beyond the reflection of reality to reality itself.
I am a black man who in both my work life & my personal life interact only superficially with my white neighbors. I however, am able to separate their potential from some of the "steretypes" I see about people in advertising & the media.
The point is, I live in a virtually black world & I have no interaction with that "stereotypical black person" you have constructed. I have no doubt that those traits exist in black people - in fact, I know they do - I was a cop for 30+ years. But that is not reality and for you to say it is is defined as racism.
You choose to ignore the fact that since the earliest days of this country - before it was a nation, black people stepped up to defend the potential of this country. In my own family, theres a long line of service in the military &/or law enforcement. Even not, the Director of the Secret Service is black, the General in operational command of the troops in Iraq is black.
Racisim can be defined in choosing to believe a reflection of reality (stereotype) while ignoring the reality in front of you
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7-23-2008 @ 8:51AM
Mary said...McCain 2008!!
We need him! to keep us safe!
Reply
7-23-2008 @ 9:03AM
Elizabeth said...That's the old politics of fear and it just won't work anymore. Try the Audacity of Hope.
7-23-2008 @ 8:52AM
laura said...Could it be that Disney is having a problem with the concept of an African-American Princess because we don't have royalty in America? Wasn't that the point of the Declaration of Independence? Maybe they should consider using the life story of a real person such as Harriet Tubman or even Oprah Winfrey; someone who overcame obstacles an is now considered a role model. They used Pocahantus's story successfully.
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7-23-2008 @ 8:53AM
lrb62163 said...My dear edandson, It's "much ado about nothing".
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7-24-2008 @ 5:42PM
supermodel said...I'm looking at the tone of the comments on this board....wow. As an African American woman, I see that some of YOU have a long way to go. And you WONDER why we complain about being stereotyped soooooooo much. Gee.
I agree in some respects that maybe Disney is trying too hard. I think they should just focus on telling a good story and not worry too much about offending others.
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7-23-2008 @ 1:17PM
matt said...Well some people do have a long way to go. You should include yourself in that comment as I am sure that you were not born in Africa and probably have never been to Africa. You are an American, plain and simple. Color does not allow you to claim to be a citizen of both nations. I have never heard anyone call themselves Irish Americans, or Cuban Americans. That would be a good start to call yourself an American the same as everyone else.
7-23-2008 @ 8:56AM
Claire said...I agree that Disney reflected the times in which the movies were made. As a child watching the movies, I didn't think of Uncle Remus as an inappropriate portrayal of the "poor black slave of the south"....I saw a wonderfully HAPPY black man who communicated to nature and sang about his joy with life. I'm not going to address each movie mentioned that would be TOO long a commentary. But as an adult, I think of Shirley Temple/ William "Bojangles" Robinson movies that will never be seen because they will be viewed TODAY as offensive, when what is wrong is, we're too afraid not to teach the historic prospective, resepctively and view the movies for the great ENTERTAINMENT value they contain. And I hope someday we call ALL do that!
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7-23-2008 @ 9:05AM
s. perry said...How sweet is that!? Why not?
Young girls of all colors have fantasy dreams of being a princess!
It seems like something special no matter where they live,
or who they are, without dreams.... you have no ambition.
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7-23-2008 @ 9:15AM
justice said...watch out disney if it isn't perfect they will hollar and you will be sued . pardon me black people are most of the highest paid athletes and look at winfrey, I don't see them getting thrown under a bus.
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7-23-2008 @ 9:43AM
B said...I dont really have an issue with them making this movie. Its great to just see some kind of representation of a black heroine in a Disney film. I mean, Its taken long enough and whether white people who hate can accept it or not, Black People do exist in this world. We are inescapable. Sorry for you who cant deal. We are not going away, just evolving.
I do have a suggestion for Disney... (as if this would fall on their ears) Why couldn't the movie be either completely fictitious not drawing from any elements of history, or any locations that exist in reality... or very historical, celebrating the queens of Africa? Or, here's one more scenario, adapted from an African American, Caribbean, or African Folk Tale? For them to try and make a story fit into some part of our warped history(though it is our history) is making it very hard on themselves. Not saying it is wrong what they are doing, Its just making it hard on themselves.
As for those people who say, "Who cares, its just a movie!" and "Blacks should just get over it!"...A study was done in the 60's and then done again a few years ago on very young Black American children. The results were the same. There was shocking evidence that black children suffer very low self esteem because of the images they see and the experiences they have even at a young age. When playing with black dolls and then white dolls, the black children wanted to play with the white dolls more often. When asked which dolls were good and which were bad, it was white is right, black is bad. WHen asked who is prettier, it was White not Black.
I'm sorry but we must be sensitive to the images put out there for youngsters of all races. They are very impressionable. That said, we must also work on being role models in real life since that is where youngsters should be looking anyway.
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7-23-2008 @ 12:56PM
dawn said...True intelligence
7-23-2008 @ 9:13AM
Richard R Timmerman said...Why does it have to be an African-American why is it not just African or American? There were pkenty of Beautiful Royal African women why not pick one of these? When we hyphenate nationalities we do disservice to both countries or in this instance continants. Let us go back to the time of Soloman and use the Queen of Ethiopia. Good story and would bring up some much needed history lesons. Just a thought.
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7-23-2008 @ 9:30AM
Geneva Smith said...These movies were ALWAYS viewed as offensive by the people they offended, not just today. The fact is that now the offended people have more voice and seem to be heard. Its easy to listen when you know money talks. Big companies like Disney want everyone to see their movies,not just white people anymore(not enough revenue)
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7-23-2008 @ 9:21AM
al said...America !!! home of the brave, land of the free and the offended ...black folks get a grip!! get over it !!! you people whine about everything ... ever hear of crying wolf? white people are so numb from all this whining that it goes in one ear and out the other .. start up a black disney and be over it ... just like you do with everything else ... I feel if anybody has a gripe with America it should be Native Americans ...Lift up your ancestors that made it possible for you to be here and not whine about the great country that they made it possible for you to live in !!!
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