"The Princess and the Frog"
So I went to see "The Princess and the Frog" today. After seeing and hearing both educated and personal reviews of the Disney film I had to see it for myself. There are many blog sights that have said that this movie is racist saying "Why Is Tiana's prince Brazilian?" and many have gone as far to ask "Why is her hair so straight," or "Why does she have an accent?"
I even had my personal reviews of the film as it was a DIsney Production and we all know that Disney can be racist and more narrowly based "culturally bias" when it comes to colored audiences and the wholeness of our American History. We often frown upon Disney for romanticizing and stereotyping history to fit into the virginity of a child's ear. I am not saying that things should not be censored for children, but I am saying, a lie is a lie. Does Disney's "Pocahontas" ring any bells?!!
So while watching the film with 27 female family members from ages 4 to 70 I kept my eyes open to why some people thought it was racist and why some prestigious black organizations found this movie appealing and revolutionizing.
I can proudly say that I support Disney's "The Princess and the Frog". Nothing about this film was remotely racist or misleading about the African American female. It does not matter if she stayed a frog for most of the movie of if "we only got a black princess because of Obama."
The Princess was beautiful and the story-line, culture, and voices of each character represented the black female well. Tiana is represented as a poor hardworking girl who knew the value of life and who strived at any cost to achieve her dreams not matter the barrier, but later found out that love is all that counts. Being a frog was a metaphor for being poor. Towards the end of the movie Tiana was willing to stay a frog or "poor" to be with who she loved.
Princess Tiana did Revolutionize the stereotype of a Princess. Princess Tiana was not born to a king and raised in a castle, she earned her crown, and if you look deep enough you will find that her becoming a princess was more than marrying her prince but marrying life and happiness, dreams and reality, and needs and wants.
"Jasmine this is my Princess Tiana Barbie Doll, since she's the first Black Barbie I will not take her clothes off or mess with her hair, I'll let her stay beautiful!"-Madison Age 5
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG WAS INSPIRING!
The musical production, and historical undertones were enjoyable and educational for all women.
I even had my personal reviews of the film as it was a DIsney Production and we all know that Disney can be racist and more narrowly based "culturally bias" when it comes to colored audiences and the wholeness of our American History. We often frown upon Disney for romanticizing and stereotyping history to fit into the virginity of a child's ear. I am not saying that things should not be censored for children, but I am saying, a lie is a lie. Does Disney's "Pocahontas" ring any bells?!!
So while watching the film with 27 female family members from ages 4 to 70 I kept my eyes open to why some people thought it was racist and why some prestigious black organizations found this movie appealing and revolutionizing.
I can proudly say that I support Disney's "The Princess and the Frog". Nothing about this film was remotely racist or misleading about the African American female. It does not matter if she stayed a frog for most of the movie of if "we only got a black princess because of Obama."
The Princess was beautiful and the story-line, culture, and voices of each character represented the black female well. Tiana is represented as a poor hardworking girl who knew the value of life and who strived at any cost to achieve her dreams not matter the barrier, but later found out that love is all that counts. Being a frog was a metaphor for being poor. Towards the end of the movie Tiana was willing to stay a frog or "poor" to be with who she loved.
Princess Tiana did Revolutionize the stereotype of a Princess. Princess Tiana was not born to a king and raised in a castle, she earned her crown, and if you look deep enough you will find that her becoming a princess was more than marrying her prince but marrying life and happiness, dreams and reality, and needs and wants.
"Jasmine this is my Princess Tiana Barbie Doll, since she's the first Black Barbie I will not take her clothes off or mess with her hair, I'll let her stay beautiful!"-Madison Age 5
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG WAS INSPIRING!
The musical production, and historical undertones were enjoyable and educational for all women.
jasmine i must disagree with you. we must historically situation and contextualize how black people/bodies have been portrayed in the media.
(fun fact: the first film to ever be produced/directed/made/screened was DWGriffith's "Birth of a Nation"..if you havent seen it you can find it on youtube. THis film is based on black minstrelsy, portraying the white woman as pure and the black man as a savage only there to rape the white woman. this is what our entertainment is birthed from, therefor it is no suprise the trash thats been produced over the years- Precious falls into this category as well.)
if you look at 1930's cartoon- black bodies were represented as frogs- specifically jazz frogs. white conservatives wanted to represent black bodies as stupid, lazy but also docile, and happy to work under slavery. in doing so, they created characters such as the mammy, jambo, uncle tom, etc. the jazz frog speaks to what white people and their imagination cooked up- black people can sing and dance, but at the same time are dangerous people, etc.... See More
here are some shots:
Old Mill Pond (1937)
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/filmimages/oldmillpond-cab.jpg
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/filmimages/fats-oldmillpond.jpg
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/filmimages/bosko_pirates.jpg
isnt it interesting how the one film about a "black princes" (which is already problematic in itself having princess in there) is about frogs and is based in new orleans, a known place for jazz?
this is exactly why the princess and the frog is problematic. not only is it workin under the system of whiteness (not racism, cause if we talk about race, as you have- we miss the larger picture) but it is also functioning under patriarchy and capitalist mentality. why must every child movie have a young woman search for her "prince" or live up to finding one? why are they are poor? as you said "Tiana was not born to a king and raised in a castle, she earned her crown," that is the exact argument used on people of color- if you work hard you will go places (sound familiar?). You also said, "if you look deep enough you will find that her becoming a princess was more than marrying her prince but marrying life and happiness, dreams and reality, and needs and wants." But is that not what we are constantly told as young girls- that a life of happiness means that a man must be present because HE is the one to provide happiness and prosperity?
i urge you to read this article and look at how this writer views/sees black people, using this film to justify his view: http://hillbuzz.org/2009/12/12/the-princess-and-the-frog-is-the-most-devastating-assault-on-the-race-industry-in-our-lifetime/
also it doesn't matter it is a CARTOON..this is how ideologies and "biases" are birthed. the media has such control over our imagination that they start from an early age. so to have our children see these cartoons is itself an act of violence.
sidenote: media + white supremacy have also worked to fix the character of black people as savages, docile yet dangerous beings. (they cant make up their mind so they have to say all kind of crazy shit) look at Shirley Temple. one of her oldest movies was called Kids In Africa, in which LITTLE CHILDREN were used, both black and white, to represent an image of africa as hungry, deprived, illiterate.
http://www.silverscreenclassics.com/images/video/00464001.jpg
http://www.silverscreenclassics.com/video_streaming.php?id=00464001
its so sickening that they would use the bodies of children in this form. even more of a reason for my distaste for princess and the frog.