The Princess and the Frog: What’s Wrong with this Picture
Posted By The Editors | December 18th, 2009 | Category: Hot Topics | 6 comments
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By Paula L. Woods
Why couldn’t I be happier watching The Princess and the Frog”? Starring Anika Noni Rose as the princess and featuring Keith David, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard, this imaginative retelling of a classic fairy tale offers old-school animation, a beautiful color palette and some clever twists for kids plus a hefty down payment on a half-century of wrongs perpetrated against blacks by Disney, whose Walt Disney Animations Studios produced and distributed the film.
Adults of a certain age will recall that the House that Mickey Built has not always been kind to African Americans, starting with the appearance (and disappearance) of a half-human, half-donkey centaurette in 1940’s Fantasia and continuing through James Baskett’s dubious honor of anchoring Song of the South as the happy, story-telling slave Uncle Remus. Not to mention other race-baiting animal characters like the jive-talking crows in 1941’s Dumbo, King Louie the Ape in 1967’s The Jungle Book or even the laid-back Jamaican-accented crab Sebastian in 1989’s The Little Mermaid. In fact, let’s not, inasmuch as that’s a dark road down which I don’t need to travel this holiday season.
But was it better to watch the clever inversion of the girl-kisses-frog story, transplanted to 20th Century New Orleans? Directors Ron Clements and John Musker (both white males whose credits include The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) have some fun in the opening sequence as they lead the viewer to believe the story is about yet another white Southern darling and her invisible black help. But instead of being embroiled in the life of Charlotte and her fairy tale wardrobe, we follow the family’s black seamstress (voiced by Oprah Winfrey) and beautiful daughter Tiana (voiced by Tony-winning singer/actress Anika Noni Rose) as they ride a streetcar through the stately homes in the Garden District to their modest shotgun house in a black neighborhood. It’s an unexpected and magical moment that took me back to my childhood and Gone With the Wind, when I was less interested in Scarlett O’Hara’s life than those of her black-like-me slaves, Mammy and Prissy.
And while a Disneyfied shotgun house looks more like Fantasyland than the work of African-American artist John Biggers, the lessons Tiana learns there about how hard work and goals will lead to your dreams gave me hope that this would be a different kind of fairy tale.
So what’s my problem? Well, for one thing Tiana, the princess-to-be, is matched with Prince Naveen (voiced by Brazilian actor Bruce Campos), a young man who, while clearly of color, proclaims his origins in European-sounding Maldonia so loudly he might as well say, “Look, I’m not black, okay?” Moreover, Naveen is a slacker, living off his royal family’s fortune until he’s booted out to fend for himself, which means coming to New Orleans to leach off the wealth of an unsuspecting New Orleanian family. Not the kind of man we want for a no-nonsense striver like Tiana.
Amazing as it may seem, the New Orleans of The Princess and the Frog has no other viable male suitors for Tiana. That’s because, while black women get a better deal in the film, black males are either dead like Tiana’s father (a throw-away role voiced by Terrence Howard) or evil charlatans in the person of Dr. Facilier. While energetically voiced and acted by Keith David, Facilier is a villain who manages to malign black men and Voudon (the African-based religion popular known as “Voodoo”) beliefs at the same time. And while Tiana’s family dispenses sage advice that work is nothing without love in your life, that advice seems misapplied to Naveen, despite his journey to responsibility that consumes the middle third of the film.
And while I’m probably over-thinking it, I wonder: are we really better off when we create princess imagery for little black girls while stereotyping Cajuns as simple, wisdom-dispensing, snaggle-toothed fireflies (who, like black characters in movies past, don’t even make it to the final reel)? Or poor whites as ignorant killers (hunting for frog legs, but still)?
For all of the film’s landmark achievements, blend of Disney’s iconic and lush 2-D animation with modern-day technical wizardry (including using a black body double to map Tiana’s animated movements) plus the fine vocal skills of Rose, Jenifer Lewis as Mama Odie , the good voodoo priestess/fairy godmother, among others, it’s hard for me to overlook the film’s aforementioned shortcomings or the superficial musical score and songs (by animation veteran and New Orleanian Randy Newman) that skim over the rich jazz and Cajun musical heritage of the region (trumpet work by Terence Blanchard notwithstanding).
My concerns aside, I know Disney animation fans and younger children are in love with The Princess and the Frog, a sentiment I’ve heard from friends with daughters and on an NPR segment where little girls explain why they like Princess Tiana . The superficial achievement for the race and Disney marketing/merchandising tie-ins will probably be enough to spell success for the film and another bite at the animated apple in years to come. Which may be, after so many years of neglect, is as good as it gets. But next time, I hope the studios dig a little deeper culturally and think a little harder about the coherence of their story and the images they convey.
Because of the film’s stereotypical depiction of some ethnic groups, different faiths and the sudden, violent death of a central character, parents will want to attend The Princess and the Frog with young children and talk through any of their concerns or fears. And, hopefully, enjoy the beautiful animation and revel in the simple joys of seeing a little black girl make good in Disneyland, the happiest—if not the fairest—place on earth.
In addition to her reviews of books and film for The Defenders Online, Paula L. Woods’ reviews of books have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and other publications. She is the author of eight books, including I, Too, Sing America: The African-American Book of Days, and four Charlotte Justice crime novels, which include Inner City Blues and Strange Bedfellows.
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I hought this was a beautiful film. It ois sad that so many people feel the need to keep all the bad things alive by drdging them into every situation and rying to make people feel guily about their pleasure.
Just live, people. Instead of harping on the wrongs done in the past, live your life in peace and do your part to ensure they don’t happen again.
Thanks for the info. I think the commentary forgot Disney’s “Little Black Sambo.” Take a look at it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSfGvptL_TY . I saw these cartoons as a kid, and others where Africans cooked people in big pots. Didn’t do much for my self esteem. If you think it isn’t racist, walk in my shoes for a little while.
I understand exactly where you are coming from..The characters in the movie, the plot, its all reminiscent of black steroetypes and hardships. But I dont think thats what was intended…Its like seeing a bunny in the sky, look hard enough and the ears and tail protrude, clear as day, but in the end, it is only a cloud…not to say that it doesnot look like a bunny, but that is not the purpose of the cloud, it could be meerly a coincidence…I watched a movie the other day- The Break Up, starring Jennifer Aniston and a witty male counterpart ( I forget his name lol) about a couple who break up but do not want to give up their home, so they stay together..a great platform for senseless romantic comedy..but have we ever had a real romantic comedy?? no..The Break Up was a light film for love and laughs, our films have those two in the plot, but we put in excess of Morale and Meaning..nothing is wrong with that, accept we continuously try to prove to ourselves and the rest that we are decent people…If the Break Up were a Tyler Perry film he would be forced to make the funny little arguments and “nagging wife” sassy and race related…even if he didnt, the black viewers would..I think that is quite sad, we cant have a light movie without making about “us”..If The Frog and Princess had been put in a different setting, one that you could describe as utopian ideal society, there would be a critic for its lack of realness-”blackness”-and it might not even be you, but Im sure that some one would jump on the opportunity to antagonize the film..I bet if Cinderella was black, thered be an article just like this it..And why should the prince NOT be british?? Does he not “act” black enough?..if he did, somone would say that was offensive…We have to stop this, over analysis of everything, dissecting it into clever attacks against our race..I dont really think you belive that the white male creators of the movie meant to do any such harms to our ethnicity, so why do we persist with this enmity?? Be honest, the thought of a racist white man excites you, makes you ready to fight for black pride and defend rights and march and all that, but I dont think that this is a cause for such accusations. No offense, but you, and all that agree with you, should evaluate yourselves…Why did you even recognize all of these things as attacks?? You cant help it..Its embeded in you..in US..Next time that you find yourself making these times of judgements, stop mid-thought and ask yourself What triggered that thought?..Why do we always victimize ourselves and try to defend our humanity when it was never really offended to begin with?..This elongated post is not a challenge, it is meant with the utmost love for blacks, because you are only one of many with these thoughts founding the base of every decision and move and thought that we make..I feel it was my sisterly obligation to write this…If you ever get the chance, read the letter that Willie Lynch wrote on how to control us after slavery and find how profoundly we have been brainwashed into generations of everything that hurt us…But in the event that you do read it, do not allow that to fuel your anti-black searches even further, but look for the improvements in us..You cannot rely on the blame game to fix it, what does it matter how it broke, it must be fixed regardless…I mean, think about about it..You wouldnt have found that bunny had U not searched the skies for it…
WIth love and respect,
Your sistah…:)
I’m black and thank God I wasn’t raised in the US where so many people constantly take racial offenses to everything where often none was intended. Instead of waiting for Disney to come up with a black princess and do the ‘acceptable’ story line why don’t the blacks who are so disgruntled do their own acceptable animated flick.
I’m concerned to be frank.
Reading the comments, it is amazing how people can so easily discount these issues. Because of the liniage of his parents, I am not concern about his proclamation of being a prince but I was immediately outraged as I watched the first 20 minutes of the film to find out that he is seeking someone rich. He being a womanizer and lazy came later, but these attributes destroyed the movie. Prince Naveen does not have any of the attributes or nobility of a traditional GOOD Disney royal, but more importantly this story speaks about the princess and how she is limited enough to fall for such a carector.
I don’t want to harp on my feelings of the movie, but do not think that this is completely harmless.
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