Tiana, Disney princess

[Gran Gran]

So now it's finally official, the first 'African American' Disney Princess has her debut.

After reading the 'it brought tears to my eyes' and 'it's been over due' I got to thinking...

I can't judge the importance of seeing a cartoon princess of 'my color' on the screen. I suppose all my fairy tale princesses were essentially me (and yes, I am a pale face)

Personally I think the character is about 20 years too late. Not easy to put it into words, but I think there is way too much emphasis put on color. And it just does the relations between people no good what so ever. (there is a double standard of acceptable behavior in place that is probably reversed from the past, but no less wrong but that is another matter all together)

The one thing that made me want to scream was the argument that '2 little princesses moved into the White house' before the movie was released. Considering that movies are not made over night - a journalist ought to know that - I do believe the Obamas were on nobody's radar when the story board was first presented.

Can it be that in 60 years they just never had a good story line to present a girl as head line of Tiana's heritage?

[o8jedi]

You have to remember that this was the same studio that came out with Song of the South (1946, Jackson and Foster) and there's a reason why you have to hunt for it on video or why it's never broadcast on television. Even when it was released, the NAACP had a bit of an issue, although they applauded the artistic merit of the film. Sometimes (and erroneously) the best way for a company to deal with race is to not bring it up at all and Disney did that by using white, near-white (in the case of the Arabian/Ottoman Jasmine), or non-human characters and situations.

As for stories, Disney has long toyed with the idea of adapting Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida to film, using their Broadway adaptation as a template. Considering how it deals with the love between an Egyptian hero and a Nubian (Ethiopian) slave, there could have been great potential for a black princess before Tiana.

[Gran Gran]

Aida is not exactly Disney stuff....

[concreteangel]

I, honestly, never noticed there wasn't a black princess until this movie came out. No one I knew cared about the races of the princesses or any of that. It's all the emphasis on the fact that Tiana is black that has made people think about it. I have no problem with her being black, or the fact that Disney felt they needed a black princess... but all the talk about "Disney's First African American Princess" is getting on my nerves.

When Mulan debuted, did Disney market her as "Disney's First Chinese/Asian Princess" and Jasmine as "Disney's First..." whatever nationality she is.

There should be more talk of the actual MOVIE. Not the nationality of the main characters. Disney should be making movies of their old standards - that of Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, The Lion King, Tarzan, Mulan, The Aristocats, and all the other Disney classic movies that we all grew up on. This movie should be up to that standard, not the races of the characters.

And, personally, from what I've seen of the commercials and previews, The Princess and The Frog is not up to that standard.

But I haven't seen the movie yet. So we'll see.

[nymphadora]

I never noticed that there wasn't a black Disney princess either. I never got a chance to see the movie, but I heard there was too much emphasis on her being black. One of my friends said it was like the creators went, "What do black people do?" and then made a stereotyped movie about that. Then again, a lot of the princesses do seem stereotypical for their race.

[syarafire]

I thought the opposite, actually. It seemed like there almost wasn't enough emphasis on race to be a realistic movie - they avoided the subject almost altogether, made Naveen a mixture of different "races", etc. But hey, the songs were great, the plot was good, and the characters were interesting. I don't look for much realism in Disney movies, so it was still good by my standards.

[Gran Gran]

Feb 8, 2010 8:44:35 GMT -5 syarafire said:

I thought the opposite, actually. It seemed like there almost wasn't enough emphasis on race to be a realistic movie - they avoided the subject almost altogether, made Naveen a mixture of different "races", etc. But hey, the songs were great, the plot was good, and the characters were interesting. I don't look for much realism in Disney movies, so it was still good by my standards.

I still have not seen the movie,

but isn't that what the aim should be? I mean race being a non issue...

I suppose that's why there has not been much about the movie after it came out, no flaming racial war, not like one would expect that from Disney.

So I guess the impact is mild to non existant....

[syarafire]

Sure, it's nice not to have many issues surrounding the film, but considering the time period it was set in, it's not very realistic not to mention race at all. But it doesn't matter much to me because Disney movies aren't exactly very realistic/accurate anyway.

I thought the movie was very good. You guys should see it.

[nymphadora]

I still want to see it, but I'm waiting for it to come out in a place that's cheaper than a movie theater. I don't really get offended about racial issues, but that might be because I'm sheltered from it. (98% white town...)

Since the movie's come out, I haven't heard anything about the effect on our culture - it was mainly just Disney's advertising that made it a big deal.

[Gran Gran]

Feb 8, 2010 14:42:16 GMT -5 nymphadora said:

I still want to see it, but I'm waiting for it to come out in a place that's cheaper than a movie theater. I don't really get offended about racial issues, but that might be because I'm sheltered from it. (98% white town...)

Since the movie's come out, I haven't heard anything about the effect on our culture - it was mainly just Disney's advertising that made it a big deal.

I don't think it was Disney making it a big deal.
But the buzz about it before it came out then nothing...

[nymphadora]

^I'm not sure if it was actually Disney or just other people in the media..... I think I might have imagined Disney's role in that.

[Gran Gran]

Hype never hurts the bottom line for opening day...


I am just a bit amazed it also went away rather quickly...