A new animated princess will debut from the Mouse House this
Christmas. Her name is Tiana, she is the lead character in "The Princess
and the Frog," set in New Orleans against a Creole backdrop, a novel setting for the classic fairytale. In
another novelty, Tiana is a waitress who kisses a frog prince only to become a
frog herself. A third novelty, she is African American, the first Disney
princess of that ethnicity. Already questions are circulating about “whether
Disney is racially sensitive enough to pull this off and whether the film
conquers stereotypes or reinforces them,” said reporter Duane Dudek at the Journal Sentinel online site. “Similar
questions were raised by Arab Americans over ‘Aladdin,’ and American Indians
about ‘Pocohontas.’ And early Disney films like ‘Song of the South’ and ‘Dumbo’
[which included a flock of crows talking in a dialect unmistakably African
American] [were accused of reinforcing] the racial stereotypes of the times.”
Maybe, perhaps in “Song of the South” and “Dumbo,” which were undeniably
products of their day, but I thought Disney’s treatment of Pocohontas was
pretty even-handed; I was surprised, albeit pleased, that the Studio would even
attempt such a minority character in the present fevered racial climate. In any
case, I look forward to seeing a Disneyfied African American princess almost as
much as I am eagerly anticipating the frog.
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