Month: March 2018

When The Princess and the Frog released in 2009, the main buzz surrounding the movie came from the fact that Tiana was Disney’s first African American princess. Although other minorities had been represented in other Disney princess movies, such as Mulan, Pocahontas, and Aladdin, a princess film about an African-American princess was long overdue. Finally, more little girls would be able to watch the movies and relate to a princess who is ambitious, independent, and strong. The Princess and the Frog trail blazed a path that would allow Disney to continue making movies about princesses of other ethnicities and allow all children to feel included in the Disney princess community.

From the beginning, Princess and the Frog seeks to differentiate itself from older, more traditional princess movies such as Cinderella because of the contrast between Tiana and her friend, Charlotte. Charlotte, privileged and delusional, is obsessed with finding a prince and finds the story of “The Frog Prince” to be romantic. Contrastingly, Tiana, who is ambitious and determined to open her own restaurant, finds the story to be gross and doesn’t want to wait for a prince. When they grow up, Tiana retains her dream of opening a restaurant, although she is facing financial difficulty, and Charlotte still dreams of marrying a prince. She has the opportunity to marry Prince Naveen at a ball, but Naveen was turned into a frog by a voodoo doctor, Dr. Facilier. Naveen tricks Tiana into kissing him because he wants to be turned back into a human, but instead, Tiana also transforms into a frog. Ultimately, the plot follows the pair as they try to become human again.

The music in the film is unlike any Disney princess movies before, and the entire score has a southern, jazzy vibe with just enough magic to make it feel like Disney. My favorite song from the soundtrack is hands down “Almost There,” which is Tiana’s solo song at the beginning of the movie. She outlines her plans for her restaurant and demonstrates her ambitious spirit, which, paired with the music, makes for an amazing song. Another super fun song on the soundtrack is “When We’re Human,” where all of the creatures they meet along their journey talk about the plans they have once they become humans. It’s easily one of the most entertaining and jazziest songs in all of Disney music history, so it is definitely a memorable song for the soundtrack. “Dig a Little Deeper” is one of the final songs of the movie, and it exemplifies the main messages of the story while still being super engaging and enjoyable. The song itself, sang by Mama Odie, really reminds me of “Ain’t It Good” from Children of Eden, which is a huge compliment.

Overall, The Princess and the Frog ended up being a successful addition to the Disney princess movie family. Its messages about ambition and working for what people want contrast the early princess movies in a beneficial way, as Tiana is a breath of fresh air because she pursues her dream relentlessly. She also demonstrates the progress that Disney has been making in terms of trying to make their princesses more inclusive of all ethnicities. Hopefully, in the future, Disney will continue to introduce princesses from different ethnicities, sexualities, body types, and backgrounds in order to ensure that they are reaching all children.

When people first discover that I have an affinity for all things Disney and Disney princess, many of them respond with something along the lines about how Disney princesses are not good role models for little girls. Knowing my personal beliefs, these people are often astonished that I think so highly of princess movies and rank some of them among my favorite movies from all genres (Moana, Frozen, and Tangled, I’m looking at you). Although the stereotypical Disney princess is nowhere close to a feminist icon, the princesses have greatly transformed from passive, obedient characters to strong, independent, and intelligent young women. Instead of reviewing a specific Disney princess movie this week, I decided to discuss how Disney has rebranded itself and its princesses in order to inspire young girls around the world.

When it comes to the movies themselves, the fact that Disney has shifted their generic plot for princess films from that of Cinderella to that of Moana is obvious. The Cinderella model would commence with the princess in a hopeless situation where they perform traditionally female tasks, and then they meet a prince who eventually dramatically saves the princess from her current state, and they proceed to live happily after.

Instead, princess films nowadays alter the focus of the plot away from princes and focus more on the growth of the individual princess. Each recent princess, similar to the earlier princesses, is in a tough situation, but they choose to fix it by themselves and develop throughout the film as they achieve their goals. For instance, Moana has to fix the curse on her island, so she travels on her own to restore her island to its former greatness. She also realizes through her journey that she is capable of more than she thought, as well as the rest of her island, and she brings back her new ideas about voyaging to her island.

Furthermore, the princesses themselves are more diverse in regard to their ethnicity, background, and interests, which appeals to a wider range of girls. Tiana was the first African-American princess, Moana is from a Polynesian island, Mulan is Chinese, Jasmine is Arabic, and Pocahontas is Native American. More girls worldwide will be able to relate to the movies, which means that their message to empower young girls will be reached by more people.

One special campaign that began a few years ago is the #DreamBigPrincess campaign, which is a photography campaign that is meant to inspire kids around the world to follow their dreams. The featured photographers are from all over the world, and their photography includes vastly different girls with vastly different stories. One photographer featured a girl from Kenya who works with orphaned elephants, while another photographer focused on a little girl who wants to become an astronaut. This campaign demonstrates that Disney is trying to shift the focus of their princesses from traditional female roles to strong women who can do anything. Because of the campaign’s global nature, it has the ability to reach more young children around the world and inspire them to follow their dreams as well.

All in all, Disney is so much more than its stereotypical image set in place dozens of years ago. Their princess development and the recent #DreamBigPrincess photography campaign demonstrate that they want to inspire children worldwide to push themselves and dream bigger than they ever thought that they could.

*Also, the #DreamBigPrincess website and the Disney Princess have the cutest and most inspiring videos ever, so I would definitely recommend checking those out if you have a chance!