After a roughly seventy-year precedent of fair skinned princesses, the Walt Disney Corporation finally allowed an African American woman to become “the fairest of them all” (Snow White 1937). The Disney princess, as well as the coinciding marketing campaigns, have created a larger than life paradigm of womanhood. One of the most criticized characteristic of the Disney princess figure has been the lack of diversity. To counteract this, in 2009 Disney released The Princess and the Frog; a film that featured the very first African American princess. Though this film was released fairly recently, its addition to the larger canon of Disneyhood`is significant. From the moments it was first announced, film critics and fans alike have speculated on how this highly anticipated princess would handle the portrayal of a whole race. The inclusion of an African American princess into such an established corporation also allowed it to become incorporated into the hegemonic Disney marketing campaign. The hype surrounding this movie, as well as its secured place into an already established campaign, imbibe The Princess and the Frog with permanence and influence uncharacteristic of such a nascent film.

The Princess and the Frog is an adaptation of E. D. Baker’s novel The Frog Princess. The basic plot has a young woman kiss a frog in order to transform him into a prince. The unique Disney twist in this version is that when their protagonist, Tiana, kisses the frog, she herself is also transformed into that particular amphibian. The film then follows their adventures through the swamps outside of New Orleans as they try to return back to their human forms, defeat an evil voodoo man, and fall in love. While The Princess and the Frog is hardly free from criticism, it is a significant contemporary princess movie. Princess Tiana obviously brings to the forefront issues of racial portrayals, but also gender and class issues.

Tiana begins as a poor yet hardworking waitress in New Orleans. She dreams of one day opening her own restaurant, and is shown saving her hard earned pennies towards this goal. In this way, Tiana becomes a much stronger female role model for young girls than her other princess counterparts. From the beginning, the plot establishes that Tiana will be active in her own story; a stark contrast from earlier princesses. However, this version of the Disney princess did not become an active participant without some controversy. As a product of a movie studio still entrenched in white patriarchal capitalism, Tiana was first named Maddie. This moniker angered the African American community because it was perceived as more white than black, as well as being phonetically associated with Mammy (an African American stereotype from early cinema). The response was so vociferous that the film’s producers decided to change the name to Tiana. They still kept the Mammy figure alive in the film with the character of Mama Odie. This stout old woman lives deep in the Bayou and uses her sagely wisdom to guide these two would be lovers out of their predicament.

 

Tiana was also originally set to be a housemaid for a wealthy family. While producers felt this would be more historically accurate to a film set in 1920’s New Orleans, prospective viewers criticized it as bearing too close a resemblance to slavery. Instead, Tiana became a waitress with a dream; though she is still portrayed as a second-class citizen to the white family her mother works for. This brings up the concurrent relationship of race and class. Tiana is the encoded embodiment of capitalism and the American Dream. She is a rugged individualist, not willing to accept help from anyone. Instead, she relies on her own talents and hard work in order to achieve her goals of opening her own restaurant. Her biggest challenge comes from bankers who want to sell the space she covets for her restaurant to someone with deeper pockets. Though this challenge is a direct reflection of her class, Tiana is able to overcome this, not through her work, but by marrying a prince. Here, The Princess and the Frog substitutes the Horatio Alger myth for that of the stereotypical woman’s film. Tiana, originally not looking for love, comes to realize that she has relied too much on her work ethic. At the climax of the film, princess Tiana must choose between giving the villain an amulet that would allow him to enslave her prince’s soul in exchange for her return to her human body, as well as the investment money she would need to open her restaurant, or destroy the amulet and give up her dreams for love. The villain, the shadow man, is obviously evil and the audience is groomed to cheer when she inevitably chooses love over money. This epitomizes the classic chick flick genre, where the protagonist learns, “that one’s inner integrity is more important than material wealth” (Benshoff and Grant, p. 207).

 

Another aspect of the film that was criticized by both film critics and audiences is that Tiana’s love interest, Prince Naveen, is clearly not African American. Though his ethnicity is never overtly mentioned, some have attributed it as Eurasian. A backlash occurred as many viewers took this as a sign that Disney intentionally avoided using a black prince. Others celebrated this as a sign that miscegenation was becoming more widely accepted. Whatever the reason, Disney never made any formal statements concerning the matter. Another disconcerting aspect of Prince Naveen is his actual character. He is a lazy, entitled, not to mention a spoiled aristocrat. Having just been cut off from his parents, Naveen enters the story as a gold digger looking to marry a rich New Orleanian. His lust for an easy out makes him easy prey for the shadow man, and, once a frog, he drags Tiana into his own mess. Much of her story then becomes about redeeming him. By the end, she has taught him to appreciate work. She is rewarded for her efforts by suddenly being able to purchase the perfect building for her dream restaurant. Tiana now falls into the Princess trap: she lets her story be shaped by the men around her.

 

The other large critique of this film comes from the locale and the narrative of the story. Many people felt it was insensitive of Disney to set their story in New Orleans, with Hurricane Katrina still so fresh in the American consciousness. While I certainly sympathize, I would also argue that Disney meant this as an homage to the city and its residents. They included Jazz and Zydeco music liberally within their soundtrack, as a way to give a flavor of the city. The problem is that whenever a large corporation, particularly one as large as Disney,  is involved there tends to be less authentic and more stereotypical characterizations of both place and people. This phenomenon has become so common within this particular company that many will refer to the “Disneyfication” of cultural ideas or items that Disney has exploited. Disney’s proves this with their incorporation of The Princess and the Frog into their pre-existing section of their parks entitled “New Orleans Square.” This area, created between 1966-69, now includes a parade called “Princess Tiana’s Mardi Gras Celebration” featuring characters from the film, that meanders through restaurants such as the Blue Bayou and the Mint Julep Bar. As the restaurant names may signal, this version of New Orleans is much more a characterization of stereotypes associated with the city (patrons will even be given beads) rather than an accurate representation of it. This parade succeeds in establishing Tiana’s place in princess culture, but at the cost of inauthentically representing a culture.

Audiences also took issue with the fact that the first black princess spends the majority of the film as a frog. While this can certainly promote inner-versus-outer beauty, it is debatable whether Disney would have made the same choice with any of their fair skinned princesses. It is hard to spend time discussing her physical beauty, because it is barely present on the screen. It is important to note though, that she posses the physical characteristics of a slender body, large eyes, and perfectly coifed hair typical of all Disney princesses. Her skin is of a lighter tone, though we know that her parents are both African American as well. Her lips are a little fuller than her Caucasian counterparts, but overall it feels like Disney is trying to ease their viewers into an African American protagonist. This is evident mostly in the fact that her “black” features are completely wiped during the majority of the film. As a frog, the only feminine features she retains are long eyelashes; so generic they could be attributed to a woman of any race. Many African American, who had waited so long to see their race included in the Disney princess club, were particularly instanced, as they decoded her depiction as a frog one that devalued her status as princess.

She does get to turn back into a princess at the end, but only after she married the entitled, charming Prince Naveen. Though The Princess and the Frog does not strictly adhere to the classical Hollywood Narrative form, it still allows the ending to concentrate on Tiana finding love. Disney is surreptitious about being overtly anti-feminist. Tiana was not looking for love, but finds balance in embracing Naveen’s zest for life, while teaching him to be more grounded. It is in this way that she is able to give up her dreams and embrace her life as a frog. It is also her ability to selflessly do so that allows her to transform back into her human self. Disney encodes both independent and a traditional “Happy Ever After” ending, so as to appease multiple audiences.

 

All of these things are never discussed outright, so many feel like this is harmless for children. Michael D. Baran, a cognitive psychologist and anthropologist who teaches at Harvard and specializes in how children learn about race argues, “People think that kids don’t catch subtle messages about race and gender in movies, but it’s quite the opposite” (Barnes 2009). Though Disney is subtle, they still encode the movie with stereotypes about race and class, as well as promoting antiquated ideas about beauty and love. Tiana is significant because she was the first African American in a long standing Euro-American tradition. Though she is presented as capable and hard working, she ultimately ends up another typical Disney princess.

 

Works Cited

 

Barnes, Brooks. “Her Prince has Come. Critics, too.” The New York Times. The New York Times 30 May2009. Web. 10 November 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/31disney.htmlpagewanted=all&_r=0>

Benshoff, Harry M., and Sean Griffin. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at  the Movies. 2^nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2009.

The Princess and the Frog. Perf. Anika Noni Rose, Terrence Howard, Oprah Winfrey. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2009. Film.