Disney’s Princess and the Frog–Too Little Too Late?
Up front warning this week, folks. This one’s going to be controversial as all hell. I know I’m not exactly a stranger to that sort of thing–I’ve been screaming vitriol at Hollywood for years upon, and I’m one of the only few commentators expressing serious doubts about the movie theatre as a viable industry, but this one just caught me right and I figured it might start some people talking.
We might all well be familiar with the whole concept of a Disney princess–those multicultural, blandly inoffensive figurines designed to hawk product within an inch of their unrealistic-body-typed lives. And you’ve got to admit that Disney’s been pretty proactive about the whole “multicultural” bit–the last twenty years have witnessed the Disney princess go from exclusively Snow White (in every sense of the term!) to include Arabs and Native Americans and fish-women hybrids and Atlanteans. One glaring omission remained until only recently–there were no black Disney princesses.
And this was a cause for concern, sure enough. But Disney made the move, and set up the upcoming Princess and the Frog. Sounds like an advance, right? The missing piece, finally in play the way it should have been all along? A reason to look kindly on Disney for at least trying to step up to the metaphorical plate, no?
Ha! You WISH. Instead the pundits rage on about the storyline. Check out some of the beefs courtesy of Studio Briefing. You won’t believe the nits they’re looking to pick:
Charlotte Observer columnist William Blackburn comments: “This princess’ story is set in New Orleans, the setting of one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community. And then they throw in the voodoo theme [the fairy-godmother character is a voodoo priestess] and an alligator sidekick. When you put New Orleans, alligators and voodoo together, there’s no beauty there.”
Blackburn apparently objects to the concept of writers using coherent elements unique to the history of black people to create a story based around them. He likes to ignore that fact that, for better than a hundred years BEFORE one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community, New Orleans was a black community that was a capital of culture and influence on the arts and sciences with worldwide ramifications. In fact, The Princess and the Frog is specifically SET during these “glory days” of New Orleans’ so-called Jazz Age.
He likes to ignore that fact that “voodoo” is actually only a bastardized term for Vodon in its purest form–created in its entirety by COASTAL WEST AFRICANS. If he’s not actively ignoring them, he just plain doesn’t know about them, and that’s almost worse.
And for some reason he’s got a problem with alligators. I don’t know what alligators did to Blackburn specifically–maybe he just hates things of lizardly descent–but he definitely doesn’t like them.
The thrust of my point is that, at least, Disney is TRYING to make up for lost time. Disney’s trying its best to live down its sorry past back when every princess was Snow White in every sense of the term and Uncle Remus was just another word for racism.
Disney’s actually trying to make a difference and it gets its contribution thrown back in its face over story elements.
If you’ve been reading me for any length of time you know I generally don’t back the big corporation, but this is different. This is somebody trying to change and getting its changes spit on for no clear reason aside from not meeting some kind of arbitrary standard.
You want to know where there’s no beauty? I say there’s no beauty in refusing a genuine attempt at change.
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It’s okay, Liz…seems no one cares anyway!