Marginalized Audiences and Popular Culture Consumption
The Princess and the Frog
1. “A Princess We Can Call Our Own?”
Exploring the Significance of Disney’s The Princess and
the Frog and its Effects on the African-American Girl
Lena Foote
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2. Literature Review
Disney’s impact on popular culture and children’s culture.
- “Walt Disney himself wanted his brand to define the
essence of being an American and he wanted to
produce American culture and produce American
children”………Sun and Scharrer (1999)
Disney’s portrayal of racial groups, especially women of color
- “orientalization”…………..Lacroix (2004)
- Significance of color symbolism……Hurley (2005)
The effects of Disney Princesses on young girls
- Unrealistic ideas…”happily ever after”
3. Methodology
• Continued research from McNair Scholar Program
• Fairy Tales course
• Watched movie approx. 20 times
- Commentary version of movie
• Blogs…people’s opinions of the movie
4. (Princess)
Tiana
Our Black Princess
• “Modern-Day Princess”
• Hard-working/Ambitious
• Prince Charming??
• Future Restaurateur
- father’s dream
- waitress
• Left-handed and has dimples
just like the actress Anika
Noni Rose
• Human time vs. Frog time
5. Aspects of Negro Life (1934) Aaron Douglas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAVM-vwX8Pk&feature=related
6. Prince
Naveen
Tiana’s Prince
• Prince of Maldonia
- “east of Sun, west of Moon”
- exotic place
- own language
*Achidanza – “cool”
• Purposely racially ambiguous,
“but not Black like Tiana”
- White Brazilian actor
- Naveen – Indian for “new”
• Cut off from family fortune
7. New Orleans as a Character
• Film a “Valentine” to the city of New
Orleans
• Walt Disney’s favorite city to visit
• Rich in (African-American) culture
- Architecture, food, music, Mardi Gras
- Film was originally set in Chicago
• Animators spent years in N.O. to make
movie as authentic as possible
• 1920’s sharecropping history
8. Voodooism
Dr. Faciliér (Shadow Man)
• Witch doctor
• Based on Baron Samedi
• Facile – French for “easy”
• Creole??
• “Friends on the Other Side”
• “Bad” voodoo
Mama Odie
• Fairy godmother of the film
• Blind, 197-years old
• Grandmother essence
- candy, sleeps on the spot
• Spiritual aspect of voodoo
- “Good” voodoo
9. Other Racially Controversial Characters
Raymond the Firefly
• Stereotypical African-
American???
• Cajun
- Not Black
Louis the Alligator
• Big jolly (dumb)character
• Wants to be human
• Louis Armstrong
• Trumpet player
10. Tiana and Naveen’s Relationship
• Interracial Love
- Why important??
• More realistic about
dating and marriage
• Was not Love at First
Sight
• Both learn from each
other
- Compliment each
other
• Working towards
“Happily ever after”
11. Is Tiana the One??
• Significance of Princess
Tiana
– African-Americans self-
image and the media
– Relevance in Disney
culture
– Consumption of Tiana
• Disney’s understanding of
race and ethnicity and
culture
• Can African-American girls
see themselves in Tiana and
want to be just like her?
12. Acknowledgements
• University of Notre Name
- Annual Midwest Undergraduate Film and Television
Conference
• Mentor, Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown
• Walt Disney World College Program
• The African-American girl in the store who inspired me to
conduct this continuing research.
Thank you!!!
Editor's Notes
Which is why I titled this presentation…”A Princess We Can Call Own Own??”
Different tensions within the Black community over this film….stereotypical or just history, many people were very skeptical about the movie
In 2008 during my 2nd semester of sophomore year…I participated in the Walt Disney College Program in Orlando,FL, which was the chance of a lifetime.
In the shop that I worked at, this little African-American girl came in with her family dressed up like Cinderella, this is usual since all little girls at Disney World are dressed like princess, but something about her was different….she reminded me a lot of myself when I was a little girl who wanted to be a Princess but never looked the part because I was not White like Cinderella
I found out about the Princess and The Frog, which is based on the Grimm fairy tale The Frog Prince, when I was down there…while it was still under construction, but I became more concerned when I heard rumors that it was just going to be another Disney movie that portrayed minorities stereotypically..
In 2009, I was rewarded a chance to become A McNair Scholar , and with the help of my mentor, Dr. Brown, I decided that I wanted to focus on The Controversies regarding the movie before it hit theaters….wanted to explore these tensions of race, class, gender, and nationality within The First Black Princess Tiana
SHOW TRAILER……OPEN UP SEPARATELY ON YOUTUBE
On the surface it seems just like any other Disney movie right? I wanted to know if Princess Tiana is the Princess that Black people, especially women, have been waiting so long for? Is this the Princess that we can be proud of and show with respect to our daughters and granddaughters?
In terms of the literature I reviewed, I found out that Disney’s place in popular culture was not an accident because Walt Disney wanted his films, characters, and theme parks to define what it means to be an American and a child.
Also, great amount of literature focused on Disney’s representations of different racial groups.
How color symbolism is used…good and pure/white and bad or evil/black and darkness
False ideas that Disney Princesses feed young girls….marriage, dating, relationships,…idea of living “happily ever after”
Unique in many ways
Not only being Black and American princess, but 1st princess/female lead to have a career/job
Doesn’t worry about finding her Prince Charming…too busy trying to save up for her restaurant…works as a waitress to save up money
- She was also going to be a chambermaid for a rich white family…too stereotypical
- Lots of controversy about Tiana being a frog for half of the movie….40 min on film overall / 97 min movie (17 as human, 23 as a frog)…her being frog as more magic to movie
The scene I am about to show is Tiana having this fantasy about her opening up her own restaurant and fulfilling her father’s dream…..notice how the animation is different from the rest of the movie in this scene
- The scene was to pay homage to the Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas….one of his famous paintings in this one “Aspects of Negro Life”
Adds some African-American cultural aspects to the film
Prince Maldonia….fictional but it speculated that it is a mix of Malta and Macedonia
fictional land, “east of Sun, west of Moon”/exotic place
Biggest controversy of the movie…racially ambiguous, but not Black….White Brazilian actor (Bruno Campos)…name means new in India…Black, Latino, Middle-Eastern, Indo-Asian….why couldn’t he be Black like Tiana..but no African-Afmerican prince…African prince?
Family fortune…now broke an has to money for money
Directors wanted to make this film as authentic as possible so they and the animators spent years researching in the city
-Rich in culture…Gumbo plays a big role in movie
- Film was 1st set in Chicago…Hurricane Katrina…film as a Valentine to the city of New Orleans…..I agree for N.O., even love I love Chicago
Dr. Faciler—the villain in the film
- Voodoo witch doctor----many complaints about the presence of voodoo in the movie…but relates to the history of New Orleans, Creoles, Religion
- Baron Samedi…god of magic, ancestor worship, and death…..skinny, top hat, tuxedo, and skull face
- Assumed that he is Creole…intersting he is the only Creole character in the movie, even though a large Creole population in N.O…Racial difference?
Mama Odie…”Fairy godmother”
- Old blind lady…..grandmother presence (candy, gumbo)
- Good voodoo
- Helps Tiana and Naveen
Purple, Green, and Purple Symbolism (colors of Mardi Gras)
- Purple (bad) Facilier…Green (neutral) frogs…Gold (good) Mama Odie
- Go along with colors of Mardi Gras
- Proff that Disney did not just put this movie together…took some actual thought an creativity
Besides the Prince and Dr. Facilier…two other characters that sparked some controversy were Raymond the Firefly and Louis the Alligator
Everyone thought Ray was the most stereotypical Southern Black character in the movie….due to his accent, his missing teeth, and his choice of words
But actually a Cajun…White people from Acadia part of Canada, who reside in NO…so Ray is not Black……there are White Country people too
Louis…kind of dumb, but entertaining…pays homage to Louis Armstrong with trumpet….wants to be human, but many people thought that this meant that since it is assumed that he was African-American, he wanted to be white so he wouldn’t scare people off
More realistic…not like other Disney couples
Interracial….modern times (more acceptable)
Both learn from each other….cook and dance (get out of trouble together)….compliment each other
- Naveen Lazy…Tiana hard-working
- Naveen teaches Tiana to have fun and relax….Tiana teaches Naveen how to be less selfish…..see how their romance grows
Both have on wedding rings…we see what happens after the wedding for once…they both work on restaurant… Naveen rolls up his sleeves to help Tiana
So as the 1st Black Disney Princes,s is Tiana the princess we can call our own?
- Important for young Black girls to see different images of Black beauty in the medi, for it affects their self-esteem and self-worth
Explain picture…love this picture
- Tyra Banks…2 Black girls dressed as Tiana…they do not have to dress up like Tiana, but now they have that option to dress up like the Princess who lookss like them…White girl can dress like her as well.
