Gif description: Tiana, dressed in her lady in waiting costume, shrugging her shoulders and smiling.
I have a lot of feelings around Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. And yes I know that this movie has been out for a while now and it was aimed at children, but that has not quelled the fire that roars within me whenever I start to think about this film.
To start off, I have to say that I don’t hate the film. I’m just… disappointed in it. Surely Disney is allowed to have its flops, and normally I’m a fan of quote-unquote trash movies, so even if it was a stinker, I could probably find the humour in watching it. But it’s worse than being bad. It just… falls flat. It didn’t have to be the next Cinderella or Little Mermaid really, but in a sense it was that monumental for it’s target audience: black people.
Image description: Cartoon audience full of black movie goers.
There’s so much content out there explaining the significance of representation in the media, especially for a regularly marginalized group that is used to seeing itself either as offensive caricatures or not at all. I could go on about this, but I’m gonna let this video catch you up to speed. I grew up wishing my hair was like Ariel’s, knowing it was more like Sebastian’s voice actor. My mom, desperate to show me my skin tone was beautiful by only buying me black Barbie dolls, could only find one Disney female to adorn my childhood: Esmerelda. I have never seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I knew enough that Disney didn’t care to feature her anywhere else besides my beat-up nightgown.
Young kids especially are hungry for representation. Whether they fully understand the word or not, they understand the impact of seeing someone like them in the media. And having spent my formative years grasping at varying ethnic straws, I was so tentatively excited when Disney’s first black princess was announced.
Gif description: Tiana and Naveen complete their wedding ceremony with a kiss, breaking the spell and magically transforming them back into humans.
I really REALLY didn’t want to get my hopes up. After all, Disney has not been known to be very… welcoming of minorities. And they would rather lock up Song of the South in the same vault as Walt’s frozen head than acknowledge that mess. I was also cautious because I’ve witnessed a lot of people bungle the Black character. I didn’t think they’d go too far, but feared they’d either ignore her blackness or drop her back in non-descript Africa. But still, it was exciting. After nearly twenty years of waiting to see myself as something other than the sidekick or the animal friend, I was gonna see myself as the princess.
But then... it fell flat.
Before I get too far into the negatives, let me tell you what I liked about the film:
Successes:
“Almost There” is a great Disney song
“Friends on the Other Side” is an amazing villain song (and a great song in general)
Beautiful animation
Voice casting is great
Subverted expectations around the white characters
Charlotte La Bouff a.k.a. Lottie (yes she gets her own bullet point)
Strong independent black woman who don’t need no man (kinda - I’ll get into that)
I can smell the food cooking in this movie
Relates to a black community outside of Africa, and
Wasn't just another Lion King remake
Gif description: Woman smiling and giving the finger guns with the caption, “Could’ve been worse”
The Princess and the Frog is probably the prettiest 2D animation film that Disney ever made, which is a shame because it’s probably the last one we’ll ever get. You can almost feel the magic bleeding through the screen, and the animation is so smooth and fluid. It really fits a lot of the jazzy movements of the characters, and bless, they drew everybody inoffensively! Woo! Bare minimum exceeded!
Plotting this narrative in vintage NOLA was just *chef’s kiss* brilliant. I mean, it gave so much opportunity for visual variety, cultural infusion, creative characters, and fun new musical numbers. The fashion was on point. Featuring the roaring 20s (but roaring in a different sense) was so fun, and lent us some incredible stylistic illustrations for Tiana’s dream sequences. Plus, it’s a backdrop that you don’t usually see, even for the Black community. The inclusion of hoodoo/voodoo was also a clever way to go for the villain as it’s still a connection to our roots but doesn’t paint him as evil for doing so. He’s evil cuz he thinks he can pull off that bare midriff and a tailcoat jacket.
Gif description: Dr. Facilier frowning
It wasn’t even a bad narrative, but there was so much going on. In the first twenty minutes, we get introduced to so many characters that mostly fall out of your memory by the end. And while I respect a sister doing it for herself, I was kinda mad that our first princess had to work for a living, and work hard, and her so-called friends and family clowned her for it. Sure, other characters making fun of the protagonist for having a dream isn’t new - that’s the basis for pretty much every Disney movie. But the way her loved ones treated her made it seem like her dream was more ludicrous than sprouting legs. She wasn’t just wishing upon a star for this, she was actively working hard to achieve it. And the kind of sad thing is, they said she couldn’t own her own restaurant because they knew the world she was going up against.
This isn’t a mythical fantasy land or some ancient realm that time forgot to fact check - this is close enough to modern memory that the adults watching this know exactly what’s standing in her way. And yet it was still frustrating to me trying to decipher what the true villain of the film was. Cuz it wasn’t really Dr. Facilier - he’s a vicious con man who’s prepared to kill with the power of the spirits and Keith David on his side, but the prince’s butler seemed more ruthlessly prone to murder than the witch doctor. And even still, they may have been Naveen’s enemies, but they weren’t really Tiana’s, and as the Princess I think she’s the primary protagonist here. So I guess her villain is… racism? classism? the patriarchy? poor work-life balance? I mean seriously, what is this line:
Gif description: The realtor agents speaking to Tiana. The tall one places a hand on her shoulder, moving her in between the both of them, while the short one eats her beignets. The tall one says, “…which is why a little woman of your background…”
Which background? Black? Female? Working class? Unconventional Disney royalty? Tell me which -ism I’m seeing here! I’ve seen ’em all!
I have to give so many - seriously all the props -to Miss Charlotte La Bouff, a.k.a. Lottie, for being not just the best character in the movie, but just genuinely the best friend. She knows Tiana well enough to recognize she’d never just take the money for the restaurant - she’s got too much pride, but hiring her catering for her party - that’s doing her a solid. And you know if Lottie overheard them realtor jerks being passive aggressive to her bestie, she woulda got aggressive aggressive as a real lady should. I was so prepared for Lottie to be this spoiled rich brat, but one thing that her and so many characters do in this film is subvert your expectations. I really appreciate that.
Gif description: Lottie bursts through the restaurant door waving her hands and shouting happily. Her father, Big Daddy, looks up before resuming eating a beignet.
That said... here is where the film faltered:
Drawbacks:
My fiancé emphatically proclaims that the best part of the movie is in the first ten minutes, and that the two best songs from the film are within the first ten minutes. After that, the minute she becomes a frog, it all turns to shit.
She was a frog. The whole. Damn. Movie.
Ambiguous prejudice
Her biggest obstacle is... herself? Her lack of a dating life? Her dreams? White men? Men? Racism? Sexism? Classism? Poverty?
So... can other people talk to the animals too?
The first black Disney princess not only has to work on poor wages, but she only becomes a princess based on a technicality!
We never really knew much about the Disney princes, but the only things we know about Naveen is that he sucks
They made me like Prince Naveen - the lazy, cocky, spoiled, smug, ukulele-playing, good-for-nothing womanizer with a heart of gold. And for those who know, he seems like the kind of light-skinned brother to say he dates all kinds of girls but rarely goes for the darker ones.
First thing I got to address here is this: how are you gonna give us a film about the first black Disney princess… and then not even have her be black for a majority of the film? And this isn’t the only time we’ve seen this happen with a black protagonist in an animated film. Comparatively, the runtime is more frog than man. Not to mention, the title gets confusing when you start going over the technicals here. Tiana only became a princess by a technicality - she married a prince. Okay fine, as far as breaking the spell, that’s cool and all.
BUT if you’re going to claim her as the first black Disney princess, I really want to feel like she became a princess. We never even see Prince Naveen be a prince, or even confirm that his family would want him back. Who’s to say they didn’t just boot him because he was a lazy gigolo, but because they didn’t want him to become king one day? What if the title of prince was stripped along with the payroll? Would they both have just been stuck as frogs forever?
Gif description: Louie the alligator awkwardly shifts his gaze between the jazz band members on the riverboat, after just having seen an alligator play the trumpet.
And how dare you break poor Lottie’s (and the audience’s) heart like that. Sure we know it’s a Disney film and its all gotta be resolved by the end, but y’all was cutting it pretty close and you made Lottie feel like she doomed her best friend, knowing how rare it was that she could actually help her without Tiana pushing back.
I‘m all for subverting tropes here, but did we have to do it so much with this one when there were so many expectations riding on it? Did Tiana really have to turn into a frog just to learn… what? What was her lesson here? Don’t work too hard to achieve your dreams? But she achieved her dreams in the end because she worked hard. Yes, she also found love, but that love didn’t pay the rent for her restaurant. Her passion is what brought her to wanting to run a restaurant in the first place. And everyone in the movie who wasn’t a jerk got to live their dreams so I really don’t get the point here. I guess Naveen learned the biggest lesson, but I don’t think he had to be turned into a frog to learn it. Honestly he probably would’ve just stayed a frog if Tiana hadn’t been there because he got to be as lackadaisical as he wanted. And again, did Tiana have to be a casualty in that lesson learning?
Gif description: A young Tiana is grossed out, shuddering and sticking her finger at her throat as if to puke.
I know that Mama Odie also chastised Tiana for trying to outthink and outdetermine her problems but… why? It’s not a good move. It’s almost going backwards into the wishing and waiting for stuff to happen ideal that Disney has tried to steer away from in the wake of feminism. Sure, nobody outright says you need a man in your life, but Tiana’s mom jokes that she wants some grandkids. Her friends and coworkers tell her to have more of a social life instead of working two jobs round the clock just to reach the status of a middle-class man. Lottie is so far beyond boy-crazy that she is trademark Prince-Crazy. And even she gets her funding from her father.
Everyone around her acts like you need to find fulfillment in people, not projects. Which is so weird because not only is one of the characters, Louie, following his dream to play in a band, which is arguably not so much a people goal but a passion project one, but also theres the fact that Tiana only wanted to follow this dream to honor her father and her memories with him! It’s not even a thinly veiled “I’m following your dreams, dad” situation - she seems genuinely happy about being almost there and getting there on her own.
Gif description: Tiana fantasizes about her dream restaurant in a soft 1920s-inspired art style. She adorns a line of waiters with flower boutonnières before tossing all the flowers in the air.
But I think the thing that frustrated me the most about this movie, is how bland the whole thing was. The storyline could’ve been plopped into any movie. The characters felt one note. The music beyond the breakout songs were forgettable, and I even struggled to remember which songs those were when I was writing this post. The whole thing was pretty forgettable. Even after rewatching it numerous times, I can still only pull together bits and pieces of the movie that left an impact on me. Meanwhile, I realized that I memorized the entire soundtrack and dialogue to Rodger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring 90s icon Brandy.
Gif description: Brandy acting as Cinderella on her way to the ball, singing “It’s possible!”
Were we spoiled by Brandy's Cinderella? Looking back, the story didn’t have anything drastically different from the Disney classic. The costuming, set design, and vocals were on point, but at its heart, it’s still just Cinderella. But maybe it was because they didn’t make a big deal about the minority characters being minorities, and even having the lesser known smaller parts having their own show-stopping numbers made it feel like everyone was equal. Years later, my generation is only just now questioning how Victor Garner and Whoopi Goldberg gave birth to an Asian prince who most of us have only just realized was played by a Filipino actor (Paolo Montalban).
Gif description: From Brandy’s Cinderella - Prince Charming kisses Cinderella’s hand as he gazes into her eyes.
The actors’ race had no bearing on the narrative. They just had to sing and perform their asses off, and do so they did. The only reason I even cared about Cinderella as a kid was because I identified with Brandy’s version, and for years referred to it as Brandy’s Cinderella. With that, it would sound like I loved Brandy and idolized her growing up. I didn’t. I barely knew her as a singer. I hadn’t even seen her act until I watched Moesha as a teenager, which by then was solely reruns since the show first aired when I was two. So why did I love her Cinderella story so much?
Image description: Issa Rae says to a red carpet journalist, “I’m rooting for everybody black.”
I’m just joking (a little bit). The diverse representation was certainly a big part of it. But overall, the drama and the flair and the fanfare were awe-inspiring. The tried and true storyline gave room to embellish and do their own thing without getting too bogged down in sidequests and worldbuilding. You can’t say it was the raw star power because I’m going to commit a sin and admit I didn’t know who Whitney Houston was when this came out either.
If I’m being honest, I never felt very in tune with the black community even though I was black. Growing up weird as a black person makes you other, like there’s this cultural understanding of things that you’re supposed to have, to say, to do, but you missed the newsletter. I was too white for the black folks and too black for the white folks. So when I say I craved representation, I wasn’t looking for any sort of mannerisms or icons. I was just looking for people who looked like me being themselves. Brandy represented that. Her evil step siblings represented that. Whoopi being Whoopi represented that. Whereas Tiana had to represent every single thing that stood in her way, both in her movie and in our world. No wonder she was always exhausted.
Gif description: Tiana returns home after a long day at work and passes out into her bed, still in her uniform.
Ultimately, I think The Princess and The Frog fell flat because they tried too hard but also, subsequently, didn’t try hard enough.
They knew how important it was not to mess this up, and you get the sense that they were almost afraid to acknowledge it directly. Which is why I still don’t know what Tiana’s “background” they’re oppressing. And I get that it’s a kids movie. You can’t just casually toss hundreds of years of prejudice in the background and then bring out the funny singing lightning bugs. But to assume that kids don’t get it is also kind of demeaning. I knew what it meant to be other before I finished preschool. I knew what it felt like to be discriminated against by my own people before I had even interacted with a white person. And even if you don’t spell it out for them, they’ll know who’s being right and who’s being wrong. You’ve built an empire of painting fantastical villains and misunderstood characters belting their hearts out - give kids some credit and let them figure it out.
And on the opposite spectrum, maybe you didn’t even need to make it a big part of the narrative. Just seeing a character you identify with let’s you adapt your life to theirs. It’s easier to picture them going through something without actually seeing them going through it because you can see them as you. That’s all it takes for someone to not feel alone. Or heck, you could even just go the Brandy route and not mention it at all, but let the characters paint that picture for you.
I get the sense that Brandy’s Cinderella may have been treated differently by her step-family for a variety of reasons relating to the fairytale, but I also recognized that her hair was different from them too, and maybe they didn’t like her because she had braids and they didn’t, or because she was soft-spoken and they weren’t, or because her voice sounded different from theirs. There are so many things I latched onto that I didn’t even perceive as a kid that left an impact on me. So there are subtler ways to do a black princess.
That said, I know there’s also tons of Black myths and African fairytales just waiting to be turned into screenplays that we don’t even know about because our culture isn’t in the mainstream. Sure, we could do another Cinderella (oh please god don’t, there’s like thirty of those movies alone), or we could learn about the girl who married a spider from a compendium of illustrated stories that I only bought because it had a brown girl on the cover. Okay, so maybe I am just rooting for everybody black.
Not every Disney movie knocks it out of the park. And not every Disney princess is an instant favorite. Most people couldn't identify the name of the headlining princess from Brave, even with a poll listing the possible names you could choose from. And that’s assuming the people taking the poll have even seen or heard of the movie. I’m not even trying to badmouth Brave here - I’m being honest about the reception it received, which is sad because it was a cute movie too. And that truly fought the patriarchal past while subverting expectations.
Gif description: A young Tiana, wearing her nightgown and a toy crown, clutches a sketch of her dream restaurant while smiling and looking up at the sky. She wishes for her dream to come true.
We've been dreaming of a black Disney princess all our lives. Maybe we just build it up too much. Keep in mind that we’ve come a long way from Song of the South. But it still feels like we’re just… almost there.