By Katey Rich
This is the first image from The Princess and the Frog (thanks to ComingSoon.net), the 2009 Disney animated movie and the studio's first attempt at making an animated "princess movie" since Pocahontas, way back in 1995. The story sounds as classic Disney as it gets: a young princess living in an exotic location (this time it's Louisiana) goes on a journey of self-discovery, with a talking crocodile and magic spells thrown in for good measure. Voicing Princess Tiana is Anika Noni Rose, a.k.a. the original Dreamgirl who didn't get kicked out for being too fat or turn into Diana Ross.
Disney's princess tradition has come under a lot of scrutiny lately, ever since it packaged all princesses from the past into the Princess Collection of toys, lunchboxes, you name it. Feminist moms have questioned their daughters' fascination with the nipped-waisted ladies, many of whom have no marketable skills or ambitions beyond cooking and cleaning. Even amid this marketing trend, though, Disney has moved away from princess movies-- its most successful projects, after all, are made by Pixar, and Pixar's world is aggressively gender-neutral. Even so, I can't blame moms for being wary of the princess rhetoric-- if I have a daughter someday and she spends her time singing "Some Day My Prince Will Come," I'll probably immediately put on Ratatouille instead.
But still... I love the idea of Princess Tiana. For starters, it's unbelievable that Disney has yet to feature a black princess. The studio has taken on stories from cultures as far-flung as China and the Middle East before taking a look into one of America's most historically-rich cities. At a time in which America's attention is still focused on New Orleans, at least a little bit, a story set in Louisiana is more appropriate than ever. And you know that Disney hasn't ignored the fact that black audiences have been speaking with their dollars more than ever at the box office, propelling Tyler Perry's movies and, even more recently, First Sunday, to blockbuster status.
Not that any Disney movie starring a princess would appeal to African-Americans only. The success of the Disney Princess toy and accessories line means there's always little girls out there who want to see their idols in frilly dresses and tiaras, and the Mouse House will not let that opportunity pass them by. So we have a groundbreaking idea, a new step for the studio in terms of moving past racial boundaries, couched in a franchise that is so outdated that Disney itself made fun of it with Enchanted. Is The Princess and the Frog someething new and fresh to be celebrated, or just another spoke in the ever-expanding wheel of Disney merchandising?
A little from column A, and a little from column B, I expect. And really, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Pixar has done a great job of helping Disney move away from completely outdated stories and ideas, but while doing away with princess stories, they've done away with girl stories entirely. Before Giselle in Enchanted, you had to go back to 2002's Lilo & Stitch to find a Disney animated movie featuring a girl character. Even the live-action movies don't do much better (Lindsay Lohan was the last female Disney star, and we all know how that turned out). The little girls may harbor outdated princess fantasies, but for the most part, that's all they've been offered.
It's hard to tell whether or not Princess Tiana will just fall right into the old template, and become another living doll in a pretty dress who decides very little of her own fate. But I doubt it. Aside from the simple act of being a black Disney princess, Tiana will likely shake things up by falling into the Mulan and Pocahontas model of Princess, a girl who defies her family and knows how to make her way in the outside world, even if she's not quite the warrior that Mulan was. I'm keeping the faith for now, unreasonably excited by that image above and hopeful that there is a way to give young girls a female hero who is not the female victim we're so used to seeing. For girls a little too young for Juno, it's long overdue.
Sorry to ask the obvious question but...there are princesses in Louisiana?
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