Princess and The Frog

I believe Disney did an exceptional job in it's dealing with racism in it's movie The Princess and the Frog.  As said in class, Disney was stuck in a corner with the "double-edged sword" it was stuck with. If they illustrated it's characters to be too "black", they would have gotten criticized.  If they did not attempt to interpret Tiana and her family to be culturally accurate, they would have gotten criticized as well. 

Breaking away from their repertoire of flawless, non-African American homogenous princesses that found a perfect white man, Disney finally threw in Tiana.  Tiana, to me at least, is the best possible portrayal of the 1920's black female who is just trying to find success against all odds. 

In Sarah Turner's article, Blackness, Bayous, and Gumbo: Encoding and Decoding Race in a Colorblind World, Turner heavily attacks The Princess and the Frog for being colorblind; essentially ignoring the fact that Tiana is African American, "Color-blind racism denies difference on skin color by simply refusing to see color; therefore Tiana is "just a princess," not a black princess." (84)  Turner argues that by Disney's lack of acknowledging Tiana's "blackness", they are being racist. I have to disagree with Turner, knowing that Disney is trying their best to play it safe in their cultural representations in the film. Disney knew what they were getting into, and they did a very good job in a portrayal that could have ended horribly. 

Sources:

Turner, Sarah. “Blackness, Bayous, and Gumbo” Diversity in Disney Films: Critical Essays on Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality, and Disability. Johnson Cheu (Editor). Jefferson: McFarland, 2013. Duke University Libraries. Nov. 2013.