Racebending.com

by Desaree, Racebending.com staff

Disney announced that it would be returning to 2-D animation for their newest animated movie. The same artistic teams that brought audiences “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid” were selected to animate the characters for Disney’s remake of the Grimm Brothers’ “The Frog Prince.” Not only would this fairy tale remake be in 2-D animation it would also be the first Disney fairy tale with an African American Princess. Disney is showcasing the talents of African American actors Opera Winfrey, Terrence Howard, and Anika Noni Rose to voice the main African American characters in the movie that was officially released on the 11th of December.

While the first reaction of Disney fans and parents was positive, considering the fact that after nearly 80 years of animation Disney will only now have an African American princess, there is just as much worry about how the characters are depicted in the movie. Racial stereotyping is nothing new in America. Whether with racebending or by exaggerating features, the media’s representation of different ethnicities appearances can become demeaning and embarrassing, not only for people who are expecting an accurate portrayal but also for those who know that the depictions are purposely humiliating and insensitive to cultural history.

Can such assumptions be made with this latest fairy tale? Even with the stellar voicing cast, appropriate setting, and apparent accurate representation of the African American and Creole cultures of the South. Would Disney attempt to do such a thing? Perhaps I should say why did they?

This controversy has been brewing for years. Ever since Disney made their official announcement back in March of 2007 for “The Frog Princess” staring Maddy a chambermaid living among the wealthy of the famed New Orleans French Quarter. No need to re check the title of your movie stub, big changes were made by Disney following contact from the NAACP and the circulation of an on-line petition with over 3000 signatures. IMDB news released this article:

    Protests Come Early to Disney’s ‘Princess’

Almost two years before its hoped-for release of its first hand-drawn animated film produced under the supervision of Pixar’s John Lasseter, Disney has already drawn fire for alleged racial and ethnic insensitivities that were detected in its original announcement of the film, according to Disney watcher Jim Hill. Since the original title, The Frog Princess, might be regarded as a slur on the French, the title has been changed to The Princess and the Frog. The main character, named Maddy — who was to become Disney’s first black princess — has had her name changed to Tiana, since Maddy reportedly sounded too much like Mammy. She will no longer be seen as a chambermaid working for a rich, white spoiled Southern débutante. In a statement, Disney, which said that it ordinarily does not comment on its animated films in the early stages of production, observed: “The story takes place in the charming elegance and grandeur of New Orleans’ fabled French Quarter during the Jazz Age. … Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney’s rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity.”
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Another main character in the story also underwent major changes not mentioned in IMDB’s article, none other than the European Prince Harry. Every princess must have her prince, and falling in line with the other Disney tradition of maintaining European influence when it comes to royalty, Maddy’s original Prince was to be named Harry from Europe. Some of the evidence from this can be found in the first pictures released of the newest Prince and Princess. For anyone who has seen the movie, the difference between the skin tone of Prince Harry and Prince Naveen is obvious. While Disney changed his name and darkened his skin color, they did not make him African, like many online advocates preferred: since all other princesses married princes of the same race, why differentiate with the first African American Princess?

Not making Prince Naveen an African royal leaves the impression that Tiana would have to marry a different race in order to live happily ever after. That may or may not have been an underlining intention of Disney since there is no royal family of the United States a foreign royal would have to be involved in the story. The fact that they originally choose a European royal over an African royal is the point. Disney did make changes to their original format for “The Frog Princess” and that alone validates the concern about what effects racial stereotypes can have on viewers young and old alike.

Hard work, determination, and negative publicity are what forced Disney to rethink how they had originally portrayed African Americans in “The Princess and the Frog.” The problem is that had they thought of the implications their decisions about the characters would have on the American people before announcing their plans, this controversy would not have existed. How could an animation company as influential as Disney have made such a tremendous step backward, thinking they were moving forward?

Media influence on cultural identities, misrepresentation of ethnicities, and the ridiculous assumption that issues on race and discrimination are non-existent today: all of these factors are prevalent in mainstream media. There is an oversaturation of mainstream imagery and ideology being broadcast on a global scale. This ignorance has been present in America for so long that major media outlets making decisions and spreading misconceptions have actually disillusioned themselves.

Now that “The Princess and the Frog” has been restructured to be culturally sensitive to the American public it has been receiving rave reviews. However, the mark of discrimination has not been washed away as easily for many who have refused to allow their children to watch this movie. Even though it has been a struggle for families of different ethnicities to shelter their children from the adverse affects of negative stereotypes in the media, the presence of the first African American princess is still a long awaited for and welcome sight.