African-American’s Almost There?

The production of The Princess and the Frog faced the dilemma of creating a movie based on the cold, segregated reality of 1920’s New Orleans, or fudging the facts to support a more racially acceptable story.

A clip of “Almost There,” sung by Tiana when she visits the property where she plans to build her restaurant:

In contrast, here is a clip of Tiana’s white counterpart, Charlotte:

Although Tiana is “almost there,” it seems that Charlotte and her father have been “there” for some time now…

With the white characters shown through the bratty talkative Charlotte and her fat, bourgeois father, did Disney overcompensate? Thanks to white privilege, this point of racism is paid little attention to.

So did this portrayal of race through Tiana and Charlotte reflect the true racist, stereotypical beliefs of the time? One would argue Disney took the middle road. In the end, it is Tiana, not Charlotte, who comes out married to Naveen.

Criticism of The Princess and the Frog can be found even in preproduction, but were quickly countered:

“The PC watchdogs who scrutinized this movie since it was first released, and who reportedly succeeded at persuading bigwigs to change the title (originally The Frog Princess), the name of the protagonist (originally Maddy, feared to sound too much like ‘‘Mammy’’), and her profession (originally a maid), seem to have entirely missed the forest for the trees—namely, that Disney’s first black ‘‘princess’’ lives in a world where the ceiling on black ambition is firmly set at the service industries, and Tiana and her neighbors seem down- right zip-a-dee-doo-dah happy about that.”

(Foundas in Lester, 2010)

Another critic points out how, “Tiana aspires for a career in the service industry while other princesses remain ‘happily ever after’ in the ivory tower of fairyland bliss profession-less and career-less.” (From Neal A. Lester‘s “Politics of Being First”)

In Disney’s defense, he also cites a New Orleans local, who is the former Deputy of Communications for the Mayor of New Orleans, James D. Ross:

‘‘While I agree that this constrains Tiana to the service industry, I do think her role as a chef is complicated because she is in New Orleans, where everybody wants to be a chef and own a restaurant. These are the most prominent (and often most wealthy) people in town because this is a foodie town’’ (Ross e-mail).

So, was Disney really being racist? The relative modern setting change from Disney’s classic princess tales has obviously complicated this issue.