Last night I took my kids to the movies to watch the newest Disney film The Princess and the Frog on the big screen. I absolutely love Disney movies but have to say that I was sadly disappointed with this one. I wasn’t the only one who was thinking that but I wasn’t as bold as they were to scoop my kids up and walk out of the theater. I guess some people just were not ready to explain voodoo and black magic to their three and four year olds.
As I continued to sit there in my cushioned seat munching on popcorn and red vine licorice I couldn’t help wondering what message the creators of this film were trying to get across to young people. I kept having to tell myself that I needed to keep an open mind because after all this is the first ever “black” princess movie they have ever made and I am sure that they were being extra sensitive when it came to stereotyping.
So, after the first scene when they featured the soon to be princesses mom being a paid seamstress to a wealthy white family and the princesses dad working three low wage jobs to provide for his family it was hard for my mind to wander to how much of a stereotype that was. Come on, why is it that they couldn’t have portrayed the wealthy family as another family of color? With all of the possible scenarios out there I am saddened by their choice of character roles here.
Throughout the whole movie there were stereotype after stereotype from the portrayal of dumb, strange talking bayou people who didn’t have a good brain cell among any of them to bubbly air headed blond rich girls. The most ridiculous of all for me was how they showed the characters that practiced black magic. Did they really have to be black? The black shadow man character was really difficult for me to watch without wanting to scream out in pain. The so called “good witch” in this movie wasn’t a witch at all but a back woods, blind, crazy old lady who in my opinion did not change any minds about the possibility that magic could be something other than dark and evil.
The only positives when I think about this movie are the animal characters. If it weren’t for the animal characters in this movie I would have demanded my money back, even if it was only a dollar fifty. They lightened up the movie for me and their music was fun but sadly not memorable. My favorite part of Disney animated movies has always been the songs. I have never been disappointed before and have always had the pleasure of walking away from a movie for that first time and being able to hum or sing a few bars of the songs and most importantly remember some songs for the rest of my life. This was definitely not the case for me this time.
Needless to say that this was not my favorite animated movie of all time. I am happy that Disney did take the leap and feature a non-white princess but at the end of the day I am still disappointed at how they chose to portray all of the characters. I hope they do better next time. Please, do better next time because the last thing we need is another generation growing up thinking that people of color are evil slimy frogs in disguise.
