Princess and the Frog

[Vuk]

I hope this is the right forum to post this in, if not, please move it to the appropriate place.
I am a huge fan of children's cartoons. (esp Looney Toons) :P When I heard that Disney was making a traditional animated cartoon again, I was very excited. After seeing the trailer for it though, I am pretty disappointed. Is it just me, or does it look like a cheap rip-off of Swan Princess, Tiny Toons, and Little Mermaid with a bit of political correctness thrown in?

[Louis VI the Fat]

political correctness

Disney needs new princesses. This is essential for two reasons:
1) It has rapidly become their most profitable merchandising line.
2) It makes Louis happy!!!1

The Disney princesses are etnically varied. Little girls (and Louis) need to be able to identify themselves with, to recognise themselves, in a princess. Disney already has blond, brunette, redheaded and dark-haired-with-snow-white skin princesses. And Chinese, Native American, Middle Eastern. What Disney didn't have, was a Black princess. About time perhaps they got one.

Disney also knows that after some flops its audience wants a classic European fairy tale again. Simultanously, these old fairy tales are felt as obsolete and irrelevant for today's audience.

This film seems to be the compromise that provides it all. Afro-Americans, classic fairy tale stuff, modern American setting. If it works out well, it could prove to have been a great choice.


The 'frog' from the fairy tale has in the Disney version become a French Frog. (Does this association work outside of the English-speaking world? I do not think Japanese or German kids will 'get it')
A Louisiana creole French frog. I wish they would've been more politically incorrect then and had gone the whole way: give him a fat creole French accent, straight from the Lousiana swamps.


The movie itself seems fun enough. I love love looove her in that white dress*. Best princess since Belle.

(* how am I not gay? )

[Vuk]

Disney needs new princesses. This is essential for two reasons:
1) It has rapidly become their most profitable merchandising line.
2) It makes Louis happy!!!1

The Disney princesses are etnically varied. Little girls (and Louis) need to be able to identify themselves with, to recognise themselves, in a princess. Disney already has blond, brunette, redheaded and dark-haired-with-snow-white skin princesses. And Chinese, Native American, Middle Eastern. What Disney didn't have, was a Black princess. About time perhaps they got one.

Disney also knows that after some flops its audience wants a classic European fairy tale again. Simultanously, these old fairy tales are felt as obsolete and irrelevant for today's audience.

This film seems to be the compromise that provides it all. Afro-Americans, classic fairy tale stuff, modern American setting. If it works out well, it could prove to have been a great choice.


The 'frog' from the fairy tale has in the Disney version become a French Frog. (Does this association work outside of the English-speaking world? I do not think Japanese or German kids will 'get it')
A Louisiana creole French frog. I wish they would've been more politically incorrect then and had gone the whole way: give him a fat creole French accent, straight from the Lousiana swamps.


The movie itself seems fun enough. I love love looove her in that white dress*. Best princess since Belle.

(* how am I not gay? )

I mentioned it for two reasons Louis. First of all, it seems a pretty stupid setting for the story, so the only reason I could see that they chose it was to be politically correct. Second of all, aside from being a traditionally animated cartoon, that seems to be the only reason that anyone is interested. If they made a cartoon about a Zulu princess and used a white woman, my intelligence would be insulted. They are making it a little more excusable by changing the setting, but as I said, it seems like a pretty dumb thing to do. The princess is not a princess anymore. That would be like if they set the first Pocahontas in Germany! I don't know, it just seems like a stupid way to get attention to me. What really bothers me about it though is that the animation style seems to be a direct rip-off of Swan Princess, and a lot of themes and creatures looked almost exactly like what you would find in Tiny Toons. Looks to me like they are just ripping popular cartoons off in an effort to get attention after their recent debacles. The only good ones I can think of that they put out in decades have been Hercules, Anastasia, and Emporer's New Groove. Did Disney even do all three of those?


EDIT: And what the heck is up about swooning over animated characters?! lol dude, that is kind of creepy. :P They are supposed to be innocent themes. As far as which I liked better (and it was not technically a princess either), my favorite was Mulan.


EDIT 2: and another thing about political correctness, how can Africans and African Americans relate to her? They draw her almost exactly like a white woman with SLIGHTY fuller lips and milk chocolate skin. If anything, that smacks of racism to me. Why are they afraid of making her look black? Is it because they don't want to take what they judge as a market risk by making her look 'too black'? Seriously, she is not even as black as our cookies-n'-cream president! I don't know, but it looks to me like they are trying to play race to their advantage, while still being careful not to offend the sensibilities of people who would be offended by a black looking black woman (ei, racists). That sounds like quasi racism on Disney's part if you ask me.

PS, I think this should now be moved to the Backroom.

[Sarmatian]

(* how am I not gay? )

You're young, there's still time to come out of the closet.

It looks decent enough, I'll definitely watch it. I grew up on animated Disney films...

[Andres]

You are getting upset because of a Walt Disney movie?



I absolutely love Walt Disney movies. I probably wouldn't even have noticed the "political correctness" in it. Heck, when watching a Disney movie, political correctness is the least of my concerns.

It's fairy tale, it's beautiful, it's great for children and for adults.

Go away, you are ruining the dreamy state Disney movies bring me into with this silly thread

[Vuk]

You are getting upset because of a Walt Disney movie?



I absolutely love Walt Disney movies. I probably wouldn't even have noticed the "political correctness" in it. Heck, when watching a Disney movie, political correctness is the least of my concerns.

It's fairy tale, it's beautiful, it's great for children and for adults.

Go away, you are ruining the dreamy state Disney movies bring me into with this silly thread

You are right, people should not even pay attention to things like that, as they really do not matter. The problem is though that DISNEY is drawing peoples' attention to it, and pointing it out as part of their diversity campaign. ei, Disney is trying to sell their movie on race, something that should not even be a consideration for anything but historical accuracy. The problem is that Disney is trying to exploit race to sell a cartoon that looks to me like nothing but a rip-off from Disneys competitors. Interestingly the prince is white, and the bad guy is voiced by a black man. What does this mean? Nothing, but it is Disney who is drawing attention to the importance of race in their cartoon, so if it really is important, then why is the prince white and the bad guy has a black man's voice?

[Andres]

Stop taking away the little fairy dust I still hold

[Beefy187]

Time to watch some Japanese Animation films

On topic, I think the disney are doing fairly well. Enchanted was my favourite in recent films.

All the need is few more of Lion King type movie rather then Little Mermaid.

[drone]

If they don't sing this, the movie fails.

[Scurvy]

T
All the need is few more of Lion King type movie rather then Little Mermaid.

the Little Mermaid is awesome

What you meant to say, was Disney need less movies like The Lion King II or Pochahontas II

[frogbeastegg]

She squished the frog. With a book!*

I don't like Disney nowadays, with the exception of Enchanted. That film was made for me - oh so deliciously mocking, with catchy music and a pretty good cast. This one ... this one I might watch when I can rent the DVD. Just for the frog, you understand. He's funny.

*Is a frog, is surrounded by thousands of books, and now has nightmares

[Reverend Joe]

I think I'll stick with Heavy Metal for my animation needs...

I kinda agree with Vuk over the rather disturbing racist undertones of this movie, even if it's mostly a polite-looking, wishy-washy, "I'm afraid of anything different but I don't want to admit it" racism. Disney is just too damn W.A.S.P.y for me.

[Samurai Waki]

Oh Crap... Ally saw the Youtube Trailer... now we have to go see it.