Princess and the Frog

**Louis VI the Fat** · 05-13-2009, 10:53

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** · 05-13-2009, 11:06

Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat

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.