The Princess and the Frog

While some people may take issue with The Princess and the Frog’s portrayal of Disney’s first black princess as a poorer woman who must work for her living, or with the fact that she was transformed into a frog for half of the film, thus making it easier for Disney to introduce Tiana. I take no issue with Disney for this movie. I respect Disney for making this movie, and I have actually come to really enjoy watching it. The setting of the movie is 1920’s Louisiana, and coming from Louisiana myself, it was really neat to see all of the cultural accuracy Disney had hen portraying New Orleans voodoo culture and the atmosphere of the unique city. I really appreciated this movie because while it was still the classic adversity to true love’s first kiss plot Disney employs in all their movies, it was masked much more effectively and was different from other Disney love animations. In The Princess and the Frog Disney addressed several firsts, and I really respect them for using their first black princess as a way to also kick off other changes in their films. This was one of the first Disney films I have seen where love takes awhile, it’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen right away. In films like Cinderella, the protagonist falls in love right away with the male lead however; with Tiana and Nevine things aren’t the same. It takes awhile for Nevine to woo Tiana, and the love progresses throughout the movie rather than instantaneously. I think this movie also introduced more realistic culture than I have seen in previous Disney movies as well, with the setting being in New Orleans. Just overall, I don’t see anything problematic with Disney using it’s first black princess in this movie because number one: it is required for the setting of the movie, a white princess would not have been accurate for the role in 1920’s Louisiana, and number two: we can still see/hear her blackness even when she is transformed into a frog so it eliminates the idea that Disney is trying to minimize screen time for their first black protagonist.