Courtesy Walt Disney Pictures
As a young girl, I was infatuated with Walt Disney’s animated movies. There was always a dark villain with a scary name, a helpful gang of kooky friends to make me laugh, a handsome prince charming to come and make everything in the world better, and most of all a beautiful princess.
The princess was always my favorite character. Whether it was Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, Pocahontas or Cinderella! You see, they were magical; beautiful and heroic, and I wanted to be just like them. They always had long hair, bright smiles, and what stood out the most was their fair looking skin. It never quite looked like mine, and I remember recognizing that at an early age. And it’s things like this that give children complexes about themselves when they cannot identify with the characters in which they hold the highest regard.
Walt Disney has finally been brought up to date with the times in their first animated film staring a Black princess. The Princess and the Frog: An American Fairy Tale, which has a Dec. 25, 2009 release date will be Disney’s first attempt to tell the Black fairy tale. Now, will be a movie for those little girls with brown skin to look at and feel proud. It’s not that Walt Disney has been completely ignorant to the everchanging multicultural world we live in, but they have seemed to depict many other nationalities and ethnic backgrounds before that of African Americans or other races of Black. And now it has come time. Introducing Princess Tiana…
I’m happy because it is time. I want the daughter that I hope to have one day be able to watch all of the movies that brought me joy and happiness in my childhood, and I want those dreams of hers to be her reality. The more movies that come out showing children and people of different backgrounds getting along, working together, and learning form one another, without putting each other down, the better off a society we will be.
Critics will definitely have a lot to say once the release date draws near, but it is up to us as individuals to see the bigger picture. The name Tiana came after much scrutiny over the previous name, Maddy. Critics said the princesses name reminded them of a slaver a name and the film’s New Orleans setting was menaced by voodoo and old southern idealisms. The bottom line is there will always be critics when there is upcoming change. As we live in this world coexisting, we have to show the beauty in each other and without understanding there can/will never be any type of peace…
