By Arifa Akbar, Arts CorrespondentThursday, 17 July 2008
When Disney announced it was casting its first black princess for its latest animation film, the African-American heroine was hailed as a positive role model for little girls and an ambitious marketing ploy, not to mention an attempt to ward off the allegations of racism that have lurked since the heyday of Walt Disney Productions in the 1940s and 1950s.
But now the film studio finds itself fending off a chorus of accusations of racial stereotyping in its forthcoming big-budget cartoon, The Princess and The Frog: An American Fairy Tale, which marks a return to hand-drawn animation.
A musical set in 1920s New Orleans, the film was supposed to feature Maddy, a black chambermaid working for a spoilt, white Southern debutante. Maddy was to be helped by a voodoo priestess fairy godmother to win the heart of a white prince, after he rescued her from the clutches of a voodoo magician.
Disney's original storyboard is believed to have been torn up after criticism that the lead character was a clichéd subservient role with echoes of slavery, and whose name sounded too much like "Mammy" – a unwelcome reminder of America's Deep South before the civil rights movement swept away segregation.
The heroine has been recast as Tiana, a 19-year-old in a country that has never had a monarchy. She is now slated to live "happily ever after" with a handsome fellow who is not black – with leaks suggesting that he will be of Middle Eastern heritage and called Naveen. The race of the villain in the cartoon is reported to have also been revised.
The film studio began making changes a year ago, first to its title, The Frog Princess, which some had interpreted as a slur. Amendments to the plot followed.
Rodney Hinds, features editor of The Voice newspaper, said: "We are talking about a big company who has had to go back to the drawing board. It's disappointing... Some of the stereotyping of people from our community is still rigid in people's minds. We have our own dreams and stories like everyone else, and we want them to be portrayed positively. This is about how people are perceived and a princess is normally a positive character who most people aspire to."
But now the film studio finds itself fending off a chorus of accusations of racial stereotyping in its forthcoming big-budget cartoon, The Princess and The Frog: An American Fairy Tale, which marks a return to hand-drawn animation.
A musical set in 1920s New Orleans, the film was supposed to feature Maddy, a black chambermaid working for a spoilt, white Southern debutante. Maddy was to be helped by a voodoo priestess fairy godmother to win the heart of a white prince, after he rescued her from the clutches of a voodoo magician.
Disney's original storyboard is believed to have been torn up after criticism that the lead character was a clichéd subservient role with echoes of slavery, and whose name sounded too much like "Mammy" – a unwelcome reminder of America's Deep South before the civil rights movement swept away segregation.
The heroine has been recast as Tiana, a 19-year-old in a country that has never had a monarchy. She is now slated to live "happily ever after" with a handsome fellow who is not black – with leaks suggesting that he will be of Middle Eastern heritage and called Naveen. The race of the villain in the cartoon is reported to have also been revised.
The film studio began making changes a year ago, first to its title, The Frog Princess, which some had interpreted as a slur. Amendments to the plot followed.
Rodney Hinds, features editor of The Voice newspaper, said: "We are talking about a big company who has had to go back to the drawing board. It's disappointing... Some of the stereotyping of people from our community is still rigid in people's minds. We have our own dreams and stories like everyone else, and we want them to be portrayed positively. This is about how people are perceived and a princess is normally a positive character who most people aspire to."
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Uppity's spin...Now this is pretty Amazing Stuff. We are getting our first Black President BEFORE we are getting our first black Disney Princess. I guess better late late late than never (They opened the first park over 50 years ago). My 4 year old has already been to Disneyland a number of times already, and she has punched her "Princess" ticket for "Ariel", the redheaded Mermaid Princess. She is all about Ariel (She was Ariel for Halloween (meaning she is STILL sporting the Ariel duds till they fall off of her)) and she relates to her above of all other Disney Princesses because of her great love for the pool. She even told me she is intent on becoming a mermaid and a mommy when she grows up. Not sure if Tiana/Maddy will draw any mindshare with my little Princess, but I do think its interesting that Disney took sooooo long to make this addition. However, digging into the "Disney way" and its history, its really not all that surprising it took so long. Part of Walt's vision fantasy of Main Street USA, involved zero things Black. Even the audio-animatronic "Great moments with Mr. Lincoln" completely skipped any mention of slavery. There was only one spot in all of Disneyland where you could see a black Star, and that Star was Aunt Jemima. Yep, from Opening day in 1955 until 1970, the only Black star at Disneyland (Not counting Mickey) was Aunt Jemima. (See a picture of her from the Park below) The Frontierland restaurant that is now the River Belle Terrace was the Aunt Jemima Pancake House from 1955 until 1962. After absorbing the adjacent Don DeFore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue Restaurant, it became Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen, a name which it kept until 1970. That was also the year the Black Panthers sat down to dine at Aunt Jemima's, and that pretty much ended the Aunts gig at Disneyland.
So it appears Black folks are "movin on up"! Now even Disneyland is stepping into 2009 with a new Black Princess. All I can say to that is...Woo Hoo!
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