The Princess and the Frog

After over 100 years of film, it has become very evident that movies racially stereotype. It is no secret that Disney movies have been extremely racially stereotypical over the years. Disney has not shed great light on the African-American population, with the "Jim Crow" characters in Dumbo, the monkeys in Jungle Book, and Uncle Remus in Song of the South. In 2009, Disney tried to reverse this image, however, they did not do as well as they intended for a lot of people.

There have been white, Asain, Native America, and Arab princess, and in 2009, The Princess and the Frog (trailer), brought forth the first African-American princess, Tiana. There were racial issues from the beginning. Originally, the main character was to be named Maddy, however that sounded really close to "Mammy," so Disney changed it. Jennifer Daniels, from BET, wrote responding to the early stages of the movie that Disney brings "...our plucky young Black protagonist, Maddy, as a chambermaid. There's also a plantation owner, two practitioners of voodoo – one a Magical Negro, the other a villain – a singing alligator, and score by the whitest White man to ever rest his head in the Big Easy, Randy Newman, (Were the Neville brothers & Harry Connick, Jr., busy?). Knowing Disney, I'm sure there's a dead parent somewhere in the mix. The living parent, Maddy's mother Eudora, is also a maid. Somebody turns into a frog. Oh, and the prince is White." This doesn't sound very progressive.

Some viewers still have issues with The Princess and the Frog. African-American little girls finally have a princess, however she is a frog for the majority of the movie. New Orleans, of course, would not have a princess in the 1920s, so in order to make her a princess they bring in a white(ish) prince from fictional Maldonia. 

Even though there is so much anger towards The Princess and the Frog, many people find it a great addition to the Disney collection. Oprah Winfrey helped fund the movie and was the voice for Tiana's mother. Some reviewers thought Disney did a good job with a touchy subject. Anika Noni Rose, the voice of Tiana, says she "delivers a sense of partnership between other little girls who have friends and family members who look like Tianna. I think in the world of fantasy, and I'm not just talking about Disney, the dark character has always been associated with evil—the black hat is the bad cowboy—and this is the flip. It's wonderful to see something different, and it will be effective on many fronts to many children, and consequently to many adults years from now."

Because it is a classic Disney princess movie, The Princess and the Frog follows a set formula. This causes it to be a little stereotypical, just as the others are. It has gotten a lot of good and bad press, which causes the viewer to decide for themselves whether being stereotypical is offensive or expected.