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When 37-year-old Monika Pugh was growing up, she wanted to look just like the beautiful princesses of Walt Disney’s animated movies “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty.”
“I can remember wanting the long hair, and the fair skin, and thinking ‘This is what beauty is. This is what you aspire to be,’” she says.
While most girls don’t grow up to be princesses, a little African-American girl like Pugh couldn’t even find a Disney heroine with her brown skin or natural hair.
So she’s thrilled that her 11-year-old daughter, Courtlyn Patrick, will be able to claim otherwise. Earlier this month, Disney released the trailer for its upcoming movie, “The Princess and the Frog,” featuring Tiana, the studio’s first African-American princess. The movie comes out in December.
“I am just so happy about it,” says Pugh, now a guidance counselor at West Palm Beach’s Roosevelt Middle School. “It’ll give our young girls a whole different self-image of themselves, to know that beauty (comes in) all colors, and that we are all princesses in our own way.”
Tiana, voiced in the film by Tony winner and No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency co-star Anika Noni Rose, is not only the first African-American princess, but the first major human character of African descent in Disney’s nearly 82-year history of animated films. While the pantheon of princesses includes Asian (Mulan), Native American (Pocahontas) and Arab (Princess Jasmine of Aladin) characters, the studio’s only African characters, as well as the only ones voiced by African-American actors, were singing, talking animals, as seen in The Lion King, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid and Dumbo.
(Technically, the exceptions are James Baskett and Glenn Leedy, who appeared in human form during the live-action scenes from the partially-animated Song Of The South in 1946, a film long controversial for its stereotypical, subservient portrayals of African-Americans.)
The Princess And The Frog has seen its own share of controversy since its production was announced in 2007, when it was originally called The Frog Princess and the heroine, then named Maddy, was reportedly a chamber maid working for a rich white girl in New Orleans and presumably reinforcing those stereotypes that tainted Song of the South. But now, she’s a princess named Tiana, who kisses a frog who claims to be a bewitched prince in an attempt to turn him human. Unfortunately, Tiana winds up in amphibian form herself, setting off the usual Disney mad-cap adventure.
Local parents like Pugh, who’ve made many trips to the nearby Magic Kingdom for their little girls to rub royal shoulders with Cinderella and company, are thrilled at the idea that they could be shaking hands with a princess who looks like them.
“(Courtlyn) has been every princess for Halloween,” Pugh says. “Now she has one more she can relate to, where (she) can say ‘That could be me!’”
North Palm Beach resident Billy Van Ee, the white adoptive father of two African-American children, 6-year-old son Lucas and princess-obsessed Lacey, who turns 3 in June, says his family has “been waiting for this. There’s not a lot of African-Americans represented in the media, and much of what there is, is negative. I read about the doll test in the 1950s, where black kids picked white dolls over black ones. That really stuck with me. In my household, I want to make sure there are positive images, like Michelle Obama, and now Tiana.”
Disney representatives didn’t respond to requests to elaborate on their plans for introducing Tiana to the pack of princesses at their theme parks, but a company spokeswoman confirmed that she’s being added to their merchandise line. At New York’s annual Toy Fair exhibition in February, Disney unveiled a collection of dolls, play sets and dress-up costumes inspired by the movie, and presented voice actor Rose with a custom Tiana doll.
While sociologists acknowledge Tiana’s positive aspects, they’re not so quick to hand Disney any prizes for altruism.
“On one hand, (Tiana) can be viewed as evidence that Disney has embraced American multi-culturalism. On the other hand, the diversification of Disney characters can be seen as a rather cynical ploy to increase market share,” says Kevin Howley, associate professor of media studies at Indiana’s DePauw University. “If these films validate anything, it is a child’s ability to consume Disney products and merchandise.”
Charles Gallagher, chair of the sociology department at La Salle University in Philadelphia, agrees that it’s great for more little girls to have a regal role model, but is concerned that Tiana might be misunderstood as a signal that American racism has been eradicated.
“She is a metaphor for how America, particularly white America, would like to see itself, that with the election of Barack Obama, that we are in some post-racial society,” he says. “That’s not the case…There is no shortage of social science research pointing at continuing or growing racial disparity. But who wants a bummer?”
Even in his cynicism, Gallagher acknowledges that a beautiful African-American princess is a world away from the asexual, stereotypical slave images of Gone With The Wind and Aunt Jemima – “We’re moving beyond the Mammys and the Stepin Fetchits, to a multicultural, full image of what you can be,” he says.
Parents like Van Ee and Pugh accept that the princesses and their assorted lunchboxes, dress-up kits and dolls are big business for Disney, but don’t mind giving their business to positive images for their girls.
“Some little girls go through this princess phase, and I want (Lacey) to come out the other side having had one she can relate to,” Van Ee says.
Courtlyn Patrick, who’s beginning to come out the other side of her princess phase, is still interested enough to be intrigued by Tiana.
“I think it’s just good that anybody can be a princess, not because of the color of their skin,” she says. “Everybody is a princess in their own way.”
See the trailer:
Great article Leslie! I’m loving it and is excited to see the movie.
Thanks a bunch,
Monika
Its about time….my 2 year old niece will love her!!!
This is so great and as a huge Disney fan it means so much! Lovely article Leslie.
Wow! This was long overdue! I can’t wait to see it!
Gross! Is this a joke?
To be a truly post-racial society, we need to stop marking every occasion of the first AA this and the first Hispanic that. See the success of many Asian kids in school.
Many if not most did not have any Asian characters on TV or teaching them or in pop music or the White House, but they are absolutely kicking butt in schools and becoming wealthy productive members of society even though their parents came to the country with hardly any money.
Great, so now where is the first Polish princess, where is the first Asian princess? How about this; where is the first princess who is also disabled?? Or would that produce a pitiful “awww”. This is not news.
I have been buying dolls of different colors always for my children, even as gifts. However we were from Hawaii where the racial issue is not like here.
I am very happy!! I’m only concerned about fairness not race. I bought my daughters dolls that had different ethnic shades including a caucasian doll. I wanted them to value who they were and not just someone else’s standard of beauty.
Plus, my thinking was, you should have friends who are good people, not just a certain race…
No Chimiqua, it isn’t gross.
It’s about time that Disney finally decided to feature a Disney princess that African-American girls can relate to and embrace. It has always been quite difficult for me to purchase Disney princess items for my 20 month old. I mean don’t get me wrong I’m an avid Disney fan. However, I don’t feel that it’s fair to shower her with items that represent women and girls who don’t resemble her. I want her to know that African-American girls are worthy of being princesses because she’s our princess. Now the creative minds at Disney are really thinking.
“It’ll give our young girls a whole different self-image of themselves, to know that beauty (comes in) all colors, and that we are all princesses in our own way.”
Because if course, only Disney can teach our daughter’s such lessons. It would never cross my mind to impart this message to my daughter without a commercialized toy.
Thanks Disney. Wonderful day we’ve been waiting for. FINALLY, we can show ourselves some self respect, because we are finally equal to the (boo!) skinny, fair skinned, light haired white girls because now we have a doll that shows us YES WE CAN be something other than chambermaids or STepinfetchit’s. If only this had happened before 2009, so those earlier generations of black women wouldn’t have been crippled by poor self esteem and forced to compete unequally with (boo!) skinny, blond women.
Now… how do those Asian girls compete academically and socially without a Disne+y princess inspiring them, or a seat on the Supreme Court. How do they envision themselves succeeding when they don’t see people in the roles they want, with the skin tone, hair color, and body shape that represent them? Hmm.
Good job again Leslie. Because only an African-American woman (boo! fair haired skinny white women) could understand what it’s like not to see yourself represented out there, and write an article like this.
Susan1, anonymous. There is an Asian princess. Mulan. You remember from that movie based on a Chinese story? That was set in China? Which, if you look on a map is in Asia..
This looks like a great movie I hope it’s as good as sounds. ps I love her dress
But how American girl, black or white, living in New Orleans could be a princess?
I’m excited! My African American daughter has quite the princess collection – Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Jasmine & a Lion King doll. I’d love to add another princess to her collection. We embrace multiculturalism in my house. If/when a disabled princess joins the fray – then she and the Polish princess are welcome as well. :) With or without these “commercialized toys” she’d learn to be a wonderful woman. We just let her enjoy her childhood.
Joe – I assumed she married the prince to become a princess. I think all the ladies married into the money (expect Jasmine). Weren’t they all poor (Snow White, Cinderella, Mulan)? But I’m not going into the sexist nature of it all. I let my kid be a kid.
Great news, great article!
WOW! I think adding cultural diversity to Disney movies is a great move. Maybe if we start with the babies, love will eventually reach our poisoned world. We have to stop believing in the racism that was forced upon us by our fore fathers. When African Americans celebrate their firsts, others should rejoice with them and understand what has taken place in their lives and move one step forward with them as a part of the human race. Overcoming hundreds of years of slavery and oppression is not going to be easy, but it will come. One should never make the comment, “I was poor and I made it, why can’t they?” Everybody’s situation is different and there was something or somebody along your path that helped you make that turn and in someone else’s case, that might not have happened. I am a lover of the human race and I love all good kind hearted citizens!