I’m at Disneyland this week! Disneyland is glutted with Halloween merchandise, including $65.00 princess costumes. Among them is Princess Tiana. You haven’t heard of Princess Tiana? She’s the first African American Disney Princess.
It may have all started with a petition that made the rounds of the adoption.com forums community in 2006. Then again, Disney plans its movies at least 5 years in advance, so it may simply have been a coincidence that Disney announced that The Princess and the Frog would feature an African American princess.
Set in 1920’s New Orleans, at first, the princess was named Maddy and she was a chambermaid. The Daily Show’s Larry Wilmore did an excellent segment on that revelation, back in 2007. Apparently, there was an outcry from the Black community, and Maddy was renamed Tiana. She also changed professions. Tiana is a chef who wants to own her own restaurant.
Disney is not known for its historical accuracy. (Want proof? Look at Pocahontas. Or don’t, because it’s really, really bad.) However, the name “Maddy” is far more likely to fit in the time period. And how many female chefs were there in the 1920s?
Disney is drawing more angry fire because the prince in the movie isn’t Black. He’s voiced by a Brazilian actor and his name, Naveen, is Indian. Prince Naveen isn’t white either, so we could see this as promoting interracial relationships. But the question is: If Black girls finally have their princess, why can’t Black boys have their Prince?
I’ll be seeing The Princess and the Frog as soon as it opens (December 11). I’m a Disney freak, and I am happy that we finally have a brown princess. (Though, technically, both Jasmine and Pocahontas are brown.)
For what it’s worth, Tiana looks stunning. A lot of hopes are riding on her shoulders. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
Photo Credit: Movie Poster
[...] It’s heroine, who becomes Princess Tiana, is the first African-American princess. I’ve written about this before. I intend to see the movie today, and review it here too. In preparation, I’d like to take a [...]