There’s been trials and tribulations,
You know I’ve had my share.
But I’ve climbed the mountain, I’ve crossed the river, and I’m almost there.
– Princess Tiana, “Almost There”
There is much to admire in Disney’s new film, The Princess and The Frog: the lovely heroine’s graceful confidence and common sense, a plot deeply immersed in 1920s New Orleans culture, music, and religion with the art deco flair of an Aaron Douglas painting, and an honest-to-goodness African-American villain to vanquish.
Prof. Susurro at the blog, Like a Whisper, has posted an excellent review of the film that is comprehensive and critically engaging, so I won’t attempt another one here.
What I would like to think through, however, is the story’s self-reflexiveness. I wasn’t prepared for how curiously self-aware Disney’s cinematic coronation of its first black princess would be; the film indirectly acknowledges the role that its own storytellers (and marketing execs) have played in shaping our society’s narrative of beauty, love, and personal fulfillment. It gestures toward the ways that black women have historically felt excluded by “snowy whites” in order to place Princess Tiana on the throne.
Tiana often reminds us, for instance, that “wishing on a star” isn’t enough. She insists on the futility of waiting around for “her prince to come” and save her. These are the core values of Disney’s trademark simulated reality, and yet non-white children have had to work damn hard to maintain their sanity once it is discovered that the enigmatic power of a Sleeping Beauty’s whiteness will forever be out of reach.
So I’m intrigued by Disney’s efforts to use the material culture of Tiana’s environment to distance her from characters like The Bluest Eye‘s Pecola and Sapphire’s Precious. The single brown doll in Tiana’s room as a child is juxtaposed against the suite of her wealthy white friend, Charlotte La Bouff, whose shelves are overflowing with brand new white princess dolls and dozens of unworn princess dresses. Some refer to Charlotte as a parody of the southern belle, but I’m drawn to the idea that her thick accent and spoiled silliness disguises a larger critique of our generation’s relentless and unthinking consumption of the Disney narrative. (Seriously, why is Cinderella on our baby diapers?) Tiana may appear to be too poor and too black to participate in this narrative, but the hard truth is that self-destructive fantasies are all too freely available to those of us who have been taught that what we have – and who we are – isn’t good enough.
Ironically, Tiana illustrates a common strategy for black women’s survival through her toughness, independence, and focus. She tells Prince Naveen that she’s worked hard for everything she’s got. Despite the odds against folks of “her kind of background,” The Princess and the Frog conveys Tiana’s determination by initially undermining the value of being a princess and by turning its heroine and her lover (in another reversal of a “traditional” fairytale) into frogs. This can be problematic, as Prof. Susurro points out, and as one of my girlfriends reminded me, Tiana does eventually call out to that wishing star. She is rescued – in part by her own efforts – but also by the handsome prince.
In other words, Disney still finds a way to keep it hyperreal.
I’m a bit worried that my exuberance for this film (and not, say, Precious) is hypocritical; both are fantasies that contain their own distortions and truths. My initial impression, however, is that Disney’s strategy is an effective one, given that its representation of black lives in The Princess and the Frog is not only creative, but productively alert to the historical tension between our culture of consumption and the inner lives of African American girls. My daughter loved the film, I should add. And it feels pretty good to sing along to the soundtrack with her in the car these days.
What did you think?
Posted by jo on December 19, 2009 at 11:32 AM
great thoughts here. i’m not going to see this till it comes out on dvd, so can’t really comment on what you say about it. this is something i like and find intriguing about this post, though: that it is itself intensely self-reflexive, as the abundance of hyperlinks and scare quotes quietly points out. i wonder why texts about difference tickle that self-reflexive bone in us, and whether it is we, our own nervousness about mainstream appropriation of difference, who hyper-read — or something (i’m saying this in a vacuum, remember).
still, the point about disney’s willingness to question its own myth and modus operandi is really cool. of course, this is a vicious circle, because soon enough tiana will join cinderella on our children’s diapers. there is no purity of critique when it comes from a gigantic commercial empire. iterative reflexivity becomes what it is, a game of mirrors.
but then this kind of reasoning brings too easily to cultural cynicism, and if your daughter likes it, and you like it, then it can’t be bad. =)
Posted by Zetta Elliott on December 19, 2009 at 3:43 PM
you’re the third parent who insists there’s value in this film, so maybe I’ll check it out after all…makes me think of Jacqueline Bobo and her theory about black women as cultural readers, finding value in films even if it wasn’t intended by the filmmaker…
Posted by Claudia on December 19, 2009 at 4:19 PM
@jo: “of course, this is a vicious circle, because soon enough tiana will join cinderella on our children’s diapers. there is no purity of critique when it comes from a gigantic commercial empire. iterative reflexivity becomes what it is, a game of mirrors.” So true, so true! I couldn’t have said it better. It took me a long time to write this post – and I’m still not really satisfied with it – because part of me keeps feeling like I’ve been duped by the gigantic commercial empire. Have I been suckered in and now I’m trying to justify it?
@Zetta: I definitely want to know what you think if you see it. Is there a particular essay by Bobo that I could check out? I guess I could just google her….
Also, you guys might be interested in this post with a clip of Toni Morrison talking about young black girls today. She certainly seems to think that we have come a long way since The Bluest Eye. (Thanks, Danielle!)
Posted by jo on December 19, 2009 at 11:12 PM
this a tremendously thoughtful and careful post (and lovely to read) and i’m not surprised to hear that it took you time to write it. it’s easy for me to play couch critic and tear down a film i haven’t seen. easiest thing in the world. it’s much more intelligent, balanced, and risky to like stuff than not to like it. :)
Posted by Zetta Elliott on December 19, 2009 at 5:12 PM
wow–can’t wait to watch that Morrison video…my guess is she has very limited contact with black teens today…but I guess I could be wrong. The Bobo essay I referred to is in The Black Studies Reader, edited by Bobo…she also has a book of the same name as the essay, I think: Black Women as Cultural Readers…I have the reader here somewhere and can scan and send if you like…
Posted by be ye a lantern… « Fledgling on December 19, 2009 at 5:46 PM
[...] like Claudia who seems to know all the best blogs and consistently points me to them. Over at The Bottom of Heaven, Claudia has written up her experience watching The Princess and the Frog with her daughter; I [...]
Posted by conseula on December 19, 2009 at 8:01 PM
I’m finding it hard to have any critical perspective on this film, in part because my littlest one loves (*loves*) the Disney princess and it seems so so wrong to rain on her parade, but also because I liked it. I liked Tiana. The movie adored her. And what’s wrong with a hard-working black girl getting her dream and the guy in the end. It just made me happy. It could be I’ve read too many romance novels lately.
Posted by carleen on December 19, 2009 at 10:04 PM
I plan to see the movie. I find it interesting that it’s the black princess who sets the record straight on princess-hood altogether. That tends to be the black woman’s role in much of fiction. To be realists, to be strong. The whole thing reminds me of when Vanessa Williams became Miss America. My mother called me (while I was away at college) squealing and crying with joy. I was all, “Who cares about a black woman joining in something as lame ass as Miss America?!” and yes, I did talk to my mother that way. That’s a whole other post! Is getting to be a princess progress for us? Sometimes, I think yes and sometimes I’m all “Who cares about a black woman joining something as lame ass as Disney?!” But I do plan to see the movie and hope I like it. I really liked The Beauty and the Beast.
Posted by Claudia on December 20, 2009 at 8:16 AM
You all are hilarious!!! I am loving that we have such divergent opinions about this. I was always partial to “Mulan” – but I guess she doesn’t count as a princess because I don’t see her face anywhere now.
Posted by Holly on January 6, 2010 at 10:14 PM
I am so, so happy to read this. (Albeit, a little late!) I embraced this movie before it’s release, but tentatively… I think I wrote something about us New Orleans folks being used to disappointment? And was so very happy to NOT feel disappointment that it was almost alarming. It is a fairytale, to be sure (hyperreal, in your much better description) and my children loved seeing their city and the people within it. In the Disney Animation Exhibit currently at New Orleans Museum of Art (which is absolutely fascinating) it describes Charlotte as “Tiana’s best friend” which I thought undermined the reality they were suggesting in the movie.
Posted by Claudia on January 7, 2010 at 7:12 AM
Thanks, Holly! I’ve heard about the Disney Animation Exhibit in New Orleans. Interesting about the description of Charlotte – what do you think would have been more accurate? The relationship between them is just vague enough to work for the movie, but anyone with a history book can read between the lines, I guess.
Posted by Cold Spaghetti :: Just Posts for a Just World: December 2009 on January 13, 2010 at 3:31 PM
[...] Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven with Some Thoughts on the Princess and the Frog: http://thebottomofheaven.com/2009/12/18/some-thoughts-on-the-princess-and-the-frog/#comment-1059 [...]
Posted by The December Just Posts « collecting tokens on January 14, 2010 at 12:01 AM
[...] Claudia at The Bottom of Heaven with:Some Thoughts on the Princess and the Frog [...]
Posted by 10 (more) 2009 JPs to evaluate (for Donna) « collecting tokens on January 17, 2010 at 10:47 PM
[...] http://thebottomofheaven.com/2009/12/18/some-thoughts-on-the-princess-and-the-frog [...]
Posted by Casey on March 30, 2010 at 12:10 PM
I am late with this. But, I rented the video. I was glad to see it. What is better for little black girls to see? Precious: who (IMO) is a stereotype of everything about black women: poor, uneducated, victimized, etc. If black women want to look at women like Precious all the time, that is pretty easy: Just turn on the evening news or choose any sitcom out there.
The princess movie showed a black woman who had a good work ethic, was independent, had her dreams that came true *and* married the prince (judging by the way the wedding came out, it looked as though the rich parents might have sprung for it).
Someone said that the life of Precious was more common for black women than the life of Tiana . For that I strongly disagree.
My understanding is that the movie did much better overseas than it did Stateside. I chalk that up to people here in the US not accustomed to seeing black folks outside of being broke, busted or disgusted: but – oh well…
Posted by Claudia on April 2, 2010 at 8:34 PM
Hi Casey, thanks for your comment! I’ve been so busy this week that I haven’t been keeping up with my blog duties (smile). I need to go pick up my copy of Princess and the Frog on DVD. (Still haven’t gotten around to seeing Precious yet.)