Author Topic: Disney's First Black Princess (Read 6926 times)

B E C K · « **on:** Jul 29, 2009, 11:38:10 PM »

I think I've posted about this topic before, but this is just some more recent material on the subject. This is actually a few months' old but it has to be new to somebody besides me. I was reading an article about how the fly character in the new Disney Frog Princess movie was racist. (Even though I didn't really need an article to tell me that. Unfortunate implications abounded all over the teaser for that film. The minute that fly popped on the screen I couldn't stop laughing in disbelief. Stupid Disney.)

Anyway, the article mentioned complaints that the prince apparently wasn't "black enough". So I google it and come upon this:
http://thegenderblenderblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/disneys-first-black-princess/

Honestly, my issues are more with the girl. The lack of a nice cocoa prince is kinda disappointing and he looks like a total douche-rag ("Hey baby, I'll call ya.) but the girl's the most generic thing ever. It's like they just swapped out the color pallete on a white chick. And while the idea of a black princess is exciting, I don't know what's princessy in the least about the Jazz Age in New Orleans. Or why Randy Newman would be in charge of the music for this. (In fact, I wish this love affair with Randy Newman would end. Disney = Robert Rodriguez, Rose McGowan = Randy Newman. Please, make it stop.)

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Rama · « **Reply #1 on:** Jul 29, 2009, 11:55:27 PM »

Is he just really light, or does she have Jungle Fever.

Derrick · « **Reply #2 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 12:09:27 AM »

Why can't a white guy bang a sista?

Rama · « **Reply #3 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 12:10:47 AM »

I got nothing against that. Just curious.

B E C K · « **Reply #4 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 12:56:03 AM »

Going by the VA, the prince is actually Latino.

Quote from: Derrick on Jul 30, 2009, 12:09:27 AM

Why can't a white guy bang a sista?

He can but I think the disappointment and ire comes from the fact that Disney has never had a black prince, at least as far as their animated feature film canon goes. It would've been nice to see.

Derrick · « **Reply #5 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 01:54:20 AM »

Who wants to watch a movie about him cheating on her and then vanishing after she gets pregnant?

IDE · « **Reply #6 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 03:21:43 PM »

Wasn't the prince originally white? And they then minorities bitched?

Way to promote racial harmony.

Makes me want the whole movie to be scrapped just to spite them.

joe · « **Reply #7 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 04:16:40 PM »

What's wrong with the fly? Are you trying to tell me there aren't old black men who are missing teeth and speak with a Cajun accent? He might not even be black -- old white Cajun guys talk the exact same way!

I think it should just be called Disney's Black Princess. Calling it The Princess and the Frog is simply a ploy by Disney to trick little white girls into wanting to go see it, and God knows they wouldn't be interested in this material.

They're the most racist human beings on the planet.

B E C K · « **Reply #8 on:** Jul 30, 2009, 07:01:43 PM »

The fly is a negative Cajun stereotype and the Cajuns want a positive one, which I don't think is too much to ask considering this is a cartoon aimed for impressionable kids and there aren't exactly a wealth of positive Cajun characters out there. I don't think the actual black or whiteness of the fly was ever debated. He's voiced by Jim Cummings, so I'm certain the fly supposed to be white.

I really think this was just the wrong damn story to launch Disney's first black princess.

joe · « **Reply #9 on:** Jul 31, 2009, 01:22:02 AM »

But I love the Cajun stereotype! It's responsible for one of my favorite commercials!

B E C K · « **Reply #10 on:** Jul 31, 2009, 02:03:49 AM »

W-w-wait, so the goths were stranded and needed a lift and the Cajun took them through the woods to his secluded hut? wtf.

Derrick · « **Reply #11 on:** Jul 31, 2009, 06:01:48 AM »

The only Cajun on True Blood turned out to be a serial killer.

Hollywood hates Cajun people.

IDE · « **Reply #12 on:** Jul 31, 2009, 02:11:37 PM »

They're just spicy rednecks. If they're gonna get positive representation then we'd have to give it to everyone to be fair.

B E C K · « **Reply #13 on:** Jul 31, 2009, 03:06:37 PM »

B E C K · « **Reply #14 on:** Aug 07, 2009, 02:36:08 AM »

More whining about the film. The comments are really the best part though.

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B E C K · « **Reply #15 on:** Aug 07, 2009, 02:37:28 AM »

This second teaser does a much better job of making the story look less shitty.

feature=related

I still smell some shit here, but it's going to at least look pretty doing it.

Derrick · « **Reply #16 on:** Aug 07, 2009, 06:19:32 AM »

Papa Shango lives!

Rama · « **Reply #17 on:** Aug 07, 2009, 11:10:49 AM »

Actually they didn't rip that off at all. The villian from this movie, the guy from Live and Let Die, and Papa Shango are all dressed as Baron Samedi, a figure in VooDoo often connected to death.

B E C K · « **Reply #18 on:** Aug 07, 2009, 05:10:04 PM »

I just realized I forgot to post the link that comment came from:
http://io9.com/5331021/enjoy-racial-sensitivity-in-disneys-princess-frog-game-about-hot-sauce-and-borrowed-tiaras

Apparently, in the game, the "princess" has to go find a tiara for a white girl and hot sauce for her gumbo. Sounds like fun!

The D · « **Reply #19 on:** Aug 08, 2009, 04:05:27 PM »

Quote from: SABAT on Jul 31, 2009, 01:22:02 AM

But I love the Cajun stereotype! It's responsible for one of my favorite commercials!

Those goths look like Twilight vampires. Ech!

Derrick · « **Reply #20 on:** Aug 09, 2009, 12:19:06 AM »

Quote from: Rama on Aug 07, 2009, 11:10:49 AM

Actually they didn't rip that off at all. The villian from this movie, the guy from Live and Let Die, and Papa Shango are all dressed as Baron Samedi, a figure in VooDoo often connected to death.

He sucked in Golden007. I didn't know for a while that I needed the Golden Gun to kill him, so I would just spend hours unloading on him until he'd kill me. The internet really ruined gameplay, but allowed me to spend more time now anguishing about what I am doing wrong. It's gotta be an improvement.

Rama · « **Reply #21 on:** Aug 09, 2009, 12:39:53 AM »

I always regreted I never bought that game from the 64. I played it a few times and loved it.

IDE · « **Reply #22 on:** Aug 09, 2009, 02:40:25 AM »

That game was the halo of it's day.

You missed out on an era.

B E C K · « **Reply #23 on:** Aug 09, 2009, 04:14:45 AM »

Another article about this film, nothing new in it but whatever: http://www.tampabay.com/features/movies/article1023639.ece

Mentions some examples of Disney racism, which most of us know already. I still think the "cut off your ear" needs to be restored. The replacement line sucks ass.

Derrick · « **Reply #24 on:** Aug 10, 2009, 01:11:56 AM »

I still think Jafar raping Jasmine brutally also needs to be included.

Oh, and Aladin should be Chinese.

B E C K · « **Reply #25 on:** Aug 10, 2009, 02:48:12 AM »

Quote from: Derrick on Aug 10, 2009, 01:11:56 AM

I still think Jafar raping Jasmine brutally also needs to be included.

Derrick · « **Reply #26 on:** Aug 10, 2009, 06:57:22 PM »

That was inferred in the book.

B E C K · « **Reply #27 on:** Aug 11, 2009, 01:27:32 AM »

In the book? Which book? Like those big colorful ones they have for nearly every Disney animated movie?

Derrick · « **Reply #28 on:** Aug 11, 2009, 06:01:43 AM »

The one where the Jinnie is an asshole.

B E C K · « **Reply #29 on:** Aug 11, 2009, 03:06:43 PM »

Well... um, couldn't that be anything?