Sigh.
Since Disney movies have a history of being based on folklore, they always have to deal with how to treat the stories-- should they inject some political correctness? Soften them up a bit? Didn't the Little Mermaid in the original story kill herself or something? Wasn't Pocahontas like 12 years old when she married John Smith?
So you mess with the details a bit, make the story palatable to kids-- and adults-- at the expense of sharing the story as it was originally told. Is that a bad trade-off to make? I don't think so.
I do have a problem with the whole "princess" thing, but it sure appeals to little girls! My nieces are nuts about the Disney princesses because they're all beautiful and get to wear pretty dresses, are always saved by somebody when they get into trouble-- usually a handsome prince, but sometimes somebody else who either turns into a handsome prince or helps them find one. I got them a book called The Paper Bag Princess, about a princess who saves a prince when he gets in trouble, but because her clothes were burned off by the dragon she killed to save him and she has to wear a paper bag instead, he sneers that she's not properly "princess-like"-- so she decides he's a loser and leaves. My brother (their dad) doesn't like the book, says it's too "feminist."
So, back to the subject-- is a black princess problematic? Obviously not, since we've got Jasmine and Pocahontas and Mulan. Maybe what people have a problem with is that the story of the princess and the frog doesn't come from a culture with any black people in it-- it's by the brothers Grimm, I believe. Whereas the stories of Jasmine and friends happen in their cultural context. Does that make a difference? Kind of.....I mean, wouldn't people have a problem if the character of Mulan was changed to a Hispanic girl and called Estrella or Ana-Lucia instead?
So I guess I don't have a racial issue with it, but I kind of have a story-telling issue with it. I mean, the world abounds with folk stories-- it's not like the brothers Grimm had a monopoly on them, by any stretch of the imagination. So I have to wonder, why couldn't they have chosen an African folk tale? Lord knows there's an enormous well there untapped for the most part by Disney! That would seem to make more sense, to me, than inserting a black character into an old German story.
Either that, or heck-- the world is loads more diversified now than it used to be. Use a more modern story!
Since Disney movies have a history of being based on folklore, they always have to deal with how to treat the stories-- should they inject some political correctness? Soften them up a bit? Didn't the Little Mermaid in the original story kill herself or something? Wasn't Pocahontas like 12 years old when she married John Smith?
So you mess with the details a bit, make the story palatable to kids-- and adults-- at the expense of sharing the story as it was originally told. Is that a bad trade-off to make? I don't think so.
I do have a problem with the whole "princess" thing, but it sure appeals to little girls! My nieces are nuts about the Disney princesses because they're all beautiful and get to wear pretty dresses, are always saved by somebody when they get into trouble-- usually a handsome prince, but sometimes somebody else who either turns into a handsome prince or helps them find one. I got them a book called The Paper Bag Princess, about a princess who saves a prince when he gets in trouble, but because her clothes were burned off by the dragon she killed to save him and she has to wear a paper bag instead, he sneers that she's not properly "princess-like"-- so she decides he's a loser and leaves. My brother (their dad) doesn't like the book, says it's too "feminist."
So, back to the subject-- is a black princess problematic? Obviously not, since we've got Jasmine and Pocahontas and Mulan. Maybe what people have a problem with is that the story of the princess and the frog doesn't come from a culture with any black people in it-- it's by the brothers Grimm, I believe. Whereas the stories of Jasmine and friends happen in their cultural context. Does that make a difference? Kind of.....I mean, wouldn't people have a problem if the character of Mulan was changed to a Hispanic girl and called Estrella or Ana-Lucia instead?
So I guess I don't have a racial issue with it, but I kind of have a story-telling issue with it. I mean, the world abounds with folk stories-- it's not like the brothers Grimm had a monopoly on them, by any stretch of the imagination. So I have to wonder, why couldn't they have chosen an African folk tale? Lord knows there's an enormous well there untapped for the most part by Disney! That would seem to make more sense, to me, than inserting a black character into an old German story.
Either that, or heck-- the world is loads more diversified now than it used to be. Use a more modern story!
