The Princess And The Frog Analysis

Walt Disney Network has been a part of almost every American’s childhood life. For 35 years, Disney has created animated fairy tale movies that were intended to be child-friendly and create positive images. After, close analyzation it is evident that instead Disney has produced distorted images of racism and segregation in their movies. I have selected the animated film, The Princess and the Frog (2005). In the film, Tiana represents The Other of African American’s in the 19th century. In The Princess and the Frog, Tiana is faced with issues of racism, privileged whites, and achieving status. These are all reoccurring problems that African American’s were faced with during slavery.
The Princess and the Frog was the very first Walt Disney …show more content…
Tiana’s family lived in a small low-income housing community surrounded by other poor African American’s. Tiana’s mother worked for a rich white man as a seamstress and Tiana managed to work two different jobs as a server. There was a significant difference is the living circumstances of the “white princess” who lived lavishly and had everything she could possibly want verses the “black princess” that has to work twice as hard for little pay to get what she needs. This goes to show how Tiana is a representative of the real life Other, because during slavery African American’s were forced to work for the white man due to lack of education and opportunities (Hecht 10). Princess Tiana’s friend Charlotte, was far more privileged and never had to work a day in her life. On the other hand, Princess Tiana was extremely independent and worked hard every day to save up money to open up her own restaurant. Many characters in the film doubted her and felt that she was incapable of opening up a restaurant. When Princess Tiana was finally finically stable and ready to purchase the property, she was discriminated against. Mr. Lawrence, the owner of the property specifically states, “a woman of your background is surely unable to take on such a huge responsibility”. Such a racial remark was implying that African American’s can’t be business owners. Research has shown fairy tales may help to shape …show more content…
When Prince Naveen arrived in town, all the white women flocked around him in hopes to gain partnership and become a princess. Although, Tiana was the first black princess in a Walt Disney film she was only able to become a princess because she married a prince. This idea creates a negative connotation that African American’s can only gain high status and power if they marry into wealth. In other fairy tales films such as Cinderella and Snow White finding their dream guy wasn’t such a long journey. Love didn’t come easy for Princess Tiana as she was faced with many hardships before she married Prince Naveen. Prince Naveen at one point actually spoke down upon Princess Tiana when he stated, “Oh, she’s only a waitress not a princess”. Later, in the film Prince Naveen strikes a romantic interest in Tiana while on the quest to have him turned back into a frog. Tiana was faced with a difficult decision to either pursue her dreams of owning her restaurant or marrying her Prince charming. More than half of the Walt Disney film emphasized Tiana’s struggles of losing her father, being poor, and less privileged. It wasn’t until nearly the end of the film that Tiana was portrayed as a beautiful black Princess. Tiana is portrayed as a modern Walt Disney Princess who is strong and independent even without her male counterpart (Garabedian