Disney’s Racial Diversity: “The Princess and the Frog”

‘The Princess and the Frog’, a Disney animated feature production, will come to theaters in May 2009 and will also be the first Disney animated film to feature an ‘African American’ princess. Also, it will be the first hand-drawn animation Disney has made since Home on the Range in 2004. Originally, it was said that Home on the Range would be the last 2-D traditionally animated Disney film to be made. As of February 2007, Disney changed their mind and committed to making ‘The Princess and the Frog’.

‘The Princess in and the Frog’ takes place in America during the early 1900’s in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The main character’s name was Maddy but was changed to Tiana after her name received controversy since it was thought to be a stereotypically lower-class black name. She was originally as a chambermaid as well. I am interested to see what Disney’s portrayal of the New Orleans culture in the 1920s-1930s is, and how it affected black Americans at that time. I know that Disney is walking a fine line at the moment and I anticipate the final results. They had better be good!