- Tiana from The Frog Princess - copyright 2007 Walt Disney Company
(Source: jimhillmedia.com)
When John Lasseter stood on the stage in New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center last March and announced WDFA’s latest project, The Frog Princess, it was supposed to be a proud moment for the entertainment conglomerate.
The Frog Princess was going to be the first cel-animated movie from Disney since 2005. Not only that, the Mouse House was bringing back the legendary team of Ron Clements and John Musker (Aladdin, The Little Mermaid) to develop the project.
To make this film even more spectacular, The Frog Princess was going be set in 1920’s New Orleans and feature the character of Maddy, who would become the first African-American Disney princess. Anika Noni Rose won the role, after a highly-publicized casting call.
Fast-forward to a month later, and Disney’s PR department is running scared, telling Internet bloggers and news organizations everything they know about the movie is wrong.
“ . . . there is incorrect information being circulated about Disney's 2009 motion picture The Princess and the Frog (whose previous working title was The Frog Princess),” the press statement read.
“The central character is a young girl named Princess Tiana. The story takes place in the charming elegance and grandeur of New Orleans' fabled French Quarter during the Jazz Age . . . Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity.
“This American fairy tale is several years away from completion and the creative process is ongoing . . . unfortunately much of the information that has surfaced, including the casting breakdown . . . is inaccurate. When we do casting calls we frequently use substitute information as we don't want details out about the movies. Therefore that information you have is incorrect."
So what the hell happened? Why is the Mouse House being so defensive?
It's simple. Disney’s euphoria quickly turned to horror when bloggers exploded over what they saw as racist elements in this flick.
“I was not only unimpressed with this too-little-too-late idea, but downright wary of the thought of White folks writing about Black folks and presenting it to Black children,” wrote Jennifer Daniels on BET. “As it turned out, my ‘Boys’ could write a better story than this.”
The vitriol continues: “ . . . our plucky young Black protagonist, Maddy, as a chambermaid. There's also a plantation owner, two practitioners of voodoo – one a Magical Negro, the other a villain – a singing alligator, and score by the whitest White man to ever rest his head in the Big Easy, Randy Newman. (Were the Neville brothers & Harry Connick, Jr., busy?). Knowing Disney, I'm sure there's a dead parent somewhere in the mix. The living parent, Maddy's mother Eudora, is also a maid. Somebody turns into a frog. Oh, and the prince is White."
Daniels denounced, “a movie like The Frog Princess, with its touching tale of a po' Black chile (sic) being rescued from the Big Black Voodoo Daddy by a great White hope in the pre-Civil Rights Movement South not only offensive and ignorant of history, but highly insensitive as well.”
Others complained the name “Maddy” sounded like a slave’s name and that her position as chambermaid for a spoiled, white girl was demeaning. Oh yes, and many were offended that the film’s villain, Dr. Duvalier, was a voodoo priest.
Needless to say, Disney was shocked over this racial firestorm especially since the Mouse House is considering re-issuing 1946’s Song of the South on DVD.
SotS, despite being an Oscar-winning movie, has as many detractors as admirers. Some praised the film’s animation and story while others claimed the character of Uncle Remus was pandering to White stereotypes of southern blacks.
Bowing to public pressure, Disney CEO Robert Iger recently softened his stance on releasing it on DVD. He asked chairman Dick Cook to determine whether the time was right to return Song of the South to store shelves. He even asked Clements & Musker to create a teaser for The Princess and the Frog to go on the DVD. However, the Mouse House is now frightened that the current controversy will destroy any chance of Song of the South getting a fair shake.
At this point, rumour says the Mouse House is considering a limited run of SotS DVD’s under the Disney Treasures banner to test whether or not the movie will still cause an uproar among the PC brigade.
If the film does well, then Disney may wide-release Song of the South on Blu-Ray. However, there’s no way they want to link this movie to The Princess and the Frog, considering the separate firestorms happening with this movie.
As always, interesting times are ahead.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
