Disney Princess

Maegan Cherry Dr. Walker Composition I 15 November 2012 The Princess and the toad Princess Diana once said, Being a princess is non all it is cracked up to be. This is a true statement in some insistences such as Disneys 2009 consider The Princess and the Frog. The call for is establish in the 1920s in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 1920s was a time period of segregation, and it was not ludicrous to see a black person working in a white familys home. southerly states were more segregated than some others, so the film being in Louisiana plays a trulyly main(prenominal) role.Most black people were not as wealthy as white people therefore they did not have the luxuries of the families they worked for. They tended to live in small houses, and they had to take the train or walk for transportation. Tianas family was no different than any other 1920s African American family. Tianas mother, Eudora, worked as a modiste and a caretaker for Big Daddys daughter, Lottie. Big Daddy is a we althy white gentlemans gentleman who spoils his daughter, and gives her e reallything she wants. Eudora took Tiana with her to work where she became friends with Lottie.Lottie grew up with fairy tales, and treasured her life to be nothing short of one. Tiana, on the other hand, did not believe in fairy tales. She believed hard work would get you where you need to be. Tiana had a aspiration of induceing her own restaurant, just now she faces many challenges that keep her from achieving her dream. Many people believe that Disney has focused too often on bleed and the time period, rather than fashioning Tiana a princess. Moon Charania and Wendy Simonds wrote an article titled The Princess and the Frog explaining the different stereotypes presented in the film.Ajay Gehlawat also wrote an article titled The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog Passing and the censure of Race explaining the stereotyping of the races in the film. I think of Disney did a great job of relating the time period to the characters. The film may have been stereotypical, but it was relevant to the setting. To make the film less controversial I think Disney could have do Tiana a princess in a different time period, so there would not be any stereotyping of the characters. The biggest stereotyping was between the white family and the black family.Being Caucasian in the 1920s meant you lived a in truth fortunate life, and you did not experience the hardships that other races may have faced. In The Princess and the Frog, Big Daddy was a typical wealthy Southern man, who gave his daughter, Lottie, anything she wanted. Lottie was portrayed in the film as a spoiled girl. She wanted to marry her prince charming, and live happily ever after. Just analogous in the fairy tales she grew up with. Charania and Simonds stated, Lottie, on the other hand, is a caricature of conventional Disney princesses (page 70).I agree that Lottie is portrayed as a typical princess, and I can see how peop le would think Disney is stereotyping. Since Lottie fits the normal Disney princess characteristics it seems identical Disney is making her more of the princess than they are making Tiana. Gehlawat shows more of how Lottie is stereotyped in the white family. Gehlawat stated, When Lottie, Tianas childhood friend, asks her to prepare a couple atomic number 6 of her famous beignes. and drops a wad of bills in her hand (422). This statement shows that Lotties family had lots of money, like a stereotypical white family did in that time period.I agree that Disney does portray the white family in a stereotypically counseling, but I also think that it was appropriate to fit the time period. Just like the white race the black race also had characteristics that can be put into a stereotypical way. Tianas family was very poor and her mother, Eudora, worked as a seamstress for Big Daddy. Tiana and her father had a dream of owning their own restaurant. After, her father died Tiana worked as a waitress to make the dream a reality. By Eudora working for a rich white family it brings back the idea of slaves, which is another way of stereotyping the African American race.Tiana had to work very hard for everything she wanted in life it was never handed to her on a silver platter, like it was for Lottie. Tiana lived in a much smaller house than Lottie, and they were very close to their neighbors. By Disney making Tiana a catch for most of the movie, some people have argued that it is degrading to the black race. Gehlawat stated, What becomes lauded in the process is the deputation of a black girl as an animal, or the conflation of blackness with bestiality (418). I disagree with Gehlawats statement. I think that Tiana being a frog was taken out of context. Her being a frog as just a fun aspect to the movie, and was not intended to be a racial attack on the African Americans. Another way the film stereotyped the black race, was by the real estate brokers telling her that sin ce she is black she should not have such big dreams. Charania and Simonds stated, When, Tiana, as a young person adult dreaming of opening her own restaurant, is told by the real estate brokers of her dream property that a women of her background should not strive so high (70). I think that this is a stereotyping comment that is make in the movie, but I do not think this comment was made in rate to blacks in todays society.I feel that any stereotyping made was fitting to the time period the film was set in. In todays society being stereotyped in some way is a common thing that people need to learn to live with. The 1920s was a bittersweet part of history, but it did happen. It is not a bad thing to remind people about what things were like in history. Disney made an effort to show how far America has come since the 1920s, by making an African American princess. They could have just made Tiana a princess, like the past Disney princesses, and that might have made the film a little less of a controversial issue.Everything and everyone will be stereotyped at some point in life. It is how the people respond to it that will make the difference on the next generations. Works Cited Charania, Moon and Wendy Simonds. The Princess and the Frog. American Sociological Assosiation. 2010. Vol. 9. No 3. 69-71. Print. Gehlawat, Ajay. The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog Passing and the censure of Race. Journal of African American Studies 14. 4 (2010) 417-431. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. The Princess and the Frog. Dirs. Ron Clements and John Musker. 2009. Walt Disney Video. 2010. DVD.