pinkyapplez:

sourcedumal:

renamok:

waltdisneyconfessions:

I was actually really disappointed when Tiana turned out to be a working-class waitress instead of a princess, as the early previews had hinted at. Us black folk have enough movie heroines who are working class or poor trying to fight against racism/classicism, and I had really hoped for us to finally have some royalty or a born-princess, But it’s another typical black story of a hard-workin’ black gurrrl trying to rise above the odds (although she may be a good role model.) It’s overplayed and I was hoping Disney might break the mold. I know it may be ‘unrealistic’ to have a black princess, but since when does Disney care about realism?  

In a way, I agree, but then again, ultimately, I’m glad Tiana was working class… it sets her apart from past princess, but in what I think ends up being a very good way. She has a job, she has a dream that isn’t vague and has nothing to do with romance… even though, by Disney necessity, she eventually ends up in one.

I get what you’re saying, OP, but I love The Princess and The Frog. I really, really do. It has a million and one problems that bug the crap out of me, but in the end it’s something that made me have a glimmer of that feeling Disney gave me when I was a child.

But this is the entire reason blogs like Racebent Disney exist… because Disney made a HUGE deal about Tiana’s ethnicity to the point that I feel they purposefully set in a mythologized NoLa because, that way, she would definitely be “African-American”. They could have just as easily set the story in one of their fantasized medieval worlds or modern day. They could have kept her human. Any number of things… Ultimately, what they did wasn’t the worst thing they could have done (that would be Pocahontas in terms of complete cultural insensitivity), but there is definitely room for improvement.

Gonna disagree with you, renamok, on this one. It’s nice and all that she “broke the mold” by having her own aspirations and all, but it still didn’t give us a PRINCESS. And quite frankly, I’m 100% with the OP when they said “us black folk have enough movie heroines who are working class or poor.” I wanted the story to straight up give Tiana the “And they lived happily ever after and Tiana was princess of her own country and got pampered and swept off her feet and never had to lift another goddamn finger because she was ROYALTY” ending.

Because black women have never, EVER gotten that ending. I grew up wishing for that ending. And with PatF, we never will.

“I wanted the story to straight up give Tiana the “And they lived happily ever after and Tiana was princess of her own country and got pampered and swept off her feet and never had to lift another goddamn finger because she was ROYALTY” ending.

Because black women have never, EVER gotten that ending. I grew up wishing for that ending. And with PatF, we never will.”

All I have to say is grow up. If you want a princess waiting for her prince story, go watch Tangled, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. What’s wrong with a black character working for their happiness? Happiness doesn’t fall into anyone’s lap, regardless of color; everyone has to work to achieve their happiness.

And do you know why black heroines are usually working class? Because that’s where most of us are! A lot of us don’t have the luxury to just wait around to be swept off our feet and be pampered. That is the world we live in and it’s the world the character lives in (to a certain extent). Deal with it. 

And I want you to name a movie where a working class black girl gets to go on a magical adventure with a frog, an alligator and a firefly, talks to a voodoo priestess and defeats an evil voodoo magician? Because those “other movies” you mentioned probably don’t have an of that.

And the award for proving my goddamn point while completely missing it goes to….