Disney: Black girls can [finally] be princesses too?
September 13, 2007
Cross-posted at Brave New Films Blog. Also on featured on AlterNet.
Disney, the 800,000,000 pound gorilla of kids fantasy entertainment, annouced that they are going forward with their plans to have their first Black princess in 2009's The Frog Princess.
Disney has had opportunities to show the uniqueness of non-white cultures in it's films, but has failed miserably at doing so in a respectful, non-stereotypical way (see Aladdin and Mulan). I have zero confidence that this film will be any different.
This is doubly dangerouse given how Black women are portrayed in today's media. Bringing back up the Aunt Jemima images of old and coupling them today's over-sexualization of Black women and the racist indifference shown towards Black women sets the table for a pretty nasty racial stereotype feast.
