Disney-Prinzessin Article: 5 good and 5 bad pre-conceived notions of The princess and the Frog

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5 good and 5 bad pre-conceived notions of The princess and the Frog

posted by founten

First a little introduction, I have every intention of seeing this movie, but here are my personal judgments of this movie based on the controversies surrounding it, trailers and so forth. Since i like to end on a happy note, we'll start with the bad.
5. THE pRINCESS: When I first saw this trailer i was thinking "how the hell can a black waitress from New Orleans in the 20's be a princess? but the Mehr trailers that got released i slowly realized that Tiana isn't actually a princess at all, at least not Von birth anyway, suddenly the whole she turns into a frog thing made allot Mehr sense. But why does it have to take place so recently? to me fairy tales always took place in no particular time, and if they did it was a long time ago, but Hey i guess they wanna say that fairy tales can take place any time anywhere, but if your going to have it take place so recently, can't Du AT LEAST make it historically accurate? i'v got news for Du writers, Tiana is NOT a name people had back then, i know all those pc nut bars sagte that the name "Maddie" was racist, but there are SO many other names Du could've gone with like, Elizabeth, Kate, Jean, Betty? Veronica? SOMETHING OTHER THEN TIANA! Also if they wanted to make an African princess why didn't they use an African story? Why would they go with one from europe?

4. THE CONTROVERSY: My god, the controversy surrounding this film is AMAZING. Like wow, where do i begin? First off, how is the name Maddie racist? I mean it's short for Madiline, right? so? so what? another thing that was "racist" was making our lead a maid. Again, how? I mean Snow White was, Aschenputtel was. Oh i see if a white girl is a maid it's totally fine, but a black girl no no no. THATS racist! Also allot of people thought the prince was white, and that that was also racist, well first of all he's not and second, how is supporting mixed race couples racist and condemning them not, when did that happen.

3. THE ARROGANCE: for as many people who think this movie is the devils work, there are just as many who think it was crafted from the hands of Jesus Christ himself. The biggest thing is that it's Disney's first black princess. Maybe so, but i have a few things to say about that. First of all why wasn't this much fuss made over Disney's first arabian princess, oder chinese? I mean non white heros and heroines in Disney Filme is NOT a new thing. Also have Du seen those interviews they do with the guys who worked on the film? They all talk about it like its the Weiter Citizen Kane. For example, have Du noticed how they always say "Tiana's going to be the strongest princess yet, she's not waiting around for some prince". Now lets analyze this, shall we? Now I'm going to assume they mean strong character wise in development. Well aren't all the princesses strong and developed characters? The best examples i can think of are Belle, Cinderella, Ariel and Mulan. Those are just the first that come to mind. And the whole "waiting around for her prince", okay i think were gonna need a princess rundown.
Lets start with Snow White. Did she wait around for her prince? well yeah, but she was asleep. And throughout the rest of the movie, even though she wasn't as feminine as later heroines, she was still a very active character, in fact she didn't even think about her prince that much. Next
Cinderella: She always dreamed of love, but she was never really looking for it. Her main motivation to go to the ball was to just have fun, falling in Liebe was just icing on the cake. And her prince definitely did not save her, she saved herself, with help from the mice of coarse, okay ALOT of help. Then came
Aurora: probably the least active one, but the Filme not exactly about her,she's a big part of it but it's really about the fairies. She did need to be rescued, but again she was under a spell. Weiter Ariel: She was one of the most active characters, she was weak and naive, but not helpless. But being inexperienced with life just makes her Mehr relatable. Weiter we'll do
Jasmine: allot like Ariel she was witty and felt trapped, but wasn't even really looking for a prince charming, like at all. lets go on to
Belle: Belle is great, she's full of personality and never needed saving.
Mulan: do i even have to say anything
pocahntas: another strong character who actually saved HER prince, and she never even dreamed of love, just excitement. She didn't even really get a happily ever after.

2. THE SILLINESS: anyone who's seen clips from the movie can tell it's got some crazy over the oben, nach oben jokes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, some Filme were able to pull that off. Hercules hat some honestly funny jokes, but it didn't try and take itself too seriously. It knew what it was doing, and turned out as an all around just fun movie. The heros were fun, the villain was fun, the Musik was fun and it worked. Also Mulan has some great jokes, and they were able to mix the funny with seriousness and it worked. But thats hard to do, i mean just look at Aladdin. The jasmin and Aladin Liebe story is trying to push threw, but its just being bombarded with over the oben, nach oben humor and its distracting, especially since Robin Williams was the genie.

1. THE VOICE: Why? why does every animated film need to be starring all kinds of celebrity's. I mean it could be worse, they could have casted Beyoncé oder something dumb but like why? Look at classic Disney, they never casted big stars, and they never promoted the hell out of the actors either. They kept it a secret so that there was an element of Mystery. But it seems no animated film these days can escape that. Now for some good things

5. TRADITIONAL ANIMATION: My god is it a breath of fresh air to see a movie done like that. My hope is that this film will kick off yet another Disney renaissance with traditionally animated films. It's sad that it seems to be fading, hate to say it but the only studio that can make CG look good is pixar, Shrek IS OVERRATED!

4. A GREAT LOOK: this movie seems to leap off the screen whenever i see a trailer, which is Mehr that can be sagte for most trailers these days

3. MARKETING TO KIDS: Whens the last time Du saw a trailer for a kids movie that actually looked good and/or intelligent? It's nice to see someone taking kids seriously again.

2. THE MUSIC: well what can i say, judging Von what i've seen it sounds good

1. NOT CHICKENING OUT: lets face it, since the controversy started they have backed down and changed the heroines name, her occupation and motivation. But they didn't change the location oder the idea of using voodoo, two things they complained about the most.

So there Du go,my ramblings, some of Du might call it nit picking, but i call it sh*t picking.

Racist Not Racist

Chatleen, sweetie-94 and 6 others like this

rfq-155 I don't get the, "she's not waiting around for some prince" comment. If they actually watched the movies, they'd know Snow White was the only princess that waited on her prince. Cinderella just plain waited, Aurora just cried, Ariel went and got legs to be with Eric, and I doubt Belle and Jasmine would wait at all. Geez, just because they're singing princesses in big, poofy dresses doesn't mean they're frail and weak...except for Snow White and Aurora.

founten i know right, like what the f?

alafastanzio I totally agree with most everything you've said. I'm very anxious to see this film as I predict its either going to be a huge hit-or-miss. From day one I've been convinced their only reason for making it based in New Orleans was because of Hurricane Katrina. Is it a heart-felt ode or a shameless pandering scheme? Either way I think that was their biggest mistake - making this story take place during a historical setting and time period. For the same reasons I've never cared for the Disney's Pocahontas (which goes so far as to bastardize historical characters AS WELL as events) it seems like Princess and the Frog will potentially dilute children into thinking southern Louisiana during the 1920's wasn't ALL that bad for black people. Sure, we may see Tiana living in the squalors but if Disney couldn't even get away with calling their leading lady Maddie... I doubt there will be any mention of the KKK or any derogatory slurs or comments that are in fact racist rather than applicable to virtually anyone in the working class. So…Which is a bigger betrayal to our children: whether we should expose them to the ugly truths of our nation’s history early on ... or... make a movie that sugarcoats or denies it ever happened? I guess that's where that fine line lies. I truly hope Disney is able to pull it of. Nonetheless, keep in mind AAAALLLL of this controversy could probably have been diverted if this story didn’t take place in so-called ‘historical’ Louisiana, USA. If it was simply based “Once Upon a Time in a Land Far Far Away” Disney could have had total liberty with their story. But because of the setting in which they chose they are restricted by trying not to offend people or seem insensitive. In the end, did Disney have the balls and just go there? Will they have made something utterly unexpected and clever despite the tumultuous skepticism? Or did they just bail out and make the biggest, sappiest, most double-standardizing, patronizing and politically-correct piece of crap imaginable? Well shall see, no?

TigerRanma I think the whole point of the film was to put jazz music in it so they based it around 1920's in New Orleans. And they just went from there. Plain and simple. Which I am disappointed with because I miss the musical numbers fit for Broadway. I'm not complaining about anything else besides the music. I'm fine with the setting, the plot, the race or names of the prince and princess, but I was never really a jazz fan. The voodoo stuff is interesting but the masks would freak me out if I was still a kid, especially the devilish looking one with the horns. I always wondered why there was a New Orleans Square in Disneyland. Because I didn't recall any animated Disney film set there, so what brought about that theme? Now it seems it has a purpose because The Princess and the Frog is set there. Whenever I saw that steamboat in the movie, I remembered the big steamboat in Disneyland. What I love is that Tiana is very focused on a career and I feel that's very inspirational for me. It makes me think "I want to be more like her." I wish I had focused on a goal at an early age and continued to work hard for it. Instead of dreaming about nonsense about waiting for someone to "save" me.