The Princess and the Frog – TH’s 2 Cents
by Guest Contributor Superhussy, originally published at Superhussy Media
Disney’s new film “The Princess and the Frog” has sparked a lot of conversation primarily because Tiana, the princess is black. As adults we have plenty to say about the effects of the film, whether it’ll impact young black girls in a positive manner and if it portrays black folks/New Orleans/voodoo objectively.
That’s all well and good, but I think it’s vitally important to hear what someone from the film’s target audience has to say. TH, my fabulous assistant, went on a fieldtrip with several kindergarten and first-grade classes from her school to see the film. She was kind enough to take some time out from her hectic schedule to answer a few questions.
*Please note, TH is five, so her discussion of the film is probably not in sequential order and she probably only remembered the parts she liked. We’re working on those skills.
SH: So I hear you went to see a movie today. What was the name of it again?
TH: The Princess and the Frog! *giggles*
SH: Did you like it?
TH: Oh mommy, it was fabulous and funny and hilarious!
SH: Really? So tell me what happened.
TH: There was a girl and she had a mommy and daddy, just like me!
SH: What was the girl’s name?
TH: Tiana.
SH: What did she look like?
TH: Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.
SH: Wow!! So what happened?
TH: There was a firefly bug and an alligator. The alligator was big. The alligator played the horn and they were dancing. *pretends to play the horn*
SH: That sounds like a lot of fun! What else happened?
TH: The songs were good. I liked the songs because they were funny.
SH: That’s great! So were there other people in the movie, or just Tiana and her mommy and daddy?
TH: Mommy, you are silly. There were more people and animals too!
SH: Ok, and they were?
TH: They were in the city. The city was big. There was a boy with a hat and a man with a purple suit and a really big hat. I forgot his name. There was a nice lady. She lived in a treehouse in the woods. She was loud too and had a snake. Can I have a snake?
SH: No.
TH: Oh, the man with the big hat had on a scary necklace. And there was another boy with a white face and tiny eyes.
SH: That sounds like a lot going on. So what happened?
TH: We ate peanut butter and jelly and had apple juice. I spilled some on my jacket.
SH: I know. I cleaned your jacket. What happened in the movie?
TH: The man with the big hat made the prince into a frog. The prince had big shoulders like you mommy.
SH: Um, ok. (o_O)
TH: Then the frog was at the pond and said ribbit and Tiana was at the pond and the frog kissed her and made her face slimy and she became a frog too.
SH: Wow, that sounds crazy. What happened next?
TH: It was crazy mommy. then there was a lot of singing and music and they saw the old lady in the tree and there was a parade and then the boy frog kissed Tiana frog and she turned into a princess and he was a handsome boy again with a brown face. She was a beautiful princess mommy. She had on a princess dress and a princess hat and lipgloss. *does the princess praise dance*
SH: So would you say it was a good movie?
TH: Oh yes, I want to see it again.
So there you have it. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s on our holiday list of things to do. After talking to TH, I looked up the film summary and for a five year old, she remembered a lot. Again, it was probably what she wanted to remember. It was interesting to note how it seems like she paid more attention to the brown faces and singing/dancing animals than any of the white characters. That could be because the white characters were secondary in the film.
While the cultural critics and pundits are dissecting The Princess and the Frog for the masses, please remember this: no single film is going to raise or lower the self-esteem or self-worth of a collective group, however, it is important to make sure that films and other forms of media are discussed with our children in an age-appropriate manner. Yes, there are probably faults with the movie, as there usually are when it comes to any media, but we shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.
When we are thoughtful and objective we can build and improve upon what has come before.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist wrote:
“TH: The man with the big hat made the prince into a frog. The prince had big shoulders like you mommy.
SH: Um, ok. (o_O)”
LMAO!!!!! This was a nice conversation to read. Very amusing
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 12:36 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:
Great review by TH! I’m a bit concerned about the pro-pet-snake message, an area of potential controversy which other critics have so far not yet raised, so thank you for touching on that
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 12:41 pm ¶
Piper wrote:
That just brightened my day a little, so thank you!
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 12:45 pm ¶
Natalie wrote:
TH: Can I have a snake?
SH: No.
I just died.
I think it’s awesome that she sees Prince Naveen as having a brown face too, since I know from other reviews that it’s a little ambiguous.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 1:01 pm ¶
Manju wrote:
cutey patooty
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 1:02 pm ¶
Val wrote:
That was so cute! Thanks.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 1:07 pm ¶
Adrienne wrote:
The post made my day. I too noticed that the Prince is brown. Shoot he’s the same color as a lot of my Black relatives
Thanks so much for sharing this with us 
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 1:14 pm ¶
nick wrote:
Slightly OT but a friend of mine has a snake as a pet.
She lives in an aquarium (snake-arium??) and is quite amazing. About fifteen inches long, black and yellow, and quite docile.
I know a lot of people are hesitant at the idea of a snake as a pet – but handling one goes a long way to helping you realise that they are just another animal (albeit one without legs).
I’d get one tomorrow but I don’t trust myself with goldfish let alone anything else.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 1:39 pm ¶
Soda and Candy wrote:
This was the most adorable review ever.
I think what it goes to show is that though there may be some issues with certain aspects of the movie (like the portrayal of voodoo for example), if you are an involved parent and discuss the movie with your child like this they will take away what you want them to, just like anything else.
“TH: Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.”
I’m so happy for all the little girls who are now able to say this because of this movie.
Also, I want to know about the “princess praise dance”!
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 2:12 pm ¶
emjaybee wrote:
“Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.”
**melts**
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 2:37 pm ¶
Julia wrote:
“I’m a bit concerned about the pro-pet-snake message, an area of potential controversy which other critics have so far not yet raised, so thank you for touching on that.”
laughing like a hyena over here.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 3:06 pm ¶
Xenu01 wrote:
!!! Oh, dear god. Best review EVER. So cute so cute!
You know what would be nice, though, is if this wasn’t possibly going to be THE black princess movie- can we have lots more Disney movies about people of color?
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 3:46 pm ¶
BSK wrote:
As cute as this was (and it certainly was), there is also a lot of value to it, namely, this statement:
“Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.”
Besides being cute, it is reactions like that that demonstrate why it is so important for movies to feature people of color in varied roles, ESPECIALLY for young children. White girls got to look at all the earlier Disney movies and feel this way. Thank god that PRIVILEGE is now available to others.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 3:47 pm ¶
Alice wrote:
Adorable conversation. It just made my day. BTW, I’ve been thinking about the Princess and the Frog movie a lot lately. It’s about time there was a black Disney Princess, but at the same time, has anyone noticed the posters for this thing? I live in Manhattan and 8 to 9/10 posters I see don’t feature the princess, but just the frog, or some other characters, or no princess. What’s the deal?
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 4:40 pm ¶
Montclair Mommy wrote:
I can picture the “princess praise dance” and I love it!
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 7:36 pm ¶
Alexia wrote:
Reiterating: it’s all about *dialogue* with our children. I remember growing up, our mommy taking us to see The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, etc., but she never discussed with us. A lot of our parents come from a time where you tell children what to do and let that be that – minimal listening. It’s good to see another paradigm where we actually ask the opinions of our children to see how they’re being influenced. Then we can become a check on the negativity!
If I ever have children, I’m going to take this specific interview to heart. I won’t keep my child away from problematic films and issues – we’ll deal with it head on and discuss in an age-appropriate way. This is all theoretical, of course – it would take A LOT to make me want to have children…
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 8:29 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:
Awesome review. I agree, looking at the POV of the target audience is possibly the most valuable approach.
We saw the film at the Disney Studios in LA (Burbank, to be exact) and afterwards went to the “Disney activities” at the studio for kids. They had a lesson from one of the animators and some games that you could win prizes doing, but of course, the star attraction was the princesses. Each of the Disney princesses was there — Belle, Snow White, Jasmine, and all the rest. The central stage area was reserved for Tiana and I was excited to see that she had the longest line of kids (and some big kids like me, with our daughters there for cover). Neither I nor my daughter is a little black girl, but I thought it was great that the little girls of color who were there got to see this, after probably seeing the longer lines for the white princesses at other movies. Not, of course, that this solves larger problems, but for the range of problems a movie aimed at 5-9 year old girls can tackle, it seemed like a good start.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 10:27 pm ¶
octogalore wrote:
(For those who haven’t been to one of these Disney events, the “princesses” at them are models who are chosen to look similar to the princesses in the show. The Tiana model was a good likeness, and didn’t have what I’ve seen on this blog referred to as the “white girl dipped in chocolate” look . I was glad to see that almost all of the princesses had attainable-without-surgery-for-most-people bodies — fit, shapely, but not the typically Hollywood anorexic-with-D-cups look).
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 10:36 pm ¶
2Serenity wrote:
For the past year, I’ve been following the adventures of TH through Superhussy’s accounts on twitter and on her blog. Because of TH’s review, I definitely want to see it! Thank you for featuring Superhussy’s blog post here!
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 10:58 pm ¶
Koko wrote:
“TH: Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.”
So important!
I remember being in 1st or 2nd grade when Aladdin came out and I was IN LOVE with Jasmine. I’m not middle eastern, but just seeing any cartoon princess that was close to the same color as me was a huge deal, because I was always concerned about the fact that Snow White was praised for having such snowy skin. If only Disney had Latina princesses!
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 11:00 pm ¶
lil sis wrote:
Well that was lovely, giggled all the way through hehe, thank you for sharing her with us
Loving her lil monkey wrapped in a blankie too, pair of cuties.
Posted 23 Dec 2009 at 11:23 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:
Thank you so, SO much for this post.
Yesterday,we exchanged gifts at the school I work in, and one of the children was upset and cried because she didn’t want a Black Barbie doll. And then I had to go to a staff meeting where one woman notoriously finds blond-haired, green-eyed people to be “the most beautiful- but oh, no, I’m not like that, my son LOOOVES chocolate girls!” and another who is “colorblind! I don’t see color at all!”
a parent who tells her (latina) daughter to stay away from another (black)classmate because “she has fleas”.
my students being astounded that yes, I do speak spanish. which now probably makes me “not like ‘them’.”
It’s beautiful to see a little girl like her brown face.
I really needed this one, SH and TH. Thank you. <3
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 2:44 am ¶
RainaWeather wrote:
TH: Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.
That made me very happy
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 3:01 am ¶
Katsuryi wrote:
It’s great that someone finally asked the target audience. Kid’s usually don’t pick up as much political and racial stuff in children’s movies, since that’s usually not why they watch it. As adults and teens we start to think more about social issues.
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 3:41 am ¶
ourname wrote:
This review makes me want to take my little niece to the film!
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 10:29 am ¶
Sean wrote:
“Oh, she was pretty and her face was brown, like me.”
Priceless.
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 1:30 pm ¶
GüeraLola wrote:
“she probably only remembered the parts she liked”
I’m like that! I do believe that most if not, all girls should have a character from book or movie that looks like them and possible has a similar background and make them feel pretty or special or at least they have a connection with that girl. And the boys too!
Josefina and Samantha (the American girl book) bring back fuzzy memories.
Posted 24 Dec 2009 at 3:40 pm ¶
merq wrote:
Agree with what most people have already stated upthread, so I won’t rehash that. However, I must add:
1. Incredibly cute… and I say this as someone drawn more to dogs than children. (Not that I’m likening TH to a dog or any… oh damn, this never comes out right.)
2. I love that our five-hear-old says “hilarious.” Shows that you don’t dumb down your vocabulary when speaing with her. My parents did that with me when I was growing up, and I always inquired about unfamiliar words.
Keep her on that track and the SATs should be a breeze.
Posted 27 Dec 2009 at 12:22 pm ¶
agh wrote:
My mother took my 6 yr old nephew and 2.5 yr old niece to see this movie. My nephew giggled because of al the kissing and romance. When the movie was finished, my niece jumped out of her seat and applauded! If she could read, I’m sure she’d love TH’s interview!
Posted 28 Dec 2009 at 6:15 pm ¶
B. Durbin wrote:
I’ve seen a review that praises Disney for finally coming up with a female lead who is not just a “passive princess,” too. (Mulan wasn’t, but she had to dress up as a boy to not be passive.)
IOW, strong role model for ALL little princess-loving girls. And the most negative reviews just say that the music isn’t as good as Disney’s best, but that’s minor when they’re mostly saying that Disney’s back on the classics track after its long string of mediocre shows.
Posted 30 Dec 2009 at 6:17 pm ¶