Return to New Orleans

Today we made a second trip to the picturehouse to see the latest addition to the Disney canon, The Princess and the Frog. We only tagged along because it was for a friend's birthday; we didn't go specifically to see the film, unlike last time. Upon said second viewing, we would like to re-evaluate our initial opinions.

First time round it all kind of went over our heads. It felt a bit standard, with none of the songs making a particularly strong impression upon us. This being Disney's big comeback to both the Broadway musical style and traditional ink animation, we felt it really needed to return with a bang to bring about a new Disney renaissance. Maybe it was because we were suffering from an unusually dehibilating hangover, but we left the cinema not particularly remembering much. Today we had a clear head. The songs were exhilerating - they brought the scenes to life, they were warm and delicious. The animation was sweeping and dazzling - the scene where Tiana imagines her restaurant in the future and the animation changes from the traditional style to a Art Deco influenced style with heavy blocks of colour was imaginative and impressive for example.

A factor we cannot ignore is the milestone introduction of Disney's very first black princess. We have had Arabic, Native American and Chinese additions to the roster but the lack of an African-American representative, particularly in the United States, was noticeable and becoming an increasingly large topic of discussion for Disney observers and African-American activists. We had read many extremely positive approvals of the decision to finally bring one to the table, but naturally there were going to be some detractors. Jezebel, a blog we want to point out we love, wrote a particularly cynical piece on how it was too little too late and Tiana's repeated mantra throughout the film of using hard work to get what she wanted in life was patronising and cheesy. Well, it may seem that way to most people above the age of 12 but the bulk of The Princess and the Frog's target audience is below that age and any instance of a powerful role model proclaiming hard work to be the best way to achieve success, and not other paths such as altering cosmetic features or dumbing yourself down can only be an excellent thing in our opinion.
While their first late 80s/early 90s renaissance showed us truly independent, intelligent and strong women (Ariel, Belle and Jasmine), their first round of princesses in the 50s were arguably presented equally headstrong, for the time period at least. Cinderella toiled to achieve her goal, Aurora wouldn't take no for an answer. Disney have a duty to perform for their audience. While you could argue portraying the princesses as finding the man of their dreams and living happily ever after is completely unrealistic and damaging, they are not harmful goals to work towards. Essentially the films encourage young girls (and boys) to find happiness, and the tradition which has been taken up to The Princess and the Frog teaches, if nothing else, the finest way to reach your aims in life, ergo happiness, is through solid hard work, perseverance and a little dash of pixie dust.