Black and White and Read All Over.
Disney rattled some chains last month when it announced that it would be making a feature film with its first ever black princess character. The character, Maddy, lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans and is the star of the new film “The Frog Princess” set for release in 2009.
Disney is typically associated with its lily-white (and often blonde-haired) princesses. In fact, the first non-white animated female character (princess or otherwise) was not introduced until 1992 in Disney’s wildly successful “Aladdin” - it was Princess Jasmine. Since then, only two other minority female animated heroines have appeared in a Disney film, that being the Native American Indian princess Pocahontas in 1995 and Mulan, who was Chinese, in 1998.
Quick, can you name the five other characters in the Disney Princesses brand? (Answer appears at the end of this post)
The brand has become the fastest-growing brand for the company’s Consumer Products division with sales topping $3 billion in global retail sales since 1999. Sales items include toys, books, clothing and furniture aimed at girls ages 3 to 8.
And it’s working. My kids are crazy about princesses and I have done my best to stem the flow of tiaras, glitter and princess books into the house. It’s impossible. I don’t know how, but it seems to creep in anyway. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time watching princess films and reading princess books as of late. I think that the issue of race is really important in what I’ll call “the great princess debate.” A lot of what concerns parents, including me, about the idea of princesses is this notion that princesses are beautiful that maybe gives little girls ideas about beauty that isn’t really attainable. And while our society is a mishmosh of colors, races and ethnicities, our princesses have for years remained varying shades of white (and slim, but that’s a whole other post).
So, it leads me to wonder if maybe this introduction of Maddy isn’t a bigger deal than we even know… A whole generation of kids will grow up thinking that princesses come in all colors, and the fact that it will be pretty unremarkable to those kids is, in itself, remarkable.
Do you think that this will change standards of beauty as our children see them? I’m curious to know your thoughts.
Psst. The answer to my question? The five other characters in the Disney Princesses brand are Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle (from “Beauty and the Beast”) and Ariel (from “The Little Mermaid”).
Can you think of any other non-white princesses in children’s lit?
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
[...] Original post by Kelly [...]
April 2nd, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Personally, I have more of a problem with how some of the princesses dress. Big examples would be Ariel and Jasmine. Diversity is great, but also is showing a princess who is not tied to expensive and showy clothes. I would like to see a princess come out that has real confidence, not just a pretty face and a good body. Granted Disney has made some strong women, but no one without cleavage. My goodness, they’re kids! Why do you need cleavage?
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Iam so glad I have son, so very glad. I really do not like the whole “Disney Princess” fad. Too much pink, too much glitter, and like you previous noter mentioned too much cleavage!
April 3rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
I think Disney is finally waking up to the multi-cultural society we now live in and realising that painting all princesses as blonde and while skinned is pretty shallow and just plain wrong.
I think you’re right, and that from now on little girls will grow up thinking everyone has it in them to be a princess, whatever the colour of their skin.
April 4th, 2007 at 10:22 am
[...] Tiny Treasury discusses the newest Disney Princess: The character, Maddy, lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans and is the star of the new film “The Frog Princess� set for release in 2009. [...]