I am no fan of the Disney company.
There I said it.
As a diversity educator there is no end to the topics I can talk about using Disney movies. From the racism and sexism in Peter Pan (when they didn't know better) to the racism in Pocahontas (when they did know better) Disney has consistently dropped the ball on making sure their character line, and particularly the Princesses, reflect the girls who consume their movies and products by the billions.
I could go on about the raging -isms that appear in Disney movies- not just the ones made 60 years ago but the ones made since 1985 as well- but no where did the miss the mark as with their first Black Princess. Never mind the prince was white and the villain was black (same old tired stereotypes) or that the princess is actually a frog for the majority of the movie.
Never mind the flaws in the movie because there was merchandising.
I could buy hundred of dollars worth of merchandise in which my child could see a princess who looks like her- a Tiana doll and blanket and clothes and party invitations and books all with images of a princess that looks like her.
Or so I thought. Then K chose this book at a book fair...
I didn't read it first and while I didn't expect it to be fine literature I bought it because right now D loves the movie Tangled and it has brought up some hair issues for K and I felt that it wouldn't hurt for her to see Tiana in the same book as Rapunzel.
So K starts to read this book, which as you can tell from the cover is one story about Ariel. one about Tiana and one about Rapunzel.
In the story about Ariel- her image appears 18 times in 22 pages.
In the story about Rapunzel- her image appears 18 times in 22 pages
In the story about Tiana- in 22 pages her image appears....
NOT. ONE. TIME. AT. ALL.
In 22 freaking pages she is a frog on EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
And sorry but I am going to call it what it is- Racism.
(and no- it is not burn a cross on your lawn racism- it is death by a thousand cuts racism- but seriously, racism is racism)
And to be very clear (for those who will say
that K would have never noticed and I am over sensitive) I did not
notice it. If I had, I would have never brought the book in the
first place. It was my daughter, looking for a picture of her favorite
princess in her new book, who, in tears, brought it to me.
When my princess loving four year old brings me a book- a book that clearly shows Tiana on the cover -and tells me "Mommy, Tiana is not in my book. Why not?" please explain to me what answer I can possibly give her that will convince her that Tiana is as beautiful and as valued as the other princesses, when she is holding evidence to the contrary in her hands.
Disney might have a Black princess but it's really just the same old story
