In 2005, Katrina Helm received over 20,000 signatures for a petition in which she advocated for the representation of black people in Disney movies. Helm quoted Tom Joyner from The Morning Show, who signed her petition: "When you are passionate about something . change will happen."
It happened. Disney's newest animated film The Frog Princess, slated for a 2009 release, will feature a black heroine living in the 1920s "Jazz Age" in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
MSNBC reported on March 12 that Disney's CEO, Robert Iger, hoped the setting would demonstrate post- Katrina support for the city.
Scanning the Internet for public reactions to the movie, I read lines of praise quoted from parents and other writers who stated that this film would "lift the Disney ban" in their homes. As a group, parents said the lack of a black princess influenced their girls' ideas of beauty and self-esteem, whether they were girls of African descent or another minority.
By this logic, little girls like myself who "looked up" to Cinderella, must have craved golden locks throughout their childhoods. But hey, at least as a South Asian, I could "identify" with Princess Jasmine and mitigate my feelings of inferiority. But what about the black girls who grew up with me in the peak of the princess hype?
One after the other, I accosted women students of African descent in my age group to get their take on the matter. I expected opinions close to those expressed by Angela Bronner for AOL's Black Voices last year. Bronner wrote that for some parents, the experience of explaining the lack of a black princess "hearkens back to a time" when they explained why black people sat at the back of the bus.
My findings were quite the opposite. While most women had dealt with ethnicity "issues" as children, not one seemed to suffer identity crises from the machinations of children's media.
For example, Alaina Williams, Ina Cox and Tiffany Williams, all College sophomores and Disney fans, never felt inadequate watching the films. College freshman Jessica Ludd, a self-proclaimed "Disney freak," added that she had plenty of "white" Disney merchandise and her parents had no objections. Tiffany Williams recalled arguing with her parents in favor of her white Disney doll - "I'm just playing with her, she doesn't have to be my twin."
Students are wary, however, of the stereotypes that may result as Disney seeks cultural accuracy in its portrayal of black people. College freshman Monique Francis felt that the movie was doomed as a caricature of the African American community, as are most things which invoke identity politics. For example, the heroine's role as a chambermaid can be taken as "realistic" or offensive.
Cox elaborated on the problem, saying that Disney deals with minorities by "commercializing, stereotyping and creating images that inaccurately represent a whole group of people." Cox, among others, anticipated stereotypes in the upcoming film that were dead-on-a male "witch doctor," a "mammy" figure and a sassy female sidekick in a negative role, for example, all grace the screen.
However, my interviewees were not ready to pinpoint Disney as the source of these stereotypes. They rightly pointed out that the company might be trying too hard to be accurate, throwing themselves onto a slippery slope. Should Disney "play it safe" by appealing to a "lowest common denominator," or do the opposite and remove all references to "black-ness?"
Ludd argued that people cannot "support networks like BET and then get mad about Disney's portrayal of black people- where do you think Disney is getting stereotypes from?" Astrid Batchelor, a College freshman from Jamaica, personalizes this experience in referring to her unpleasant encounters with the "proud black family" drama. "I'm not like that" she said.
Ludd added that she hoped the princess would not fall prey to "jive and ghetto" speech patterns. Expressing her frustration, she said, "if the princess speaks articulately and we [the black community] are upset by that, that's our problem, not Disney's." Aliana Williams agreed, pointing out that if black people want their children to have a genuine ethnic identity, "don't stick them in front of a television."
The consensus from these women corresponded exactly to my personal sentiments. We cannot expect Disney or other media moguls to contribute positively to the development of our youth's ethnic consciousness.
It's time to look beyond children's media to guide children- and if kids don't already know it, they should be assured that Disney movies serve as cartoons and nothing more.
Arushi Sharma is an College junior from Rockville, Md. Her e-mail address is sharma@dailypennsylvanian.com. A Case of the Mondays appears on Mondays.
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