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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

The Princess, The Frog & The Color

I won’t offer any critical position on The Princess & The Frog. I was not embargoed, but the truth is, there is so much moving around at Disney these days, I am going to assume the conservative position and remain silent, looking towards the next set of relationships.
In any case…
What I do want to say is that the film is remarkable free of race as an issue once you get past the first 20 minutes or so. As Disney told everyone, the characters are black, white, and mostly, cajun, whether good, bad or somewhere in between.
The lightening bug that some worried about is one of the strongest characters in the film and doesn’t identify black or white. The horn-playing alligator,a completely positive character, does play black… and unlike the characters who seemed black in The Jungle Book, is voiced by a black actor.
And Keith David, as the voodoo dude, gives – and I guess I am breaking my own rule a little here – a magnificent vocal performance, both speaking and singing. His character is not driven by race, but by greed…. a vice shared by all races.
Anyway, it really hit me about half way through that issues of race – including the prince in the film seeming more South American than black – just were not on the plate in this film, no matter what the setting. The fact that we are dealing mostly with animals through most of the film helps. A frog is green, not black or white.
I saw it at a NAACP screening… and it occurred to me that while race didn’t play much of a role in the film as I saw it, for this mostly black audience, it must have been truly wonderful to see a film based around a black heroine and other black characters whose motivations are human and not just ethnic.

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9 Responses to “The Princess, The Frog & The Color”

  1. Wrecktum says:

    From what I hear, people at Disney are very proud of this movie. I think it surprised some of them how well it turned out.
    It’d be nice to see a non-CG, non 3D, non PG-13 family animated film make some bank this holiday. Kinda like the good ol’ days.

  2. Good little piece of stylistic nostalgia. And such a vibrant palette, too.

  3. indiemarketer says:

    I wonder what color the new President of Marketing will be? Hopefully green for Disney’s pockets.

  4. sashastone says:

    I loved the movie but I was slightly disappointed that the princess spends all of her time as a frog. We wait this long for a black princess and she’s a frog the whole time? I wanted to see more of her. That said, an enjoyable film with a great message. Good music, pretty to look at – Up’s biggest competition for sure.

  5. Glad to hear the huzzahs for Keith David.

  6. polarbear says:

    If Sleeping Beauty were black, people would be upset that she was asleep for half the movie. If Mulan were black, they would be angry she was in drag the whole time. And Cinderella and snow White? Cleaning houses and doing menial tasks?
    These girls are the heroines of their fairy tales. They have to undergo SOME trial and hardship.

  7. leahnz says:

    disney’s sleeping beauty, cinderella and snow white are hardly ‘heroines’, all of them relatively passive, helpless ‘victims’ of some malevolent, jealous hag who tries to either enslave or kill them, only to have to be rescued by a ‘prince charming’ in some guise. hardly heroic

  8. Me says:

    Well, the plucky heroines are more from the last Disney renaissance – Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Mulan, etc.

  9. Tiana says:

    Yes, Disney, is changing, and for the best (for once!)
    Oh, and check this wonderful The Princess And The Frog site 🙂

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

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I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

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~ David Simon