Almost There, Indeed: Disney Misses the Mark on Modernizing Black Womanhood and Subverting the Princess Tradition in the Princess and the Frog
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DePaul University Via Sapientiae College of Communication Master of Arts Theses College of Communication Winter 3-2012 Almost There, Indeed: Disney Misses the Mark on Modernizing Black Womanhood and Subverting the Princess Tradition in The Princess and the Frog April Callen DePaul University Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Callen, April, "Almost There, Indeed: Disney Misses the Mark on Modernizing Black Womanhood and Subverting the Princess Tradition in The Princess and the Frog" (2012). College of Communication Master of Arts Theses. 1. https://via.library.depaul.edu/cmnt/1 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Communication at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in College of Communication Master of Arts Theses by an authorized administrator of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Almost There, Indeed Disney Misses the Mark on Modernizing Black Womanhood and Subverting the Princess Tradition in The Princess and the Frog by April R. Callen, B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of DePaul University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts DePaul University March 2012 DEDICATION To My Mother, Lula Callen – Without Whose Support and Encouragement, This Project Would Not Have Been Possible ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While I am ultimately responsible for the completion of this thesis, I recognize that the final product was made possible by the support, guidance, and inspiration of many people— family, friends, fellow graduate students, and complete strangers with whom I shared my thoughts. Acknowledgments must be given to my thesis committee for their insight, guidance, and patience. Without their commitment to this project and desire to make it be all that I aspired for it to, I may have ended up on a completely different path. As importantly, I must acknowledge the prevailing problematic portrayals of Black female identity, beauty, and resistance that I saw throughout the process of completing this thesis. I used those instances as a reminder and inspiration for why I meet the challenge of cultural criticism head on and why it is so necessary to always engage with texts that attempt to tell your story and reflect your identity. March 16, 2012 iii ABSTRACT Almost There, Indeed Disney Misses the Mark on Modernizing Black Womanhood and Subverting the Princess Tradition in The Princess and the Frog By April R. Callen, B. A. DePaul University, 2012 Thesis Advisor: Kelly Kessler, Assistant Professor Committee: Ann Russo, Associate Professor and Kimberlee Perez, Instructor The Walt Disney Company released The Princess and the Frog in 2009 to much anticipation and equal antagonism; the movie features the princess franchise’s first Black princess. In the spirit of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, the studio touts the movie as a throwback to the classic era of Disney, but with an updated spin. Disney suggests that the marriage of classic and modern speaks to a return to hand-drawn animation and unlike the original story The Frog Prince, this princess becomes a frog, as well. This project argues, however, that framing The Princess and the Frog within the context of a “modern twist on a classic tale” has multiple meanings and is ultimately problematic due to the movie’s reliance on old hegemonic film characterizations of Black womanhood that promotes whiteness and assimilation, while simultaneously suppressing Blackness. In recent years, popular culture and media have made a greater effort to include the narratives and very existence of Black women in its texts. The increasing spotlight on the iv intricacies of Black women and their lives calls into question who and what ideologies that recognition serves. This paper interrogates media makers’ negotiation with the history of representations of Black people and modern Blackness in the shadows of the United States first Black president and his family. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................................iv TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 STORY AND CHARACTER SYNOPSES.............................................................................4 THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY AS A CULTURAL INSTITUTION ................................6 KEY TERMS..........................................................................................................................7 LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................................................10 CHAPTER DESCRIPTIONS................................................................................................16 FINAL THOUGHTS ............................................................................................................19 CHAPTER 1 Mammy for the Mass(a)es : Protecting White Male Patriarchy and Promoting Assimilation Through Remnants of Anti-Black Female Stereotyping.......................................21 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................21 “I’D WALK A MILLION MILES/FOR ONE OF YOUR SMILES/MY MAMMY!”............23 NEGOTIATING THE MAMMY IN TIANA........................................................................26 PATRIARCHY AND MAMMY...........................................................................................30 MAMMY? MAYBE. JEZEBEL? NO...................................................................................34 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................35 CHAPTER 2 Sisters by Circumstance: The Historicity of Southern White Superiority in Black and White Female Relationships ...............................................................................................38 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................38 THE MYTH OF SISTERHOOD...........................................................................................40 CHARLOTTE AS THE “CHOSEN ONE”............................................................................45 “DISNEY PRINCESS” MADE STRANGE..........................................................................49 MASKING FRIENDSHIP ....................................................................................................51 CHARLOTTE AS SAVIOR, THE “WHITE MESSIAH” .....................................................52 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................55 CHAPTER 3 The Politics of Recognition: Pushing Black Femininity Toward Heteronormativity.....................................................................................................................58 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................58 vi LIMITS OF RECOGNITION ...............................................................................................60 ANTHROPOMORPHISM, A METHOD OF RECOGNITION.............................................64 THE POLITICS OF RECOGNITION CALL FOR AUTHENTICATING BLACKNESS.....67 RECOGNITION THROUGH HETERONORMATIVITY....................................................70 SELLING RECOGNITION..................................................................................................74 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................77 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................79 NOTES.....................................................................................................................................89 BIBLIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................................99 vii INTRODUCTION Never particularly drawn to the Disney princess franchise, favoring The Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood over Snow White and Cinderella, I took interest when the Internet became aflutter with news that the studio was working to develop a princess movie that would feature a Black-American princess. With great anticipation and little expectation, I saw The Princess and the Frog opening weekend. Walking into the theater, I immediately noticed the significance the movie would hold for many Black girls and women. Standing in the main lobby of the movie theater was a Black teenaged young woman dressed in a sparkling key lime green tulle and chiffon gown, similar to the one donned by Princess Tiana in the movie. As a “princess,” the young woman would visit sleepovers and birthday parties to read stories and perform other fantastical royal duties. As she genially stood by the table while her mother explained the business, a handful of young girls, Black and white, shyly approached her wanting a picture with