Cultural Stereotypes: An Analysis Of 'The Princess And The Frog'

Although we live in an era where things are changing by the day, there are still remnants of the colonial culture that came before us. Things like beauty and racial stereotypes are still alive today. We experience the things in our daily lives whether we are aware of it or not wear, watch and in some cases simply the way we look, whether it be your features or the shape of your body.

I recently redesigned the character Princess Tiana from a Disney animated movie The Princess and the Frog. I will be analyzing and dissecting the design as well as the feedback I received from the five Contextual Studies 3 colleagues I interviewed about aspects of my design whilst using Jena Stephens’ Disney’s Darlings: An Analysis of The Princess and the Frog,

The story is mostly based on a book written by E. D. Baker, The Frog Princess which is also based on a Grimm fairytale The Frog Prince which was written by Brother Grimm which was published in 1978 ([sa]:[sp]).

Jenna Stephens (2014: 96-97) says that the character of Princess Tiana dos not conform the typical mold of the first generation Disney character’s damsel in distress waiting for her shining armor. Although this may be true Princess Tiana’s character is still conforms to post-colonial beauty myths that still exist today.

For instance, women of African descent are known to have curvaceous bodies, big noses, big lips and a big bottom, whereas the character of Princess Tiana lacks all of the typical black features, simply because in the eyes of the post-colonial society during that time, they did not see anything remotely beautiful in having those features Derrick Clifton(2015:[sp]). The media basically told us that petite bodies, and Caucasian features were beautiful and black features are were not beautiful Figure 1: Tom Ellery (designer) Princess Tiana, The Princess and the Frog.

2016 (Illustration by Tom Ellery)

The above image is a light brainstorm I did a few weeks prior to this essay about the flaws I found within the original character design done by Tom Ellery in 2007 or earlier.

In my redesign of Princess Tiana I decided to make her look very African to the point that there was no mistaking which ethnic group she belonged, but mostly my aim was to show little African/African-American girls that even girls with, afro’s, big lips and curvy bottoms can be Princesses. Whilst redesigning Princess Tiana I thought about adding body paint or rather face paint because I the African culture it is seen as a form of art that accentuates or brings out the beauty that is already there Beauty Undefined ([sa]:[sp]).

My redesigned character has a big, not so neat afro simply because that is one of the most common traits found amongst African/African American women in terms of the texture of their natural hair. Another reason I gave her an afro was because I wanted to show that although her afro may not be tied up, or silky or neat that it can still be beautiful even on a Disney Princess. With her facial features I gave her a flat slightly big nose which is also a typical African beauty trait. I drew my redesigned character with big almost hear shaped lips that has a darker upper lip. I attempted to draw her with a curvy body and a big bottom but after interviewing my fellow colleagues I realized