The Movie: The Princess And The Frog

By the early 2000s, Disney had become one of the world’s major media corporations and amassed a large amount of control over what people viewed on television and they still do today. They are a conglomerate of children and adult TV shows (ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel) and have unparalleled influence. Disney makes movies about groups of people who are currently underrepresented in our society, but those movies fail to give a historically accurate view of what would have occurred. It appears that major corporations gloss over details that are considered difficult or uncomfortable to ensure they are appropriate for younger viewers. Disney highlights oppressive ideologies through the unintentional perpetuation of the degradation of marginalized groups

The Princess and The Frog (2009), is set in 1920 in the city of New Orleans around a young African-American woman, Tiana, whose goal is to open a family restaurant. She then meets a Prince who happened to be a frog, and in hopes of breaking a legendary curse she kisses him but turns herself into a frog as well. The movie follows them on a journey to return to their natural human state and defeat the evil Dr. Facilier. When analyzing the interactions between characters of different races there is an undeniable lack of truth. The movie is set in the 1920s post-slavery era of the United States, yet there are several instances of historical inconsistencies. Prince Naveen was a male with colored skin and his physical appearance fit the definition of a person of color at the time. Yet the movie displays an arranged marriage between Naveen and Charlotte who was a white woman. The state of Louisiana did not "have constitutional provisions against intermarriage, but [had] statutory provisions instead.". Disney decided not to depict the culture of racism in Louisiana in the 1920s appropriately and by extension

The main character Mulan decides to save her father’s life by taking his place in the Chinese army. Later, she is found to be a woman, but then she saves the entire country from the Huns. The movie Mulan exploits eastern ideals of patriarchy. Disney seems to appropriately replicate the struggles of a woman in an army where she would not have been allowed and with minimal sugar coating. One of the opening songs from the film called Honour to us All shows the role of women in their society. It says "A girl can bring her family great honor in one way….Men want girls with good taste, Calm, Obedient, Who work fast-paced, With good breeding, And a tiny waist". Although the opening song for the movie depicts the Confucius nature of China in a pre-modern time period, it shows the cultural oppression of females as socially acceptable. The song objectifies women are and symbolizes them as items to be picked at a market instead of as valuable human beings. By introducing these ideas to young children and the adults who often watch those movies with them it further builds on our current societal view of women as less than men. Moreover, a male with a role of authority in the army finds that Mulan is a woman and he says “I knew there was something wrong with you! A woman!” and later he says, “She’ll never be worth anything! She’s a woman!”. Again we see the idea of women