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What was wrong with her before Disney?


By: Kamal Apatira
When Disney’s The Princess and the Frog premiered in 2009, little black girls around the world were elated because for the first time ever, there was a Disney princess that they could identify with. Little girls, including my sister, bought tickets and flooded the theaters to show support for the film. This is just one example of how, even for children, representation in media matters for Black people.  The media today fails to correctly represent the world around us and as a result, black people must take any victory that they can as they are far and few between. This victory some years later would be tainted as Disney took its one Black princess and decided to lighten her skin and give her whiter features.
When Wreck it Ralph aired its princess trailer for its sequel, viewers young and old were excited to see what the film was to bring to the big screen.  This specific princess trailer was Disney attempting to show that it was ready to move away from the stereotypical “damsel in distress” character in a way that also showcased diversity.  Watching the trailer, everything looked unproblematic until many noticed that Princess Tiana “looked lighter-skinned and more Eurocentric than she did in previous promotional material from the movie” (Brucculieri 2018).  Too many of the trailers uncolored viewers, this may have not been an issue as to them Tiana was still Black, but to many people of color this was not only troublesome but had a much deeper meaning. For an empire like Disney to feed into colorism and anti-black nature only further plagued and influenced societies view of people of color.  This issue specifically affects African-American women and is one of gendered colorism which “can be particularly damaging among women with dark complexions, as society tends to reward those who look more Eurocentric” (Hall 2017). Princess Tiana is admired by many young black adolescents of a darker complexion and the lightning of the princess’s skin is detrimental to their long-term self-esteem.  At an early age, young black girls become aware as “girls as young as six are twice as likely as boys to be sensitive to the social importance of skin color” (Hall 2017). Often times adolescents are seen as naive and innocent when in fact they do indeed pick up on a lot of the social issues going on around them, including complexion controversies. 
A small change in the eyes of Disney is actually a major one as those same coloristic ideas that they embrace will continue to affect young African-American girls for generations to come.  In correspondence, black men are likely to select a lighter skinned partner due to the “overrepresented images in the media and the generational approval of light complexions” (Hall 2017). Society inherently puts women of a darker complexion at a disadvantage leaving them more susceptible to being single or getting a divorce.  Living life as a black woman in America is a difficult task as they are constantly faced with adversity. Due to this adversity and growing up in a world that is not intended for them to succeed, it is important and a source of hope for young black girls to have a figure like Princess Tiana to look up to.
                                                   References: 
J. Brucculieri (2018, August 13) Disney Accused of Lightening Princess Tiana’s Skin Tone in ‘Wreck It Ralph’ Sequel. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wreck-it-ralph-tiana-white-wash_us_5b719a80e4b0bdd0620b4444 
Hall, J.C. (2017). No Longer Invisible: Understanding the psychological impact of skin color Stratification in the Lives of African American Women. Health & Social Work, 42(2), 71-78.  https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hlx001

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  1. KHDecember 5, 2018 at 8:06 AM

    You get the last word on the class weblog, Kamal.

    For the most part, this is a very fine essay. I do notice some lingering issues with your use of references. For instance, no page numbers for the quotes and no in-text citation for the HufPo piece.

    Otherwise, this is a thoughtful contribution that picks up from and extends the group's theme on colorism in the media. We've discussed Disney as some length this semester, online and off. This makes sense when we consider the crucial role Disney plays in (global) popular culture and the popular imagination.

    I'm pleased that you located a source that doesn't address media directly, but which nonetheless offers a critical perspective on the colorism in contemporary society. That's a fine bit of synthesis and application on your part and a skill set that will serve you well moving forward.

    With that in mind, you might haven been a bit more explicit about this study's findings and how they are especially relevant in relation to Disney and the studio's target demographics (e.g., young children). That is to say, this and other Disney characters are designed to appeal to infants, toddlers, and youngsters whose sense of self and other are formed early and often (with a huge contribution from media).

    This makes the colorism of this and other Disney films especially troubling. (By many accounts, this isn't the only problematic aspect of the Princess and The Frog.)

    In any event, solid effort and a fine contribution to wrap up our CWPs.

    27 pts.

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