“The Princess and The Frog” – You Buyin’ It?

Abundant controversy surrounds the upcoming release of Disney’s “The Princess & The Frog”, and chances are, it always will. The Disney Corporation is a massive entertainment conglomerate with an 80+-year history of bigotry as well as accusations of disseminating subliminal messages. Secondly, we African Americans are known to be hyper vigilant, with good cause however, but our acute caution often tends to get directed towards each other, and away from the actual source.

To Watch, or Not to Watch?

It’s mind boggling how complicated situations such as these can become. It’s common knowledge that the narrow minds at Disney were up to their usual tricks when they initially planed to present the heroine as a maid named ‘Maddy’ (servant to a White family, of course). The outcry from the concerned Black folk Sector must’ve been pretty fierce; Disney declared her  ‘Tiana’, the White folks chef – not maid.

Then there’s an issue because her love interest isn’t Black, or not as Black as she. His name is Naveen, and he appears to be some sort of Arab fellow. Critics expressed outrage that Disney’s first Black princess suffered from the dreaded jungle fever, yeesh.

Also, speaking of hyper vigilance, take a look at the public poster ads for the upcoming film in your community. Have you noticed that there are more promotional pics of that shady looking villain than there are of Tiana, or any other character of the film?

For those of you who are unawares, Disney’s got a formula that works, (by that we mean lining those pockets with copious greenbacks), enabling them to “rule the world” by means of total media domination (if you think this is merely paranoia, click on this). Taking a closer look at their history, the Disney conglomerate does not equate progress and empowerment with profitability. So perhaps the question isn’t whether to watch “The Princess and the Frog”, but how to watch the film. Our suggestion: Keep both eyes wide open.