A BETTER MESSAGE COMES OUT OF THE BAYOU!
WHOSE IDEA WAS ‘THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG?’: Origin of Disney’s first black princess rooted in love of New Orleans. Plus, Anika Noni Rose covers Jan. Essence.
December 4, 2009
*Ironically, the inspiration for “The Princess and the Frog,” Disney’s first feature starring an African American princess, came from two Caucasian men: current Pixar-Disney chief John Lasseter and the late Walt Disney himself.
“The story really came from an initial idea of doing an American fairy tale, which hadn’t been done at Disney,” said “Princess” co-director Ron Clements to the Associated Press. “And setting it in New Orleans, which is John Lasseter’s favorite city in the world. It was Walt Disney’s favorite city in the world … Out of that, it seemed natural that the heroine would be African-American.”
Discussion of the character’s race had some of the film’s principals bristling.
“We walk around being black every day, and nobody talks about it,” noted Anika Noni Rose, who supplies the voice of lead Princess Tiana. “So, I suggest you follow your instinct and let it be nothing to be talked about.”
But the “Dreamgirls” actress admitted that the significance of can’t be ignored.
“The big deal is that it will quietly affirm to young brown-skinned children that they are special in this world,” Rose said. “And I think that it is a bigger deal to those of us who grew up without it and are now adults and have been waiting for it. It’s exciting to us, because we know how important it is to our children to have, to be image affirmed.”
Meanwhile, Essence has announced that Rose is the cover girl for its January 2010 issue. Inside, the actress reiterates what she told the AP about her character being Disney’s first black princess.
“I hope we get to a point where black characters in mainstream roles is not something we think about; we are just there,” she says.
