(NZ Herald) LOS ANGELES – Walt Disney’s first black princess will appear in a big-budget animated feature set for release in 2009.
It is the latest in many attempts by the company to prove its multicultural bona fides and ward off the spectre of racism that has lurked since its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s.
The company chose its annual shareholders’ meeting to announce that it had started production on a film called The Frog Princess, set in New Orleans and featuring an African American princess called Maddy.
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In 1993, Disney created its first non-white princess for its animated version of Aladdin – and faced protests from Muslims and Arabs who said the film was racist in its depiction of a Middle East riddled with casual violence.
Disney followed that in 1995 with Pocahontas, a retelling of the encounter between an English settler and a Native American princess.
This brought more trouble for the studio – animators were accused of modelling Pocahontas on model Naomi Campbell, although they countered they had used Native American faces as their inspiration. (source)
A – ’bout time! They have pretty much covered all the other colors of the rainbow.
B – Just like there was criticism surrounding the depiction of Pocahontas and Aladdin, Maddy will also be closely scrutinized.
