Wow Lauren, your a racist!

the story line sounds interesting, but like you I don't want to get my hopes up. Though my little sister LOVES Disney and it would be nice for her to see that fairy tales happen to girls and boys like her too.

let's just hope for the best. Knowing Disney, they'd probably be very careful to not piss off people.

anyway, Disney is walking on a very thin egg-shell now because of the whole slutty Miley Cyrus scandal. The last thing they want is more controversy that'll hurt their image.

mmmmm , say, i wonder, how many black people are in top positions at Disney? I'd be curious to know.

Well, I for one do not know WHO came up with that first cockamamie storyline nonsense because I thought Disney has heard enough about the coloredgirl/white prince thing. That mess is so tired. Aint nobody trying to be rescued by no white prince. And that whole 'voodoo priestess' bit…

And you can keep the 'Black chambermaid' thing. We're tired of that. Disney just sit down.

I would also like to see a story with many different types of ethnicities exhibited via characters. In not in a "the lobster has a Jamaican accent" kind of way. I want my biracial niece to see a character that she might identify with, in form, who is a princess or beautiful fairy (you know, the things little girls are drawn to), and lives a wondrous life. We ALL want the same things, I promise.

Next.

Im so excited for this movie..because its hand animated.

All the ridiculous complaints about this
Her name-maddy is short to Madalyn

job- she is black in the 20s…what kind of job to you expect her to have.

white price-whats wrong with interracial..show the kids that black and white can live and love in happily ever after.

is the reason why Disney stayed away from a black princess. People will pick at everything and it can become to much of a risk.

I've been boycotting Disney for years because of their racist past and their exclusion of people of colour before the 90s. I think the movie will not be good because they won't put as much effort into it as they do with other films probably. The fact that they are not having a Black prince says a lot to me. They don't want the movie to be "too Black". I thought the same thing about Pocahontas, they couldn't just pick a story that had no White people in it you know? But they have no problems with Arabs in Aladdin or Asians in Mulan though. I wish that there were some African animated films instead of this.

I was just wondering what was up with this movie this week. I really hope Disney gets it together. Nothings wrong with an interracial couple but I was really hoping this would be positive for Black girls AND boys. We waited long enough for Disney to do this I just wish there was something for my niece and nephew to relate to.

Am I the only one that's annoyed by the name Tiana? I liked Maddy so much better.

ALL of these ideas suck.

How many black princesses lived in NOLA in the 30's? NONE.

How many of them met and married middle eastern and european princes? NONE

I also find it troubling and telling that black people can't fall in love with each other on screen, even in animated form.

Why can't they set it in some historical african kingdom like Timbuktu? I guess they believe the hype of africa being a dark continent with no history or civilization.

RE: the plot- Um, what? Dude, I could brainstorm a better "black princess" story than this in a weekend. And I'm a white chick from the burbs. Even if I couldn't make everyone happy, at least I could avoid being completely stupid.

Wow, Disney. Epic fail in the black princess movie department. Why don't you just let Pixar handle this?

And if the man she ends up living with happily ever after is black, it could kind of give off a message that a white man or a middle-eastern man cannot find a black woman adequate. I think it's fine that her love interest is of a different race. Again, we don't want children to believe that they are limited to being romatically interested to their own race only.

Eh. Rumors as you said.

I don't really think it's relevant whether there are top execs at Disney though I'm fairly sure it's whiter and more male than most companies. I'd be more interested in who's writing, directing and producing it.

As for her love interest, I think this is one of those attempts to not make it a "black movie" (=only black people will see it). It seems to be a consistent fear with most movies with a black main character with a love interest that is central to the story. Why Middle Eastern though considering the area? Nothing wrong with that, but that's an odd choice. I would have figured the obvious non-black choice would be Creole and if that's too black, then Spanish. Ah, the issue of balancing so no one in the relationship comes off as superior (the non-black man) or inferior (black woman) based on their race. This is often a problem that will arise when you have interracial couples, especially in kids' movies. Pocahontas, though roughly based on a true story, definitely left a bad taste in my mouth even though I was 11 when that came out after I actually read the story. John Smith was some short, plain dude not some tall, blond hot piece. The guy she didn't want to marry was actually the hot one. Guess that tale is less appealing. Plus they don't end up together.

That Tiana actually looks black is pretty praiseworthy since Pocahontas didn't really look Native American. She was modeled after Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell!

Pocahontas was modeled after and voiced by Native American actress Irene Bedard.
http://movies.about.com/od/int.....051005.htm

I don't see why they couldn't just go with an existing folktale or legend. That's what they usually do — cinderella, aladdin, pocahontas, beauty & the beast, the littler mermaid, mulan, etc, etc. sure, they're cleaned up & disney-ified, but it's not like they made those stories up from scratch. at least they have some historical weight and time-tested narrative.

Maybe they could adapt something from Zora Neal Hurston's "Mules and Men"? Or maybe something like "Kiki's Delivery Service" but with a little girl who's an apprentice to Marie Laveau in nola. Would be a lot better than the weak crap these hollywood wonks would make up from scratch.

Damn. I'm getting "Alzheimered". I would swear i posted on this topic. Anyway.

Funny how Disney's racism didn't strike me in Beauty and the beast, Cinderella, Snow White… and other classics with an "all white cast".

Maybe it's time for African American people to create/produce anime movies for their own kids (any colors or background). And i'm talking about stuff for kiddies… hence not The Boondocks.)

Who can do it better than you!

Does anyone else think that there should be more black cartoonists?

While we're on Tiana's appearance, why is she made up like a Jazz-age hooker? That's an awful lot of eyeshadow on those lowered lids of hers.

And she has a slice of lime glued to her head.

By the way, has anyone watched the Little Mermaid lately? It never occured to me what a disobedient little brat Ariel was when I was six. Or that she was basically running around (swimming around?) in a bra the whole movie. Or that she got married at 16 to a dude she barely knew. A fine role model there…

You want Little Mermaid as an adult,RhymesWithSilver and her in a bra the whole movies is what you notice.
Not the fact she has to give up her voice to be with a man???

*watch. Edit button???

"Why can’t they set it in some historical African kingdom like Timbuktu?"

Solitaire - Maybe that wouldn't be profitable from their standpoint?? Disney above ALL else is about $$$.

"Pocahontas, according to Edgerton and Merlock, was modeled after three different women. Black British supermodel Naomi Campbell, Caucasian supermodel Christie Turlington, as well as 21 year old Filipino supermodel Dyna Taylor were all inspirations for the animators who were charged with the task of making a "nonpareil"—a woman who is the epitome of what the race has to offer."

I actually quite like the fact that she will be paired up with a non-black guy. We all know that the subtext of black women with white men is very different from the opposite. I mean, no one thinks that black men are gross and thats why no one wants them. Everyone wants them of all races. This is hardly a slight to them. If anything it validates the beauty of black women more broadly. Its twisted but true. Additionally, I liked the name Maddy. I also do not have a problem with the voodoo aspect. I think thats a brilliant way to introduce Disney "magic" into a modern film. Of course she is going to be poor. She is black in the 1930s as someone else already said. Cinderella was also poor and no one complained. Anastasia also started off poor. (Well, not started off but by the time we met her in the diagesis of the film she was poor.) So long as there are other well to do black people in the film and so long as they dont all speak in Ebonics all is well. Also, I think the character is well animated in beautiful. All Disney films are a bit sexist/normative. There will always be issues. All I am looking for is a Disney classic whose beauty transcends certain anti feminist/minority messages just as those from my childhood did. All I remember from the little mermaid are some damn good songs.

What took Disney so long? Tiana is beautiful, but what's with the helmet on her head? Not actually appealing. This is way overdue. They'd better be in the drawing room working on a Black hero as we speak. I will not have my son only looking up to Lil'Bill. We need production companies that will stick their neck out to properly intergrate AA's into mainstream Hollywood. I don't think it's because AA's don't sell. I think it's because they are afraid they do, thus more competition.

Perhaps Disney intends to promote a bi-racial relationship? That's progressive thought, isn't it?