Finally Equal

Fig. 1 Princess Tiana

Disney has recently released the newest addition to its’ Princesses, Tiana (Figure 1).  She is the first African American princess, born and raised in the grand city of New Orleans in the movie The Princess and the Frog.  Tiana has dreams for herself.  She wants to open her own restaurant in honor of her father who passed away.  She believes so strongly in this dream that she spends her whole life trying to make it her reality.  One day Prince Naveen visits the city.  He is swept away by the culture and stupidly falls in with Dr. Facilier, the “Shadow Man”, who uses voodoo to turn Naveen into a frog per request of his jealous assistant, Lawrence.  Later, Prince Naveen convinces Tiana to kiss him, promising that he will return to his normal state.  But because she is not yet a princess, Tiana becomes a frog.  They travel near and far to try and change back into humans and along the way, fall for each other.  They marry, making Tiana a true frog princess and he kiss makes them both human again.  Tiana never gives up her dream and once they are finally changed back, she opens her restaurant. 

This movie is the beginning of a new type of princess movie.  Tiana is a great role model for young girls.  She has dreams and she is driven in her pursuit of them.  She does not plan her life around finding a man to take care of her.  Tiana is successfully independent, and works hard for what she desires.  Another difference in this movie is the role of the male characters.  Prince Naveen is handsome, charismatic, and charming, but ultimately arrogant, until Tiana teaches him to appreciate the simple things in life.  The “Shadow Man” is the evil villain, communicating with the underworld and ruining the lives of the fortunate.  And then there is Lawrence.  He is an overweight, overworked assistant who is “green with envy”.  He wants to live the life of the rich and hands himself over to Dr. Facilier to obtain it.  This is a big step for Disney.  They are finally showing young girls that it is important to dream, but to make that dream come true you need to work hard.