Can you name all the Disney princesses? They are easy to remember if you separate them by old school and new school. Did I say separate? I meant to say segregate.
Let’s go old school for a minute. There’s Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, all of whom had a pretty tough upbringing for a bunch of pretty white women. Think about it: Snow White had a price on her head, Cinderella lived like a slave, and Sleeping Beauty was cursed from birth. They all lived sad lives, pinning their hopes on being saved by a man, although usually some old fairy or dwarf stepped in and changed their fate before the prince rode in and got the credit for it.
The 1990’s brought a new group of princesses whose lives had less to do with the men that saved them and more to do with creating their own destinies. Ariel, who was really just a spoiled teenage brat, had the hots for some man, and disobeyed her father so she could get laid, or was it legs? “Beauty and the Beast” came out next, with the first princess who didn’t start out as royalty. Belle at least was respectful of her father, so respectful that she was willing to risk her life for his, trading places with him to be the Beast’s captive while Daddy walked away a free man. Again, like the old school princesses, Ariel and Belle each found love with a prince and lived happily ever after.
Then Disney felt the pressure of affirmative action. Jasmine, the Arabic love interest of Aladdin, was a princess with a good head on her shoulders, yet she still fell in love with a pauper who conned his way into her heart. Pocahontas, the Native American daughter of a tribal chief, got about as much attention as actual Native Americans, even though she had a skimpy little outfit with her boobies jutting out and, oh, some good songs. And don’t forget Mulan. She had it all. She was an Asian cross dresser who saved China, a nation that would have preferred to leave her on a rock to die from exposure or put her up for adoption by a childless American couple in their forties. Every time I watch that movie I want to eat an egg roll.
Now, Disney is smart enough to know that in today’s anti-immigration climate, it doesn’t make sense to introduce a Hispanic princess. They decided black was more politically correct than Latino, considering we have a black president and all. So they rolled out the latest princess, Tiana, who sounds more like a Russian princess than a New Orleans gal, if you ask me. She didn’t even want to be a princess, and now that I think about it, I don’t really remember how she got sucked into the whole frog transformation thing. I remember there was some gospel sounding music, and some voodoo, but other than that, her story was a big $10 nap. The point is that America was ready for a black princess, so Disney gave us one, and added another skin tone to the marketing color wheel.
Which brings us back to Walt Disney World. No matter what theme park you attend, you have the opportunity to meet and greet some of your favorite Disney characters. At Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, most of those characters are either old favorites like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy or gender neutral popular ones, like the cast from Playhouse Disney or Toy Story. If you go to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot, however, you can score a little princess action. They have princess dining experiences at both parks where you can meet your favorite white princesses or even a half fish/half white princess. But try finding a princess of color at either place, and you will waste all the time you saved getting fast passes.
As you may recall, my family just went to Walt Disney World over the Thanksgiving holiday. My daughter S loved “The Princess and the Frog” and very much wanted to see Tiana. We are not one of those families who will wait in line to meet characters and get autographs unless the lines are short. My daughters even make their own autograph books and bring a free hotel pen with them, because they know their dad and I don’t want to waste our time and money getting signatures from unknown women who best fit in the costumes. But every time we found some princesses, they were all white as, well, snow.
S asked about Tiana every time we passed one of those yellow shirted Disney character escorts, but no one knew where she was. She tried looking in the windows at the Ashkerhaus at Norway in Epcot. She even waited for a second round of princesses at Cinderella’s castle, but alas, it was the same story there. No Tiana. And then, in our last hour at the Magic Kingdom, in between Main Street USA and Adventureland, in a little out of the way gazebo on the wrong side of the tracks, we found her. Princess Tiana, the second class princess, was standing in the cold, with a short line of black children waiting patiently to meet her.
“See?” I told S, “there she is! I knew they would have her somewhere. I just didn’t think we would have to search for four days to find her.”
“Can I meet her?” S asked.
“No. Are you crazy? We aren’t waiting in that line.” And that was the end of that.
My prediction for the next one? Indian. As in India Indian. I am sure there is a rich fairy tale or two that can be told from that rich cultural history, and the costumes they can sell will be amazing. Plus, it will be less controversial than a Jewish American Princess, don’t you think?
1 comment:
Nice! and the title works well.
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