New Disney Princess Celebrates Racial Diversity

I must say I’m excited about the newest Disney princess movie, The Princess and the Frog. I love all the princess movies (it’s my girly side) but have wondered for at least a decade when we’d have a black princess to add to the lineup.

We’ve had some welcome racial diversity with Native American Pocahontas, Chinese Mulan, Middle Eastern Jasmin from Aladdin, Hawaiians in Lilo and Stitch, and a dark-toned gypsy gal in Hunchback of Notre Dame. Jasmin is considered the only official “princess” from this list, from among celebrated Disney Royals including Ariel, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Cinderella, Snow White and Belle.

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Happily, a black character finally joins the lineup of mostly white girls in Disney filmation history. The Princess and the Frog’s Tiana is an African-American girl set in Jazz Age New Orleans, who has something to do with kissing a frog, and, one supposes, fights evil (there is always a villain in these movies).

I hope the story is as enjoyable as we’ve come to expect from the princess movies, without falling into racial cliches or embarrassing tokenism. I’ll be seeing the film to get PeeTimes on opening day Friday and add PeeTimes on my return home. I hope to have my movie review up that weekend.

Jill Florio

Co-Creator of RunPee, Chief of Operations, Content Director, and Managing Editor. RunPee Jilly likes galaxy-spanning sci fi, superhero sagas, fantasy films, YA dystopians, action thrillers, chick flicks, and zany comedies, in that order…and possesses an inspiringly small bladder. In fact, that little bladder sparked the creation of RunPee. (Good thing she’s learned to hold it.)