Review of The Princess and the Frog (2009) by Chads. — 11 Dec 2009

Written by Michael Hutchence and Andrew Farris, the chorus for the INXS song "Original Sin" goes like this: "Dream on, white boy/dream on, black girl/and wake up to a brand new day." What was once a provocative couplet back in 1983, now seems like a sentiment more befitting of a time capsule, since interracial relationships have long-gone been the stuff of controversy.

With "The Princess and the Frog", Disney tries to be progressive, but is only half-successful in its introduction of a black princess; to be truly progressive, the prince should have been white.

Tiana's skin color seems beside the point when she's standing next to the olive-complexioned Naveen, and needless to say, even less so as one of two frogs. Charlotte signifies Tiana, a juxtaposition worth the price of admission, for she's the starting point behind the notion of intergrating a minority princess among the genre's white predecessors.

The hegemonic shift in narrative, the whole point of "The Princess and the Frog", take place the moment when the camera leaves the room where Charlotte and her father converse excitedly, and follows the seamstress(Eudora) and her daughter treading down a dark hallway, away from the normative foci.

That's a good start. Too bad Tiana spends most of the film's running time masquerading as a cute animal. Almost by default, Tiana gets the faerie tale ending, because pairing the traditional princess-type with an exotic prince would have been equally problematic in the Disney universe.

When push comes to shove, the hegemonic shift is delayed a bit, after Charlotte conveniently kisses Naveen too late, in which the machinations of tradition stops progress from happening. "The Princess and the Frog" doesn't quite have the swing of modern romance.