“The Princess and the Frog”
Charania, M. and Simonds, W., 2010. the Princess and the Frog. Contexts, 9(3), pp.69-71.
This article suggests that “The Princess and the Frog” (2009) despite the progressive image disney has tried to project with this film, showcases disney’s difficulties in handling ‘class, race and gender intersectionalities’. A few of the issues raised in the article include the way Disney attempts to erase social issues such as racism, sexism and classism by presenting a ‘fantasy colour-blind, merit based society’.
The article is well written and easy to understand, which suggests it may aim to reach the wider public, not just academics. As there are minimal facts and statistics, the article appears to border on an opinion piece. However, as both authors are students of sociology specialising in feminist studies their work on this topic has some credibility.
This article is relevant to our research as it highlights the problems of representation in the Princess and the Frog which is generally credited by the public as Disney’s most progressive film to date. In comparing this movie with “Snow White” we can see there is still a long way to go in terms of Disney’s representation of Women. Further, the article mentions that the fact suggestions these films should be exempt from criticism because they are children’s media are absurd, which is a point we would like to make in our essays.
If you’re interested in reading this article, which I highly recommend you do, you can find the whole thing here.