The Princess and the Frog

[meganbmoore]

Ok, O Mighty F-List Who Knows All, the following is what I know about this upcoming Disney movie:

1.  It's an adaptation of The Frog Prince.
2.  It's Disney doing 2D animation
3.  It has a black heroine
4.  It's set in New Orleans, presumably at some point in the past.

Anyway, apparently there is some sort of huge controversy over it?  Can anyone fill me in?

Also, does anyone know when it's coming out?

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that it being set in New Orleans is one of the complaints, as it was a big factor in my interest.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

The complaints I've seen are less that New Orleans is an intrinsically bad setting, it's more that the whole mix of Nola *and* jazz *and* voodoo *and* slavery/servitude, etc., has this cumulative stereotypes-on-a-plate effect that's greater than the sum of its parts. The complaints about the character's original name, for instance, weren't that Maddy wasn't ethnic enough, but rather that it was a very stereotypical lower-class or slave name, and that name in conjunction with her being a chambermaid to a white family raised a lot of uncomfortable associations.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*nods*

And I hadn't really bothered to follow it after learning the very basics until tonight, too.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

I can see why people are complaining, but everything in the story makes sense from a storytelling point of view. I've actually always liked this fairytale but the princess' selfishness drove me crazy so I'm looking forward to seeing how Disney handles it.