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So basically they took Ariel and "colored" her.

Bitch is whiter than Bryant Gumbel.

Hasn't "Song of the South" been buried deep in Disney's Vault O' Shame for lo these many years? What makes anyone think that this is radically different?

Outside of log ride related areas, Disney will send a special team of carnivorous rodents to assassinate anyone who mentions that movie.

Being the mother of a 5-year old girl, I was really psyched to see that Disney was FINALLY going to have an African-American princess. Then I saw the promo on tv. WTF??? Why does she have to sound like NeNe from the Real Housewives of Atlanta? Where is she the princess of? South Central?

First, Song of the South, if watched understanding its origin (IE that it is super racist) is a really good movie with good story telling...just...you know...racist.

Second...I studied Disney, I wrote a master's thesis on Disney...and yeah...not just you Dustin. Gots to look the accents!? *face palm*

Oh my. Oh, and thank you for remembering "Song of the South," Spender. I knew this kind of reminded me of something.

So, is the firefly supposed to be Cajun?

So, the pretty princess kisses an ugly green guy and turns into an ugly green girl. Wasn't this the whole plot of Shrek?

Okay, this is just as racist as Aladdin, a movie that suggests that Arabs are all flying around on carpets, summoning genies. Oh wait, we don't care about Arabs.

Isn't everyone getting a little bit over-sensitive here? I mean, what next - I suppose you're going to say that it was racist of Disney to cast all the monkeys in The Jungle Book with the voices of black people? Eh? That is ridiculous. And there are probably people here who object to Pocahontas's supremacist subjugation being presented as a heart-warming love story. Pathetic! You're all just letting silly things like thoughts and principles get in the way of a simple bit of good, racis harmless fun.

I personally loved this trailer and wish I had as much rhythm as the people depicted in it.

CHALLENGE:
For the musically inclined among you: a love song with a rape whistle solo. First prize is a bag of Cheetos Twisted Puffs, a case of Mike's Hard Lemonade and a 12-pack of Durex condoms.

I suppose you're going to say that it was racist of Disney to cast all the monkeys in The Jungle Book with the voices of black people? Eh? That is ridiculous.

Posted by: Caspar at September 9, 2009 1:45 PM

This one criticism is just a little ridiculous since "King Louie" was voice by Louis Prima who is, you know, white.

Yes, but Prima was also a dark Italian and dark Italians have been slurred as "the niggers of Europe." It's all a conspiracy! See, you blind to the facts. Open your eyes before it's too late.

OK I got the numbers mixed up there. But you get the idea.

There are worse movies out there to blast into pieces. I don't think we should hang Disney for this.

Posted by: figgy at September 9, 2009 2:00 PM

Wow, when's your next Klan meeting?

Anyone else think the Prince in this movie looks white?

I got nothing agains a BAP (Black American Princess). What I'm against is the old fashioned song and dance numbers that look right out of a Shirley Temple movie.

I have a feeling that Disney stepped into "damned if you do and damned if you don't" territory. I think that no matter what end product Disney produced people would have called it racist simply because characters were/are black. I think Disney took a calculated risk to try and please most of the Disney fan base.

Oh, totally. Already I've heard people saying it's totally racist AND totally whitewashed.

As for this movie, I don't expect it to be good just because it's difficult to make a modern princess movie, simply because the fairy tales they were based on were classist and misogynistic as well as being ridiculously violent and just plain disturbing. Disney's been trying to clean up Grimm and ilk for years with varying degrees of success, but it's getting to a point where it's just not going to end up well, no matter what they do.

My biggest complaint with the trailer for this movie is that they took a very white fairy tale and just kinda crammed black people into it, with all the resulting stereotypes (remember kids, all black people do voodoo!). I heard that the "princess" was initially supposed to be a servant girl, but that threw focus groups into a tizzy, so they altered it slightly (she's still not technically a princess, from what I remember of the synopsis, she's just borrowing a friend's dress and tiara for the ball and that's why the kiss fails or whatever).

Anyway, I do think Disney was fucked from the beginning for deciding to do black characters at all, because it's always going to be too much for one group and not enough for another. Me, I'm more irked that black culture and ethnic background is just ignored in favor of crowbarring blacks into a very white story framework. Disney seems to be saying that black people didn't have stories before white people came along to teach them theirs, or at least no stories worth telling, and that's a more frightening prospect to me (the white girl, admittedly). Granted, the message will go right over little black kids' heads, most probably, because I doubt a little black girl will watch the movie and think "I should be more white! My cultural heritage means nothing!" but as someone who loves folklore without color lines attached, it makes me sad to see such a rich opportunity passed up.

African mythology and folklore has lots of amazing stories, both straight-up pre-Christian ones and more mixed post-slavery West Indies/American south ones. Why in the flying fuck do you need to take a really shitty Brothers Grimm story (because the original story IS total ass, trust me on this one) about an anglo-saxon princess when you could be tapping SO MUCH BETTER STORIES in black culture, both in and outside of America? Mulan fucking rocked, even with the introduction of the annoying but marketable dragon character, and they didn't feel the need to crowbar asians into Little Red Riding Hood instead, so CLEARLY IT'S A FORMULA THAT CAN WORK.

Oh, and the other reason I'm sad about this is that it'll probably tank, for the "no-win territory" reasons stated above, and I really miss 2D Disney animation, goddamn it, and once this movie tanks they'll never do it again.

It's called setting something in its specific historical context. Gone With the Wind is a story set in the old south before, during and after the Civil War. So of course they have to portray the racism, sexism, etc. It would be wrong to make a movie like GWTW and NOT address these issues. Of course that doesn't mean that by watching the movie we condone racism or gender inequality. It means we can pass judgment on the times and on the characters and hopefully learn a lesson from the evil doings of the day.

But I do agree with your assessment of the Disney movie. Disney sucks rocks and so does the trailer.

So, if Disney had made a movie where Black characters sounded like White characters, they would have been called racist. If they had made a movie where the Black characters sounded like 'fiddy cent', they would have been called racist. Instead they seem to have made a movie based on what some Blacks used to sound like. So they will be called racist.

And yes there are ways of speaking that sound Black (or White, or Hispanic, or Slavic, etc). That's not racist, just a fact.

So it's ok to say I think this film looks like it is going to wind up being incredibly racist by accident or design? Because I'm waiting for someone to scream out "feets don't fail me now" and run as fast as they can away from the first sign of trouble. This looks about as sensitive as a Mantan Moreland picture and perhaps slightly less offensive than your average Little Rascals cartoon featuring a black actor at a stove.

*knew. Food coma's kicking my ass.

just curious- how many of you bitching about this trailer are african american?

Ummm how could you do a black princess without making it racist?
I don't know, they could have set the movie in Africa, with tribes, made it kind of like a Romeo and Juliet? Or kept the same basic story idea, although it would have been a bullfrog.
Don't give her a ghetto voice, and make her a fucking princess in New Orleans.

I'm not good at things, so I'm foregoing the attempt at tags: I'm also in a beyond-foul mood, due to the fact that my cousin's best friend was taken in by the undertow, and all attempts to save him were in vain. I have more details, but it would only make you cry. This happened two days before my cousin's birthday, and he got to 'celebrate' turing fifteen by attending his best friend's funeral.

Fuck. Just, ugh. Just, fuck. So, I'm probably peevish and my sleep disorder has me by the throat.

'I don't see anyway Disney could have "won"t this one.'
-I have no problem with Disney not winning.

'It's called setting something in its specific historical context.'
-True. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating--the highly idealized and romanticized eating. If I made a movie that ostensibly said, 'Remember the Holocaust? That was AWESOME', someone would be fully justified in stabbing me in the jugular. The subject treatment here absolutely re-inscribes and re-affirms the disgusting archetype of the Happy Worker with the watermelon grin. The notion of the childlike, mischievious slacker whose vivicious DNA needs to be taken in hand by a benevolent owner is in full effect. I actually share a birthday with with David O. Selzick and John Wilkes Booth, so who wants to retch with me? Selznick didn't write the book, but he chose to make the movie, so I choose to be pissy.

'Why does she have to sound like NeNe from the Real Housewives of Atlanta? Where is she the princess of? South Central?'

-I don't know what that is, or who that is. I am woefully out of touch, can someone help me out?

'Oh wait, we don't care about Arabs.'
-If I remember correctly (and I always do), there was a lot of opposition because of the employment of those stereotypes. Lest we forget the original words of 'Arabian Nights', which were changed in response to the protest. Winner gets bragging rights for top oppression.

'The musical score sounds like what old white people think black people sing like. It makes me very uncomfortable.'

-If this weren't a regular process, how would any of them know what 'music' sounds like? Caustic Zing! Take this from someone who has been studying and increasingly making a living off of classical piano music for many a moon now. Music is for (inter)mingling, sharing, communicating, influencing, um, pruning, absolutely. I don't compartmentalize or grant authority or permission to play. I'm disinclined towards setting whatever criteria and for whom (unlike a certain self-appointed elder statesman and olympic-level dickslap Wynton Marsalis) music should be taken.

But what I don't cotton to (Zip!) are the hagiographies bestowed upon these Amos 'n' Appropriation-Jockeys. Yes, yes, the tide is turning. Yes, yes, no one owns the major scale. Share, and share alike. Yes, yes, everything is derivative--it has to be. Movement is reliant on stasis. Collaboration? Yes! Plagiarism? Nein.

'So I think people just need to chill. Kids are smarter than you think. And this just looks like a cute, funny movie. It's not meant to change the world.'
-I used to think that, but I'm inclined to believe that kids are, in fact, dumb as ass. I mean, look at the shit-brains adults they become.

'Granted, the message will go right over little black kids' heads...'
-No, it won't, they're just internalizing it without understanding the nature of this process.

'...most probably, because I doubt a little black girl will watch the movie and think "I should be more white! My cultural heritage means nothing!"'
-That's exactly what she's thinking, though not explicitly. That isn't to say that a sense of self should be derived from something 'other', or that she is too weak, vain or dumb to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Without constant prophylactic vigilance devoted to the contrary, that self-loathing often becomes so deeply ingrained--and so seamlessly-- it can easily become part of her passively absored ideologies.

'And yes there are ways of speaking that sound Black (or White, or Hispanic, or Slavic, etc). That's not racist, just a fact.'
-We ARE talking about geography and accent, right?

'but it's getting to a point where it's just not going to end up well, no matter what they do.'
-Are we talking about my research, job interviews, or my shockingly prematurely-aborted single foray into the land of the courting? (Men: you know you're almost as crazy as I am, right?)

'Was she Asian? Nope. White girl with scotch tape pulling back her eyes.'
-Miley, come home!

'just curious- how many of you bitching about this trailer are african american?'
-None. Your punctuation precludes it.

Here's my question, where is the life-affirming story about the everyday actuary...who is also a vampire? Princesses are so last revolution.

Who loves ya, Porgy?

That's very kind, replica. Thank-you!

It's a big, ambivalent sea and I don't have the tools to navigate it. If I go the cinema, it's usually alone (though I rarely bother), but I'm thinking I'll make the excursion and try to force my friend to go, too. I don't know how, I don't have anything he wants, but a deal must be struck nonetheless. Does anyone have any spare medical waste around?

I was aiming for aggressive-aggressive.

And by that I mean, the damn PRINCESS is black and it's about damned time.

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The new A Team movie is going to be off the chain. I liked the old tv show! B.A. Baracas is the man!

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