Princess Tara

Christmas 2009

The family settled into the seats of the local movie theater to watch Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. After the pre-previews, and previews, the moment I had been waiting for since I was a little girl had finally arrived. I know that Tara did not understand why I was so excited to see a cartoon. We looked at the website last Christmas. I started telling her about Princess Tiana the moment I learned her name.

Princess Tiana is Disney’s first African-American princess on film (Aida has yet to be made into a film). I love watching Disney movies. I can sing every word to every song in The Little Mermaid. I imagine most little girls had the princess in a ball gown fantasy.

When I was growing up, I did not see positive images of African-Americans, especially African-American women. In fairness to my mom and dad, there were not many images available. I remember watching the first episode of The Cosby Show. I try to show my daughter positive images of people who look like her. Tara is blessed. She has many intelligent, beautiful, accomplished role-models. I searched Amazon for books that had characters who reflected her image. Today, kids have a plethora of multicultural books and television shows to help encourage a positive self-image.

The Disney Princess line did not have a princess for my daughter. Jasmine was close. Mulan and Pocahontas are not real princesses. I resisted buying her items from their Princess line. Now with the release of this movie, I can finally watch my daughter pretend to be a princess who actually resembles her.

We all loved the movie. Is it as good as “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast”? No. Is it as bad as “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Hercules”? No. The villain in this movie had a vague agenda. He wanted to dominate New Orleans to gather souls for the shadow people. Princess Tiana was almost upstaged by her best friend and a firefly. Despite the flaws, The Princess and the Frog featured an upright, morale character.

The next day, Tara received the Princess Aurora costume she wanted. She also got a Princess Tiana doll, diary and fake make up kit from relatives and friends. I heard her exclaim, “I look just like Princess Tiana!” She dressed her Tiana doll in a matching cheerleading outfit later that day. 

Rumor is Oprah cried when she heard the news the new Disney princess would be black. I didn’t cry. I just wanted to see Tara’s face as she watched the movie.