One example: Why do the other princesses, (the white ones) get generic fairy-tale princess land, while Princess and the Frog is SET in a racist time period? Why couldn't Tiana have what the white princesses had? Why would they purposely set it in a racist time period? Would Belle's story have been any different if she were black? No. Would Tiana's be different if she were white? Absolutely.

And other reasons I care not to explain, but I'll leave link here.

^Everything PL said.

Didn't the Feener brothers say something about her background at one point?

Princess and the Frog needed some sort of realistical setting to explain why Tiana was black. I for my part would have been very put out if they had taken a fairy tale of my culture and had made all the characters black for no reason at all. That would be like making the story of Mulan with only white characters, or making Rapunzels long hair brunette with no explanation although she is traditionally despicted as a blond - or making Snow White a red head. It would have been confusing. And while you certainly can disagree with this point, I really want to know why it is racist to set Tiana in a particular time period??? Nobody complains that it's sexist to set Mulan in her time period.
Frankly, I'm really getting tired of this. I though going to this spot I could get away from all those "Disney is evil" accusations. Instead you drag out this theme every other week in a pick. What for? I'm all for a good discussion, but I don't think that anyone will change the mind about the issue. The "offended" will find reasons to stay offended, even if they have to nitpick, because they already made up their mind. And people like me, who don't get what the fuss is about, won't suddenly change their mind either. In an ideal world, we would watch this movie and don't even notice the fact that Tiana happens to be black. And yeah, Disney itself fucked this up by advertising the fact. But it doesn't get better by putting Tiana's skin color in the forefront all the time, instead of appreciating the movie for what it is - if you want to discuss something, why not the plot, or the characters or the music, or the animation? To me that's much more interesting than the fact that the princess happens to be black.

@Swanpride: PL and I frequently make controversial picks because we like the discussion. Both of us are avid Disney fans (we've both WORKED FOR DISNEY before, I've worked there for a full year, and PL works there now,) but we both like being able to inspire discussion and see what people think. *I'm speaking for PL on this one, but I think she'd agree.* If you don't like controversial questions, feel free to ignore them. We don't make them to change anyone's minds.

Disney shows us were all equal.

@phantomrose89 how about another controversial question than always "is Disney racist"? ie I'm the optionion that Louis has more potential to be a good side character with a couple of tweeks than Ray ever had. That Pocahontas doesn't really need a villain, in fact, I think that the villain distracting. That Cinderella as a movie works mostly, because it is so self-aware, and that it's unique between all the DP movie in that regard. That the dubbings of the modern Disney movies are much better than the dubbings of the older ones. There are a whole wealth of questions which could bring out some new, interesting opinions, instead of repeating the same discussion again and again and again.

Only racist people say it's racist.

if Tiana had been a white princess instead of black I doubt this storyline, the lines, and every thing else would have changed at all. And if this movie was racist, why would the black people who worked in this movie even work in it at all?

Why is it necessary to have a realistic setting to explain why Tiana is black? I'm not sure I get what your point is, Swanpride. But eh, we all have different opinions. Anyway, if Disney really wanted to show us we were all equal, Tiana wouldn't have been placed in such a racist time period, as the stereotypical hard working black woman that she is.

I will continue making picks I'd like to make, and PL will too, just as you're welcome to. :) If a question bothers you, don't answer it. And if you have questions you'd like to pose, feel free to do so, it isn't up to us to ask questions that you'll like. You can do that yourself. :)

@phantomrose89 Well, I'm not the one who wrote a big article and started a discussion about the use of the pick section. But that aside, I'm far from trying to forbit you anything, I honestly wanted to know why pl feels the need the rehearse this theme so often, and took the freedom to express my personal annoyance with it.
And no, I won't use the pick section that way, unless I need a pick for an article. The forum is the part of this club which is supposed to be used for discussion Imho. Those were just examples to point out that being controversial doesn't mean that you have to keep bringin up the same theme, there are other themes which can be explored.

I like that they made another interracial couple!

princesslullaby Cinderella's story would've been the same if she was black.

I've never picked up on anything racist while watching it. But then I haven't read the book they adapted the story from to see the changes they made.

Other then the fact that Mr. Fenner says something about Tiana's "background" and all the African American characters seem to live in the poor part of New Orleans, I don't think the movie was racist in any other way.

To me everyone seems to treat each other the same way in the film.

SwanPride, I can make questions if I want, you can complain if you want. I never made picks about something being racist before, this is the first. I think you're going overboard accusing me of saying Disney is evil. I make a lot- a lot of positive picks too. Surely you notice I've made over 50% of the picks on this spot? And most of them are positive. About the article- I was complaining about countdowns, not picks. But this is not a useless or un-disney princess related pick. I don't cater my picks to you.
I doubt anyone would be confused if Snow White was made a redhead- how about Ariel, when mermaids are traditionally blonde? Did you see anyone stomping out of the theater in an outrage and totally confused? What about Belle- in the original story, she has stepsisters. Disney takes liberties in ALL their fairytales, surely it would be less of a liberty to take to change the race of a character and keep the story the same, then to keep the character's race and change the story, i.e, every other princess movie that's been made.

You don't think it's inherently racist that it needs explaining why Tiana is black?

@Kataralover- I assume you mean "wouldn't". But yes, it would, because Cinderella's story is in generic fairy tale land with no set time period- you can give a rough estimate, but usual historic laws don't apply to the white princess films.

@BB210- Because they'll take what they can get.

The little mermaid isn't traditionally blond. She got drawn in a lot of different ways over the years, with every haircolour possible. And Ariel wasn't the first redheaded version by far. If you followed the link I left in my last adaption analysis, you would have seen an older version of "The little Mermaid" which is very well known in my country and in which the actress is a redhead, too.
And Snow White isn't just called this way just for fun - she is supposed to be "white as snow, red as blood and black as ebony" (skin, lips, hair), so making her blond would destroy one of the basic facts of this story.
And no, I don't think that it's racist to expect some kind of motivation for changing a source text. Pocahontas was made older to make the love story possible. But if they hadn't added the love story, making Pocahontas older would have made no sense to me.
BTW. while all the Fairy tales with "white" Princesses play in a fairy tale land, most of them nevertheless refer to a very specific cultural context. In Cinderella it IS important that Cinderella is in fact not a kitchen maid but a daughter of the family. If she weren't originally of noble birth, Charming wouldn't be able to marry her. The same cultural context gets referenced in Sleeping Beauty, when the king says that Phillip would loose his throne if he marries a peasant girl. Belle's story definitly plays in france - putting a black character into this context, a context you might understand better if you actually grew up in the culture those fairy tales originally came from, would make no sense at all. Just like it wouldn't make sense if Jasmine were blond and Aladdin a redhead. I would bet, if Disney had done that, there would a loud outcry (in fact, people ARE discussing if their skin colour might be too light). But naturally it's totally okay to do it the other way around.
You know, there is one group which argues that PotF is racist because they didn't show the racism during that time realistically. Another group argues that it's racist because there are hints in the movie at all. And if they had set it in fairy tale land, I'm sure somebody would have find another reason to call this movie racist, sucking all the fun out of it with their complains.

You clearly have no understanding of white privilege and racism or anything I said earlier, so I will not continue to argue.

still, everything would most likely have been exactly the same if Tiana had been white.

^LOL ahahahah

...I think I missed the joke...

No I don't see anything racist about this movie.

Y'all know damn well if Tiana had a generic setting like some of the white princesses, they'd be accused of white-washing or erasing history or being inaccurate. Once Disney decided they wanted a black princess, people were gonna be pissed off no matter what.