Growing up I was a definite Disney junkie. I grew up on Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid. All the fairy tales that sprinkle a little girls dreams with magic and hopes of one day becoming the beautiful princess waiting for true love’s kiss. When I was young, it didn’t bother me that none of the princesses resembled me. I thought I was perfectly capable of becoming a princess without pale skin, blue eyes, and long blonde hair. However, as I got older it began to bother me that Disney didn’t see little brown girls as worthy enough to spare an hour and a half and a prince they had lying around the studio. I settled on Pachontas and Princess Jasmine as close enough sisters in color and accepted the fact that I probably would never get my Black princess. In fact, I can still remember a conversation that I had with a girl in the eighth grade. During yearbook, when I expressed my distaste for Disney’s discrimination, she told me that there would never be a Black princess because it would not make enough money. Nobody would pay to go see a movie with a Black princess. Well I hope she is around this holiday season when Disney releases their first ever full length motion picture about a Black princess from Louisiana. I guess that is their peace offering to the hurricane Katrina victims. I am thrilled that they finally decided to make room for our rich history in the Disney vault. Their choice of Louisiana as a backdrop is impressive. From the previews they look to have incorporated all the colorful characters of the deep south with the full sound of New Orleans blues and beautiful shades of the creole people. I’ll be interested to see the response this movie gets and also how the princess is portrayed. Hopefully, she will be the perfect makeup of beauty, grace, wit, and a little bit of soul just like the real Black beauties I know. Even if nobody but me, myself, and I go to see it I’m ecstatic that my future daughters can dream of becoming a princess in color and my future sons can know that little brown boys are more than capable of being Prince charming. The first Black president and the first Black princess all in a years time, a girl could get spoiled with all this activity going on. =)
I couldn't agree with you more. I think that seeing all of this progress might convince some of us to believe that anything is possible ;-) Lovely post.
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