The Princess and the Frog in a “post-racial” era

In a blog by Wilson Noah Mazile, he analyzes The Princess and the Frog, and how the film ignores the racial tensions and realities that occurred during the time period the film was set, especially in a city like New Orleans.  However, he sees the positive aspects of this, as it teaches young children that people of all cultures and socio-economic backgrounds can live together in harmony.  It also teaches children that interracial marriages are no different than marriage between two people of the same race, as Tiana is black and Naveen is presumably Caucasian.  Mazile realizes that we have not yet reached a “post-racial” period, but we are moving in the right direction.  This being said, he also realizes that African Americans should learn their history, so there are some issues with the way this time period was depicted in the film.

I think the idea of depicting a “post-racial” society is interesting.  Many films and television shows still portray characters that are divided by race, and for a long time there were very few interracial couples.  Even though that is starting to change, there is still a long way to go.  Children will apply what they see on television to their life, and messages of acceptance and harmony are much better ones to be telling than those of racism and hatred, which is why I can see how Mazile approves of this film.  However, I believe that Disney decided not to address race in this film to avoid controversy, and did not necessarily decide to depict a post-racial society in order to send a positive message to children. 

The link to his blog is below:

http://sites.psu.edu/wilsonmazile/2015/03/27/civil-issue-blog-princess-and-the-frog/