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January 12, 2010Disney Croaks with Newest Princess Film
The voodoo and black magic in The Princess and the Frog made for a disturbing movie-viewing experience.
When CT editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey e-mailed Her.meneutics bloggers to ask if anyone would be interested in reviewing The Princess and the Frog, Disney's newest princess film and the first to feature an African American lead, I wrote back right away with a "yes!" I don't see many movies in the theater (or anywhere else, for that matter), but I really wanted to see this one, about Tiana, a girl growing up in the French Quarter of New Orleans who turns into a frog upon kissing Prince Naveen, also a frog.
I started my movie-going planning the way I always do, by asking my husband if he wanted to see the movie with me, or stay home to watch our three small children. "I think this looks more like a girl movie," my husband said, volunteering for parenting duty. So I sent out a few e-mails to see if anyone else wanted to go, and before I knew it, my mom, my aunt, my godmother and her daughter, and four friends were all trying to coordinate their after-Christmas schedules so we could go. We didn't all end up being free at the same time, but it was nevertheless a good-size group of women that poured out of their cars in the freezing rain and convened in the theater.
Laden with concessions, we tromped into the theater to find seats. As the lights fell and the movie began, I reflected on how much of my movie-going experience has nothing to do with the movie itself. I go to the movies to fellowship, swap Christmas stories, gasp at the snack prices, and drink from the short straw on a shared soda.
From the first minute of the film, I was charmed. I knew this New Orleans fairytale was going to be Disney's so-called "triumphant" return to hand-drawn animation, and the result did not disappoint. As Tiana, the heroine, works double shifts to save enough money to fulfill her late father's dream of opening a restaurant, the images were beautiful, the story engaging, and the frilly princess dresses in the opening scenes reminiscent of Cinderella. The vocal talent of Elizabeth M. Dampier, who plays the young Tiana, was so adorable that I found myself momentarily disappointed when the movie fast-forwarded and Tiana, then voiced by Anika Noni Rose, was all grown up — and ready to get tangled up with a playboy of a prince, and wind up turning into a frog.
Thrilled to finally see an African American playing the lead in a Disney princess film, I was happily sipping my shared soda and following Tiana's ambitions to open her restaurant, when the movie suddenly took a darker turn. The film's villain, Dr. Facilier, is a voodoo practitioner called the Shadowman, who has friends, as he says, "on the other side." As empty-eyed voodoo masks came to life and sang about that other side, whispers started popping up in my row at the speed of buttered popcorn. By the time the movie showed a slithering horde of demons crawling through a Mardi Gras parade, almost Frank Peretti–style, I could barely keep my comments to a whisper. As the Shadowman was eventually dragged off to the "other side," I couldn't turn my head fast enough to keep up with all the commentary in my row.
"Wow," I said when the movie was over. "That was just — wow. I don't even know where to start."
We talked about the movie through the closing credits, on the way to the women's room, and out to our cars. Those of us who had carpooled talked about the movie all the way home, and when I got home I had two movie-related e-mails in my inbox, with more to come. And the next Sunday in church we picked up right where we left off.
I'm disappointed in Disney's first African American princess movie. I wanted it to be good; I wanted it to be great. But the voodoo elements and the trafficking in spiritually dark themes crossed this film right off my list (as they did the lists of many other evangelicals, as Mark Pinsky noted in The Wall Street Journal last week). The good that I took away from this movie was nothing about the film itself, but rather, the community in which I viewed it. Surrounded by thoughtful, intelligent women who were willing and eager to discuss all the film's various aspects, I couldn't help thinking that in some ways, we were a real-life (though smaller) version of the CT women's blog — where two or more can gather to read, to discuss, and to prayerfully try and make sense of the world in which we live.
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Comments
Come on! Voodoo is a legit that many Haitians participate in! If you can look past their skin color, why can't you look part their religion! NOT everyone is christian, and as a christian myself I am truly offended at your lack of tolerance and respect for others. If you didn't like the film because of a bad plotline or the characters sucked, fine, that's a good reason. But it's stupid to hate it because it portrays another religion then it's like 1940s bigtory all over again.
Please get over yourself, you need to learn how to have fun.
Posted By: True christian | January 12, 2010 12:19 PM
I'm sure there was a lot to talk about (also, I am shocked that you were surprised by the appearance of voodoo-- not so shocked that you found it intolerable), but for the sake of other theater-goers, let me ask whether you considered having your conversation AFTER you left the theater. It's fine to disagree...but come on, save it for when you're out of the theater. It's not your living room, and other people have paid money to be there and see the movie...not to listen to you talk.
Posted By: Megan | January 12, 2010 1:13 PM
The stuff in this movie is all hollywood, its not even representative of real voodoo. If you have a problem with magic or witches, then you would also have a problem with Cinderella and the Little Mermaid. Ursula obviously uses some pretty evil dark magic in that movie. I thought this film was GREAT!
Posted By: Zach | January 12, 2010 2:21 PM
If you were previewing the movie as to appropriateness for children to view, I believe your evaluation is correct. The inclusion of voodoo IS an ISSUE for Christ followers, in fact, we should not consider magic, witches or voodoo a part of our individual or family entertainment because that is a waste of time. Our lives are to be lived as Christ modeled. He cared about sinners, but didn't participate in their sins.
Posted By: Rosemary | January 12, 2010 4:17 PM
I am shocked that professing Christians defend something that could be dangerous to innocent children who might attended with their parents. The Bible clearly speaks to this issue both in the O.T. and N.T. Why have we as Christians become so P.C..
Posted By: Wendall | January 12, 2010 4:23 PM
Every Disney movie has a villan. And every princess movie has some sort of magic or evil involved. So, The Princess and the Frog is no exception. It's a "different" kind of Disney magic. I expected to see some sort of magic when I went to see the movie.
What I didn't expect was how evil and demonic it was. The intensity of the magic was beyond what the movie required. For being a movie about a "Princess" and the need to appeal to little girls who want to be a Princess... I think the movie failed. Disney could have easily toned down the voodoo and made the movie ten times more appealing. The storyline gets lost in the voodoo.
Storyline was pretty good.
Characters were great.
Voices and Animation were great.
Magic was too intense.
Disney was so close with this one.
Posted By: Tomara | January 12, 2010 5:01 PM
I have not been to this movie; but from what I've heard from people who have; it is not one I want to see nor let my child watch. I believe that we are not to open our lives up to magic. This movie set in a real identifiable location makes it even more damaging to our children.
Posted By: Kenny | January 12, 2010 6:12 PM
Honestly I'm not sure what your objections to the movie were. It sounds like it's a dud to you because it had voodoo in it? Do you cross off the other disney films (like little mermaid) because of sorcery in them? What about voodoo makes you cross it off?
Voodoo in some ways is better to cross off because it actually is practiced. I'm just not sure what your saying in this post.
Posted By: Andrew Vogel | January 12, 2010 6:51 PM
My husband and I were a bit shocked by the intensity of the voodoo scenes, as well. I'm an adult and I was a little bit frightened. My 3-year-old didn't really seem scared at all. As a previous poster said, there is evil in almost every Disney animated movie, some of it pretty intense and magic-related (think Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar, etc). Most of them also have elements of good magic. I don't think that the voodoo representation in The Princess and the Frog was inappropriate based on precedent. However, I would caution parents, as with any movie, to have some knowledge of the movie going into it. I should have. Though I don't think it would have changed our decision to see it, we would have been better prepared.
Posted By: Robyn | January 13, 2010 11:02 AM
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Snow White. And you were surprised by the use of magic in a Disney movie? Were you living in a cave during the 20th century? The music for Princess and the Frog was great. The animation was excellent. Not the greatest Disney movie ever, but certainly in the top tier.
Posted By: TM | January 13, 2010 2:33 PM
I personally had no problems with the Voodoo given Disney propensity to utilize magic. Disney couldn't utilize a witch or warlock because they weren't in the context to use Wicca, they were in the context to use Voodoo. The reality is all of the witches that we so readily accept as acceptable evil characters are the white-European equivalent to Voodoo. There are various similarities in the way the spirit world is engaged and interestingly enough the Christian - mainly Catholic - response to these two sets of beliefs
As Megan already said "If you have a problem with magic or witches, then you [s]hould also have a problem with Cinderella and the Little Mermaid." And I would add Aladdin. What I think made the difference is that this was unfamiliar magic, but close magic. America talk more readily about witchcraft which makes it not as shocking - we have TV shows, including kids shows about it can you imagine having a TV show about Voodoo? And the Magic portrayed in Aladdin is also familiar - we had TV shows about genies also. Voodoo is a partly American magic, but we don't discuss it, thus when it is portrayed it contains more fear due to its unfamiliarity.
Perhaps the magic was a little more intense than what Disney has previously produced, but for whom? I think Children are more used to that intensity and reality. And that is not a bad thing. Truthfully, I would rather the Magic be presented realistically, because whether Wicca or Voodoo, it is real. I would rather have children realize the gravity of Magic as opposed to taking it lightly - Things were intense in the Lion King - including murder - and there wasn't even Magic involved. Would I take a four year old? No. But I wouldn't take a four year old to most Disney movies. Would I debrief with an eight year old? Yes. But I would do so for ANY movie we went to.
I am not making an apology for Magic. Voodoo and Wicca I am a committed Christian. My argument is that the magic was not that different than what we have seen before. I think the argument against the Voodoo in this film is cultural bias and ethnocentric based upon "acceptable Magic" If one has a problem with magic portrayed please let it permeate through all the Disney films.
Posted By: Blackwasp19 | January 13, 2010 10:15 PM
I haven't seen the film, but if it portrayed Vodoo and dark magic as, well, "dark," then perhaps Christians shouldn't be complaining. As a follower of Jesus, I would tend to be more concerned if the movie showed those elements in a positive light. I also think it's silly to object to Vodoo being portrayed in a movie while being fine with other elements of magic in previous Disney movies.
As for being frightened by the Vodoo scenes, I had to be taken out of the theatre when seeing both "Snow White" and "Fantasia" as a small child.
Posted By: Julie | January 14, 2010 2:44 PM
My rookie parent mistake was taking our nearly-four-year-old to this without reading anything about it. We were horrified by the scary parts and felt so bad for taking her, but she doesn't seem too worse for the wear. ("I didn't like it when the mask ate that mean man" was really about the most we got out of her.) I totally LOVED the New Orleans setting, but of course as soon as I realized it was set there, I knew the bad guy would be using Voodoo.
I was thankful that for the most part that the BAD guy was the one who makes deals with malevolent spiritual forces. The old woman Voodoo practitioner basically tells them to be themselves and follow their hearts (pretty rotten advice if it's lacking the concept of God's gifting and calling, but it could be worse). I mean, they could have made a priest the bad guy and saved the people with Voodoo, right?
But overall I was actually kind of encouraged. I haven't had many charismatic influences in my life, so it still feels strange to me to say it . . . but there ARE spiritual forces for evil at work in our world. Maybe it's okay to consider that every once in a while.
I remember reading in the Global Dictionary of Theology about some of the cultural baggage that various people of the world carry into Christian faith. It's something everywhere (think shamanism in Africa), but in the west it's magic. Classic fairy tales and Disney remakes of them are the best example, and Christians in the west have to be careful not to treat God like the "best magician." So it seems to me that we have our work cut out for us with or without The Princess and the Frog.
Posted By: Emily | January 14, 2010 8:18 PM
Disney films have always promoted evil concepts.
Posted By: bd60 | November 12, 2010 7:15 AM
I find that readers respond very well to posts that show your own weaknesses, failings and the gaps in your own knowledge rather than those posts where you come across as knowing everything there is to know on a topic. People are attracted to humility and are more likely to respond to it than a post written in a tone of someone who might harshly respond to their comments.
Posted By: Lady | March 13, 2011 2:16 PM
THe movie was set in New Orleans. The fact that there were vodou elements surprise you? Goes to show how close minded you are. Before making offensive statements, implying that African traditions are evil- you should educate yourself.
Posted By: Zaya | January 29, 2012 1:34 PM