I am a little confused over this hubbub regarding the newest Disney princess, Tiana. I know that there's a lot of talk because she's the first princess who's African-American but it's by no means a racial jump for them. I believe the first non-white princess what Jasmine. She was Middle-Eastern and no one blinked an eye. Also included in the franchise is Mulan, who was Chinese. In fact, Disney counts Pocahontas amongst their princess line. She's Native American and that didn't cause any stir. And then there's Ariel from The Little Mermaid. She's not even human!
The fact of the matter is that Disney has already created and marketed an African princess: Nala. Sure, she's a lion but Ariel is an Atlantean and at least lions are real. We also come across the oft ignored Giselle from Enchanted. While she is white (with skin like fresh milk) she's live action so that's got to cross some sort of racial boundary.
So really where's the amazing twist of having an African-American princess? Disney has done races before. Yes, they have one more token ethnicity but overall the standard is still going to be white. I'm not defending or complaining about that, just stating that nothing new is really happening here.
Personally, I don't really want the ethnic inclusion that so many seem to crave from Disney. Portraying a Jewish-American Princess in a Disney cartoon is guaranteed to be more trouble than it's worth.
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