The princesses are also depicted as the first six: Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine. Pocahontas is also not included even though she is a princess in her own right (daughter of the chief). So even if she’s never included in the pictures of the six, it’s simply because she did not make the cut off of the first six. And yes, the first five are white, but when most of them were made it was for WASP America, which was the super majority of the country at the time.

I found the original trailer, I believe.

Think of how many girls are out there who have waited for so long to have a princess who looks like them, in some way.

- The hot sauce thing: I’ve never heard of liking hot sauce as being a black stereotype. Spicy sauces and peppers are integral to New Orleans cuisine, and the idea is that Tiana is a New Orleans girl through-and-through… which means enjoying the spicy food, and using spices heavily to augment her cooking.

- The voodoo thing: I already said this above somewhere, but I’ll say it again – the film addresses both the dark side and the light side of Voodoo, both of which exist, as in any magic/k based religion. It’s a lot like Buffy – in which witches were presented as being capable of good and capable of bad.

- The toothless firefly is a representation of a Cajun stereotype. What I loved about this is that the Cajun stereotype is presented (probably because people would not recognize a “subtle” Cajun, unfortunately) not as a backwoods hick, but as a strong, smart, resourceful character who fights off some serious bad guys on his own and is an extremely helpful guide – who just so happens to be missing teeth.

- This film appears to take place in the forties-ish – when racism was still extremely prevalent in society – and the racism is actually *really well* addressed. ***SPOILERISH*** Tiana tries to buy some property, but is turned down because a woman “of her background” should, essentially, remember her place. She gets upset at this and later those racist characters get a mild comeuppance (mild because it’s Disney, so, you know.). ***SPOILERISH OVER***

- The parental race/gender roles: When I watched the movie, both parents seemed equally nurturing and inspirational, but I suspect that they get those labels because the mother is alive throughout the whole film – so she remains a nurturing force, while the father serves as an inspiring memory. I don’t see anything particularly sexist or racist about this

- “It’s not in yo’ cards”: the “yo’” is addressing a Louisiana (New Orleans? Is it a particular accent in that area?) accent. All of the characters, with the exception of the prince and the valet, have the accent, regardless of race.

- The big butt: I was pretty weirded out by that scene when I initially saw it in trailers, too, but in context it makes sense and isn’t racist at all. ***SPOILER*** The valet acquires a spell that transforms him into the prince. The spell starts to wear off, and the valet (who has a substantial rear end) starts to make a reappearance – starting first with an ear, and then with the butt. It’s pretty much just a comical “Look, his butt suddenly got really big!” shot. ***SPOILER OVER***

- The “initially a maid” thing is not too dissimilar to the being a waitress thing – she could still be seen as stuck in a lower-class job, serving white people (also black people, but if we’re focusing on the racist part). I think that the point is, she’s starting from a super-downtrodden position, and trying to achieve a lofty dream. One could easily say that portraying a black person in a lower class position is racist – but it’s integral to the typical Disney story, of rising from the lowest possible point a la Aladdin to the highest possible point.

- “Black people playing jazz and dancing”: the Jazz and dancing is, again, being portrayed as an integral part of New Orleans culture, not an integral part of being a black person. There are a lot of black characters, because (a)the main character is black and she has both black and white friends and family; and (b) there is a high concentration of black people in New Orleans – to paint New Orleans as being largely white would be pretty insensitive and would get a ton of criticism from the public.