Great Character: Tiana (“The Princess and the Frog”)

The Great Character theme for the month: Disney characters. Today: Tiana from the 2009 movie The Princess and the Frog. Here is Jason Cuthbert’s guest post.

In 2009, the Walt Disney company made a rich return to its traditional animation style with the 1913–1926-set motion picture, The Princess and the Frog. Inspiration was absorbed mainly from the Disney classic Lady and the Tramp (1955), as well as Bambi (1942) which was utilized as a reference for the scenes taking place in the bayou. Mixing the hand-drawn animation technique of the past with the digital domain of the present by scanning paper sketches into Adobe Photoshop, The Princess and the Frog merged artistic eras, with further visual enhancements accomplished with computer programs such as Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe After Effects.

But the storytelling elements, based loosely on the 2002 children’s novel The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker, had to be appropriately modified for social and racial sensitivity. When the idea of taking this updated princess tale out of the typical European settings and into an American location, producer and Pixar maven John Lasseter picked his favorite city: New Orleans. But with the famously deadly devastation of Hurricane Katrina still fresh in the hearts and minds of its residents and human beings abroad, there were early criticisms during the development phase of locating an African-American story in New Orleans so soon.

It also didn’t help that early versions of the story featured the female protagonist as a chambermaid with the name Maddy, sounding a little too similar to “Mammy,”a Southern slavery archetype for a plantation housekeeper. Oprah Winfrey was wisely brought onboard as a technical consultant, and Maddy the chambermaid became Tiana the waitress, voiced by Anika Noni Rose, working hard to save her earnings to start her own restaurant.

The Princess and the Frog plot summary from IMDB:

A waitress, desperate to fulfill her dreams as a restaurant owner, is set on a journey to turn a frog prince back into a human being, but she has to face the same problem after she kisses him.

Before we meet the predominately 19-year old Tiana, we are introduced to her 13 years earlier, as a happily optimistic childhood cooking prodigy, with a deep connection to her daddy and their shared love of preparing food. It is instantly heart-warming and refreshing to see a daughter/father relationship as the motivation behind a female heroine’s journey, instead of another stale deadbeat dad stereotype. Prior to his early, unfortunate World War I death, Tiana’s father James (voiced by Terrence Howard) not only sparked her desire to own an eatery to unify people around the universal appeal of a meal, but that a determined work ethic was the answer.

James’ patriarchal teachings remain deeply rooted in Tiana, and follow her throughout her external culinary pursuits, allowing him to live posthumously through her focused efforts.

But it’s Tiana’s emotional voyage that adds an extra layer of love for her father as his lessons on dignified decision-making aid her moral compass as her ethical code faces tests from nefarious voodoo administrator Doctor Facilier.

TIANA: My Daddy never did get what he wanted. But he had what he needed. He had love. He never lost sight o’ what was really important.

The Cinderella story also gets a potent remix from The Princess and the Frog. Tiana is forced to cope with the passing on of her father, similar to Cinderella, but Tiana meets her own Prince Charming, in the form of Prince Naveen (voiced by Bruno Campos), a prestigious playboy who has had his royal allowance canceled.

TIANA: Listen here, mister. This stick in the mud has had to work two jobs her whole life while you’ve been sucking on a silver spoon chasing chambermaids around your — your ivory tower!

With Prince Naveen becoming a slippery-skinned amphibian, Tiana is pulled into his need for transformation back to a handsome human by getting puckered up on the lips. Unfortunately, this magical smooch leads to Tiana having to hop around on hind legs right along with Prince Naveen.

TIANA: There is no way I’m kissing a frog and eating a bug in the same day.

Tiana’s consistent dedication to sharing her gift of cooking by spearheading her own business, honoring her father’s memory, working honestly and putting her needs before her wants becomes infectious. Prince Naveen, initially wanting to marry into money by wedding a rich princess, which he mistakes Tiana for while meeting at a costume party, finds his selfish lack of responsibility challenged when Tiana’s love drives not only her decisions, but soon his own.

TIANA: My dream? My dream wouldn’t be complete… without you in it.

For her courageous nobility and undeterred independence, her expansive role model characterization and her family-first code of honor — Tiana is an exceptionally GREAT CHARACTER in the world of Walt Disney.

Thanks to Jason for sharing this analysis. You may follow him on Twitter: @A2Jason. And congratulations to Jason for getting a greenlight from Seed & Spark for his movie project COLOURING BOOK: The Mixed Race Documentary.