(no subject)
Okay, so I have a feeling this post may end up in a lot of wank, but here goes any way:
Coming this winter Disney is releasing their new 2-D animated feature The Princess and the Frog. This will be their first 2-D feature movie since (the really quite horrible) Home on the Range in 2004. The thing that sets this movie apart from the rest is that the Princess in this story is black. And that's a first for Disney. They've had plenty of other races as princesses or heroines, (Jasmine, who is Middle-Eastern, Mulan who is Chinese, Pocahontas who is Native) but they've as yet had any one of African decent. At first every one was all "OMG! A BLACK PRINCESS HOW GROUND BREAKING!" And then the wank started. First, the princess name was revealed. Which was Maddy. And every one promptly freaked the fuck out. Apparently, "Maddy" sounds too much like "Mammy", and is considered to be a "slave name". So they changed it to Tiana. And then Disney came out with the Prince`s design. And it turns out that the prince in not black. And here is where it gets interesting.
There are certain people that are mad that the prince is not black. And I find that quite strange. Fifty - even twenty five years ago people would have been complaining about the fact that the featured couple is of mixed race. And now they`re complaining that they`re not of mixed race. It`s a very interesting reversal I think. Perhaps it`s the fact that I live in Canada, or the fact that racism is just some thing I don`t under stand, but I think that all of this controversies tend to be more of a knee jerk reaction than any thing else. It`s the same way Lawrence Hill`s book "The Book of Negroes" has been re-named "Some One Knows my Name" for the American audiences. (Mind, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher`s" Stone was renamed to be "The Sorcerer`s Stone" because American`s feared their children wouldn`t know what a philosopher was, and therefore wouldn`t want to read it.)
I think it may all come down to where I grew up and how I was raised. Or some thing. I dunno. Race is just not some thing that I ever really take into account. I just think that people take things a bit to seriously. Or maybe I don`t take things seriously enough.
What do you guys think about all this?
Coming this winter Disney is releasing their new 2-D animated feature The Princess and the Frog. This will be their first 2-D feature movie since (the really quite horrible) Home on the Range in 2004. The thing that sets this movie apart from the rest is that the Princess in this story is black. And that's a first for Disney. They've had plenty of other races as princesses or heroines, (Jasmine, who is Middle-Eastern, Mulan who is Chinese, Pocahontas who is Native) but they've as yet had any one of African decent. At first every one was all "OMG! A BLACK PRINCESS HOW GROUND BREAKING!" And then the wank started. First, the princess name was revealed. Which was Maddy. And every one promptly freaked the fuck out. Apparently, "Maddy" sounds too much like "Mammy", and is considered to be a "slave name". So they changed it to Tiana. And then Disney came out with the Prince`s design. And it turns out that the prince in not black. And here is where it gets interesting.
There are certain people that are mad that the prince is not black. And I find that quite strange. Fifty - even twenty five years ago people would have been complaining about the fact that the featured couple is of mixed race. And now they`re complaining that they`re not of mixed race. It`s a very interesting reversal I think. Perhaps it`s the fact that I live in Canada, or the fact that racism is just some thing I don`t under stand, but I think that all of this controversies tend to be more of a knee jerk reaction than any thing else. It`s the same way Lawrence Hill`s book "The Book of Negroes" has been re-named "Some One Knows my Name" for the American audiences. (Mind, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher`s" Stone was renamed to be "The Sorcerer`s Stone" because American`s feared their children wouldn`t know what a philosopher was, and therefore wouldn`t want to read it.)
I think it may all come down to where I grew up and how I was raised. Or some thing. I dunno. Race is just not some thing that I ever really take into account. I just think that people take things a bit to seriously. Or maybe I don`t take things seriously enough.
What do you guys think about all this?