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Lester Critical Summary PDF

Neal A. Lester examines Disney's first African American princess, Tiana, from the film The Princess and the Frog. Lester argues that Disney has historically privileged whiteness and that Tiana's portrayal was criticized for not being authentically African American enough. While Tiana pursues her dream of owning a restaurant, critics argue other princesses do not have to work. Lester also questions Disney's choice to make Tiana's prince of an unidentifiable ethnicity, arguing it upholds white male authority. However, the author notes they enjoyed Lester's comparison of Tiana to Michelle Obama as symbols of African American beauty and accomplishment.

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127 views2 pages

Lester Critical Summary PDF

Neal A. Lester examines Disney's first African American princess, Tiana, from the film The Princess and the Frog. Lester argues that Disney has historically privileged whiteness and that Tiana's portrayal was criticized for not being authentically African American enough. While Tiana pursues her dream of owning a restaurant, critics argue other princesses do not have to work. Lester also questions Disney's choice to make Tiana's prince of an unidentifiable ethnicity, arguing it upholds white male authority. However, the author notes they enjoyed Lester's comparison of Tiana to Michelle Obama as symbols of African American beauty and accomplishment.

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Dippel 1

Sydney Dippel
Professor Kendra Parker
English 113-03 The Wonderful World of Disney?
9 March 2015
Lester Critical Summary
In Disneys The Princess and the Frog: The Pride, the Pressure, and the Politics of
Being a First, Neal A. Lester examines the many facets of the main character, Tiana, of
Disneys The Princess and the Frog, as well as the cultural significances she has in todays
society. Because Tiana is the first African-American princess to grace the big screen in an
animated Disney film, Lester argues that Disney has used its power as a leading cultural
determinant to reinforce the privileging of patriarchy and whiteness. She discusses how mostly
all of the students in her classes for children imagine Cinderella as the blond-haired, blue-eyed
girl who is promoted by Disney. The prevalence of media in todays society has engrained these
images into our brains and a shift in the concept of a Disney princess may cause chaos for
some people. Lester highlights that when The Princess and the Frog came out in the fall of 2009,
it quickly became a highly-debated issue on the Internet and in the media. Many people,
especially African Americans, awaited the unveiling of Princess Tiana, wanting to see how
Disney would tackle the issue of race. Many people criticized how Tiana pursues a career in the
service industry because she wants to fulfill the dream of her father and open her own restaurant.
The article points out that all other princesses just get to live happily ever after in their castle,
without getting a job or having to support themselves. Others criticized how her skin was not
dark enough, or her hair was not congruent with the typical style worn by African-American
women, or her figure was too slender to mirror an average African-American women. Lester
responds by explaining that the character of Tiana in the movie, very similarly mirrors the actress
who voices her, who is an African-American actress named Anika Noni Rose. He argues that
Disney is trying to walk the fine line between being consistent with racial /ethnic authenticity
and falling into racial stereotypes. Lester points out that both Tiana and her parents speak
standard English, which is inconsistent with the typical stereotype of African-American people.
However, Lester also argues that Disney may have found a scapegoat so they did not have to
truly portray African American women: the fact that Tiana spends 75% of the movie as a frog.
Because she is in the form of a frog for the majority of the movie, Lester claims that Disney was
able to ignore racial issues. Other critics say Disney missed an opportunity to create a strong
African-American couple by Tiana marrying a man from an unidentifiable ethnicity, Prince
Naveen. By making his gender unknown, Disney is upholding the standard of white male
authority and refusing to give this authority to African-American men. Lester also questions this
choice because the movie is set in 1920s New Orleans, where Jim Crowe laws were in effect and
an interracial couple would not be highly accepted in public spaces. One consistent argument
that Lester makes throughout the piece is his comparison of Tiana to Michelle Obama. He claims
that Michelle Obama is a real-life African American princess who married into her status. Tiana
and Michelle Obama share the qualities of substantive beauty, including brains, morals, social
awareness, and lasting accomplishment.
This piece was very provocative for me because I just recently watched the movie for the
first time and I did not think the racism was particularly obvious. Of course, if you look hard
enough, you can find racism is just about any piece of media in todays society. I think the piece
by Lester makes overly dramatic claims, which alter the readers perspective about what actually
happened in the movie. He claims that Tianas goal is to work in the service industry, which is

Dippel 2

true, but the negative connotation this statement comes with is misleading. Tiana wants to run
her own restaurant, not work under someone else, and she wants this to fulfill a dream she shared
with her father. She does not pursue this goal to uphold the tradition of the women in her family.
I did relate to Lesters parallel between the first African-American Disney princess and the first
African-American First Lady and First Family. Her comparison of the values both of these
women share and the things they represent as symbols of African-American beauty and power
were spot on in my opinion. I think that Disney did a good job tackling the issue of race in a
princess movie, although it did take them a while. No matter what way they had portrayed Tiana,
her goals, her family, or her story, people would have been up in arms about it. So, I think
avoiding hurtful stereotypes and empowering people of all races would be the best outcome for a
first in the Disney universe.
Work Cited
Lester, Neal A. Disneys The Princess and the Frog: The Pride, the Pressure, and the Politics of
Being a First. Journal of American Culture. 33.4 (Dec 2010): 294-308. Print.

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