Disney Bends to Outrage, Recolors Disney Princess to Darker Skin Tone
There are two things to disclose about me before I begin this article: Prior to my current job, I worked for a long time at the Walt Disney Company. I also can’t stand excessive political correctness and identity politics.
Political correctness and identity politics once again reared their ugly head, only this time it wasn’t something even remotely important they were targeting. It had nothing to do with gender-based pay differences. It didn’t involve the phrase “Merry Christmas.” And it certainly had nothing to do with anything that will mean anything to a sensible adult.
Nope. This time the outraged far left set its sights on a Disney princess. Excuse me. This time the outraged far left set its sights on a Disney princess’ cameo in the upcoming film “Ralph Breaks the Internet.”
Princess Tiana from Disney’s 2009 film “The Princess and the Frog” became the epicenter of outrage when the far-left felt that she wasn’t black enough in the “Ralph” trailer. Of note, Tiana is Disney’s only black princess.
This is the trailer for “Ralph Breaks the Internet” that dropped in August.
Based on Tiana’s casual “slumber party” look, people were outraged that Tiana’s skin and hair were lighter and that she didn’t have fuller lips and more pronounced “black” features. The allegations of “whitewashing” quickly gained traction.
Tiana had a decidedly different look in the most recent trailer.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Disney met with Tiana’s voice actress Anika Noni Rose and black advocacy group Color of Change before deciding to reanimate Tiana with more black features.
What in the world is going on? It’s little surprise that Disney caved to the far-left, but this is just maddeningly stupid.
This wasn’t some major plot hole or mistake Disney was patching up. It was the pigmentation of a completely ancillary character in a movie.
Color of Change executive director Rashad Robinson gloated about his politically correct victory on Twitter.
Big news. Because of COC members and convos with @DisneyAnimation, Princess Tiana has been restored to her original depiction. Now when Black girls watch #WreckItRalph2, they’ll see Tiana and other princess of color that actually looks like them on screen #BlackGirlMagic pic.twitter.com/4ZPJm4aZyz
— Rashad Robinson (@rashadrobinson) September 20, 2018
To clarify, the left image in Robinson’s tweet is the “whitewashed” Tiana. The image on the right depicts the “proper” Tiana.
Where to even begin? It’s becoming increasingly clear that the far left’s lunacy really knows no bounds. I can honestly say that I have never watched “Mulan” and thought that the titular character wasn’t “Asian enough.” I get the point that I’m not an impressionable young girl of color who identifies with a princess that looks like them.
But shouldn’t parents be raising their kids better than to put so much stock into a fictitious character’s skin pigmentation? If you’re going to have your young daughter look up to Tiana, why not focus on her perseverance and moral fiber instead of melanin pigmentation?
Alas, it makes no difference now. Disney has kowtowed to the far left yet again.
And I think we’re all a little worse off for it.
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