Her Prince Has Come. Critics, Too.

This is a very good NY Times piece (available for a limited time) addressing the controversy surrounding the Princess and the Frog, Disney's upcoming hand-drawn aninmation featuring the first African-American princess. The FACT that there are some people who already are making such vehement attacks even BEFORE they have seen it says a boat load about these people and not about Disney.

Still, in the end, it is still about the story, and the last part of this news article is worthy of a quote here:

Disney can take some comfort in a backlash to the backlash.

“This is one of those situations where I am ashamed of the black community,” Levi Roberts said in a YouTube video. “Are we being racist ourselves by saying this movie shouldn’t have a white prince?”

Perhaps the final word — for now — should come from somebody who is African-American and a former Disney animator.

“Overly sensitive people see racial or ethnic slights in every image,” wrote Floyd Norman, whose credits span from “Sleeping Beauty” to “Mulan,” in a 2007 essay on the Web site Jim Hill Media. “And in their zeal to sanitize and pasteurize everything, they’ve taken all the fun out of cartoon making.

As I've said earlier, if Disney decided to NOT make anymore movies with African-American theme or lead, these very same people should SHUT UP and not complain. Who would want the hassle?

Zz.