Disney, oh Disney

We all know the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Hell takes both the form of decadence and hand-wringing. More often than not the hand-wringing rises to meet the decadence. I'm not quite sure how powerful the lure of decadence is in response to the hand-wringing because, well, we all like being decadent no matter the situation or the disapproving faces. On reflection, though, the more disapproving faces we have the more exciting the decadence is. We all enjoy letting out a "Rebel Yell," much to Billy Idol's delight.

Decadence knows hand-wringing, hand-wringing loves it some decadence. Its a synergistic relationship that exists because we exist as beautiful, guilty, sexually depraved whores of all things good and wicked.

Yet that relationship, as twisted as it is, is not the infuriating part of today's news. Far from it. What's infuriating is the hand-wringing that results from the possibility of offending. This is when two dreaded words, Politically Correct, surface and damn us all yet again.

Case in point: Disney's new animated musical The Frog Princess, taken from the Russian fairy tale. I almost choked when reading updates on the new Disney film.

First: Almost two years before its hoped-for release of its first hand-drawn animated film, Disney has already drawn fire for alleged racial and ethnic insensitivity's that were detected in its original announcement of the film. Since the original title might be regarded as a slur on the French, the title has been changed to The Princess and the Frog.
Typically unbelievable. Disney has every right to call their film what they want. However, to so visibly change the name so as not to offend an entire nation based on childish word play strikes me as the worst kind of cowardice - the stupid, ignorant kind. Really, who has used the play of Frog and French since the early nineties?

Second: The main character, named Maddy -- who was to become Disney's first black princess -- has had her name changed to Tiana, since Maddy reportedly sounded too much like Mammy.
I must admit when the film was first announced I couldn't believe Disney named the lead Maddy. 'Maddy' is an incredibly evocative name and I thought Disney either had big enough cajones to go there or was just too stupid to get it. Now I realise they were just too stupid to get it because of the now evidenced inability to go through with such a ballsy choice.
And it could have been a wonderful part of The Frog Princess. Why not incorporate the name Tiana into the story line? Just as LeVar Burton's refusal of "Toby" and furious demand to be called "Kunta Kinte" in Roots, renaming Maddy could have been an incredibly powerful moment throughout the film. First whispering the name Tiana and at the end declaring with power and pride. How beautiful.
And finally a quotation from Disney itself: "The story takes place in the charming elegance and grandeur of New Orleans' fabled French Quarter during the Jazz Age. ... Princess Tiana will be a heroine in the great tradition of Disney's rich animated fairy tale legacy, and all other characters and aspects of the story will be treated with the greatest respect and sensitivity."
This was in response to allegations Tiana would be a chambermaid for some snobby, spoiled white kid in 1920s New Orleans. Again this reveals how blind and unambitious Disney is. There is no doubt that Tiana is a chambermaid and any attempt made by Disney to make anyone perceive otherwise is foolish. Disney should be embracing the idea of a chambermaid turned princess. Cinderella did it with an all white cast in a fantasy land. Why can't Tiana do it in historically correct New Orleans? *

Disney is blind for not realising how powerful this story could be because, not in spite, of all the controversy The Frog Princess has created. We've seen too many movies, celebrities, and books making millions of false or ridiculous controversy. Here Disney has a chance to make something beautiful because of controversy and they're not doing a damn thing about it.

I'm not saying The Frog Princess could have become the most important movie in a generation. However, Tiana (or Maddy) could have become a much needed addition to Disney's princess canon. And now all we'll get is some mediocre movie with no passion or power.

We should SCREAM at the audacity of what's going on.

The pretty black girls will still want to be Belle or Jasmine or Cinderella for Halloween or special birthday parties. No one will want to be Tiana and who can blame them?


*Fingers crossed Disney still does something special.