The Strange Case of The Princess and the Frog: Passing and the Elision of Race

Abstract

This paper examines the negotiations of race in The Princess and the Frog within the dual contexts of its setting and release. Central to these negotiations are Tiana’s racial identity and her passing as a frog, as well as the film’s attempt to pass as an African American princess narrative. In the process of excavating the film’s racial contexts, this paper also addresses its reception by American critics, as well as how Disney, in its hypersensitivity to racial issues and its desire to fulfill so many competing agendas, has paradoxically created an animated feature which generally elides race, even as it redeploys multiple racial stereotypes. This paper concludes by (re)considering the implications of a black Disney princess who spends more time onscreen in green and embraces a hyper-ethos of hard work, as well as how the simulated selves on display renegotiate notions of racial identity in the twenty-first century.