A Taste of Louisiana: Mainstreaming Blackness Through Food in The Princess and the Frog

Abstract

Food-related practices, behaviors, and values cannot be ignored as relevant markers of power, cultural capital, class status, ethnicity, race, and gender. In the Disney Pictures' film The Princess and the Frog, food is used to negotiate the on-screen presence of Princess Tiana, the first African-American female protagonist in a Disney movie. While Tiana is depicted as a strong and motivated character in her determination to achieve her professional goals, her dreams of success as a restaurateur are constantly framed in terms of actual cooking, an occupation that has been historically connected with black women. Furthermore, she is a practitioner of Louisiana cuisine, heavily influenced by black and Creole traditions but represented as vaguely exotic, non-intimidating, and less racially recognizable than soul food because shared by many non-Black characters. These gastronomical negotiations render her more acceptable and less threatening to mainstream audiences.

Reel Royal Diversity? The Glass Ceiling in Disney’s Mulan and Princess and the Frog

“…Not only does Tiana's mother work for Charlotte's family as a seamstress, but Tiana also benefits from Charlotte who hires her to make beignets for a masquerade party where, despite their supposed friendship, she is the help. Critics have noted that Tiana and her mother are the financial beneficiaries of a relationship with rich white people who are ready to help deserving black people find success (also a theme of Hollywood's The Blind Side in 2009) [37]. In addition, Tiana only becomes a princess because of her marriage, reflecting that her work is not sufficient, but instead relies on tapping into the existing power structure that excludes African Americans, especially in 1920s New Orleans [12].…”

“…[D]espite her role as patronne, in the fantasy Tiana is stirring a pot, chopping vegetables, whipping cream and putting it on desserts, as though even in her wildest dreams it was impossible for her to abandon completely a manual, hands-on role [reinforcing] her subordinate status" as a laborer [37]. Even Prince Naveen sees her in this light, telling her, "You have had quite an influence on me", specifically because she taught him how to mince food.…”

“…Instead, " [v]iewers can revel in the fantasy of a place free of racial and class tension, where traditional dishes bring everybody together" [37]. This whitewash rankles even more given the tension and conflicts that escalated post-Katrina (the category 5 hurricane that struck in August 2005) while the movie was in the planning stages.…”

“…The prince's skin color is a strange orange-tinted brown (complemented by his amber eyes). One black female viewer stated the implications of the prince's skin color for black women: "You better look elsewhere because you're not going to find the prince in your own race" [37].…”

“Traded it off for that Voodoo Thing”: Cultural Capital and Vernacular Debt in Disney's Representation of New Orleans

“…Sarito McCoy Gregory asserts that, “Disney's gumbo represents its utopian vision of a colorblind New Orleans, which blends individuals from different cultures, races, and classes who are able to live and play together” (438). Similarly, Fabio Parasecoli, argues that gumbo, “representing both the exotic and the familiar, operates to catalyze and neutralize the possible ambivalence mainstream America might feel toward a society that, at least until Katrina, was perceived as having embraced its racial and cultural differences, as other expressions such as Mardi Grad and music were supposed to prove” (454). He continues to explain that gumbo's “exotic spiciness, its fluidity, and its inherent surprising complexity are traits that can be drawn on as material metaphors for the multiracial, hybrid, and intricate racial and social reality of New Orleans” (454).…”