...You Lost Me wrote:Shad, your complaints make little to no sense. The louisiana bayou is actually the third or fourth thing that comes to mind when I think where black people live. Which means Disney did a good job not being stereotypical. Seriously.
Also, Facilier's spirit shadows are pretty awesome. One of them is Jafar, one is Ursula... and I forget the other one. I just loved all that stuff.
the other one i think is either Pain or Panic, from Hercules, but i can never tell them apart without Matt Frewer and Bobcat Goldthwait actually doing the voice.
also the problem with what you said is a KEY in the other problem. "where black people live".
1 the plantation owner was white, it wasnt ALL black people. Aladdin was all middle east people by virtue of being middle east, but there could have been gauls (europeans? i get fuzzy on whether the silk road should be present near the story) , chinese, etc.
so for P&tF to have been ALL blacks, it failed, and there is NO need for it to have ALL blacks. it only needed a black princess, and a portion of the population to be black, or other so it didnt look like reverse-racism (which is just racism) with a black monarchy ruling an all-white populace.
since Disney doesnt go for historical accuracy, and i am fine with that. I wouldnt mind having a moor kingdom in medieval europe, or ANY other dark-skinned monarchy ANYWHERE on the planet.
the key thing is Disney wanted a BLACK princess, and the USA is the only country that really places that much importance on "blacks" in such high amounts.
anecdote: "black" american goes to africa for a visit, and native dark-skinned africans respond to them something like, "another damn american"; not like "we are great kin, lets be friends and family".
so while black v whitre is in places all over the world with fighting between them including but not limited to, USA, Africa, and Australia; there are many countries that just really dont give a shit.
Black Disney Princess, was made to appeal to Black Americans, as they claim "all Disney princesses have been white: Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella". those claims neglected to recognize: Jasmin, Ariel the fish/mermaid, Mulan (she isnt a princess, but is considered a "Disney princess"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Princess ), and Pocahontas as Disney Princesses, that are not "white".
it is ALL based on the argument ofr "light-skinned" vs extremely "dark-skinned" character drawings. Chinese are NOT white, Native American...NOT white, Middle Eastern...NOT white. Disney wanted a NEGRO Princess in order to satisfy the want of some.
i have no problem with wanting a "black" or "negro" Disney princess. if the made a new story and did it write, being a Disney movie, it stands a good chance of me liking it. MY problem is that P&tF butchered the actual fairy tale. Had it been an ALL white cast, granted voodoo is more prominently a non-white thing in most stories, i STILL would not like P&tF, because the story was butchered.
Its like Robin Hood with Russel Crowe. It was an OK movie, IF they changed his name, because it changes the story TOO much. King Richard can't come back to pardon Robin if the king is dead! Also like 4th edition D&D.. it might be a good game, but to MANY it doesnt represent what people know as D&D, and given a different name that doesnt include preconceptions of what it "should be" to those already knowing about it, it may have been better accepted. Treasure Planet was a retelling of a story that stayed true to its roots with a genre swap. it is really ALL about violating SoD with ANY sort of fiction. P&tF violated my SoD, like Robin Hood, 4th edition, and other things not named (DBE to name one of those unnamed things).
Compare if you will two movies. Pick ANY Alice in Wonderland movie with either The Matrix or The Labyrinth. should either of the latter been called "Alice in Wonderland" then they would have had less chance to be as successful than they were, for whatever that is worth. Changing so much of the Alice story, and... AND giving it a new name, made it MUCH more easily acceptable and enjoyed by removing those preconceptions that come with the name, and thus does NOT so readily violate SoD based on those preconceptions. Yet The Matrix movies, and The Labyrinth are effectively retellings of Alice in Wonderland, and the Matrix even calls attention directly to it in the first movie. so you can draw the parallels from there, once you realize what the movie is, and accept it still and may even go "WOW i never notice4d it was this story" and still appreciate the work because how well it was done to give the same story in a COMPLETELY new way, that may have gone unnoticed.
P&tF then was a bad story, when the lead up to it was "Disney's first black princess" by the media, and then the story failing for some to represent the original by changing it in weird places, added to the nature of WHY she is black. it is just a bad fanfic of the fairy tale made for Disney to look more Politically Correct.
)