Across the Afrosphere
Afrosphere sounds off on color and interracial love
By: Crystal P. Smith (follow this member)
Thu, 06/04/2009 - 00:00
Recently, due to Disney's upcoming The Princess and the Frog, interracial dating has become a topic of discussion in the afrosphere. You see, the film features a black heroine and her light-skinned straight-haired prince, whom some feel isn't black enough. Even The New York Times got wind of it and ran an article Sunday questioning whether the movie will "vaporize stereotypes or promote them." The argument is directly related to the prince's physical attributes and other gripes about the vernacular of the supporting firefly character.
I thought we were aiming for a post-racial society? You can't celebrate this country's progress with a black president and then promote archaic ideas about dating only within your ethnic group.
Does it really matter whether the black princess' prince is white or not? And considering the film is set in 1920s New Orleans isn't it quite plausible that the prince is Creole? Some in the afrosphere are still dealing in the drama of light skin vs. dark skin and the acceptability of interracial couples within the black community.
In a blog post on AOL's Black Voices, Angela Bronner Helm wrote, "Oddly enough, though, Princess Tiana is black; her prince is not. That's right — even though there is a real-life black man in the highest office in the land with a black wife, Disney obviously doesn't think a black man is worthy of the title of prince. I guess Sasha and Malia and all the other little black girls out there should just shut up and be thankful to have something! Little black boys will have to wait another 20 years."
I'm confused...is a black man the only acceptable choice for black women? Especially now that black women are far surpassing their male counterparts in terms of education, a suitable relationship is more about life goals than the color of one's skin.
The Black Snob's comments in her post, Sometimes the White Girl or Guy isn't about you, echoed many of my same sediments about interracial dating in general.
"I got tired of ill placed anger at strangers I didn't know. I got tired of looking at every interracial couple, then immediately thinking of my "widdle" feelings. What the hell did these people have to do with me? It wasn't like they'd met, started dating and married just to personally ruin my day. The insecurity and anger was illogical. Especially considering most of the time I didn't actually want any of the men who had the white girlfriend or wife. I didn't even know them. It seemed like a waste of time because ... It wasn't about me."
And I feel the same way about the Disney movie. Is it really that Disney executives sat around and thought that an easily identifiable black prince was just too 21st century for the film or are we, as black Americans playing both sides of the fence?
Disney maintains that Prince Naveen is not white and just because he doesn't "look black" doesn't mean he isn't black. I think we're pigeon-holing ourselves into a box about what "black" looks like. It would have been hell on wheels if Disney, God forbid, gave the first ever black princess green eyes or light hair — even though there are a lot of black girls in America who fit that exact prototype.
Debating the debut of a light-skin prince to the first ever black Disney heroine is just as silly as the debate over whether President Barack Obama was black enough.
I mean at least Jewish people have a somewhat sensible reason for not dating people who aren't Jewish — religion and family tradition.
Crystal P. Smith is The Loop's editor. She writes the Inside the Loop and Across the Afrosphere blogs.
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COMMENTS
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Love the post and totally agree. Thanks for your words on this matter. I agree that all too often we jump to conclusions and when it comes to Mixed couples, whether in a cartoon, TV show or in real life, we read way more into it than we need to.
"And I feel the same way about the Disney movie. Is it really that Disney executives sat around and thought that an easily identifiable black prince was just too 21st century for the film or are we, as black Americans playing both sides of the fence?"
The former. I think that interracial relationships are great! However, studio executives rarely put two black people in a couple on a movie or TV screen, out of fear that the project will be seen as too black.
I am not surprised. For years, the Disney channel has generally portrayed white couples or interracial couples but very, few Black couples. The message: Black couples are not normal.
Thank you for writing about this! As a black young woman I was so excited to see that Disney finally thought it important to create the black princess. When I researched the movie (prior to the completion of a trailer) and I did not like what I saw. The concepts for Tiana were ridiculous and I’m pretty sure that Disney knew that making Maddie the Chambermaid instead of Tiana the Waitress would not fly. They have come a long way and we can all correct them later. I think everyone should at least try to see Disney’s first attempt at creating a character that relates to the African-American community directly. I will watch, and if need be, complain later.
I think it should be very clear, Disney is disrespecting Black Men and the Black Family. Disney rarely highlights Black Men and even when given the opportunity, they show that they are unwilling to give a Black Man any kind of status. This is not interracial dating, Tiana is a cartoon character. Her Prince was drawn for her. She is unmistakably black, so should her prince be. All other Disney Princess' had Prince's that were unmistakably the same ethnicity as them. Could this be white Disney executives sitting around a table plotting and planning? Certainly it could be. It could just as easily be a white mindset that did not have the benefit of any African American insight. Either way, I'm more mad that I can't be mad. Finally a Black Princess! That is wonderful for Black women, old and young alike. Unfortunately, it came at a price, yet another slap in the face the Black Family as a whole and the Black Man in particular.