Racial diversity of Disney's princesses

The majority of Disney’s classics are adaptations of famous old fairy tales composed by European writers, such as Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Subsequently, Disney’s princesses are not very racially diverse, as the majority is Caucasian with the exceptions being Pocahontas, Mulan, Jasmine, and much more recently, Tiana who are of different ethnicities.

After the appearance of Snow White in 1937, four more princesses – Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel and Belle – followed before a different ethnicity was added. Jasmine was introduced in 1992 to become the first non-Caucasian princess. After Jasmine, more ethnicities were represented, including Mulan – Chinese, Pocahontas – Native American and Tiana – African-American.

However, among the princesses, only Pocahontas and Tiana are Americans. Pocahontas, introduced in 1995, is based on a real historical person that lived in North America during the 1500s – 1600s, most notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. Tiana from “Princess and the Frog” is an African-American, second American introduced in 2009 – 14 years after Pocahontas.

Snow White is a German princess. Her original name is Sneewittchen, which means "white snow" in Deustch – the German language. She embraced a typical German ideal beauty, which is comprised of pale skin, black hair and brown eyes, and wore a dress that resembled the traditional German gown.

Cinderella and Belle are from France. Belle is a French name that means “beauty” and her story setting is in a French village and Cinderella’s stepmother – Lady Tremaine’s family name is DuBois, which is also a French family name, according to the movie.

Aurora is believed to have been a British princess. The rationalization for this deduction being the evidence of British decent such as her facial features and costumes. However, because the Grimm brothers – Aurora’s creators – were German, her ethnicity was also argued to be German.

Ariel wouldn’t have a specific nationality, as she is a resident of an oceanic city – Atlantic. However, she still has Caucasian features, such as pale skin and blue eyes, and therefore can be considered a representation of a Caucasian.

Jasmine is an Arabic princess and the first to not be Caucasian. She was based on princess Badroulbadour from the tale “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” in the Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights).

Mulan is a Chinese historical heroine that has been presented in numerous literatures. In Disney’s version, she does have typical Asian features, such as the pointy cheek and slanted eyes.

Rapunzel is an Irish princess due to the fact that the residents of kingdom have brown hair, reddish faces with Irish features. In addition, the dance scenes in her movie – Tangled – featured traditional Irish dancing.

Originally, the audiences in general, and feminists in particular, were really looking forward to seeing the Princess and the Frog because it was the first African American Princess. Right before 2009, women had made huge strides such as first woman being elected Speaker of the House, first to win a presidential primary and first four-star general. In association with this movie, women were excited about Princess Tiana having a desire to fulfill her dreams, and they liked the idea that there is not the typical patriarchal outlook that most other Disney films had held. They did not agree that 80% of the movie, if not more, she was a frog. It goes against having an African American Princess if she is going to be a frog (Lester, 2010).

Additionally, in late 2012, it was reported that Disney has created the first TV animation series to feature a Latina princess, “Sofia the First: Once upon a Princess.” However, shortly after the announcement, a Disney’s co-executive producer released a statement affirming that Sofia was of “mixed heritage” and not Latina as it was first advertised. The controversy caused Disney to receive heavy criticism.

Critics and activists argued that since Disney has created princesses representing other minorities, it was unfitting that the company hasn’t produced a princess that represents the group that took up 16.7% of the American population. Furthermore, if Disney does produce one, she has to carry biological features of individuals from Latin America, comprised of Mexico, Central America and South American countries.

In Disney’s effort to promote ethnic diversity to children, the company has incorporated cultural circumstances to educate young girls, such as nature preservation with Pocahontas and the famous Chinese ancient heroic story about bravery and defying conservative values of Mulan. The intention behind Disney’s postponement in embodying the Hispanic culture became questionable.

According to Sieczkowski (2012), the incident could be connected to the current American view toward the Hispanic community. Many Americans are uneducated about different ethnicities, of which some are misrepresented in the media, and therefore, are quick to make assumptions and judgments. Moreover, the tension derived from the debate over the immigration policy that geared toward the neighbor country – Mexico – may have also affected the American’s perception of the Hispanic community. Furthermore, the fact that Disney has waited more than 20 years since its first non-Caucasian princess to introduce a somewhat-Latino princess challenged Disney’s legitimacy in their motives and brought up questions of the company’s exclusion.

In addition, certain attributes of the character might relate to that of a child’s life or even the actual location. For example, New Orleans is the setting of Tiana’s story in the Princess and the Frog and the story of the Emperor’s New Groove took place in Peru.

Correspondingly, Disney could have practiced the same formula with a Latina princess. The challenge is picking a country in which its nationality represents the ethnic majority of the Hispanics, as some South American countries, such as Argentina, are more European than, say Peru, which is mostly populated by Indigenous Native American.

As the United States being considered a melting pot, American children are in consistent and instant communication and interaction with a wide compilation of difference races and hybrids. Elvia Ramirez, assistant professor of Ethnic Studies at Sacramento State University, commented that children should see a princess character that looks similar to them. “Children are going to look for a doll that they can see themselves in. If none of all the dolls manufactured look like them, they might feel symbolically excluded,” Ramirez said.

Thus, Sieczkowski argued that Disney’s effort of creating ethnic diversity of its princesses was an act to make the company look more inclusive, as the company was under societal pressure to appear more diverse.

References

Sieczkowski, C. (2012). Princess Sofia Is Not Latina, Says Disney. The Huffington Post.

Lester, N. A. (2010). Disney's The Princess and the Frog: The pride, the pressure, and the politics of being a first. The Journal of American Culture, 33(4), 294-308.