Avatar, the new special effects monster among movies, features a race of aliens called the Na’vi who have blue skin and braided hair. I’ve been wanting to see this because it’s been a long time since I’ve been wow’d by special effects and it’s gotten decent reviews.
However, I was surprised that some people were offended by the fact that the aliens wear braids. I’m all for getting offended, I do it all the time…but over this? It’s not like they are nasty looking (Ok, the male alien looks a hot mess, but I think he’s supposed to be a human in disguise). They are supposed to be the “good guys” in the movie. The braids look really nice from the pictures I’ve seen.
What’s your opinion? You ladies always have such an intelligent perspective on things and voice ideas I never would’ve thought of. Is there something that I’m missing here?
Edit 1/4/10:
I saw the film and absolutely loved it! Add me to the list of people who are not offended. The whole movie was a treat for the eyes.
I really enjoyed this movie and was grinning the whole time. This was my son’s first movie at the theatre, and though he was a little hesitant at first, he settled in and really enjoyed it. He even got up and started dancing during one of the songs.
Prince Naveen’s race did not bother me at all. He’s not Hispanic, he’s from a mythical kingdom somewhere. He is definitely brown, not just olive skinned. The pictures that I’ve seen all make him look much lighter than he is. He’s a source of a good deal of the humor in the movie.
Tiana is a wonderful character! Extremely hardworking and needs no man to help her get to her dreams.From an aesthetic point, I loved her clothes and she’s just plain pretty!
As I suspected in this post, Tiana’s father,though he dies early on in the film, is a big source of her courage and determination.
I know a lot of people were concerned about the voodoo in the film and how it would appear stereotypical, etc. Well, I’m from the South and the fear of voodoo is real in some areas. Don’t be mad at me if you live in the South and never had any voodoo talks with anyone. I was brought up to be aware of it and my grandmother would go in to specifics.
New Orleans was shown in a very positive light. The city was clean, the citizens were mostly African American and well dressed. And, of course, there is an abundance of Jazz.
Actually, the only place where I saw that anyone could get offended was the brief appearance of a group of backwoods Cajun people who were really over the top.
The music was okay. It doesn’t seem like any of these newer Disney films have the same draw of the films from the early 90s as far as music is concerned. But there were probably 2 of the songs that I really enjoyed (and apparently for DS too since he got up to dance to one of them).
The humor in the film was decent. I know what makes a lot of children’s films so popular is that they also appeal to adults. I did chuckle a few times though.
If you have a younger child, there are some scary parts in the movie. I won’t go into detail, but my son has been talking about “the monsters get da frog” since we got home LOL!
After it was all said and done…I couldn’t see the big deal. It was a movie. It was for enjoyment, and it was (as my husband said) for Disney to make money. My son and I had a good time watching it together, just as we do any other film.
So Kcurly, I wanted to get your opinion on this. We are taking the kids to go see The Princess and the Frog this weekend, and I sent the trailer to my husband cause he hadn’t seen it. Now he emailed me back a valid question, Why do they have Tiana dating a white man? I never thought about it until he brought it up. That is rather interesting. Even though he is a rather tanned man, he is none the less white. So why is it the black princess can’t have a black prince??
Keah, thanks for the email. This has been a topic of discussion for awhile.
First, he’s not supposed to be white. Disney has said that he is Latino/Hispanic in origin. He does have a pronounced accent and kind of an olive skin tone. So, why is he not black? I have no idea.
Perhaps it was hard to work a black prince into the story that’s set in 1920-30s New Orleans. There certainly wouldn’t have been any African American princes walking around, but I suppose they could’ve made him an African prince of some sort.
Presenting a message of racial harmony could be another reason behind it. Though, we’ve had at least two other interracial Disney couples that I can think of in the past: Pocahontas and Cinderella (live version with Brandy).
I’m all for racial harmony. How could I not be with my son being biracial? However, I’m also all for black love and that love being shown in a positive light. I think it would’ve behooved Disney to have had a Black prince to go along with their first Black princess. Make him tall and dashing, just like all of the other princes.
To top it off, the villain is a black man, some kind of voo-doo doctor that turns the “prince” into a frog in the first place. If the voodoo doctor were the only black man in the movie, I’d be incredibly pissed off. However, we do have one saving grace, it seems: Tiana’s father.
He is attractive, a good father and husband, and …is probably in the movie for all of, say, 5 minutes. I suppose I should be happy that the father is present at all. If you’re a Disney freak like me, you know practically none of the princesses have both parents in the picture.
I saw an article claim that the reason this movie has a non-black prince is because it would officially make this a black film… and that Disney couldn’t tolerate that.
I can’t agree with this assumption. I mean, the princess is black. She’s the one that’s going to be on the backpacks, posters, and coloring books. Sure, the prince is important and all, but the princess is what makes the money, what draws the attention, what little girls aspire to imitate.
My overall feeling about the whole thing is this: I’m not sure!
It’s the first black Disney princess. It’s something I’ve always wanted and it brings a big smile to my face everytime I see her. It’s not going to be perfect. It’s definitely not going to make everyone happy. They already re-hauled the whole story after an outcry over the plot early on. Disney has come a long way from stories like Song of the South.
On the other hand, should we just take whatever bone is thrown to us. Ok, maybe that was a bit harsh, but I hope my point comes across. For now, I’m still excited. I will be seeing the movie this weekend and will keep an open mind until then.
I would love to hear everyone’s opinions on this one though. Leave me some comments!
The date is slowly approaching! I found these clips on Youtube and had to share.
This one shows the first few minutes of the movie after a brief intro from some of the creators.
A brief featurette, meet some of the characters:
One of the musical numbers:
Whew, I can’t wait. The more I look at Tiana, though, the more I don’t think her hair is meant to appear “natural” as a lot of people thought. It has a slightly wavy appearance…hmm I don’t know. I guess beggars can’t be choosy, right?
So I’m so totally jazzed about this (in case you didn’t read my post a few months back). Here is the full trailer if you haven’t seen it yet. *sigh* I hope it’s as good as it looks!
The sad thing is I’m going to be scoping out the hair the whole time.
This little faerie, a part of the fairly new franchise “The Disney Fairies” is voiced by Raven-Symone in the film Tinkerbelle. She is a perfectionist and also detailed oriented.
I can’t really tell how her hair is, but it looks braided in the front and just pulled back into a puff…? Anyway, however it is, it’s cute!
Afro Samurai
On the opposite end of the spectrum is this bad mamma-jamma.
This is a Japanese manga and anime series that follows the adventures of a samurai named Afro in futuristic Japan. He is trying to avenge is father’s murder. Afro is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. I found it very interesting that this was created by a Japanase man. From what I hear it’s pretty violent, but it’s anime, so what you can you expect?
Tarzan
So I was watching Tarzan for the zillonth time when I had an epiphany. His hair moves a lot differently than all of the other charcters. That’s because it’s in long individual dreads (freeform of course )
In this Disney film, Tarzan ends up on an island as an orphaned infant, raised by gorillas, and surfing through the trees. I complain about watching it so much, but really it’s one of my favorite Disney films. How did I never notice this before? Is it because I’m totally obsessed with hair now? Must be!
Its a very important job to represent the beauties of natural and curly hair in the cartoon media. If you have one you’d like featured, please email me. I will continue this in later posts.
Susie from the Rugrats
This little Rugrat, always the voice of reason in a confused toddler world, won the hearts of many [...]
Thanks for reading! Remember that our hair is a gift and that it can blossom and grow if we take good care of it. If you have questions, want to share your story, or just want to say hi, please email me at kcurly@newlynatural.com
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I saw an article claim that the reason this movie has a non-black prince is because it would officially make this a black film… and that Disney couldn’t tolerate that.
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