Princess and the Frog Essay Example
Evaluating Cultural Differences and Examples in Disney's The Princess and the Frog
Com/360
August 6, 2012
Holly Heffron
Evaluating Cultural Differences and Examples in Disney's The Princess and the Frog
Cultural differences can be seen anywhere in the world wherever there are two or more cultures present. These differences can be verbal or nonverbal. Even in movies, cultural differences are often allocated throughout the film. One film in particular, which happens to be a children’s movie titled The Princess and the Frog, is a fairy tale set in Jazz Age-era New Orleans and spotlighted on a young woman named Tiana. This is a movie filled with cultural differences and cultural bias. Throughout this paper, one will read about cultural identity and cultural bias found within the movie. In addition to cultural identity and cultural bias, the concept of cultural patterns and what types of cultural patterns that are exhibited in the film will also be discussed.
Cultural Identity
Generating a cultural identity for animated characters on the silver screen is not a simple task. Screenplay writers must address the many layers that form an individual’s cultural identity and seamlessly integrate those pieces into the personality of the imagined character. A successful animated character is one that the audience relates to on a personal level. The character has realistic, relatable personality traits yet keeps the element of fantasy and surrealism that audience members expect from an animated movie. This expectation is increased many times over when the animated film bears the Disney logo. In the film The Princess and the Frog (2009), Disney animators chose to make the new princess an African American woman from New Orleans, Louisiana. For the screenplay writers, directors, and animators, this meant they needed to dissect the intricate relationship between racial, gender, regional, and national cultural identity to create believable characters.
Brief Synopsis:
Com/360
August 6, 2012
Holly Heffron
Evaluating Cultural Differences and Examples in Disney's The Princess and the Frog
Cultural differences can be seen anywhere in the world wherever there are two or more cultures present. These differences can be verbal or nonverbal. Even in movies, cultural differences are often allocated throughout the film. One film in particular, which happens to be a children’s movie titled The Princess and the Frog, is a fairy tale set in Jazz Age-era New Orleans and spotlighted on a young woman named Tiana. This is a movie filled with cultural differences and cultural bias. Throughout this paper, one will read about cultural identity and cultural bias found within the movie. In addition to cultural identity and cultural bias, the concept of cultural patterns and what types of cultural patterns that are exhibited in the film will also be discussed.
Cultural Identity
Generating a cultural identity for animated characters on the silver screen is not a simple task. Screenplay writers must address the many layers that form an individual’s cultural identity and seamlessly integrate those pieces into the personality of the imagined character. A successful animated character is one that the audience relates to on a personal level. The character has realistic, relatable personality traits yet keeps the element of fantasy and surrealism that audience members expect from an animated movie. This expectation is increased many times over when the animated film bears the Disney logo. In the film The Princess and the Frog (2009), Disney animators chose to make the new princess an African American woman from New Orleans, Louisiana. For the screenplay writers, directors, and animators, this meant they needed to dissect the intricate relationship between racial, gender, regional, and national cultural identity to create believable characters.
Brief Synopsis: