A Good Year for Black Women

I just saw The Princess and the Frog!!! I am so excited, I have been waiting for this movie since I was 5 and it was everything that I have always wanted it to be. I loooove that it was set in NOLA (and it looked and sounded just like the Louisiana I used to live in, right down to the occasional Voodoo influences), love that she was absolutely beautiful and played by the inestimable Anika Noni Rose, who did a phenomenal job, love that they finally went back to gorgeous hand drawn animation, and love love love the Randy Newman jazz-Zydeco-Disney interpretations!!

I loved every minute of the film, but what I loved most of all was that in this long, long awaited film, Disney finally dispensed of some of the ridiculous pre-feminist fairy tale dogma that has gotten little girls in trouble since the Grimm Brothers first imagined Cinderella. And I think it's more than a little ironic that it took a Black princess to do it. In this film Disney finally tossed out the "When you wish upon a star" bullshit. Excuse my language. Yes, Tiana (I still like Maddy better) looked to a star for

hope and inspiration, but she counted on her own hard work and ingenuity to finally achieve her dreams. And yes, the frogs went to the Voodoo Queen for magic help, but it was up to them to find the answers. And then, just when it looks like the pretty white princess is going to save the day, Disney pulls the magic carpet out from under your feet and says, "Naw chere, you're going to have to do this one on your own. Those stereotypes are not valid any more" and Tiana and the super cute Prince Naveen have to find their own way. I love Tiana. She has big dreams and knows how to get what she wants. She works hard, she saves money (what an excellent example for little girls!), she's true to her friends and loyal to her own intuition, and in the end she is rewarded with everything she wants, and, more importantly, everything she needs. Disney finally told little girls what they need to hear: Work hard, dream hard, and don't count on anyone to hand you the answers.

2009 has been a remarkable year for all of us, but especially for Black women. We got a Black President, a Black First Lady, and a Black Princess, all at once.