'Wreck-It Ralph 2' accused of 'whitewashing' Disney's Princess Tiana
While the abundance of Disney Princesses featuring in the new trailer for Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2 was initially tremendously exciting, it’s now being taking to task for ‘white-washing’.
Disney fans have rounded on the clip, in particular the depiction of Princess Tiana, the hero from The Princess and the Frog.
Many have noted something of a transformation since her debut in 2009.
In the trailer for the Wreck-It Ralph sequel, she appears with Sarah Silverman’s character Vanellope von Schweetz, alongside the likes of Elsa from Frozen and Rapunzel from Tangled.
But fans have pointed out that she now appears to have newly ‘euro-centric’ features, lighter skin, different hair and a narrower nose than in the original movie.
That was Tiana? Yikes I thought it was a princess I had never seen before lmao https://t.co/sxUboVfXzo
— Uncle Zaddy (@Audacity__) August 14, 2018
It’s also been noted that Native American princess Pocahontas is also notably lighter of complexion.
In today’s edition of “you tried it,” Disney decided to reinforce colorism by lightening Princess Tiana’s skin in #RalphBreaksTheInternet. Tiana was a dark skin Black woman in Princess and the Frog, now she has light skin and Eurocentric features. What happened to her wide nose? pic.twitter.com/YnX9eFPLm9
— The Cali Nerd (@TheCaliNerd) August 9, 2018
Black women & girls deserve rep with careful attention to what might be hurtful. Mess around with a white princesse’s shading, but colorism is a known quantity. Disney can & should have done better. You should too, given the chance:
— Sarah McKinlayScott (@doctorflopsy) August 11, 2018
why does princess tiana look so different from the wreck it ralph trailer we got 2 months ago to today’s new still……….let me know pic.twitter.com/h63b4DXE03
— 🍇 (@thebaudeIaires) August 9, 2018
Disney you ain’t slick Tiana went from full black to half black real quick and Pocahontas went from Native American to a white person with a tan pic.twitter.com/UQrEchQsRp
— ella (@ella56821103) August 10, 2018
Meanwhile, a clip of the Disney animators celebrating the completion of the movie is doing the rounds, showing an overwhelmingly white male staff.
*Looks at Tiana's hair in the movie*
*Looks at this*…Yeah, makes a lot of sense. https://t.co/T1Zc3ODPXv
— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) August 14, 2018
And as such, people aren’t happy about it.
Y’all don’t understand how important Princess Tiana is to Black girls. We finally had a Disney princess that looked like us, and now, she doesn’t. They gave her Eurocentric features and turned her into a racially ambiguous woman. It’s a no from me, dawg.
— E-Money 🤑 (@imanimlewis) August 10, 2018
Disney, which will release the film in November, is yet to comment on the criticisms.
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