Tiana: The Tactful One

(Image via Wikpedia)

            Tiana was the ninth Disney Princess to appear, in the 2009 Princess and the Frog. She caused quite the splash, as she was the first black princess. It annoys me that she was also the second American born princess and no one talks about that, or the fact that there are a few other non-Caucasian Princesses: Jasmine, Pocahontas, and technically Mulan. Tiana was born to a lower class but loving family in a close-knit community in New Orleans. She was hard working, with big dreams, and romance wasn’t part of them.

            Her foundation was simple enough. Tiana’s father had a dream to own a restaurant, but he died before he could complete it. Tiana was very close to her father, so she took on the cause, and works at least two jobs trying to save to do so. She is best friends with a young woman whose family is significantly better off financially, but never asks for help or a hand out. She doesn’t get out much, wanting to work hard and accomplish her dream as fast as she can.
            Tiana’s an all business kind of girl, with a no nonsense point of view. She regards wishing on a start as childish and silly, believing the only way to get anywhere is through hard work. She supports her friend’s dream and is happy when it seems to come true, even though her own is on the brink of being crushed. She can be dense when it comes to her dream though; throughout the movie her mother, some friends, and a good magic user try to explain there’s more to love. She’s also merely human and lashes out at her friends. However it’s also having friends in the right places (namely an alligator) that helps her buy her restaurant.

(Image via Disney Wikia)

            The villain of this piece is the Witch Doctor Facilier, also referred to as the Shadow Man. He is a nasty piece of work with intent to take over all of New Orleans and offer the denizens’ souls to his “friends on the other side”. These are dark entities that give him his powers, which range drastically. He can read tarot cards, curse people, transform others, and summon evil shadows to do his bidding. This is not a bad guy you want gunning for you in any which way, as Prince Naveen (Tiana’s love interest) discovers. He also has a way of words and is rather charismatic, able trick the Prince with very little difficulty.

            The meeting of Prince Naveen and Tiana is drastically different from past movies. Where a brief meeting between Philip and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty gave him the ability to kiss her ad break a curse, the opposite here happens. Tiana reluctantly strikes a deal with the then amphibious Naveen: if she kisses him and breaks his curse, he’ll give her the money to buy her resteraunt. Neither is actually capable of their end: she’s not a princess, and he’s been cut off. When they kiss, the spell does not break, and instead catches her. So the two do not set off on the right webbed foot.

            Watchers can also observe character development and their bond solidifying. When it begins, Naveen is lazy and arrogant, and Tiana would have no problem letting him get eaten by alligators. But when he falls in peril later they’re able to work as a team to overcome and outwit enemies, and the second time she rushes off to save him, leading the charge of their friends. They learn to work together, and they begin to understand why each acts the way they do, and rather gradually fell in love. In the end Naveen is ready to give up his happiness, and his love for her, to ensure Tiana’s dream. And when the Shadow Man gives Tiana a short cut to her dream, she chooses to do what’s right and her love rather then go against all she knows. He learns to be responsible, and she learns that there’s a difference between what you want and need; her father never got his restaurant, but he was a happy man.

            Overall Tianna’s a pretty good role model. She has a firm sense of responsibility, and though she can be dense about other things, she does catch on. She doesn’t take the easy way out when it’s offered, instead opting to do the right thing. When things look bad in the end, like predecessors, she made the best of it and takes what she has-someone she loves and good friends. Her happy ending isn’t really and ending; it’s the beginning of her dream, and it will be a busy life. But she’s learned to balance responsibility with the other things in life, and she can now be functional. Her romance is a bit unusual in the way that she and Naveen were both of another species during their courtship, but otherwise it wasn’t too objectionable-except it might encourage young girls to thing if they have a difficult boy, they can change him. Circumstances changed Naveen-not Tiana, and that is a blurred line. Otherwise though, Tiana sets a fine example for young girls who might find themselves watching her movie.