Disney Princesses Are NOT White Washed

[BumbleDeev]

So before the very popular movie 'Frozen' was released a teaser photo of Elsa was posted. Apparently people were upset that Disney was "white washing" and that there weren't enough black princesses. So they were actually considering turning Elsa black (as you see in the right picture)

White washing? you can't just throw diversity in for the hell of it, it's a DANISH fairytale. Plus she's THE SNOW QUEEN. You know what color is associated with snow? Fucking white.

Lets look at the other Disney princesses, shall we?

Snow white. The very first princess. The reason her name is Snow White because she has "skin as white as snow" Plus this fairytale is German. You know what color people are in Germany? White.

Cinderella. This movie was made in 1950. Hmm..I wonder what was happening in 1950? I don't know, maybe segregation. Disney had all white employees, so they wouldn't make a black princess. Unfortunately, white people in 1950 were racist. Oops sorry but it's true. Also the fairytale is French, French people are white.

Aurora, or Sleeping Beauty. This movie was made in 1969, there were still racist a**holes then. But she was also was French. In her original fairytale, she had hair as gold as sunshine. Have you ever met a black person with naturally blonde hair? No? Niether have I.

Ariel. (My personal favorite) Her fairytale is Danish. It was based off of sailors who claimed to see a girl in the ocean with bright red hair.

Belle. This time the fairytale wasn't just written in France, the whole movie was based in France. Every person you saw was French. you don't see the 'blonde hair, blue eyes' thing on her either.

Jasmine. She is not white. She has a beautiful brown skin color. She is Arabic and she looks so. This is where white washing would come into play, if she was white. But hey look, she isn't. She was based on a real Arabic princess.

Pocahontas. No white washing. Nice beautiful Indian features.

Mulan. She lives in China before anyone immigrated there. So everyones Chinese...yeah.

Tiana. The very first black princess. The movie was based in the 20s. She lived in the slums/ghetto with the other colored people in New Orleans. Disney kept it accurate to represent the time period.

Repunzel. The first white princess in 20 years. The reason Disney didn't do this movie soon is because they didn't want another white blonde damsel in distress. They waited and made her an awesome badass.

Last but not least, Merida. Technically white, but not with a typical American accent, or long straight hair. She is Scottish. What I love about her story is that it wasn't about finding love.

So yeah there a lot of white princesses, but thats because a lot of fairy tales come from mainly white countries. All Disney is trying to do is stay true to the roots of the story, they aren't going to make everyone is the movie black if the story is based in Germany, just how if they make a movie based in China they aren't going to make all the characters white (Remember these movies are based in different time periods, so it could be at the time before any people immigrated there or it was in the middle of segregation)

So I don't see any "white washing" in any of these stories.

but I did just hear there was a live action version of Mulan with almost an all white cast or something like that. Now THAT'S white washing.

[kambo_trick3y]

Ok so I'd like to point out a few things about this article that are just... wrong.
"So they were actually considering turning Elsa black (as you see in the right picture)"

No they weren't. That's a fan photoshopped picture.

Also, I don't think you entirely understand what whitewashing means. Whitewashing is about making other races appear more white, for instance through makeup or by photoshopping their skin color. It also happens, for instance, when a person in a story is described as having dark skin. And when that story is made into a movie, the person who is cast for that role is white. Here's some examples of photoshopped whitewashing.

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6xakgAWQK1qa9dfj.jpg
www.chicagonow.com/.../...humb-640xauto-298931.png

Making white characters based on white characters isn't whitewashing, so nobody could have possibly complained about disney "whitewashing" anything when they decided to make Frozen.

And really, disney needs to get a grip. 8 goddamn white princesses and 4 princesses of other races? Like come the fuck on. Either stop basing your stories on ~*~white~*~ European fairytales or start making your own, interesting stories about people of other races. This is just embarrassing as far as diversity and representation goes.

I'd also like to point out that there are, and have been, people of different races living in European countries for forever. Just as a side note. So some diversity wouldn't exactly be historically inaccurate. Plus, these are fairytales. The characters could have freaking green skin and nobody would bat an eye. So you can shoot ice out of you hands, talk to animals, befriend stone trolls and have a fairy god mother whip up a horse driven carriage out of a pumpkin, but god forbid you see a black or latino character somewhere in the background because THAT'S just inconceivable? Lmao.

And to continue on the whitewashing topics, disney actually HAS whitewashed Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine and Tiana before.

media.tumblr.com/.../...line_mhhusdDH5E1qz4rgp.jpg
beautyandrace.files.wordpress.com/.../..._1280.jpg

[kambo_trick3y]

This whole post is a courtesy of Lumos by the way. She's blocked so, I offered to post this for her. I actually don't care about the whole white washing thing. I just like Disney movies.

[BumbleDeev]

I see her point.
I'm unblocking her by the way. I'm not sure why she was blocked in the first place, that must of been a mistake. She's done nothing wrong to me so I don't understand why I would

[nalaa]

I do agree disney has kinda lost it recently. I mean look at the old princesses. Snow White in the pic above or cinderella in the original 1950 version s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/.../...9a3b5f4e95.jpg they're slim but they have realistic bodies, whereas the newer princesses as well as new versions of the old ones have waists as thick as their arms and lollipop heads.

And as you pointed out, the few ethnic princesses seem to be getting whiter, when they were not originally

[BumbleDeev]

But the definition of white washing is Making things appeal more to a white audience. So the new lighter versions of princesses are Technically a form of white washing, but it's still not as bad as if they decided to make both of them completely white. So if they did make Mulan or Jasmine completely American looking, that is also considered white washing. Because there is no reason for them to be white, so it seems like Disney made them white just to appeal to white audiences. That's why people were getting upset. Because they assumed since most of them were white, they just didn't want to add diversity In

[hypno-trip]

she blocked me for no good reason X (
Yay Mulan.

[lumos]

"But the definition of white washing is Making things appeal more to a white audience."
Nah, not really. Whitewashing in this context literally comes from the whitewashing technique used when painting. "to make (something) whiter by painting it with whitewash". I. e. making characters or people appear whiter than they are, or actually deliberately giving a black character's role to a white person in a movie/play.
What is "american" looking? Because as far as I'm concerned, USA is a country where people of many different races and cultures live. And, you know, native Americans aren't exactly white. But yes, since Mulan and Jasmine originally weren't/aren't white, it would be considered whitewashing if you changed them to be white.
They don't do this to appeal to white audiences. They do this because they're racist fucks and think that people of other races don't deserve the same representation that white people get. There's no point in only appealing to one race. Less appeal = less money

[mrf284212]

Whitewashing in painting is probably different than whitewashing in movies. Yes you can make people's skin lighter in movies, but I'm pretty sure their intentions are more motivated by making sure the lighter skinned audience is pleased. Since, in the USA, most people have lighter skin. That would make it a safer bet to make more money to represent lighter skinned people more often.

They are allowed to do what they want, so complaining about them really isn't very helpful in having other cultures more represented. If you want it done then create your own stories and share them.

Also what do you have to back up your claim that they (assuming you mean Disney) are "racist fucks and think that people of other races don't deserve the same representation that white people get".

[mrf284212]

Another also, since when is white a race. Everyone likes to mix race, color, and ethnicity all together. Why am I white, someone else Brazilian, and another person African. That's a color, a country, and a continent. They aren't the same thing. And I never hear anyone ever mention an actual race anymore. Probably because they are old categories that don't hold much weight anymore.

Truthfully I'm more offended by them always being princesses. Men have every job, body type, personality, ethnicity, etc; but women get to be princess who are pretty. And anytime a women shows other characteristics they value it as a male quality and therefore seen as now superior to anything associated with a female quality.

[mrf284212]

Sorry I may have went on a little rant and lost track of the actual topic. I'm not even sure who I'm arguing against or for. And yes, I'm aware my complaints are just as foolish as anyone else's. My problem is people thinking it's anyone's job to cater to the whims of me or anyone else. And using insults to argue a topic will never be taken seriously in any progressive way.

[aamy811]

Thank you I love you

[Derpyy]

If I could give the person who wrote this a jar of cookies, I would. It's all a fairytale, so the whole "accuracy" take is flawed and moot from the beginning.

[renogaza]

i completely agree with this, but black people nowadays make a big deal about everything, i can't even talk to them anymore without having to be very careful what i say.. theirs no more point in entertaining their rants since they have the same rights as everybody else and black racism is practically none-existent now, instead we have white racism.. so the table has literally turned.

[renogaza]

sidenote: Merida is Awesome !!! xD

[amarahorrorstory]

A little generalization of place people there, I think it's a lot of people reacting over a lot of things. I think society as a whole is sensitive,

[renogaza]

@amarahorrorstory agreed

sidenote: 5 - 1 / 5 - 1 ... is this a competition xD?

[ButtHoleSandwich]

You are right. Because every black person is like this and no other race... insert sarcasm here

[renogaza]

@ButtHoleSandwich of course not all blacks are like that, but because of the general concept that black people are touchy with many things that people say we have to watch what we say around them whether they're offended by it or not (unless we actually know them already), i'm not being generalistic of black people, i'm being generalistic of views towards black people.

[Afrochick]

LOL k nice generalizing

[Ped1981]

You're not allowed to have your own culture if you're white these days. Everybody else in the world can dress up in burkhas, robes, grass skirts and silly pointy hats but white culture. No. Your called a racist if you want to do something white and keep it white. Who's was that clown moaning that the Oscars we're all white nominees? So what. You need to put a non-white up there just to balance it even though he or she was inferior to the white guy? That's insulting to everyone. Fuck this mad world

[Tokana]

European culture is so dominate and ingrained unto that world that you don't even notice the extent of it. Go to the un and see how many world leaders are wearing suits.

[Ped1981]

I think I made a balanced argument there. It's not racist to stick up for your own. Still get down votes there. Thats an example of how easily cowed people are by the pc mob and their mad manifesto. As soon as you stick up for white, people automatically think you've made a racist comment. Sad world

[JustinTheGreat]

I think people are really missing the point of this take. People assume "hey, there are more white princesses, they are racist!" THATS the problem here. That people are making these assumptions. I'm sure she would of made the same take about another series or movie, if they were complaining about white washing there too. It has nothing to do with the princesses, but of the idiots who think that racism is the reason they are mostly white. I haven't even seen any of these since I was little and some I haven't seen at all, and I still agree with her that people making "white washing" accusations about it is ridiculous.

[BumbleDeev]

Exactly. Thank you

[Anonymous]

White people are targeted by racism all the time. Often in the form of false racist accusations. In fact the word racist is now being called the "R word" because it so deeply bothers whites. This is also why you hear about nonsense like this. Racists are trying to spread more hate by inventing new ways to accuse us of being racist.

Of course they can say Disney use to be racist back in the 50's. However it isn't fair for them to judge Disney today by what took place way back then. That was over 65 years ago. At some point they need to freaking get over it and look at how things are today.

[aamy811]

That's not white washing. What your referring to is a lack of diversity by Disney, which until the 90's was pretty true. So that's the wrong word
But the reason making Mylar white is a problem is because her being asain is relevant to the story. Else being white, isn't. Just like with the new Annie movie that came out, the point was to put a less accepted racial group because that was the original purpose of Annie.
Also the princess and the frog actually was French but instead they went with Louisiana because 1) they needed diversity and 2) it has French influence. So you can venture from the original plot line to make it original and not cookie cutter (like when they have modern adaptions of Cinderella)

[amarahorrorstory]

They could still do more black stories, or fairytales that state no race. They don't have to be black or anything. People in the comments please don't generalize and say we all overreact. You do have to realize we waited a VERY long time for Tiana and she didn't do well as other princesses. I personally blame Disney's lack of promotion. Also to whoever wrote it, black people CAN be naturally blonde, it isn't common at all but it is possible. I like the post and the point of it, a little rude but I agree with it.

[heavensgift2girls]

They do stories without race all the time. The don't even have humans in a lot of their movies.

Personally I think the princess and the frog failed do to the music more than a lack of promotion. The music just grated on my nerves until I had to stop watching. They were way trying too hard to have music from that area, instead of creating music that a wider audience would like.

[crystalt70]

The only reason that I didn't care for Princess and the Frog is because I live in New Orleans and a lot of the story line was off. Many many movies portray New Orleans accents, music, residents, etc inaccurately. I spent more time trying to correct things.

[amarahorrorstory]

@crystalt70 most Disney movies are inaccurate

[crystalt70]

That may be true, but I don't see the inaccuracies, so it doesn't bother me. Tons of movies are filmed herenow and I have a hard time watching any of them, so I just don't.

[skullly]

Irrelevant to this all~ Disney was a racist thief! Who stole the ideas of others and them claimed them as his own making them into movies who made him who he is today, without giving credit to the REAL creators, to the REAL BRAINS who came up with these ideas... and then banned them from entering the U. S. A so that nobody would ever know about them and thus take all the credit like he deserved it. What a great asshole~ All his great ideas, great movies were stolen from someone else's brilliant brain! Sad reality~ It crushed me to learn this because The Lion King is my favorite~ ... Just awful~

[lolalovesvedette]

Just Disney Princess in general teach girls the wrong message.
Even in Tangled, she ends up being married despite being badass.
And Merida spends the whole thing rebelling against marriage.

If ONLY we had a princess story where potential romantic interests just weren't involved at all in the progression of the story.

[ladymcbeth]

Amen. Disney tries to teach girls that some handsome guy is going come along, rescue her and sweep her off her feet. Not unless you are willing to remain locked in the tower till after he plays poker and such. I can rescue myself just fine and a lot faster!

[kelvinmed]

Quick question though would not just Disney but society overall want to teach girls all of that?

[lolalovesvedette]

@kelvinmed Ofc, but the media is a tool but at the same time a reflection of society.

[Hannah591]

Thank-you for writing this. People are so quick to claim racism when it's not that at all.

[BumbleDeev]

Glad you liked it

[nalaa]

Cinderella is actually italian, but it's a very common tale in both france and germany as well. One of grimms fairy tales (Aschenputtel)
But I agree with the rest. An awful lot of disney movies are based on grimms fairytales (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel) or Hans Christian Andersons (Little Mermaid, The Snow queen) and their characters race match their origin.

[hypno-trip]

thank you for telling me where Cinderella came from horay

[Kerbie]

I heard that myself about cinderella being italian since my girl was born in italy and her dad read to her at young age before moving here.

[BumbleDeev]

Yeah there are many different variations of the story from different countries so you are right

[nalaa]

ok let me rephrase, the first written down story was italian and the girl in it was supposed to be from Naples.
Disney credits Charles Perrault, even tho the story is closest to the brothers grimm version, presumably because after the war Germans weren't too popular and they didn't want the controversy

[BarbaraP]

Thank you!!! These princesses are from all over the world. You don't see Indian girls complaining because there's only one Indian looking princess. Same goes for Chinese girls. We've had very different princesses in the last two decades and before that... well, we all know what was happening, but the fact that they were mainly white back then doesn't mean that things haven't changed.
These women could have been mad back in the 70s but it just doesn't make any sense today.

[aamy811]

I haven't seen a lot of mad black girls today so I don't know who people are talking about. Now I do see black girls who do still wish there was more diversity (an not just black but rooting for other cultures unlike I saw other races doing for a black princess)

[Mustachekitteh]

Oh god if they stayed 100% the way the fairy tales went. A lot of kids would be greatly disturbed and grow up very depressed. They would be so horribly traumatized, lol. Some of the actual fairy tales are really fucked up.

[Anonymous]

I agree.

I wish they did a mixed princess or interracial couple 😍

[BumbleDeev]

That would be nice ;o

[shesAcylon]

Tiana and her prince are not the same race

[Opinion Owner]

Why so many downvotes? Lots of racists here

[Opinion Owner]

@shesAcylon. True, but it's not completely clear what race he is. Not that it really matters though.
But a mixed princess would be nice :D

[Anonymous]

She wasn't going to be black, that's just a pic. Even Google, and you'll find out about how she was going the be evil or the "villain"
But even if she was going to be black before release, that's what happens before release, they'll throw around ideas and work it out... Just like the villain thing.

You're just probably one of those people who think everybody is trying to take over white people and maybe that sharia law is on the verge of happening in your country or something. Finding problems where there's none.

And quick correction. I think she lived where a lot of black people lived, not colored people lived.

[BumbleDeev]

White washing/racism is an important topic. It happens everywhere. This example just happened to be about Disney characters. But there are accusions of white washing in a lot of other different scenarios. Just trying to show that not EVERYTHING is white washed and that the people who are the ones getting angry about the "white washing" are the ones who don't know what they are talking about. So no, I am not "one of those people" when I watched these movies I did not notice their race. Other people are the ones who did, they were the ones getting mad about it. They are the ones who think that just because there are more white princesses than other races is because disney is apparently "racist"

[Opinion Owner]

Disney was racist, especially in those days. There were racist cartoons they released that of course as times changed and their mind set changed, they tried to show these less and also stopped releasing some. They are still available all over the Internet by Disney, and they have recently released a series of cartoons that were deemed too racist to show before but now they want to show again to show how times have changed and how animation has changed over the years.
And yes, I do agree there are sometimes silly accusations of racism that are unfounded, but in reality every race goes through this type of prejudice, whether it's assuming they're racist, a drug dealer, a terrorist, a pedo or anything else. All races, all sexualities and all religions go through it and it should stop from all sides, but it's unlikely that'll happen, at least in our lifetimes.
Also, we are all less likely to notice race if they're our own race, just because it's what we're used to it its what we see most.

[apexalpha]

fair enough if the story is based from a Danish or German fairy tale.
But why can`t Disney take stories from other cultures there are plenty.

[ArabianPwincess197]

True

[BumbleDeev]

True, I think they should look into Arabian or African stories

[mrf284212]

Because Disney is allowed to take stories from wherever they like and tell them however they like; given laws permit certain stories to be sold. If you or anyone wants stories from other cultures, then find them and tell them. Create your own diversity. Its not the job of anyone to do it for you.

[Anonymous]

Why is this even important? I stopped caring about Disney Princesses after I was 7. I knew that it was all a bunch of bs fairy tales that told girls that they were nothing without their heroic prince charmings sweeping them off their feets. How about we focus on that issue? Who cares about them being white or black? When you're a child, you can't even notice until it's brought to your attention.

[ShaeNielson]

Well, many of the Disney princesses are from a time, where the strong man saved the girl. That's just how it was, plenty of modern day disney princesses, are not being saved by men. Pocahontas, Mulan, Elsa, Merida, Tiana, they are teaching little girls to be strong and independent, they don't need a man to save them from a tower. I don't get your hate towards disney princesses, maybe you find them to be "a bunch of bs fairytales" but little girls and boys all over the world, love this bs fairytales.

[ShaeNielson]

(Just to mention it though, Pocahontas is from the "strong man save the girl" time, and she is doing just fine)

[Opinion Owner]

Well I just wanted to divert the attention off race because I think that the Take writer is just finding an excuse to rant about something that is not even important.

[GirlsLie]

@Anonymous- Exactly what I was thinking lol

[BumbleDeev]

White washing/racism is an important topic. It happens everywhere. This example just happened to be about Disney characters. But there are accusions of white washing in a lot of other different scenarios. Just trying to show that not EVERYTHING is white washed and that the people who are the ones getting angry about the "white washing" are the ones who don't know what they are talking about.

[Opinion Owner]

Well I could care less about the aspect of "white washing", not that the argument was no good or anything. I grew up watching these Disney princesses. My argument was just to divert the attention to something I felt was a bigger issue with these Disney princesses about gender roles. I'm nonwhite and never did I care that most of the Princesses were white. I still thought that I was Cinderella regardless lol. People don't always have to be the same race as the character to be the character. However, I'm not beat to be the damsel in distress either.

[RationalLioness]

You can be a Snow Queen and be black. Did her skin have anything to do with her abilities? I doubt it so who cares?

I think people make too big a deal out of this on both sides. Just like people were upset with the remake of Annie. Annie's backstory could have happened to someone of ANY race. What did it matter?

People need to get over it. BOTH sides.

[mysterymo]

I do like your my take. It's awesome. I think though, that people get offended because Disney has the ability to CREATE a story specifically about black people. They didn't have make German or French, they could have found a time period or location where blacks do reside such as Africa, and made a story out of that.

[sweetone13]

People have to realize that the Disney movies are based off stories, mostly fairytales and so have to keep the characters to the origin thus Mulan is Chinese, Belle is French etc

[Phoenix98]

Really I mean who even cares it's a fricken cartoon if I am going to watch something I really don't give a flying **** about their skin color. People get so offended these days and micromanage everything, instead of trying to find something to bitch about in everything they see, how about they try just enjoying life, the movie or whatever. They might find life is a lot more enjoyable.

[Kabloosh75]

Anyone know of some cool African folk tales? Send that to Disney and maybe they will make a movie about it.

I'm sure they exist. I think something involving South Africa, or the struggles of trying to survive in a war torn nation like Somalia is plausible, but you can't stick a black girl in a story that came from European folklore and have it make any logical sense.

[aamy811]

Princess and the frog is French folklore and that movie makes complete sense. Because French influence play heavily in lousianna. Also their races aren't relevant to the movie. Mos people actually think the little mermaid is Caribbean because sabastian has a Jamaican accent (notice people are okay with a secondary character not matching the ethnic origin of the folklore) and because it has Caribbean themed music