When asked about favorite Disney princesses, one of the most common answers is Cinderella or Ariel. I know plenty of people who love Snow White or Rapunzel, and of course, due to it's recent success, there's a surge of fans for Princess Anna and Queen Elsa. But one princess you almost never hear getting love is, in my opinion, one of the best. And that is Princess Tiana.
For those of you who don't know, Princess Tiana is the protagonist of the 2009 Disney film, The Princess and the Frog. I could go on forever about how bada** she is. She's portrayed as a very strong feminist character who takes no nonsense and isn't afraid to stand up for herself and what she believes in. She's optimistic and determined to go after her dream of owning her own restaurant, through hard work and hard work alone. That's actually her, for lack of a better word, tagline throughout the whole movie: the only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work!
And most of all, she faces all of her adversities head on, never giving up on her dream, herself, or the people she loves. That's one of the best things about her and her movie; yes, she finds true love in the end with Naveen, but she never had to sacrifice her dream to attain that love. It was like a bonus, because in the end, she got her restaurant and all of her dreams came true.
Tiana is such a great role model as she is a beautiful princess, inside and out. Which begs the question...where is all the love Tiana deserves?
Because let's face it, she doesn't get enough love, definitely not from Disney fans, and certainly not from Disney itself.
Why is that? I'm sure there's a laundry list of reasons that would constitute a whole other article, such as Disney's notorious negligence of their princesses of color, or the fact that Tiana's brand of feminism is much more explicit and straightfoward than other princesses, the fact that she gets little to no merchandise, the fact that she's straight up left out of a lot of princess things, both Disney and fanmade, or any number of social justice type arguments that absolutely need to be addressed.
Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that she is one of the most inspirational characters Disney has ever created, and arguably one of the best, if not the best role model for young girls. Her impact on the world of Disney and the lives of many fans is important, because her character is important.
So let's show Tiana a lot more love! God knows she deserves it.
