Blog Post #1: Disney Captures the Essence of New Orleans

In the new Disney animated picture, The Princess and the Frog, Disney managed to capture the essence of New Orleans in a way I had not seen before and truly thought impossible. Disney does this not only in their accurate portrayals of the buildings in New Orleans, but also in capturing the intangible qualities in the unique culture of the city. Having been born and raised in New Orleans, I was both excited and nervous when I found out the setting of the new Disney film, The Princess and the Frog, during my trip to Walt Disney World this past summer. Most writers and directors not only fall victim to the classic cliches of the bayou, but they also tended to not represent the diversity that exists in this historic city. While I cannot say that Disney did not fall victim to a few cliches in the film, such as the musical score that seemed to only reflect that typical Jazz and Zydeco associated with New Orleans, the accurate portrayal of the many different areas of New Orleans and Louisiana in general were remarkable.

Disney did a tremendous job at capturing different areas of New Orleans, not only the picturesque ones. In the first scenes of the movie involving Miss Charlotte and Tiana in the beautiful houses Uptown matched the regal houses of this area of New Orleans without really any flaws; however, it is much easier to capture beauty.  The cuts to Tiana’s childhood home in the shotgun houses even captured the not-so-glamorous part of New Orleans with amazing accuracy. The neighborhoods gave the same dark, old, worn down feel without really losing its Disney magic. Even the streetcars, which were an anticipated success since every movie about New Orleans uses them, matched the old rickety cars with the ridiculously low windows of New Orleans.The alleyways around the French Quarter that the Shadowman lurks in captures the dark and unclean pieces of the city. Disney even went as far as to capture the Warehouse district where Tiana wants to open her restaurant. The only real flaw in this was the painting of the Mississippi and even the water in the bayous as blue. Water has always been brown in color in New Orleans. Overall they managed to portray the city without romanticizing it too much.Disney does not stop here.

This movie even managed to capture the essence of New Orleans culture. For example, the restaurant Tiana works in is one of those “hole in the wall” places that has amazing food, a trait New Orleans is infamous for having. Later on when Tiana and the prince tell Raymond that they are from far away,  he follows up by asking if they were from Shreveport, LA. This depicts a culture that tends to not think about much outside of Louisiana. Even the colors used for the characters and scenery reflected aspects of the culture. Whether intentional or not, these colors matched the colors used on many buildings in the quarter that are renovated to be “historically accurate.” Overall, with very few mistakes, Disney recreated New Orleans in ways that I could not even think possible. Leaving the theater that evening feeling a little nostalgic and slightly homesick, I stopped by the store and made some Jambalaya for me and my husband (a fellow New Orleanian) that night.

ETA: I commenteed on Nicole Aarestad and Brittany Alberry’s blog.