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Isaia β What It Means To Me
Published: 2010-01-13 09:44:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 130649; Favourites: 6422; Downloads: 711
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(repostin something I made a while back while I wait for photoshop in other computer to work so I can finish commishes b4 weekend.)'I drew this in mind when I read an article some weeks back (which I want to find again, but I cannot find it???) I read about one woman who took her youngest daughter to see "Princess and the Frog" . Seeing her little girl make OMG!ENCHANTED!FACE and thinking the new generation gets to have Tiana while her generation did not.
This thought made her bawww in the theater.
I also bawwww while thinking of this.
It's sad but happy at the same time.
It's kind of like when I first saw "Mulan" the first time as a little girl. I was personally moved.
...
Because all the "issues" and some flaws of this film aside, I felt the movie and Tiana were made with sincerity and love, not just something to be marketed, which is important when bringing to life a story you want to move people with.
Princess and the Frog and Tiana (c) Disney
Fanart by me (because I love this movie FFFF)
EDIT: Guys, you are seriously going to make me BAWWW (aside from all the wapanese trolling on the front comments lol) even more with all these lovely stories you're telling me about your Disney memories.
If only Disney knew how much good stuff like this is what lasts with their audience ;___;
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Comments: 881
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That was the first movie I saw in theaters
Haven't seen it in a while but I truly live the music
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I felt the same seeing little girls watching it!
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That means an African American is presented
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Y'know I remember seeing this picture and reading your story of why you drew this ages ago - and I mean *ages*. But I still remember it. And I still search high and low on deviantart search just to look at it again. It makes me so happy and filled with hope.Β
So thank you. <3Β
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This is truly beautiful, that moment when childhood feelings of wonderment and awe become universal
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Awww this almost moved me to tears
After that, now I realize what this short story could mean
As an korean asian, I think I do feel those things when I watch American stuff
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at first i was also like..."meh forced politically correctness yadayada" but as I thought about it I really got to love Tianas character. She never begrudged Lotti anything (and Lotti never treated her as second class). Tiana worked hard and she may have lost sight of the wonders in the present by keeping her focus on the future but but she new what she had to do to realise her dream and was not afraid of work to get there. (Yes other princesses were also put to work but they did it not to get to realise their dream but because they were forced)
She is the only Princess that couldn't dance Β and was taught how to in the movies (pocahontas two does not count...abomination of a film that was :/ ).
She did not need a prince to realise her dream of a restaurant (the brothers had to accept her actual original deal, notice she pushes her coin savings on them, and lewis helps her...not naveen) then they don't pay a building crew to renovate the building but save money by doing it themself....so Tiana kept her hard work ethics and is kinda a role model for Naveen who does as she does.
(She is also one of the very few princesses that have a mother and no father.)
so yes after thinking about it I really began to appreciate all the nuances that made Tiana a new type of princess who actually realised her dream after she became someone with princess status.
PS: my favorite princess was Pocahontas because that gal had balls of steal and new what she didn't want....which is actually as important as knowing what you want.
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at first i was also like..."meh forced politically correctness yadayada" but as I thought about it I really got to love Tianas character. She never begrudged Lotti anything (and Lotti never treated her as second class). Tiana worked hard and she may have lost sight of the wonders in the present by keeping her focus on the future but but she new what she had to do to realise her dream and was not afraid of work to get there. (Yes other princesses were also put to work but they did it not to get to realise their dream but because they were forced)
She is the only Princess that couldn't dance Β and was taught how to in the movies (pocahontas two does not count...abomination of a film that was :/ ).
She did not need a prince to realise her dream of a restaurant (the brothers had to accept her actual original deal, notice she pushes her coin savings on them, and lewis helps her...not naveen) then they don't pay a building crew to renovate the building but save money by doing it themself....so Tiana kept her hard work ethics and is kinda a role model for Naveen who does as she does.
(She is also one of the very few princesses that have a mother and no father.)
so yes after thinking about it I really began to appreciate all the nuances that made Tiana a new type of princess who actually realised her dream after she became someone with princess status.
PS: my favorite princess was Pocahontas because that gal had balls of steal and new what she didn't want....which is actually as important as knowing what you want.
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I loved Ariel growing up. She was the only red haired princess and I loved having that in common with her
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it's great to see kids love the princesses so much! cute pic. I disagree though- Tiana felt very forced and politically correct to me. some good moments but I feel they tried too hard with her (though not as much as with the next two). all the focus on race worries me. we're teaching kids to focus on only that. liking a character who looks like you is fine, but just don't let it be the IMPORTANT thing 
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This literally brung tears to my eyes... And boy is that rare for me... Beautiful. ;.;
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This image makes my heart happy. :')
Representation is so important, for children especially. They tend to identify with people who look like them, and not to be able to identify with anyone in the media, or seeing only a very narrow view of their race/culture/gender, can be detrimental to their self-esteem. Growing up, I took for granted that a lot of people in the media look like me (i.e. white), and now I wonder how I would feel if that wasn't the case.
I remember being little and thinking to myself, never having even SEEN Beauty and the Beast, "Belle is my princess because she has brown hair and brown eyes like me." I considered Belle "my" princess. She /validated/ me. It breaks my heart to think that before Tiana, a lot of little girls wouldn't have had "their own" princess. They might think (just like I would have thought, were it not for Belle) that only certain girls could be princesses -- and they didn't make the cut.
Just to be clear, I'm definitely NOT saying that one princess of a certain race/culture is "enough." Representation is NOT tokenism -- it's about acknowledging the reality that humans are all different, but all equal and beautiful.
I love Tiana *first and foremost* because she is, in my opinion, one of the strongest and most independent of the Disney heroines (the girl's got spunk for days). But I also love her for giving other little girls a princess that they can identify with. When I see this image, I imagine the little girl thinking exactly what I did: "Tiana is /my/ princess. I can be a princess!" And that is such an incredibly powerful thought.
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It's true that all girls believe that they are princesses.
Most of my childhood memories are based on it! 
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I never get tired of looking at this picture. What a great moment to capture <3
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This makes me want to cry with happiness :') Brilliant job
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I felt the same way when I saw Mulan for the first time in the movies. I loved that movie so much, I wore Mulan's armor outfit for Halloween. I feel that Mulan and several of my favorite Disney princess movies helped shape you I am to this day
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Your draw is Magnificent!! Congratulation I love it!!
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Jasmine's always been my role model princess
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I'm not african american, (in fact I've been known to be mistaken for a ghost), but I do understand and respect this. This is an amazing piece of artwork. There is so much emotion in it and I'm glad I was able to stumble upon this.
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I love their expressions ! I think I had the same reaction when I saw the movie.
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I like the little girl's expression!!To become a princess is a dream for each girls!!
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I was just four years old when I saw the Little Mermaid, my first Disney film. I still remember the wonder I felt as a wide-eyed little girl, lost in the beauty of the story. I used to kneel by the couch and sing 'Part of Your World' (rather badly and off-key). Almost 18 years later, I still feel that joy. That may be the greatest gift that Disney gives us... to revisit the simple world of a child and forget everything else, if only for a while.
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this is such a nice comment, and not acting like race/physical appearance matters as some of these are.
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The world likes to forget those things aren't important. Thank you!
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*sigh* Brings back memories when i first saw Cinderella and even now it pulls at my heart seeing how little girls react to disney princess it brings me to tears of joy
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This is so beautiful. Really puts a smile on my face.
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It feels as if you really managed to convey some heavy feelings through this piece. I love it and I love the story you shared.
Well done!
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It really makes me happy to see that Disney added a black princess to their princess line. It's good to know that young black girls (as well as other girls of different races) to have a black princess to look up to. I'm white and I really liked the movie. It did have good message that sometimes we might not get what we want but we do have what we need and in Tiana's case...she had her family and that is the most important thing.
Great job on this.
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I'm white, and I love this film. Tiana is my favorite Disney princess, because she doesn't have her head in the clouds and she worked to make her dreams come true. In the end, the person who deserved happiness got it. That's what I love about this film. I could care less about the skin color of the main character, she is a beautiful character and role model. I'm very thankful that Disney made this film, and it's a shame that not many put this film up on the same standard as many of the other Disney films.
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I'm Asian but I love this film. Content aside, I believe her skin color DOES MATTER because of it's relevance to how Disney only had a Black Disney princess up to this point, and how imagery and having central characters reflect this does matter to children who had not seen this before. Disney in the past has not had a good track record or history with people of color (see the uncut version of Fantasia, and Song of the South) so Tiana addressing this is so relevant, formative, and something that cannot be erased.
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I realize this. But what I was talking about was my personal take on this series. Yes, I know that Disney has had a LONG history of racially insensitive material and this is a breakthrough for them, but I was talking about how, despite the obvious marketing for African American children, I took away something from this film, making it something more then just for the people it was "made" for. I've met some people, who, even though they don't SAY that they didn't enjoy it because of Tiana's skin color, imply it, with the choice of words they use. Thus, for a time, I couldn't help but feel like this movie was glossed over and forgotten and not put up to the standards of the other princess films, similar to Mulan (who is another favorite), and that upset me. The point I was trying to make, is that you don't have to be the same skin color as Tiana to appreciate what a wonderful person she is, and that this movie shoud be enjoyed for what it is as well as what who it was made for.
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This is a gorgeous picture and I love the fact that you pointed out that while the movie wasn't a marketing success, it took our hearts and that is what really matters. I had this experience with James and the Giant Peach when I was little and it never failed to enchant me since.
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This is how I felt when I got to see this movie.
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Why doesn't this have a Daily Deviation? In three panels, you touch the heart of viewers and speak more about the human need to identify than an essay or thesis ever could.
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