Salon.com > The Princess and the Frog

Julian Assange markets himself on eBay

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:17:00 +0000

Don't call it a bailout: Julian Assange is now selling himself on the auction site eBay, but not in order to raise money for his upcoming court case dealing with Swedish rape charges.

No, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks is going to give a portion of his lunch time to the highest bidder, who has the luxury of spending around $3,000 (so far) for the honor of eating in one of London's fanciest restaurants with Assange, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, and eight other people before watching the two "formidable forces" discuss Assange's site. The money will all be going toward WikiLeaks.

On the description of the item, it says:

100% of the final sale price will support WikiLeaks.

This is your chance at being one of eight people to dine with WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange and renowned Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek.

The perfect double bill: “Princess and the Frog” and “Song of the South”

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:30:00 +0000

I live to serve, in this forum at least, but I must deliberately frustrate you now.

I want to entice you into seeing a movie that you are not allowed to see. Rest assured, I do not take this lightly. But you should be frustrated, because the reasons why you aren't allowed to screen the second half of this double bill is why the first half got made.

When word of the production of "The Princess and the Frog" got out, the controversy began. How would it get around the racial issues of a black would-be princess, living in the South in the 1920s?

The answer turns out to be easy. By doing what the Disney organization has always done best.Inventing reality. Ducking controversy. And making money. Case in point.

Released this week on DVD, "The Princess and the Frog" is a marvel of neo-classic animation and cultural avoidance. Set in New Orleans, the plucky Princess Tiana's traditional "I Want" song outlines the plot in all the detail we need. She's "almost there" to her dream of running her own restaurant, but not so fast. Her destination is changed by an encounter with an evil voodoo man and a hunky and oddly hued prince who apparently hails from the same "Pseudogravia" much beloved in Marx Brothers movies.

Girls, stop kissing frogs

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:04:00 +0000

Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" gave us the first African-American princess in the studio's history, the first one with a job and, according to Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams, "the sweetest, most sincere romantic comedy to come along in ages." Unfortunately, it also seems to have given a new generation of little girls a bad, old idea: If you kiss a frog, he might turn into a prince.

Technically, unlike the Grimm Fairy Tale it's loosely based on, this one actually teaches you that if you kiss a frog you might turn into one -- which you'd think would be a somewhat less exciting prospect. But outbreaks of salmonella around the country suggest otherwise. Says Liz Neporent at AOL Health, "Inspired by the movie's iconic smooch, young children -- typically girls under 10 -- have kissed or licked live frogs and picked up the disease from bacteria harbored on the frog's skin and guts." Yeesh.

“The Princess and the Frog” is Disney royalty

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:25:00 +0000

"The Princess and the Frog" starts out with a fairy tale. Two little girls, in full princess regalia, sit together in a pink bedroom straight out of every miniature Disney fan's fantasies, listening to a story of wishing on stars, transformative kisses and happily ever after. But this fairy tale is different. And though our doe-eyed heroine, Tiana, has a penchant for talking to animals and bursting into song, this is not just another Disney princess branding opportunity. "The Princess and the Frog" is also the sweetest, most sincere romantic comedy to come along in ages, and a luminous love letter to a great American city.

In Jazz Age-era New Orleans, young Tiana works double shifts as a waitress to fulfill her dream (and her beloved late father's) of opening up a restaurant. She scrimps, she passes up socializing with her friends, and just when she seems a hairsbreadth away from making it happen, the local realtors tell the African-American beauty that they won't be doing business with "a woman of your background."

Disney’s princess problem

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Uneasy lies the head that wears a Disney crown. Princesses are a plucky if put-upon lot, girls who regularly contend with black magic, evil stepmothers and all manner of talking animals. But imagine the plight of the newest member of the royal family, Tiana, because the heroine of December’s "The Princess and the Frog" is the studio’s first African-American princess.

Tiana (voiced by "Dreamgirls" actress Anika Noni Rose) is a 1920’s-era aspiring chef working in New Orleans, who via a bit of magical misfortune gets turned into a croaky amphibian. And, like Mulan and Jasmine and Pocahontas before her, Tiana bears the weight of representing her whole darn race. As the New York Times reported on Sunday, not everybody is rejoicing over how the fairy tale is unfolding. Writer William Blackburn says that "Disney should be ashamed" of setting the story in the Big Easy, home of "one of the most devastating tragedies to beset a black community." Other critics have taken issue with Tiana’s Prince Naveen, a light-skinned character voiced by Brazilian actor Bruno Campos.