Seems like fans are not very happy with the latest trailer of 'Ralph Breaks the Internet', particularly with the representation of Disney's first black princess Tiana.
In the trailer, Vanellope von Schweetz meets the iconic Disney princesses, from Cinderella to Mulan to Moana to Princess Tiana, in one place.
The controversy arises when Princess Tiana from 'The Princess and the Frog' is presented in a new style, reported Deadline. Apparently the princess' skin tone is lightened, hair style is changed, and the facial features are altered.
The representation of hair is very crucial for black women, not only for cosmetic purposes. "Black hair is complicated, political, and not something one thread on Twitter can explain," said author and cartoonist C. Spike Trotman. Trotman further gave tips, including basic information about black women's hair, which could be helpful in the future for Disney, animators, cartoonists, and others.
Trotman tweeted, "Black Hair for Non-Black Artists: a Cheat Sheet Thread.
Hi, folks! Just spur-of-the-moment decided to put together some reference for folks who want to draw/model black characters in their work, but aren't confident they won't make simple, obvious mistakes w/r/t black hair."
Trotman further added, "Black people can have any hair texture, but what's commonly considered "black hair" is hair that's tightly coiled, with each individual hair shaft looking like a Slinky. These Slinky-hairs interlocking with lots of space between them is what gives black hair so much volume."
Many fans have taken to Twitter to comment on the look of Princess Tiana in the trailer saying that she isn't properly representing black women.
A user said, "Y'all don't understand how important Princess Tiana is to Black girls," said one Twitter user. "We finally had a Disney princess that looked like us, and now, she doesn't. They gave her Eurocentric features and turned her into a racially ambiguous woman. It's a no from me, dawg."
"I was very excited for this film and I still am. But I cannot look away from this. So I fixed it," tweeted a disappointed fan.
Another fan tweeted, "In today's edition of "you tried it," Disney decided to reinforce colorism by lightening Princess Tiana's skin in #RalphBreaksTheInternet. Tiana was a dark skin Black woman in Princess and the Frog, now she has light skin and Eurocentric features. What happened to her wide nose?"
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