Itzel Esparza

Mrs. Storer

Block 5 Eng 3H

Jan 24, 2020

By the Color of Her Skin

The color of one’s skin often determines the course of a person’s life. In The Princess

and The Frog directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, Tiana and her best friend Charlotte

experience very different lives due to the color of their skin. The Princess and The Frog tells the

story of a young African American woman, Tiana, and her struggles to make ends to earn

enough money to attain her dream of owning a restaurant. It features the friendship Tiana has

with Charlotte, a ditsy but goodhearted white young lady that is the daughter of a wealthy sugar

barron. Through the characters from The Princess and The Frog's social status, environment, and

opportunities, the critical race theory becomes apparent by seeing the differences between Tiana,

a young African American woman and a young white woman’s, Charlotte’s, lifestyles during the

20s and 30s.

In various scenes throughout the movie both Tiana and Charlotte’s different social status

are displayed. In the beginning scene the is a span of a bedroom which turns out to be

Charlotte’s, Tiana’s friend. Charlotte’s bedroom is lavish, quite extremely pink, large, and the

walls have shelfs filled with toys and stuffed animals. Later on when Tiana, a young African

American girl whose mother was Charlotte’s seamstress, and her mother head home you see that

Tiana’s room is very minimalistic, plain, and does not have a lot of furniture, toys or color in it.

Even though it is not explicitly said, this dramatic difference in living situations reflects the

different social status each race had around the time the movie takes place. The different social
status between the two girls shows in their living spaces, charlotte’s room is probably the size of

Tiana’s whole house. She lives a very spoiled and lavish lifestyle because her father is wealthy.

Although not directly linked to their races, looking at the first few scenes, one only sees the large

and nice houses belonging to those of lighter skin tones, while as most of Tiana’s neighbors are

African American like she is. The girls’ social statuses are also hinted at through their outfits,

especially their costumes at Charlotte’s ball. While the scene of Charlotte’s mascaraed ball spans

across the viewer sees that Tiana is in a peasant lady costume serving the food and refreshments

while Charlotte has a big fancy princess dress on and is clearing trying to be the main focus of

the event. The outfits chosen for their costumes clearly reflect how they are in society, Charlotte

is of a higher class and therefore is enjoying the party and wearing a fancy dress, while Tiana is

seen as a “commoner” or someone of lower class which is reflected in the peasant lady costume

she wears in this scene. Even through what Tiana and Charlotte wear at a costume party one can

see their social status being shown. Charlotte is the center of attention at the party and it’s

reflected in her costume of a princess, while Tiana is at the party as well, she is still working and

she isn’t really being payed much attention to, this is reflected in her neutral colored peasant lady

costume, its something that shows her status and how she isn’t being noticed very much at the

party, or in society in general. Out of all the costumes she could have been wearing she is

dressed in a servant costume which reflects how society at the time the movie takes place saw

African Americans as less then everyone else.

Both girls grew up in environments that were shaped around their race. In the first couple

of minutes in the movie, Tiana and her mother on on their way out when charlotte starts

screaming, asking for the dress from the book she was just read. After her father asks Tiana’s

mom if she can put it together and she accepts he turns to charlotte and says, “All right now
princess, you’re getting that dress but that’s it. No more Mr. pushover. Now who wants a puppy?

(Clements and Musker 00:03:23-00:03:30). Charlotte’s dad tries to calm her down but still ends

up spoiling her anyways. Charlotte’s environment was one where she was never said no to, she

grew up with her dad getting her whatever she wanted. She asked for it and she got it. This is

clearly due to their wealth but is also connected to their race. They were wealthy white people

living in the 1920’s to 1930’s there was hardly a limit on what they could or could not purchase

or do. However, this never saying no environment differed immensely compared to Tiana’s

environment. After, young Tiana returns home from Charlotte’s house, she is wishing on a star

about her dream when suddenly a frog appears and Tiana runs out of her room screaming as a

little girl but then comes back into the scene as a young lady tired from her late night shifts,

putting away her tips with the other money she’s saved up and changing from one uniform to

another while barely sleeping. This work ethic to get what she wants shows that nothing in

Tiana’s life has ever been handed to her. She must work extremely hard to get what she wants.

This shows how, unlike charlotte, Tiana grows up in an environment that makes her need to

work, she gets through by working two jobs and saving up every penny she makes. She really

puts all of her effort to attain the things she wants, and she learned this by the way she grew up.

She learned that she had to make her own opportunities.

The opportunities both girls get are not only completely different in themselves but the

way they are given is also a different story. “Big daddy invited the prince to our masquerade ball

tonight!... And he’s staying in our house as my personal guest.” Charlotte’s dad invited to prince

to their ball and to stay in their house during his stay in New Orleans. Charlotte’s dad hands her

opportunities, she doesn’t have to try and do anything because her dad plans everything out and

all she must do is ask and show up. She is given opportunities due to her wealth, they are not
really business opportunities or job opportunities but more marriage into wealth or having

whatever she wants. It probably would not be the maximum to getting opportunities since even

though she is white she is also a woman, but the opportunities given to attain her dream of

marrying a wealthy and handsome man is much more attainable. Tiana does not get the same

luxury of people handing her opportunities to getting what she wants. During the ball scene

Tiana addresses the two bankers at the party who were supposed to bring her papers “A little

woman of your…background woulda had her hands full tryna run a big business like that. No,

you’re better off where you’re at.” Tiana is basically told to just give up and they try to nicely

say that because of her race and being a woman just doesn’t leave much of a chance for her to

succeed. Tiana had to work so hard to get the restaurant and then she not only gets out bid but is

told to give up because she comes from a different background. She finally thinks she has a

chance but then her opportunity is snatched from her hands and she gets even more push back

from trying to continue to work for it. She is persistent and even though she knows that things

are never going to go exactly the way she wants them because of her background she keeps on

working and working for her dream to come true.

Through the different opportunities, social status, and environment Charlotte and Tiana

are surrounded by and grew up with, the critical race theory displays the way these two different

lifestyles revolved around the segregation and discrimination in the south during the 1920s and

30s. Through Tiana and Charlotte’s lifestyles and experiences the audience is able to see that no

matter what a person faces, where someone comes from, or someone’s skin tone, with a little

hard work and elbow grease anyone can achieve their dreams.