From Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, to Blue Sky Studios’s Spies in Disguise, to Pixar’s Soul, have you noticed a recurring theme emerging where Black characters turn into creatures or things in animated feature films, and stay in that form for the majority of their time on screen? In our second episode, we dissect why that happens and what elements worked for and against these three films specifically. Is there a fear by major studios that Black people aren’t relatable to a wider audience? Were there instances where the transformation of a character made sense? Our guest (!) animator and Netflix’s story + editorial coordinator, Monique Henry-Hudson also joins us to share her perspective.
Notes:
Transformations of Human & Human-like Protagonists
https://i.imgur.com/njmHuHF.png
‘The Princess and the Frog’ gave black girls their first taste of Disney royalty
https://theundefeated.com/features/the-princess-and-the-frog-gave-black-girls-their-first-taste-of-disney-royalty/
Her Prince Has Come. Critics, Too.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/31disney.html
Disney- Stop Turning Your Black Characters Into Animals
https://medium.com/@nalnic/disney-stop-turning-your-black-characters-into-animals-704ebc305c3e
Pixar’s first Black lead wasn’t in the original version of Soul
https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/8/22149552/soul-pixar-interview-character-afterlife-designs
The frustrating tradition behind Soul’s great flaw
https://www.polygon.com/movies/2021/1/24/22246929/pixar-soul-black-character-22-passing-narrative
Pixar’s Troubled “Soul”
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/pixars-troubled-soul
Monique's Animation Org Recommendations:
DiverseToons: https://www.diversetoons.com
Black n Animated: https://www.blacknanimated.com
Latinx in Animation: https://latinxinanimation.org
Where to find Monique:
https://www.simplyrobotix.com
https://www.instagram.com/simplyrobotix/
https://twitter.com/simplyrobotix
