Response to "Blackness, Bayous, and Gumbo: Encoding and Decoding Race in a Colorblind World"

           In Sarah E. Turner's article, "Blackness, Bayous and Gumbo: Encoding and Decoding Race in a Colorblind World," she discuses Disney's The Princess and the Frog (2009) in regards to race and the idea of colorblindness.
          Turner leads with that Disney wants the audience to think that Tiana is not "a black princess" but just "a princess." However, Disney clearly had race at the forefront of its mind when making this movie. This race the paradox of colorblind racism. Turner argues that simply ignoring Tiana's race is still a form of racism. I agree with her here. Disney seems to entirely avoid any issues with race, but that shouldn't be entirely done. Just like being a girl is part of my identity, being black is part of Tiana's and that doesn't have to be ignored just to make people feel comfortable. But, I understand that Disney is a corporation that needs to make money, so they can't alienate their largely colorblind audience.
          In addition to those complaints, Turner then goes on to talk about the setting. The Princess and the Frog takes place in 1920s New Orleans. You can already see why there might be issues with that. This movie may not have depicted an accurate portrayal of race relations in the 1920s, but that would've lead to entirely different movie. I think that this is a bit of a nit-picky complaint because since when has Disney been realistic? When the premise of a movie evolves around turning into frogs, you can't really sit and complain about the setting being inappropriately portrayed.
          While there are quite a few poor choices by Disney in this movie, I still enjoyed it and I don't feel that it is racist. But is this movie a revolutionary step forward for Disney? Not quite. Turner ends with the same conclusion as I do: at least they're trying.