Tiana Rogers is a fictional character in Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film The Princess and the Frog (2009). Created by writers and directors Ron Clements and John Musker and animated by Mark Henn, Tiana is voiced by Anika Noni Rose, with Elizabeth M. Dampier voicing the character as a little child around 5 to 12 years old.
She is loosely based on two princesses: Princess Emma from the 2002 novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker, and the princess from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Frog Prince". The character also was inspired by famed New Orleans chef Leah Chase.
A hardworking waitress who dreams of opening her own restaurant, Tiana finds her ambitions stalled when she kisses a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil witch doctor, only to transform into one herself.
Tiana has been mostly positively received with critics praising her personality and values. However, the depiction of Tiana and her community has been criticized for lacking "emphasis on racial issues". The decision to depict the two main characters, Tiana and Naveen, as frogs for the majority of the film has also caused controversy, with some saying that it downplays the characters' identities. She is the ninth character added to the Disney Princess franchise, and is known for being the first African American member in the franchise. She is also the most modern princess in the lineup, as her story takes place in 1920s New Orleans.
Character development Conception and ethnicity According to co-director John Musker, adapting the fairy tale "The Frog Prince" by the Brothers Grimm into an animated feature film had been a subject at Walt Disney Animation Studios for 18 years. The project was repeatedly shelved because the studio was unsuccessful in creating a version with which they were satisfied. Disney bought the rights to The Frog Princess, a novel by E. D. Baker that is based on the fairy tale, in 2006. Co-directors Ron Clements and Musker were then hired to lead the studio in yet another attempt at adapting the fairy tale, choosing 1920s New Orleans as its setting. Although originally conceived as a computer-animated film, Clements and Musker fought for The Princess and the Frog to be traditionally animated.
Tiana is loosely based on both Princess Emma, the heroine of Baker's novel, and the princess who appears in the Grimm fairy tale. Clements described Baker's The Frog Princess as "a kind of fairy tale with a twist" because in it "the princess kissed the frog and instead of him turning into a prince she turned into a frog." Clements and Musker pitched the idea for the film to Walt Disney Animation Studios CEO John Lasseter "as a hand-drawn film with an African American heroine", conceiving Tiana "as someone who would never have been a big fan of Disney fairy tales." The character was inspired by famed restaurateur Leah Chase, who Clements and Musker met on their research trip to New Orleans. Clements elaborated, "There's a woman in New Orleans named Lee (sic) Chase who was a waitress and ultimately opened a restaurant with her husband … we met with her and we talked with her and she went to kind of into her story, her philosophy about food, which is a big element of the movie."
Tiana is recognized for being Disney's first African American princess. As the film's writers and directors, Clements and Musker claim that their decision to depict Tiana as an African American young woman came naturally simply as a result of the location in which the story takes place. Clements explained, "We didn't realize it was that big of a deal," and originally gave the character the French name "Madeleine"—"Maddy" for short. However, when the name drew controversy and speculation as a result of alleged racial connotations—according to various sources, the name "Maddy" was commonly used as a "slave name"—they decided to change it to the Greek name "Tiana", which rhymes with "Diana" and .Anmerkungen zum Froschkönig der Brüder Grimm. Though "Tiana" () does not translate as "princess" (), it can be decoded as a portmanteau, coined by blending the princess names and .Princess Tia, Princess Diana of Wales, Princess Diana of Troy, Princess Diana of Themyscira. Also, in the film her best friend Charlotte often calls her "Tia". Vying to continue to approach the film with sensitivity, Clements and Musker sought guidance from screenwriter Rob Edwards, who is African American. In order to add emotional weight to the story, Clements and Musker placed further emphasis on Tiana's relationship with her father, James, who originally "wasn't as much in the picture."
Voice Directors Ron Clements and John Musker opted against hiring "big stars" to voice the film's main characters, explaining, "It can help with the identification of that animated character with the voice if you don't get an instant mental picture of the real actor." Several well-known African American female entertainers expressed interest in voicing Tiana, including recording artists Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys, and actress and fashion model Tyra Banks. The role of Tiana ultimately went to actress and singer Anika Noni Rose, who co-starred alongside Knowles and Hudson in Dreamgirls (2006). When Rose was personally contacted by Disney about voicing Tiana, her expectations were not particularly high. She explained, "I wasn't planning on being a princess. I thought I'd be like a weeping willow or something." To prepare herself for her audition, Rose made sure that she "had a voice ready." Rose auditioned for the role of Tiana a total of three times.
Both "thrilled" and "ecstatic" by the fact that she would be voicing Disney's first African American princess, Rose, a longtime fan of Disney who had always wanted to voice a Disney character, was "surprised by some of the things that the community took issue with." When the film was brought to her attention, Rose was drawn to it more by "the story of the young woman" rather than Tiana's ethnicity. "I don't think the cultural significance hit me until later," she told The Root.
Rose described the recording process as "very solitary work" that required her to do much research and preparation. She elaborated, "I called people in New Orleans; I listened to their voices to hear what they sounded like. I did a lot of reading up on the city, and listened to a lot of music in the jazz era." Rose gradually received the film's screenplay "in pieces". During her first recording session, Rose read through and recorded the entire script in eight hours, describing the experience as "exhausting, but wonderful." She and co-star Bruno Campos, who provided the voice of Prince Naveen, recorded the majority of their dialogue separately.
Design and characteristics Mark Henn served as the supervising animator for Tiana. Henn was hired by Lasseter because he had animated nearly every Disney Princess since Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Describing Tiana, Henn said that she is following "a new trend in our princesses," likening her to Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Henn was inspired by studio employee Jaimie Milner, a film intern who was working in post production. The fact that Tiana is African American was "never a big issue" for Henn when it came to animating her, but drawing her as both a human and a frog proved difficult. He said, "Tiana appears in the movie in so many different forms … she's a little girl, she's an adult human, and then she's a frog".
Rose's thoughts, ideas and concerns were taken into consideration when it came to finalizing Tiana's design. "I … said I wanted it to look like she ate and wasn't skinny, and she has a full mouth and a little round nose and curly hair and these are all things that made her look distinctly herself," she said. Rose didn't want Tiana to resemble "a cookie-cutter princess who had been coloured in brown. When I saw her for the first time and realized how much she looked like me I was really blown away." Rose also served as a form of visual, live-action reference for supervising animator Mark Henn as he worked on Tiana, videotaping her as she recorded her lines and incorporating some of her distinct characteristics, such as her dimples and left-handedness, into Tiana's design.
Appearances The Princess and the Frog
Tiana works two jobs in order to raise enough money to turn a rundown sugar mill into a restaurant, a promise she made to her father, who was killed in World War I. As a result, Tiana has become absorbed with her work and doesn't have time for anything else. Tiana finds hope when her wealthy childhood best friend Charlotte pays her a lump sum of money to make and serve beignets at a masquerade ball she is hosting for the handsome but disinherited Prince Naveen.
That night, Tiana's hopes are crushed when the realtors of the mill tell her that she was outbid by someone for the sugar mill and that it is probably a good thing given her 'background'. When Tiana accidentally ruins her costume, Charlotte is kind enough to replace it with one of her own. Out of desperation, Tiana wishes on a star, only to be greeted by a talking frog, who claims to be Prince Naveen. Mistaking her for a princess because of her costume, Naveen promises to give Tiana the money she needs if she turns him human again by kissing him. After some persuasion, Tiana succumbs, but becomes a frog instead.
While on the run from hungry alligators, Tiana strikes a deal with Naveen, demanding that once he marries Charlotte, he will use the money he gets from her to help Tiana buy the restaurant. Things change, however, on their journey to end the spell. They both meet a jazz-playing alligator named Louis and a Cajun firefly named Ray, who help them reach the voodoo priestess Mama Odie. Tiana and Naveen help each other escape from frog hunters and Tiana teaches Naveen to help her cook. As Ray sings an ode to his true love "Evangeline", Naveen shows Tiana how to dance, something that she has never done before because she was afraid to. Both frogs find themselves falling in love with one another, but are unsure how to say it.
Eventually Tiana comes face to face with Facilier himself, who promises to make her dream of "Tiana's Place" a reality if she hands over a voodoo charm which plays a significant role in his plans. After reminding her of all the work she has done and the people who held her back, he shows her an image of her late father, telling her that she can make sure the dream he never lived to see come true. Seeing her family together, Tiana finally realizes what her father had meant that he never got what he wanted but he had love, what he needed. Tiana is able to smash the charm and leaves Facilier at the mercy of the angry voodoo spirits.
Tiana finds Naveen, who is promising Charlotte that he will marry her but only if she will give Tiana her restaurant. Tiana stops him and finally admits that she loves him. Moved, Charlotte says she will kiss Naveen, "no marriage required", but it is already midnight and she is too late to break the spell. Tiana and Naveen get married in the bayou. Once they kiss, they finally become human again because Tiana is finally now a princess and is shown wearing her princess ball gown. Louis "terrifies" the realtors into accepting Tiana's offer. Together, Naveen and Tiana open the restaurant, now named "Tiana's Palace" and dance under the stars.
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