The Princess and the Frog without a shadow of a doubt is the most Easteriffic Disney film ever made!
Did the answer surprise you? Does it surprise you that this Disney movie - more than any other Disney movie - is packed with Christian symbolism?
For those of you who are not familiar with the story, it follows a humble waitress Tiana who is chasing her dreams to open her own restaurant. However this all goes awry when she meets the movie's titular frog (prince). Prince Naveen had made a deal with the film's villain, which of course backfires, turning him into a permanent state of Kermit. Mistaking the waitress for a princess, Naveen begs for a cure-all kiss, and upon planting a wet one on the amphibian playboy, Tiana finds herself trapped in his curse with a pair of webbed feet and tongue to prove it. The two frogs spend the rest of the movie trying to get back to their human selves while staying one step ahead of the Shadow Man.
Now nothing in that above description is particularly Christian, because unlike Fireproof or any other Christian movie made by Christians for Christians. the themes aren't shoved in our face but given a sense of suitableness. Rule #1 in story telling: show don't tell, Which brings us to...
"I got friends on the other side."
"After all," says the overly conservative Christian, "Voodoo is bad and we shouldn't watch movies with bad things in them."
I will agree with one point of my straw man, Voodoo is bad.
But here's the thing, if you are going to portray evil it needs to be... well... evil.
And the voodoo in the movie is unequivocally demonic (without expressly saying the "D" word). The Shadow Man's end game is all about taking over the city so he can send all the wayward souls to the demons doorstep for consumption.
Dr. Facilier's (AKA the Shadow Man's) very behavior is mirror that of his demon counterparts. No, he doesn't spit pea soup, but he does reel people in promising them what they had been hoping for but it comes with a cost, As final words of his frightful song chants:
"You got what you wanted, but you lost what you had."
Yet as the old mantra goes, evil consumes itself. This time, literally, as the Shadow Man's "friends" end up proving his downfall. For when he fails to make good on his deal, the demons come to collect.
Mama Odie is the opposite of the shadow man just about every way. He's tall. She's short. He wears black. She wears white. He summons creatures of the darkness. She blasts them with light.
The clear juxtaposition of light and darkness is staggering. It is also interesting to note that our main characters find Mama Odie by following the light (of a billion fireflies) and she is the one that saves them from the demons the Shadow Man sent after her.
And when Tiana asks Mama Odie for an a solution to the her froggy dilemma, Mama Odie breaks out into gospel song and literally preaches to the pair of polliwogs. And it is here that (the frog) Prince Naveen wakes up to his own selfishness - when he is being preached at...from a pulpit...during a gospel song.
"When you find out who you are, you find out what you need.
Blue skies and sunshine guaranteed."
Evangeline
A beautiful name for a star, right? But here's the deal: this star is far more than just a star. In the beginning of the film, Tiana wishes upon the star for her restaurant. After his turnaround with Mama Odie, Naveen consults the star when he plans to ask Tiana to marry him.
And then there is Ray.
The firefly madly in love with the star. It is under Evangeline's light that everything comes together and that every heartfelt moment happens.
Now all that is very nice until you look up what the name Evangeline means. Go head look it up.
Did you look it up?
Okay.
I'll just tell you.
"The Gospel," or, if you prefer, "messenger of good news." So that means that Ray our little firefly buddy is madly in love with the Gospel. Now truth be told, the writers may not have intended this, but dang it is one heck of a coincidence.
Especially considering when everything around her seems to be falling a part Tiana plummets into a crisis of faith confronting Ray with the fact that Evangeline is nothing more than a star.
Yet Ray doesn't let this shake his faith, and mere moments later he battles the demonic shadows of Dr. Facilier.
Ray, the one madly in love with the Gospel, combats demons.
Nope, not Christian at all.
Time frame
Stay with me here, this part clarifies everything.
The final act of the movie takes place during Mardi Gras, aka Fat Tuesday, aka the day before Lent. Why is this important?
After our dear pal Ray just blasts a bunch of demons with his glowing bouncing butt, he is struck down and laid low by Shadow Man.
-Ouch
And at the stroke of midnight, after saying a final farewell and giving Evangeline's blessing, Ray dies.
Remember midnight had struck.
Lent began with Ray's death.
The day after Fat Tuesday is Ash Wednesday. It is time to repent and turn to Evangeline - *cough* cough* - I meant the Gospel; repent and turn to the Gospel.
We then see a time of mourning: a funeral procession in the dark lit only by small lights. Ray gets sent off on his way. This is the journey we partake each Lent: we remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. Death comes for all of us. You know, the typical kid's film fodder.
Poor Ray. Talk about a downer. Disney just killed off the comic relief. How can you ever come back from that?
For those of you who have never been to an Easter Vigil service, this kind of sums up the feeling of what happens. Everything starts out shrouded in darkness, and then out of the darkness a light appears. And that light spreads.
In the case of The Princess and the Frog we see Evangeline and then as the clouds part we see:
A second star. A star that wasn't there before. And we know. We simply know our boy Ray is finally home.
BUT WAIT, we're not done yet. The next day after our Easter Vigil service (aka Easter), the two frogs get married,
and what happens when they get married?
Tiana becomes a princess, and when the prince kisses a princess they turn human again. You see it is their MARRIAGE that saves them; it is their marriage that restores them. It is not a magic kiss but true devotion to the other. It is not our dreams that save us. Nor is it merely hard work. We need to love totally, unselfishly putting the one we love's needs above our own. In doing so we may not get what we want all the time, but we most assuredly get what we need.
And that is damn fine story telling.
-Seth D. Coulter
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