Disney's The Princess and the Frog is an important film

I like this film, it has a lot of problems, but I think it's an important film and I was reminded of that today while driving to school. NPR was doing a segment on an entrepreneurship class for young girls ages 5 to 8. Seems like a weird thing to teach at such a young age, but if you think about it, this is probably the perfect time. We live in a world where young girls are discouraged from pursuing careers in which they fill roles of leadership, and this idea gets put into their heads at a young age as well. They interviewed one of the girls who took the class and she listed off a couple of ideas she had for businesses that you would expect out of a 5 year old, but she also said some things that you wouldn't. One of them being just because someone tells you that your idea or dream won't work doesn't mean it's true. She went on to say that as long as you believe in yourself and work hard you can make your goals a reality. Not in so many words, but that was what she was getting at in five year old speak. She also mentioned that she wanted to open a beignet shop because she saw Tiana achieve her dream in The Princess and the Frog and that Tiana is one of her heroines and that just made me really happy. Despite the many flaws of this movie it's message is very powerful and something very important for young children, and young girls in particular to hear. You have to believe in yourself, you have to work hard, and you can't let anybody keep you down. Because of the strong message of this movie I will always defend it especially when you think about the audience it reaches. There are plenty of great indie films out there aimed at children and they are wonderful and important, but the reason we criticize the likes of Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, etc. so harshly is because they are going to be what is seen by the majority of movie going children and they are the ones that are going to have the greatest impact. I don't want to get into a full on analysis of this movie or children's entertainment as a whole, but I thought this minor point warranted a bit of discussion.