As I walked into the AMC theater this morning, I could sense something was in the air. I heard a father kidding his little son about movies. His kid was all excited to go see a film. His dad was naming every film but the film the little kid wanted to see: The Princess and the Frog. This little white kid, his father, mother and two bigger sisters all clamoring to go see “The Princess.”

Now you all should know me by now, I’m not big on labels and I think everyone could keep their culture without throwing race into everything and still be perfectly fine (just my humble opinion). Yet, when I saw this and then walked into the theater and saw children of EVERY race, with their parents to see “The Princess….” When I saw my children, especially my youngest with eyes glued to the screen and smiling… when I heard the clapping of EVERYONE in the theater after the film was complete, I had a thought…could this film change the world?

There have not been very many films and images of blacks to come out of Hollywood relative the films that perpetuate stereotypes. Sure, this film had a few, sure there was that black magic stuff, sure the father died and wasn’t a big part of the film, or was he? The story was about the daughter and her dream, a dream that was inspired by her father.

I enjoyed the film very much and my girls were overjoyed. The imagery and the celebration of the culture, the love story, the girl that looked like them and the many millions that will see it and fall in love with a young girl who doesn’t look just like them…the merchandise that will be sold with the likeness of a brown, hope filled, smiling and beautiful young lady to people that she doesn’t look like…

Could this film change the world? Could this film plant the seed of tolerance, hope and belief in the minds of this young generation? Time will tell…

Happy Holidays 🙂

Tank Jones