Comments on: The Girl Singing in the FAME Trailer CAN’T Be Naturi Naughton

By: attorneymom

attorneymom — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:41:44 +0000

Why did we need a remake of the movie classic FAME?

Sidebar: Sing Naturi Naughton!!!

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:33:28 +0000

@Pecola

I’m equally embarassed by all this criticism of “Frog Princess” sight unseen. Can’t we see the COMPLETED film before cutting it to ribbons.?

This excerpt from a New York Times article underscores how silly the debate has gotten:

THE debate surrounding “The Princess and the Frog” illustrates how difficult it is to deal with race in animation, experts say. Cartoons by their nature trade in caricatures.

Mainstream producers have largely avoided characters of color for fear of offending minority groups, although black producers have been creating cartoons featuring stereotyped characters since the days of “Fat Albert.”

Disney can take some comfort in a backlash to the backlash.

“This is one of those situations where I am ashamed of the black community,” Levi Roberts said in a YouTube video. “Are we being racist ourselves by saying this movie shouldn’t have a white prince?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/31disney.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hpw

The excerpt hits on another thing that bugs me about the debate. If Bill Cosby could create “Fat Albert,” then what is stopping critics of “Princess” from creating their OWN studios to crank out more Black cartoons? Even during this recession, there are rich Black folk who could plus this off (see below):

http://scifi.about.com/b/2009/04/19/snipes-launching-africa-based-sci-fi-franchise.htm

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/blokhedz.html

http://www.missiong.com/search/blokhedz

So, to all critics, start animating.

By: Pecola

Pecola — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:53:11 +0000

A year ago I had a debate with someone on a message board about Disney’s lack of black characters. I asked why Disney had had Native American, Asian, Middle Eastern, European, etc. princesses but had not once sought to portray black characters. The person responded with an argument along the lines of, “Black people couldn’t handle a Disney portrayal of themselves.” I got all huffy and puffy and took offense and shot the person down.

I really have to find that individual on the interwebs somewhere and apologize.

First the name “Maddie” is an offensive “slave name.” So Disney changes it. Then the title “The Frog Princess” is offensive…why the BLACK princess gotta be the FROG princess?!? Nevermind that the story reimagines the tale of the “Frog Prince,” where a kiss turns her into a frog rather than him into a princess. Disney went ahead and changed that, too. Then people are mad that the prince isn’t black. Now the reference to this being a return to classic Disney films (Melissa, you hit the nail on the head) is nostalgia for films made in the Jim Crow era.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion. But personally, I wouldn’t be mad if Disney stopped running the Proud Family and refused to ever again touch black folks with a ten foot pole.

By: Eva

Eva — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:33:54 +0000

My question is why do a remake of “Fame?” The original was fantastic. I love it, it’s what NYC was really like in the 1970’s. In fact I remember when they filmed that famous scene in Times Square, it was a hot day and they held up traffic for hours.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:50:42 +0000

I saw Up this weekend with my daughters and too thought it was wonderful.

As for the Frog trailer, I didn’t take the “Classics” reference as a nod to the crows in Dumbo, but more to its Broadway musical/2D animated style, as opposed to the 3D/non-musical style that Disney has been doing for the last 10-15 years.

I hear the score and song choices for the film are wonderful and am SO excited to see it! The animation looks great!

By: Roslyn Holcomb

Roslyn Holcomb — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:45:07 +0000

I have no idea who 3LW is (or was), but that young lady has an awesome voice. I also hope she avoids the Double B Trap.

By: Phi Sister

Phi Sister — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:02:19 +0000

That is definitely Naturi’s voice. Keep in mind that when you are doing a “pop” vocal they may require that you not sound so “soulful” aka ethnic. I learned this the hard way…

By: gem2001

gem2001 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:48:36 +0000

I hope she gets with the program and realizes she could be the next Whitney instead of Beyonce and Britney. Differentiate yourself. Her music on her myspace page doesn’t show off her pipes.

She ought to do an acoustic album.

By: Felicia (aka Mommy B)

Felicia (aka Mommy B) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:29:31 +0000

I caught UP this weekend too. What a great movie. I was rolling on the floor at parts and fighting tears at others.

But yup, that is definitley Miss Naturi singing. My daughter was a preteen when 3LW came out so I bought her the CD, which she played CONSTANTLY. I remember being impressed with Naturi’s pipes and was really happy to see her coming back on the scene.

By: LD

LD — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:28:17 +0000

I believe lil kim didn’t want her(N. Naughton) to play her role in “Notorious”. I thought she did a good job. But Kim, much like 3LW wanted a lighter skinned girl to play her role. Also, I read somewhere that Adrienne and Kiely were hottail girls hopping in and out of beds with rappers, r&b singers and NBA players, and Naturi wasn’t going there!!!!