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Notes -
Aside from Mama Odie, who lives in the bayou, every black character we see works in the diner with Tiana or lives in her neighborhood.
I see your point about the merchandising implications, though. Thank you.
Yeah, but that's the point. Prince Naveen is an arrogant, selfish playboy. It's not until he meets the Honest Salt of the Earth Working Folks that he begins to change and grow. It's American "we don't got no class hierarchy here, Jack is as good as his master, from the log cabin to the White House, work hard and you can achieve your dreams" at play. As well, of course, as the racial angle - the honest salt of the earth working class black folks are being kept down by racism and a history of slavery. Charlotte's dad is this close to being a plantation owner - he is a sugar mill owner, that's where the fortune comes from, and the history of sugar cultivation is founded on slavery (see the early 19th century abolitionist sugar bowl).
When Naveen marries Tiana, she doesn't go off to his indeterminate home land to be a princess, he comes back to New Orleans with her to open the restaurant of her (and her father's) dreams. The aristocracy of labour, yo.
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