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1'''As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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3!!FridgeBrilliance
4* As mentioned under GeniusBonus on the film's YMMV page, the spell changes Naveen and Tiana into different species of frog, because they're of different ethnicities -- Tiana becomes an American green tree frog (''Hyla cinerea''), while Naveen is turned into a southern leopard frog (''Lithobates sphenocephalus''). A bit of closer analysis reveals that the morphological differences between the two actually reflect the characters' talents: The leopard frog's well-muscled legs, adapted for swimming and jumping, lend themselves perfectly to Naveen's dancing abilities (though as he notes when he meets Tiana, the webbing between the toes makes it a little hard to keep balance, at least initially), while the tree frog has dexterous fingers adapted for climbing, which come in handy given Tiana's background in cooking and restaurant work. (Just look at how she minces that mushroom when making swamp gumbo, for example.)
5* Most advertising for the film that showed Tiana as a human showed her in either her plain outfit that resembles the plain outfits worn by [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]] and WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}, or the sparkly blue gown she wore when she met Naveen. Most Franchise/DisneyPrincess merchandise and artwork shows her in the green dress she wears at the end. This is for similar reason to why Disney Princess merchandise and artwork usually shows [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]] in a pink dress and [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]] in a purple dress. If the merchandise and artwork always showed her in the blue dress she had in promotions for the movie then some people might mistake her (especially when she is not shown with most or all of the other princesses) as just a black version of Cinderella, much like how there is a black version of Barbie that doesn't have a separate name!
6* Eli "Big Daddy" [=LaBouff=] is a very big fellow, shall we say, who sure does love his beignets. Dr. Facilier's plot is to kill him by stabbing the heart of a voodoo doll once his daughter is wed to the fake Prince Naveen. This is certainly a pretty stealthy way to kill anyone, since no one would find a heart attack on a man [=LaBouff=]'s size to be suspicious.
7* Take a look at Tiana's Palace in all of its incarnations. When Tiana first imagines it, it is of course in the gold Art Deco style, and when Facilier visualizes it for her in the climax, it also is completely decorated in yellow and gold, symbolizing money, fortune and a life without love - the path Tiana would take if she hadn't realized her dream would be incomplete without Naveen. Finally, however, when the restaurant ''actually'' appears in full glory, it is stylized very much like the bayou, with lily pad theming and light green lighting, symbolizing Tiana's journey toward accepting love and family as a viable part of being a happy person and fulfilling your dreams.
8* In the very last scene, you can see a wedding band on Naveen's finger several times. When you finally get a view of Tiana's finger, she's wearing the ring that Naveen made for her on the riverboat! Possibly doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}.
9* Evangeline is the "evening star", A.K.A. Venus -- the goddess of love. That explains why she's so powerful!
10** It also explains another thing... {{UsefulNotes/Venus}}/Aphrodite is the goddess people pray to ''for'' love, but how often has she ''been'' loved? Her beauty has been admired, her power has been idolized, and her sexiness has been lusted after, but how often has someone just ''loved'' her with a sincere and devoted affection? No wonder she loved Ray in return, enough to apotheosize him!
11* The wine flows freely at [=LaBouff=]'s party... in the middle of Prohibition. This isn't an error, it's a subtle way of showing just what ''kind'' of money and power he has, and Facilier wants.
12** The rule wasn't enforced much at the time, and there's no way the police would try to lock up the richest man in New Orleans.
13** Grape Juice. No, seriously. When Prohibition struck, the wineries started producing perfectly alcohol free grape juice. And yeast. With instructions to not combine the two because that would make wine and [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial they would never tell you to do that.]] If [=LeBouf=] were a bootlegger, or controlled any, there would be, at the very least, gin and mint julips at the party, the two drinks everyone associates with Prohibition era New Orleans. However, with those images of magnificent neighbourhoods with lush, well kept flora that Facilier showed everytime he mentioned [=LeBouf=], it's possible that [=LeBouf=]'s money came from Real Estate.
14*** I think some of the material said that "Big Daddy" was a sugar baron.
15*** Sugarcane is the main ingredient for the distillation of rum.
16* Dr. Facilier's deal with Naveen is sealed with a traditional right-handed handshake. For his deal with Lawrence (to doublecross Naveen) he uses his left hand; considered by [[ASinisterClue some traditions]] to be [[StealthPun sinister]].
17** Also, from the viewer's perspective, Naveen is on the right, and Lawrence is on the left. (Facilier is between them and crosses his arms when he shakes their hands).
18** Also, during the handshake scene, Lawrence shakes Facilier's hand before Naveen does. Lawrence gets what he wanted, be to like his prince, with a few caveats while Naveen doesn't get either the money or freedom he wanted.
19** When first starting up "Friends on the Other Side", Facilier takes Naveen and Lawrence's hats and tosses them away. Where they land indicates his intentions for both of them: Naveen's lands on a painted human skull (indicating how Facilier needs Naveen's blood to keep the transformation charm working), while Lawrence's lands on a voodoo doll (indicating how Dr. Facilier intends to make Lawrence his "puppet" to gain control of New Orleans).
20** As he sings "It's the green you need", Facilier flips the 16 tarot cards he has splayed out to "transform" them into dollar bills. The camera momentarily focuses on the bills so you can see they're singles before Facilier rakes them back into the deck and tosses them out of existence. To a modern audience--or even a person with modest wealth in the 1920s--$16 doesn't sound like much of a deal. And it's not. Because that's not the "green" Facilier's talking about.
21** Also notable is that when Facilier flips Naveen's "future card", Naveen's depicted on it as laying on something suspiciously shaped like a lily pad. Extremely subtle, but there.
22* Charlotte is quite literally the [[ShapedLikeItself walking reincarnation]] of a ''loa'', namely [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mademoiselle_Charlotte Mademoiselle]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Charlotte]]. Website/TheOtherWiki's article on Haitian Vodou regarding Loa deities says she is of European descent, symbolizes all white women and their mannerisms, is very formal, loves the [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench French language]], loves the color [[PrincessesPreferPink rose]], and only [[FriendToAllLivingThings helps those she fancies.]] [[TheWoobie Except Travis]]...
23* There's a case of palette-based Fridge Brilliance, in regard to Dr. Facilier and his Friends. During his VillainSong, when the transformation occurs, things have a purple-dominated scheme, with green undertones. Near the end, when Tiana breaks the talisman and the Friends come back, the color scheme has reversed, likely showing the changed allegiances of the Friends.
24* Naveen DiggingHimselfDeeper while proposing to Tiana comes off as this since, a while ago, Mama Odie told him to [[{{Pun}} dig a little deeper]].
25* TrueLovesKiss is actually much NewerThanTheyThink; in the original "Literature/TheFrogPrince" FairyTale, the frog changed back when the disgusted princess threw him against the wall... similar to Tiana's and Charlotte's initial reactions of crushing him with a book. Excellent MythologyGag! ~@/{{Lale}}
26** Oh! The inclusion of Lawrence would also be that, wouldn't it? In the original fairy tale, the story ends not with the prince being freed from the spell, but with him and the princess riding off in a carriage drawn by the prince's loyal servant. Said servant apparently was so distraught at his master's fate, that he bound his heart with three metal bands, all of which break when his heart swells to see the prince freed. In this movie though, the servant is put-upon and is quite eager to give Naveen retribution for all of the humiliation he endured.
27* The breaking of the curse on Tiana and Naveen is proven to have been a solution that essentially Naveen was carrying around with himself the entire time -- if he marries ''anyone'', that person becomes a "princess" and would be able to turn him back. Lest we forget, though, it's marriage that Naveen is so desperately afraid of! And not only that, but Facilier instantly figured that out about him, and so he gave Naveen the key to his own problem, knowing that the spoiled prince would never be able to go through with it...or [[CharacterDevelopment so he thought]].
28** Listen to "Friends on the Other Side" with the knowledge that Naveen is going to be turned into a frog. To elaborate, Facilier says that "if ((Naveen and Lawrence)) relax, it will enable me to do, anything I please". This means that if they let him, Facilier will do as he planned, turning Naveen into a frog and corrupting Lawrence. Also, although he shows dollar bills, it's clear the verse "It's the green, it's the green, it's the green you need!" alludes to Naveen's fate, as well as being "free to ''hop'' from place to place", and the words "transmogrification central". There's even a lily pad in the background of the final tarot card. And before that, at one point his shadow turns into a top-hatted snake. As you may know, snakes eat frogs...
29*** There's another layer to that. Snakes eat frogs, but some frogs are poisonous, which represents how Facilier's plot resulted in his own undoing.
30*** Additionally, "And when I look into your future it's the green that I see" could not only refer to frog!Naveen, but to Tiana, who is wearing a green dress after she and Naveen are turned human again.
31*** I just realized that the lyrics "you need to marry a little honey whose daddy's got dough," are a double or even a triple [[DoubleEntendre entendre]]: he is a rich man, but he is also quite large, and, well, doughy. In addition, he loves those beignets.
32*** And when he winds up marrying Tiana, it still works, since her father wanted to open a restaurant, which would mean literal dough.
33*** Not to mention "But in your future, the you that I see is exactly the man you always wanted to be." This could allude to the way Laurence always wanted to be like Prince Naveen -- handsome and swooned over, able to do whatever he wanted and with lots of money and influence -- and his role in Dr. Facilier's plan to take Naveen's image and his place during his wedding to Charlotte.
34** Facilier mentions that Lawrence has been pushed around all his life and will be pushed around in the future too. Lawrence becomes Facilier's sap, pushing him around to achieve his own goals, since he can't conjure anything for himself.
35*** Specifically, Facilier says that Lawrence would be "pushed around by [his] wife", should he be married. Had their plan gone successfully, Lawrence would have wound up married to Charlotte, who is a rather... [[GenkiGirl energetic]] person and rather forceful. Who wants to guess how their marriage would have gone if it had happened?
36** Also, you know the whole want/need theme? Well, in " Friends on the Other Side" what does Facilier say to Naveen: "it's the green, it's the green, it's the green you ''need''". And he is completely right: what he needed was to be turned into a frog in order to sort out his priorities and find love, even if the transformation is not even remotely what he wants.
37* Tiana and Facilier as motifs for racism: Both are Black, disadvantaged, and living in 1920's New Orleans. Facilier's eaten up by jealousy and spite. You really think he was talking about Lawrence when he mentioned the "fat cats" in their cars? Tiana is best friends with a [[SpoiledSweet rich and spoiled]] white girl, yet we never see any indication that she resents the difference in their stations. By the end, Tiana [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets her happy ending through perseverance and doing what's right]], while Facilier [[LaserGuidedKarma gets devoured by the dark powers to whom he sold his soul in his attempts to get to the top]].
38** The Evening Star, upon which everyone wishes, could also be the Northern Star... which Tiana's predecessors would have used to reach their dreams of escaping slavery by running North from their Southern slave-owners.
39** There's a moment when reflecting on Charlotte's decision to kiss Naveen, but let him marry Tiana, completely willingly and without a second's hesitation. The moral of the movie was that people need to concentrate on what they ''need'' rather than what they ''want'', with the "need" being love (family, friends, significant others, etc) and the "want" being things like a dream job, or a lot of money. In Charlotte's case, she ''wanted'' to be a princess, but ''needed'' her friendship with Tiana and knew that Tiana ''needed'' Naveen more than she did. So really, Charlotte fit into the wants vs. needs theme just like Tiana and Naveen!
40*** Going a little further, take note of when Facilier strikes a deal with Naveen and when Facilier tries to strike a deal with Tiana. In both cases, they're being offered exactly what they want for seemingly a very small price. During his bargain, Naveen gives into his wants and suffers for it. When she is being tempted though, Tiana has learned enough to appreciate her needs and refuses the deal as a result, ultimately being able to stop Facilier and save the town. The two are foils to each other!
41*** Even deeper than that is the reason why Tiana becomes a frog upon kissing Naveen and Charlotte doesn't have to do with her motivations for doing so, in regards to want vs need. Tiana's motivation for kissing him? ''The Green''. And she gets what she wants! Charlotte's? True friendship, which some would argue is a form of love. Granted it doesn't work because Charlotte isn't a princess, but one can digress.
42*** Symbolism: ColorCodedForYourConvenience! Tiana spends most of the beginning of the movie (as a child, as a waitress, and at the party initially) wearing yellow - it's even the leading color in 'Almost There,' and so it becomes associated with hard work and diligence. However, when Tiana is reduced to wishing on a star and kissing a frog to get her restaurant, she's wearing a blue dress [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles with sparkles]]. You could practically call that dress "Evangeline Blue" - Evangeline who represents faith and hope and love and magic. And then in the conclusion Tiana wears green - the union of hard-working yellow and loving blue!
43*** Actually, she wears the green from the very beginning of the film - first as a child during her visit to Lottie, and secondly, green is the color of her trench coat and hat, which she wears when going to work and buying a sugar mill. This could not only foreshadow her meeting Naveen as a frog (and her transforming into frog herself) but also above mentioned combination of hard-working yellow and loving blue.
44*** Let's also not forget, that in the scene where she buys a sugar factory with Naveen and starts renovating it, she wears an orange dress. [[CommonKnowledge Some people call orange]] "[[CommonKnowledge darkened yellow]]" (despite orange being made from yellow and red). The orange dress symbolizes the combination of "responsibility" and "loosing down".
45*** And frogs, don't forget frogs.
46** A mythology gag ever actually comes from this movie. Upon Ray's death, he turns into a star alongside Evangeline. Now, [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 wasn't there a theory made by another Disney character based on this?]] Listed under Fridge Brilliance because it took a while for some to get it.
47*** To explain, they may be referring to when Timon tells Pumbaa that stars are actually "fireflies that got stuck up there in that big... [[BuffySpeak bluish-black thing.]]" Which was actually thought of immediately when that scene occurred.
48*** Also, perhaps it was like Mufasa's speech at the beginning - where he explains to Simba that the stars were the "Great Kings of the Past, looking down on us." We can assume that, since Mufasa was a "great king", he turned into a star as well.
49*** ''Film/{{Stardust}}'' comes tom mind, until seeing the PotHole's link.
50*** Also, as of the end of the movie, there are two bright stars side-by-side in the sky. WesternAnimation/PeterPan, anyone?
51*** Evangeline was the Wishing Star from ''Pinocchio''. Ray became the Second Star To The Right. The same two stars can be seen side-by-side in ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' and its sequel.
52*** Problem with that theory is that the Peter Pan stories takes place around 1904 and Ray with Evangeline is 1926.
53*** Since most have concluded that Evangeline is actually the planet, Venus, it could also be a [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology gag]], as most heroes and the occasional lover were made into constellations after death.
54** It just hits that the whole idea of Wishing and Working isn't all that new in Disney Canon after all. In [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} the original star wishing story]], Gepetto wishes on a star that Pinnochio could be a real boy. Yet the Blue Fairy only takes that PART of the way by bringing him to life instead of making him a real boy. Then, Pinocchio has to go on a long journey to learn what it means to be a real boy, and only after his HeroicSacrifice does Gepetto's wish finally come true. And who said that this was a refute of that old Disney tradition? You always had to work after that star "takes you part of the way".
55*** Even more than that, when she first arrives in Gepetto's shop, the Blue Fairy says he ''deserves'' to have his wish come true, because he's brought so much happiness to others.
56* Naveen's dialogue during his first "mincing lesson", in which he describes himself as completely helpless outside his cocoon of wealth and privilege. As a younger son who won't inherit the throne (he wouldn't have been disowned if he were crown prince), Naveen has grown up feeling useless and unnecessary. The revelation that he's a worthwhile person with a real contribution to make is the greatest gift Tiana gives him.
57** Um, he's the older son. His brother is six.
58** Doesn't mean that Naveen isn't a middle child, with a brother or sister older than he is.
59** Or maybe he is the oldest and he was disowned anyway while his parents tried to raise his younger brother into a more suitable heir. In which case the doubt would stem from the fact that he assumed everything, including the title of king, would be spoon-fed to him, and he realized he was truly unready for it once he realized he was gonna have to ''earn'' it.
60* When seeing the two [[DoubleEntendre jackass realtors]] in the donkey suit, there's a thought it was rather odd to wear a Donkey costume to a masquerade. Then brilliance struck! They're wearing the symbol of the Democratic party! Before the presidency of [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt FDR]], the Democratic Party was essentially ruled by conservatives in all issues including race relations; after his presidency, the Democrats did a HeelFaceTurn on that issue. Essentially, they represented both personal and political racism without at all being {{Anvilicious}}.
61** There's also a StealthPun, especially since the much ruder, smugger brother is in the back of the costume. They're a jackass.
62* Early on, Tiana tells Charlotte the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and Charlotte uses Tiana's food to try to seduce Naveen. Not only is Tiana the one who ends up with Naveen, but one of the scenes showing Naveen and Tiana starting to fall in love is her teaching him to work with food. And to top it off, when Naveen attempts to propose, he brings Tiana a ton of food.
63* In the "When We're Human" sequence, Naveen says that he's got a redhead and a brunette in each arm, and the blondes surrounding him just "hold the candles". He then ends up with Tiana (a ''brunette'') because Charlotte (a ''blonde'') held up a candle for their relationship while disregarding her childhood dream.
64** Does that mean the only redhead of the film, Big Daddy, is in Naveen's arms? Brain Bleach, please.
65*** Perhaps Naveen and Tiana's oldest daughter will be red-headed; she will be "on his arm" in a different sense, but still....
66* Notice that the reason they showed ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' at the start of the film was because, hey, the film takes place when ''Steamboat Willie was created'', and when the Walt Disney Company was founded.
67** That's actually just the logo for Walt Disney Animation Studios; it first appeared at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons''.
68* Dr. Facilier has friends on the other side...because he ''is'' one. More specifically, his shadow is. Basically, the shadow is the real Doctor Facilier, and it created a smooth-talking human for it to inhabit because taking on AFormYouAreComfortableWith makes it easier to scam people into handing over their souls. This explains why Shadow!Facilier moves independently of Human!Facilier, and why he's perfectly fine with New Orleans being inhabited by soul-eating loa ("help a brother out" much?). Also instills some FridgeHorror considering Human!Facilier is technically nothing more than a walking meat puppet.
69** An interesting theory, but the fact that the two can react differently (particularly when the "friends" come out) indicates that his shadow may be a Loa, but Dr. Facilier is also a real live human being.
70* Why wasn't Naveen at all afraid during "Friends on the Other Side" until he got bound to his chair? Because he ''knew'' phony fortune tellers are common in New Orleans, figured Facilier was one of them, and was just enjoying the show!
71* The film becomes a whole new level of brilliant if you think of the Friends on the Other Side as being an example of DarkIsNotEvil[=/=]GoodIsNotNice, and were actually intending to take Facilier's soul and not the innocent people of New Orleans' playing a BatmanGambit. Facilier effectively ‘punishes' people who try to take an easy route out of their troubles: the bald man in the beginning, granting him hair that quickly spread to his entire body; Lawrence, who wanted to stop being pushed around by everyone, and got involved in Facilier's EvilPlan; and Prince Naveen, who wanted to solve his financial issues, and was turned into a frog. Near the end, he tries pulling that trick on Tiana too. His own downfall comes when he tries doing the same for himself -- whipping up an EvilPlan to rise quickly through the socio-economic ladder, and offering his Friends on the Other Side a deal that would grant them a lot of souls quickly. The [[AnAesop Aesop]] of hard work and diligence and avoiding shortcuts works here on multiple levels extra-well if you assume the Friends were effectively [[ExploitedTrope exploiting]] Facilier heading for a HoistByHisOwnPetard situation.
72* Facilier says that he is a royal on his mother's side. Was he perhaps referring to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Voodoo#Voodoo_queens Voodoo queens]] of Louisiana, implying that his mother had been a Voodoo queen (who would have taught her son what she knew)?
73** In an earlier script, Facilier would've been the son of "Mama Odie, the Voodoo queen of the bayou" herself.
74** According to WordOfGod Facilier is of Creole decent so his mother is likely descended from European royalty.
75* The two Realtors who refuse to sell Tiana the property she wants for her restaurant claim it's because of "her background". But it's most likely less about her roots as a poor, working-class woman, and more the fact she's a single Black woman in the 1920s U.S. South.
76** There's the thought that this was why they refused to sell her the property? Never once thought it had to do with her status so much as it did her race.
77* The three frog-hunters scene seems to be just a BigLippedAlligatorMoment. However, it does have a purpose as it shows that humans that were transformed into animals can speak to humans, which becomes important later.
78** Technically no, since we already know that from when Naveen talks to Tiana in the first place, but it does work as a reminder at least.
79* "Friends on the Other Side" goes through a few pretty drastic tone shifts. It starts out catchy and showmanish, then turns soft and mystical, then becomes loud and terrifying. Compare this to "Dig a Little Deeper", which mostly keeps its uplifting tone throughout. This can be seen as a metaphor for how Facilier is a manipulative liar, while Mama Odie is honest and pure-hearted.
80* In "Friends on the Other Side", several of Dr. Facilier's tarot cards have numbers above them that correspond to meanings of real tarot cards.
81** The first card, showing Naveen in his palace with a guitar and two beautiful women, basking in a ray of sunlight ("Your lifestyle's high...") is numbered XV, or the Devil, which represents temptation and the urge to give in to selfish desires, fitting Naveen's hedonistic personality and his inability to stop spending money on expensive things.
82** The second card shows Naveen with no money, standing in front of a tower ("...but your funds are low...") and is numbered XVI, the Tower, which represents a fall from grace, or Naveen's parents cutting him off from his family's money because of his irresponsibility. It can also represent a necessary change, such as Naveen needing to experience a BreakTheHaughty (first by losing his wealth, then becoming a frog) in order to humble himself and become a better person (by realizing, as he falls in love with Tiana, that love is more important than money). As a bonus, the card features Naveen standing in front of an actual tower.
83** The third card shows Naveen marrying Charlotte ("...you need to marry a little honey whose daddy got dough.") and is numbered IX, the Hermit, which is associated with realization and epiphany. Naveen has a EurekaMoment when Dr. Facilier tells him he needs to marry Charlotte, daughter of the wealthiest man in New Orleans, in order to become rich again.
84*** It might be the Nine of Pentacles, which suggests a financial windfall.
85** Lawrence's first card shows him in jester's clothing and being forced to carry his mother, sister, and brother on his back. It is numbered X, the Wheel of Fortune, associated with the changing of fate--Lawrence doesn't just want to be wealthy and respected, he wants Naveen to sink to the bottom and suffer like he did. Indeed, the last card shows Lawrence switching places with Naveen and becoming a prince, while Naveen is now wearing the jester's clothing and carrying sticks on his back. Dr. Facilier makes this happen by turning Naveen into a frog and using his blood to make Lawrence look like Naveen so he can marry Charlotte.
86*** It might also be the Ten of Wands. Some decks have an illustration of a person carrying a burden on their back for that card.
87** The fact that both cards that involve the actual events that happen in the plot (Naveen's marriage and Lawrence's switcheroo) can be identified as another card (The Hermit or Nine of Pentacles? Wheel of Fortune or Ten of Wands?) adds an even deeper layer. Which cards are they, really? Are they the Major Arcana cards (which signify events that are set in stone, generally major turning points in a person's life) or the Minor Arcana ones (events that are changeable)?
88*** Version 1 with the Minor Arcana is the intention of the villains' plot: Lawrence (as Naveen) will marry Charlotte and become rich.
89*** Version 2 with the Major Arcana, which is what ''actually'' happened: Naveen's real EurekaMoment (The Hermit) came after he's been isolated from human society (via transformation) and gone through soul-searching to realize that he would be happy married to Tiana, even as frogs. Lawrence went through a full cycle: royal valet but exploited and disrespected -> livelihood threatened due to Naveen losing his riches -> HopeSpot of getting to live as a handsome, rich prince -> disgrace and arrest. The Wheel goes up and down. The Wheel upside down signifies that an individual’s path is going to be hindered or obstructed by something which is certainly what happened with Lawrence as Tiana and Naveen along with their animal friends served as an obstruction that caused the spell that turned him into Naveen to wear off exposing the whole ruse.
90* Tiana has a very good reason to be acting like such a buzzkill toward Naveen, like when he's busy flirting with a handful of butterflies or advising Ray not to settle so quickly for one firefly. Keep in mind, Naveen is planning on marrying her best friend -- she probably doesn't want to see Lottie married to a man who's going to freeload off of her and sleep with people behind her back.
91* Facilier actually demonstrates the fault with taking "the easy way out" in his very first scene, before he's even said a word of dialogue, both for himself and his unfortunate victim. The guy he gives the powder to has it work [[GoneHorriblyRight way too well]], and ends up suffering for it. On Facilier's end, however, he sells off a powder for a single coin, and is then immediately shown to use it on a newspaper. Since he screwed the other guy over, he's not likely to see any repeat business... in essence, his scams ensure that he remains in PerpetualPoverty, despite having supernatural powers at his disposal. Were he to [[CutLexLuthorACheck go legitimate and sell working cures, he could be quite successful]], but he doesn't work any harder than he has to in order to make a sale. [[ForegoneConclusion The guy screwed himself from the beginning.]]
92** Not actually as Facilier no doubt well aware of the Black Tuesday Massacre in Tulsa Oklahoma when the entire black Community of Tulsa were quite literally driven from their homes and their livelihoods destroyed by an angry mob simply because they were successful. He could’ve had a successful career going legitimate but there were those who believed that any successful black person didn’t deserve to have what they made with their own efforts or obtained them through illegal means (with the flimsiest of accusations and even without actual proof) and would have no scruples of lynching Facilier as long as they got away with it. Not everyone had connections to someone powerful and influential like Charlotte and her dad to step in to protect them and their business.
93* An interesting case of unintended layers in the film comes from the color coding. Tiana, Naveen, and Louis are green, Facilier is purple, and Mama Odie is white and gold. The stated reason for this is to match up with the colors of the Mardi Gras beads. However, they also reflect the Catholic liturgical calendar. Green represents Ordinary Time, a part of the year that doesn't have a special season attached to it. Purple represents Lent, which begins the day after Mardi Gras and is a time for Catholics to reflect and repent of their sins. Gold (or more commonly, the white Mama Odie is wearing) is a symbol of Easter, the resurrection of Christ and the redemption of humanity. The fact that this story takes place in the heavily Catholic New Orleans just adds to that.
94* Naveen seems quite interested in Dr. Facilier's little parlor entertainment, even having a large grin at the darker stuff and singing. New Orleans is known for doing tours of their haunted buildings, seance rooms, and such. In fact, one restaurant has a seance room that looks identical to Dr. Facilier's. Naveen thought it was AllPartOfTheShow until it was too late to leave.
95* If Naveen had gone to Charlotte's house as he was supposed to, then Dr. Facilier wouldn't have had the opportunity to deceive him and Lawrence in the first place. His own impulsiveness sets the rest of the movie into place. Tiana even lampshades it when she finds out that the prince was dealing with the "Shadow Man". Charlotte and her dad would have no doubt warned Naveen about such a man.
96* Dr. Facilier when tempting Tiana has a VillainRespect moment by telling her that she dreams big and reminds her she'd be fulfilling what her father wanted. They're both from similar backgrounds, and he has sampled her cooking as we see. He's still planning to scam her to get the amulet back, but he can respect their shared determination. Ultimately he fails because Tiana seeing her father's image reminds her that her dad never ''hurt'' anyone to get what he wanted, that he valued love above all else.
97--> '''Tiana:''' My daddy never did get what he wanted. But he ''had'' what he ''needed.'' He had love! He never lost sight of what was important! And NEITHER. WILL. I!
98* Doctor Facilier can't conjure anything for himself, and can only make something supernatural happen in the film when someone else makes a deal with him and lets him do so. While that keeps up with him being a JackassGenie and his nature as a trickster, it could also have been a sign that the original deal he made with the Friends on the Other Side was a scam from the start. No FaustianRebellion for him!
99* Charlotte having a dress that happens to perfectly fit Tiana may not be a coincidence. It is possible that she had that dress made for Tiana (especially since the dress was in blue and Charlotte only ever wears shades of pink and red) and was waiting for a perfect occasion to give it to her. Such as...a royal wedding.
100* Why was that talisman so fragile? The "Friends" gave it to Facilier as a trap. Either it survives the plot, and the Friends get their payday, or it breaks and the whole thing comes crashing down with it, and the Friends get to show Facilier what happens to people who don't pay their debts.
101** Finances. By taking the easy way and being in perpetual poverty Facilier wouldn’t have access to better materials like wood or the skills to make them into a talisman where as in a place like New Orleans and the surrounding area clay would be easily acquirable, easily to shape and mold, and most importantly dirt cheap! The talisman’s fragility might’ve also been something the Friends magically did as a warning to Facilier that this was his FINAL chance to pay back what he owed them.
102* I just figured this out, Facilier and Mama Odie are counterparts to each other. First off, they have complementary color schemes on their outfits(Facilier has a Black and Purple color scheme while Mama Odie has White and Gold). Next I saw what they stood for: Mama Odie tries to show people what they ''need'' to be best they can be while Doctor Facilier preys on people ''wants'' for his own gain.
103* In a way, Facilier got the way his VillainSong ended turned against him, as he technically did get his debt to the friends paid off. Only, in the only way he didn't want it to happen through it being foreclosed. He "Got what you wanted, but you lost what you had."
104* Lawrence is not that different from Tiana: both of them work menial jobs that don't give them the things they want. The difference is Tiana actually ''tries'' to better her condition with hard work and keep her spirits up while eventually learning not to let her ambitions get to her head. Meanwhile, Lawrence never learns ambition and assertiveness, remaining a resentful doormat whose need for vengeance just traps him under another person's thumb, only this time it is someone genuinely dangerous.
105* Each person who makes a deal with Facilier ends up stuck in an IronicHell:
106** The bald dude wanted hair, and ended up with so much of it that he looks monstrous to anyone who goes near him, making him look uglier than when he was bald.
107** Naveen wants to escape responsibility and Dr. Facilier gives him that...at the cost of turning into a frog and losing the worldly many of the worldly pleasures he enjoyed.
108** Lawrence wanted to become a big strong man after years of being pushed around. Instead, he's now pushed around by Facilier, who also treats him like a lowly servant, and when he's sent to prison, he'll be pushed around by the other prisoners and the guards.
109** Tiana ''would've'' been trapped in one had she taken Facilier's deal: having the restaurant she wanted, but becoming too busy for friends or family.
110** Facilier himself suffers one: he tried to offer the souls of New Orleans to his "Friends", and when he talisman is shattered, his "Friends" take ''his'' soul as a prize.
111* In the scene when Mama Odie explains to Tiana and Naveen that Lottie has to kiss them to make them human again, Tiana's image as a human in a cauldron has long dress. While this can be interpreted by the fact that Mama Odie grew up in a time period where women had to wear long dresses, but considering the fact that she knew that Tiana would become a princess after marrying Naveen and kissing him, causing Faciller's spell to stop working, it can be concluded that this visualization predicted what would happen at the end of the film.
112* A combination of this and Fridge Humor: when Tiana and Naveen are transforming into humans after kissing each other, we can see Mama Odie on the right side waving her hands a little. She probably knew that Tiana and Naveen would be naked after turning back into humans (given that Tiana lost her clothes when she changed into frog) and casted a clothing spell to prevent Naveen and Tiana from seeing each other naked right off the bat.
113* When you think about it, it actually makes sense that Mama Odie would say Naveen is a lot closer to understanding what he needs in life than Tiana. Naveen is completely aware of what his personal failings are, and has a willingness to learn and change. He just has to learn that what he's looking for isn't wealth, but purpose. Tiana, on the other hand, is a very goal-oriented, self driven person who refuses to stop and take time to consider her own needs or that she's misunderstood what it was her daddy wanted for her.
114
115!!FridgeHorror
116* In Mama Odie's house, Tiana and Naveen pass a jar containing two eyeballs and a set of teeth. Mama Odie is blind and has no teeth.
117* If the film is set in the late 1920's, what will happen to Tiana's restaurant when the stock market crashes in 1929???
118** And, if her restaurant survives that, there's still a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII War...]]
119*** During the war the restaurant will be filled with soldiers and sailors moving through the port. Their restaurant will end up becoming more successful than it already is.
120*** And, if her restaurant survives ''that'', there's still Hurricane Katrina. Naveen's and her descendants would most certainly be running it by then, but still...
121*** The restaurant is shown in the finale to be built directly next to the Mississippi River. Because the land New Orleans is built on was created by river sediment, the land closest to the river is actually the highest ground. This meant that the oldest neighborhoods of the city closest to the river (the French Quarter and Garden District especially) were generally not flooded during Hurricane Katrina. If the restaurant was still around in 2005, it would have survived the hurricane.
122*** Assuming Tiana lives into her 90's, [[https://youtu.be/mIQr_TrFTUk?t=2m53s it probably would have gone down like this...]]
123*** As pointed out on the Headscratchers page yup, New Orleans already has a number of restaurants that are at least 100 years old and are still doing just fine. It's also put forward that Tiana's habit of storing her money in tin cans rather than depositing it in a bank will help her out once the Depression hits...not to mention the whole "being a princess" thing.
124* What exactly happens to the souls Facilier, or Facilier's soul for that matter, gives to the Friends. If the Friends, as suspected, eat them, then does that mean that there's [[CessationOfExistence nothing for them?]]
125** Certainly better than [[AndIMustScream the alternative]].
126* Considering most of the film is when Tiana and Naveen were frogs, just imagine how Tiana's mom must've felt during that time. She never returned from the La Bouff's party that night and since they're black and living in a Southern state in the 1920s, she must've thought her daughter ran into some... [[TheKlan unpleasant folk]].
127* The Frog Hunters were going to cook and eat Tiana and Naveen. Tiana and Naveen used to be human, which would have [[ImAHumanitarian made the Frog Hunters indirect cannibals]].
128* In his VillainSong when Dr. Facilier says he has some royalty on his mother's side he pulls out a shrunken head and shows it to Naveen; think about it as it seems to imply that [[SelfMadeOrphan he killed his own mother]] and shrunk her head.
129** Or maybe Dr. Facilier's mother died naturally, and he keeps it as a sort of memory of her... doesn't make the shrunken head's presence less strange, though.
130*** Both ideas are rather horrifying, actually; on the one hand, we have matricide, which should go without saying. On the other hand, we have an extreme case of EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas, bordering on Oedipus Complex...
131*** However, it might just due to cultural differences. Like cannibalism nowadays is meant as anthropology, but originally it was actually a way to pay respect to the dead: it might look creepy to western culture, but it doesn't have to actually be creepy per sé.
132*** Actually, the people who shrunk heads usually made them from their ''enemies.'' It was meant as a way to prevent their soul from coming back to avenge their own deaths. Assuming that really is the shrunken head of Facilier's mother, [[{{Main/Matricide}} he probably killed her]]. Which further raises the question - what happened to make Facilier consider his mother an enemy?
133* Facilier's plan is to turn Lawrence - Naveen's fat, middle-aged, balding, spineless servant - into a copy of the prince and make him essentially marry Charlotte so he can kill her father and swindle her out of her fortune. Now keep in mind that the only times when Lawrence shows any hesitation with this plan is when he thinks it's not going to work and he wants to chicken out. Meaning that he's perfectly happy to go along with tricking a young, pretty, very naïve woman into marrying him. And now keep in mind that the spell keeping Lawrence looking like the hot, young Naveen only lasts as long as there is Naveen's blood in the amulet. This sets up for two scenarios. The first is that Naveen is recaptured and locked up, essentially condemned to a lifetime of having blood drawn from him and being forced to watch his servant steal his life. The second is that without Naveen's blood, sometime after the wedding, Lawrence will turn back into his much older self, in short meaning that poor Lottie will be stuck married to a strange creeper.
134** Or they'll sacrifice her to Facilier's "friends". Charlotte will be lucky to live out the year.
135** Pay attention to when Facilier is asking his Friends to help him find Naveen - he tells them, "Bring him to me alive! I need his heart PUMPIN'...for now." It's pretty much spelled out to us that he's keeping Naveen (along with Lottie and even Lawrence, too, probably) alive only for as long as they're necessary to complete his plan.
136* The end has a nice happy ending... until you realize that it takes place with Prohibition and the Great Depression right around the corner, and most places like Tiana's had to close. In about ten years she'll likely end up right where she started - poor and working like a dog to make ends meet.
137** Not to mention that in real life, her restaurant would probably end up vandalized and boycotted until it went out of business. That's why it's probably for the best to assume that Disney movies take place in an alternate world.
138** Yes... like say an alternate world where her restaurant has the financial and political support of town patriarch Big Daddy Le Bouff, overseas royalty, and, oh yeah, a big freakin' trumpet playing alligator who makes it clear he'll eat anyone who messes with her. You can't assume {{Disneyfication}} stops at the end of the film.
139** New Orleans hosts several restaurants that are over a century old. If a dozen other restaurants survived two world wars, the great depression and Hurricane Katrina why couldn't hers?
140** Are people forgetting that Tiana becomes a - dunno- ''princess'' at the end of the movie? Worst comes to worst she can always hop on a boat to Maldonia and call it a day.
141* Imagine how Lottie would have reacted if Facilier succeeded in making her father die right in front of her.
142** Not to mention that he said he planned to do that when Charlotte and "Naveen" got married. If Facilier's plan had gone the way he wanted, Charlotte would have seen her father die ''on her wedding day''.
143* It is established that animals can talk to each other and the only humans who can talk to them are ones who practice voodoo. So, at the end of the movie when Tiana and Naveen turn back into people, they can't talk with Louis ever again.
144** Eh, maybe not. Everyone still knows where Mama Odie is. Its not unfeasible that she would be able to conjure something to still allow them to communicate. Especially if one likens her as the BenevolentGenie to Facilier's JackassGenie.
145** Or possibly, like some other animal transformation stories, the power to speak to animals stays with you when you return to your human form.
146** Well, they could communicate with Louis well enough to explain "Okay, we're going to give our money to these people, and if they hesitate in giving up a key growl at them." so they're probably fine with communication.
147** There are some books that take place after the film that show Tiana and Naveen retaining their ability to talk to animals in their human form. After all, when they were turned into frogs they could still talk to humans, so why shouldn't the reverse also be true?
148** And in ''The Frog Princess'', the book this film is explicitly, albeit loosely based on, it's clarified that once you've been transformed into an animal by magic, you retain the ability to talk to other animals for the rest of your life, even after you regain your human form. The two main characters even end up becoming vegetarians to avoid the horrific implications of this.
149* A major, most likely unintentional example that is, otherwise, a very well-hidden [[TheReveal reveal]]: look on the wall next to Facilier in the first few seconds of his VillainSong, and [[http://media.tumblr.com/cb3fd0cea345ec830f3dbb2706e8f28c/tumblr_inline_mpv0rcr66s1qz4rgp.png you might just notice]] [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets the Operator]] [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos symbol]] etched into it. ''Why is that there?''
150* The scene that introduces Ray has a bit of this. That firefly that Tiana and Naveen go after looks a lot like Ray, and the circumstances would tend to suggest that it's definitely him, meaning that they almost ATE the guy that would get them to Mama Odie's and help resolve the conflict of the movie.
151** Also doubles as Heartwarming, since he helps them anyway.
152* The movie doesn't shy away from the fact that animals still kill and eat other animals, even though they can all understand each other in this universe, as shown with the gators Tiana and Naveen have to hide from when they arrive in the swamp. (And in said gators' case, they even seem disturbingly ''happy'' about doing so.) Even Charlotte's dog, Stella, doesn't bat an eye at a pair of talking frogs until one of them identifies herself as a close friend of Stella's owners.
153* If Dr. Facilier [[TheBadGuyWins succeeded in his sinister plot]], not only would Big Daddy be murdered by him, the entire town would probably be lost to the friends on the other side, and Facilier [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness would probably kill Naveen too since he wouldn't need him alive anymore]], meaning the King and Queen of Maldonia would never see him again, and even if they stumbled across his frog body, since he wouldn't look anything like his human self, they probably wouldn't even recognize him. To the King and Queen, it would seem like their son went missing forever. Now that would be sad.
154* Ray pining for Evangeline the Evening Star becomes this when he dies, and another star appears beside her. It implies that Evangeline was once a firefly and she died, turning into a star after her funeral. Her light once shone in the bayou. Ray isn't a CloudCuckooLander; he's a widower.
155* One of the most chilling things about the "Friends on the Other Side" number is just how ''easily'' Facilier manipulates Naveen and Lawrence. Specifically, he never spells out exactly what he's going to do with them. Even [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ursula]] explained the terms of their deals with the hyenas and Ariel (respectively) very clearly, but all Facilier does is give them vague promises of wealth and power and ask them to shake his hand. Naveen and Lawrence are so hyped up just by vague promises that they agree to a deal they don't even know the terms of!
156* When Charlotte and Tiana are little girls, a cat can be seen. When they're grown up, there's no cat...
157** There IS a possibility that the cat, being fed up with Lottie's antics, just ran away from home. Another possibility is that the cat still lives with Lottie's family but was just off-screen for the rest of the movie.
158** The time gap between the prologue and the rest of the movie is about 14 years. That's not far from the average lifespan of a housecat, so it's plausible it died peacefully of old age in that timeframe, or at least is so old and decript that it can't leave the house (bear in mind we never see the inside of Lottie's house after the prologue). Sad, but not necessarily horiffic.
159* If Facilier's frog spell became permanent, there would be a lot of unfortunate implications for Tiana; she would probably only live 10-12 more years and if Tiana did not meet Charlotte in frog form before, by the end and after the end of the movie, to tell her that Facilier turned both Naveen and herself into frogs, both Charlotte and Eudora would not know what happened to Tiana. Both Eudora and Charlotte would be heartbroken that Tiana disappeared without a trace. Eudora because she would lose her daughter and Charlotte, because she would never be able to see her friend again.
160* Facilier gives Tiana TheLastTemptation during the film's climax, and while it's heavily implied that he [[ILied has no intention of keeping his end of the bargain]]... it's worse if he was willing to honor it. Remember: the entire reason he's planning to sacrifice New Orleans' population to the [[EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity Friends on the Other Side]] is to pay off some outstanding debts accrued before the film began. Remember, he's little more than a con-man with some real oompah to back up more conventional stage magic. Imagine what kind of [[MagicallyBindingContract debt]] Tiana would owe the Friends for making something as elaborate as her glamorous restaurant come to life...
161* How did Tiana know what the "Shadow man" looked like when Naveen nor Mama Odie told her what Facilier looked like? Well, we know he went to the diner where Tiana worked at, so we can infer that Tiana met him and immediately felt something off about him, the implications are...a little scary.

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