Disney’s new 2-D animated film, The Frog Princess is slated for release in 2009. The film, which stars Maddy, Disney’s first black princess, will be set in New Orlean’s roaring 1920s. And really, when is any movie about New Orleans complete without a little voodoo? While the character of Maddy is a step in the right direction, the nigh-automatic inclusion of voodoo in a New Orleans movie already seems dangerously close to stereotyping.

Voodoo will be represented in the new movie by at least two characters, one evil, one good. The villain of the movie, Dr. Duvalier, is a middle-aged Voodoo magician and fortune teller with a taste for theatrics. His foil is Mama Odie, a 200-year-old Voodoo priestess who acts as Maddy’s fairy godmother. She’s described as a mix of “Moms Mabley and Yoda.” Having both characters means that Disney will be free to incorporate the many negative stereotypes of voodoo in the character of Dr. Duvalier but alleviate their mention with the good Mama Odie.

I’ll wait to see the movie before giving a final opinion, but to perpetuate any of these stereotypes under the cover of characterization doesn’t sit too well with me. Voodoo (or Vodou, Vodoun, Vudu, or Vudun depending on where it’s being practiced) has all too often been sensationalized as the religion of zombies, voodoo dolls, and Satan – this last in spite of the fact that Satan is a figure of Abrahamic religious traditions, not voodoo. Let’s instead emphasize voodoo’s intimate relationship with the environment, its belief that we are all spiritually connected, its respect for the dead and the healing of the living. And let’s not forget its utter historical importance to West Africa, the Caribbean, and, yes, even New Orleans. In the Americas, voodoo has also been influenced by and in turn influenced Christianity, a study of religious syncretism and colonial interactions vital to understanding our American culture. Some people may dislike voodoo, but it by no means should ever be dismissed. If Disney is able to demonstrate the richness and respectfulness of voodoo without reducing its spirituality to a talking tree, as it did with Native American spirituality in Pocahontas, I’ll be pleased that they incorporated this American religious tradition into what looks to be an entertaining new film.