I’ve had an interest in Voodoo dating back to my first-ever (college) newspaper interview, which was with Wade Davis, the Harvard ethnobotanist who explored pharmalogical bases for many of its claims, and continuing through my time in the Caribbean and travels in Latin America, where Voodoo and its cousins, Santería and Obeah, are commonly practiced.

A common complaint among adherents to the three religions, all of which combine elements of West African beliefs with Roman Catholicism, is their association in American popular culture with evil – a tradition, the University of Miami religion scholar Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado writes at religiondispatches.org, that continues in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog:

I do not know where to begin my comments on how this film perpetuates offensive stereotypes about Voodoo. The loas are represented as evil spirits full of greed and anger. The masks themselves are vengeful, and end up killing Dr. Facilier when, in inevitable Disney fashion, his evil plan fails. This climax occurs, of course, in a graveyard, reaffirming the film’s association of Voodoo with death.

The African style of the masks connects their sinister nature with African religion. Dr. Facilier is often presented with his shadow, who moves independently and manipulates human actions. His big song, “Friends on the Other Side,” emphasizes his connection to the spirits. The “fairy godmother” is Mama Odie, a “good” Voodoo priestess who makes two brief appearances and is not in any way associated with spirits or masks. Both the good and evil sorcerers are associated with snakes. Two snakes wrap around Prince Naveen in order to turn him into a frog and Madame Odie has a snake as her mascot. The use of blood is prominent in the film. Dr. Facilier needs the prince’s blood and keeps it in a smaller African mask. This is hung around the servant’s neck in order for him to maintain the physical appearance of the prince.

The terms Voodoo, Hoodoo, and conjuring are used interchangeably throughout. In the end one is presented with an evil religion that will ultimately fail.

I did not expect critical race analysis or a sophisticated presentation of Voodoo when I walked into the theater. It is, after all, Disney. I did not expect such a blatant, racist, and misinformed presentation of Voodoo, however. The reduction of religion to magic is also reaffirmed in the curious absence of Catholicism in the film. My son is correct, Disney Voodoo is bad magic; it just doesn’t have anything to do with the authentic African Diaspora religion.

Read the rest of the piece at religiondispatches.org.