Like Frozen, they seem to contradict their own message. "Hard work and having a job are the most important things EVER. WAY more important than finding a man! But don't make it too important because love is actually more important! You have to prioritize!"

and speaking of that... it also says you have to prioritize things in life because you can't have it all (which is correct), but in the end Tiana DOES get to have her cake and eat it too. so it's like she never actually needed to learn anything.

I think they handled it okay, but there was a lot of room for improvement.

What I gathered from TPatF was that you can't expect to make a wish and then be handed what you want- you have to work hard and earn it, BUT I also think that the movie is about balance. For me, the entire plot suggested that even though it is very admirable to have goals and to work towards them, there is more to life than just that.

But, that might just be me. I am very ambitious and I believe in creating opportunities for myself, but my number one priority is my relationships with people, because I always try to put my own emotional needs and the emotional needs of others before what I want for my future.

Maybe a little.

No, Tiana's mother said from the beginning that her father didn't have what he wanted but has what he needed, love that was more important. The fact that Tiana didn't listen to her doesn't mean that Tiana was right. In the end she understood that happiness is nothing if you have no one to share it with (that doesn't mean they were saying that romantic love is more important that anything).

I agree with AudreyFreak.

Yes, it's one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, why the movie is my least favorite. Throughout the movie the message is pushed that Tiana needs to work really hard for her restaurant or she might lose it. Literally missing one day of work may make her lose it. But then the movie also criticizes her for not taking time off.

^That's what I mean too. Maybe I didn't explain it well in the poll question. Working too hard is bad but so is not working hard! But the movie doesn't really show a good example of a happy medium.

^Yeah, that's better. I understand exactly where you're coming, and that is exactly where the movie could have been improved. I understand what the writers wanted us to take from the movie, which as I said before, I interpreted as the movie being about balance, but I completely agree with you that they did not ONCE show anybody working hard without working too hard, AND cherishing their relationships all at once (not at the exact same time, but you know what I mean). And I don't count the end montage thing, because they seemed to be working the whole time (but I do like how they seemed to enjoy themselves).
I don't, however, think they contradicted themselves in that respect, but they didn't convey the message well as we weren't given an example of a perfectly balanced lifestyle.

The way they get the message across of " work is good, but excessive work is not healthy, and love is better"--- feels a bit heavy-handed, and it's like passing judgement. Frozen has another, forced, heavy-handed message: family love is better than romantic or friendship love. So I don't like TPATF or Frozen, because their messages/morals are very skewed.

The film is a little two-faced with its message. It starts off seeming to say hard work is very important, but then it deconstructs that notion over the film by showing the downsides to working too hard (missing out on fun, missing out on spending time with friends and family, missing out on falling in love, etc), and then covers the very real possibility that no matter how hard you work, things might not work out the way you hoped (like how the racist relators turn Tiana down).

Then again, Disney is pretty up front during the prologue, since Tiana's daddy said it's fine to wish, but you just "gotta help it along with some hard work of your own," which Tiana took to mean that you should NEVER trust wishing, stars, magic, or luck. You should ONLY use hard work. Which is not what her daddy said, or what the film is saying.

The film is pretty upfront from the beginning about how important it is to find that balance between only wishing (Charlotte) and only working (Tiana); between wanting only love (Charlotte) and only ambition (Tiana).