The Princess and the Power Elite: The Conflation of the Wealthy and the Prestigious as Seen in Mills’ The Power Elite

The image I chose to focus on is of Charlotte La Bouff, a character from the Disney movie Princess and the Frog. Charlotte, or Lottie as she is mostly referred to, is shown after descending the grand staircase outside of her New Orleans mansion. The house is a New Orleans-French style estate with an iron gate and ornate, tiered stories. In the background of the photo stands Tiana, her best friend and the protagonist of the movie. Tiana is wearing a medieval maiden outfit; the colors are quite dull, and the outfit simple. Lottie, however, is wearing a lavish ballgown, its skirt almost half the width of the large staircase. The gown is salmon pink, with cupped short sleeves and a collar that meets the bottom of her beehive styled blonde hair. The dress has a dark pink bow around the waist, and she wears white gloves that reach up to her wrists. The viewer can easily see her luscious eyelashes and dark pink lips alongside the silver tiara and silver earrings that adorn her head and face. She appears quite pleased, her eyes and mouth open widely in excitement at meeting the Prince. In the picture, she is holding her dress up after just gracefully descending the stairs to meet Prince Naveen, who is bowing in front of her. Naveen is dressed for the masquerade party hosted by Lottie’s father, wearing a Prince Charming-esque costume. He, too, wears a crown and cupped sleeves, along with a cape, boots, and tights. He is shown mid-bow, the spikes of his crown facing Lottie’s chest. A spotlight focuses on the couple, highlighting their first meeting. 

The picture is taken from The Princess and the Frog, a Disney movie that first aired in 2009 and is set in the mid-1920s in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Lottie, the focus of the photo, is the rich sidekick character for the protagonist, Tiana, and is from a wealthy southern family. In the first song of the musical movie, Lottie and her father are introduced to the viewer while leaving their home as the lyrics exclaim, “Stately homes and mansions of the sugar barons and the cotton kings” (9:12). While there is no real nobility in her family, she and her father are portrayed as southern royalty, the ultra-wealthy. They are treated well within the community, addressed by their names and clearly well known. In this first introduction, the viewer also learns the father has just been crowned the King of Mardi Gras for the fifth time in a row. It is in this introduction that Lottie’s dream of marrying Prince Naveen is first shown. Even from the first scene of the movie, Lottie’s hope to be a princess is established as a child, a wish that then follows her through to adulthood. It is this dream that pushes her towards Prince Naveen as a suitor, hence their flirtation at the masquerade ball. 

The reading I chose to focus on was Mills’ The Power Elite, in which he analyzes the elite in the United States, showing that the power elite originates from the economic order, political order, and the military order. Mills reinforces that these three domains are intertwined, creating a small circle of the most powerful elites in the country. He argues that this group is not crafted out of conspiracy, but shows how the elite function, through psychological similarities and shared interests. However, one of Mills’ main focuses within the piece is an analysis of the prestige that the American elite can gather without having to compete with a pre-established nobility. As a young country, Mills argues that, in the United States, the prestigious and the wealthy are within the same social class, while in other, older countries, the prestigious–the nobility–can be a different social class from the wealthy. Mills explains this, writing, “For it means that no nobility or aristocracy, established before the capitalist era, has stood in tense opposition to the higher bourgeoisie. It means this bourgeoisie has monopolized not only wealth but prestige and power as well” (12). It is this lack of structural nobility that allows the American elite to obtain the social standing equivalent to royalty in monarchies, amassing wealth, power and prestige. 

Lottie stands as a perfect example of Mills’ opinion on the elite gaining power and wealth in the United States; in her upper-class status, she becomes the American version of royalty, portraying this ideal throughout the movie. Within the first ten minutes of the movie, Lottie’s family wealth is established as her father is referred to as a “sugar baron” and “cotton king”, both establishing their accumulated family wealth and addressing their position in society as elite–even labeled as royalty. This is the first time that the viewer sees the conflation between noble standing and wealth that Mills describes. This classification of nobility is again depicted within the family as the father is crowned King of Mardi Gras for the fifth year in a row, making it clear just how influential and well-liked the family is within the community. Social perceptions aside, the father-daughter duo present their wealth quite obviously and lavishly. Lottie is consistently shown wearing clothing commonly associated with nobility; rather than adhering to the flapper style of the movie’s setting, she adorns herself in ballgowns and tiaras. Lottie fulfills the appearance of a princess in her choice of dress, while being portrayed as modern-day royalty throughout the movie as she has a ‘king’ for a father (both as a cotton king and the King of Mardi Gras) and even searches for a prince. Lottie serves to show the aspect of the American elite that is also their designation as the prestigious class or nobility. She exhibits her familial wealth to the extent that she even becomes royalty. Her family is met with the honor and title of royalty from the community while also holding the power of their high socio-economic standing, “monopolizing not only wealth but prestige and power as well”.  

Bibliography

Disney Kids. January 13, 2021. “Tiana Goes to a Masquerade Ball–Disney Princess.” From YouTube. Retrieved April 14, 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz5TSTUvJ1A).

Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press.