The new mermaid movie.

[Colonel Valerio]

I believe it’s possible to dislike the idea of a beloved character’s racial or sexual identity being changed, while still not being racist or sexist.

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Maybe, but it is pretty silly to be upset about the identity of a fictional character being changed in a reboot, the originals will always be there. Getting upset over TV/movie/cartoon characters is childish whatever the reasons are.

 

[Xoalienn]

She is GORGEOUS. And she looks a lot like the cartoon Ariel tbh.

 

[Hubert]

toy story 4 (spoiler) where the ending shows the family breaking up.

What are you talking about? I saw the movie. That doesn't happen.

 

[Scars512]

It will be interesting to see how Disney handles the different Ariels at Disneyworld/Disneyland. When you do the meet and greet with the Princesses, will there be 2 Ariels so you can have your choice over which one you'd like to meet? Will Ariel always be black now -- since this is the latest version? Or will they simply cast both black and white women to be Ariel at the parks? Just seems like it is going to be a little confusing for the brand.

The young lady is beautiful and I'm sure that she will do a good job. I just think the movie will suck in general because the live action stuff with computer generated animal companions always seems so much creepier than the cartoon versions. I won't waste my money on it, but I'm sure that there will be plenty of little girls -- especially little black girls -- who will flock to the theater to see this. So, Disney has found an ingenious way to recycle old material to a new target audience.

I just don't understand why they don't put the time and money into a new Princess story. I mean, they don't have an African princess yet. (African American, yes, but not a story set in Africa.) That would have been far more interesting than yet another Ariel movie.

 

[Yahda]

We have to remember that a lot of these stories of goddesses and gods have been white washed to begin with. I find it interesting that earlier depictions of mermaids goddesses/deities were black, with long black flowing dreds. Hmmm? They were the goddesses of the sea long before Ariel. Maybe they are symbolically trying to tell us something as with majority of Hollywood productions.

 

[Scars512]

We have to remember that a lot of these stories of goddesses and gods have been white washed to begin with. I find it interesting that earlier depictions of mermaids goddesses/deities were black, with long black flowing dreds. Hmmm? They were the goddesses of the sea long before Ariel. Maybe they are symbolically trying to tell us something as with majority of Hollywood productions.

Interesting. Do you have any links about these earliest depictions? I searched and all I could find was about Mami Wata -- but her persona was developed around the 15th century and was likely influenced by the contact with foreigners due to global trade (which is why her name is in pidgen English). I saw some cave depictions of what looks to be mermaids which were interesting -- but not a good representation of skin color since only one color of ink was used for everything.

It is interesting to note that modern day Africans seem to view mermaids as having white skin. A majority of modern sightings claim white skin / black hair. Whether that is because they have been influenced by the western depictions or simply because in Africa mermaids are generally seen to be pretty malevolent and they associate white skin with that ... who knows?

https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2017/03/the-evil-mermaids-of-africa/

 

[manama]

We have to remember that a lot of these stories of goddesses and gods have been white washed to begin with. I find it interesting that earlier depictions of mermaids goddesses/deities were black, with long black flowing dreds. Hmmm? They were the goddesses of the sea long before Ariel. Maybe they are symbolically trying to tell us something as with majority of Hollywood productions.

Where are you even getting this from? Mermaids or Sirens in general being underwater creatures are always depicted to be utterly pale and without any melanin in that skin. They have always been depicted at beautiful pale and deadly terrifying creatures. Disney and other new works have made them to be cute and that is the only big change from the early descriptions.

 

[manama]

Forced diversity is worse than no diversity. And you can not white wash a character that was white to begin with.

 

[ishigo]

Aren't there any new, creative screenplays they could use? For instance, the Lady Gaga "A Star is Born" was the 3rd version of that film.

Lady gaga is such a bad actress.

Can't a black actress be given a new movie instead of a role where people will just complain because she has been cast as a character that everyone has enshrined as a fair skinned redhead?

The goal could be to heat up racism. Because if people complain they gonna be accused of being racists.
I noticed they did that too when they promoted a black ballerina as principal at ABT.

 

[Yahda]

Forced diversity is worse than no diversity. And you can not white wash a character that was white to begin with.

Yes I bet the Native American Indians who were native to America and also the Africans who were forced to America agree with that statement.

Anyway I imagine you typing your comment while sitting in a room with a picture of white Jesus on your wall. LOL ! Where was the outrage for the most epic whitewashing to exist on the planet ? *crickets*

 

[manama]

Yes I bet the Native American Indians who were native to America and also the Africans who were forced to America agree with that statement.

Anyway I imagine you typing your comment while sitting in a room with a picture of white Jesus on your wall. LOL ! Where was the outrage for the most epic whitewashing to exist on the planet ? *crickets*

No im not sitting anywhere with a white Jesus on my walls because pictures of the Prophets are prohibited and Jesus was middle eastern. Also I'm not Christian.

And forcing diversity is equal to take away someone's literary freedom. Nobody has the right to do that. If Black people want black characters, they can go and support authors who do that and same with any other race, religion or sexuality. Nobody has the right to shove themselves in someone else's work or put that author down for not including you.

Ofcourse I'm not talking about Ariel here, they can cast a man for this role and that will still be a better casting choice than Emma Watson for Belle.

 

[Yahda]

Nobody has the right to shove themselves in someone else's work or put that author down for not including you.

So tell me again why you are mad that Disney decided to cast a black actor in “their” work ? What a hypocrite.

Now excuse me while I excuse myself from this OP full of racist hypocritical undertones from some posters. All this fake outrage over a fictional character. A cartoon character at that. Not to mention the outrage always come from these fake Godly people. Carry on manama.

 

[Scars512]

Yes I bet the Native American Indians who were native to America and also the Africans who were forced to America agree with that statement.

Anyway I imagine you typing your comment while sitting in a room with a picture of white Jesus on your wall. LOL ! Where was the outrage for the most epic whitewashing to exist on the planet ? *crickets*

Well, according to the Jews, Jesus was the result of Mary playing the harlot with a Roman soldier -- so maybe Jesus was whiter than we think . And, as someone married to a middle eastern person, I can attest that not every one from that region is dark skinned. He probably wouldn't have had blonde hair and blue eyes, but a light olive complexion isn't unreasonable. We could play the odds and say that he was probably brown skinned with dark hair and dark eyes -- but it is an educated guess only. No one really knows what Jesus looked like.

 

[Yahda]

Well, according to the Jews, Jesus was the result of Mary playing the harlot with a Roman soldier -- so maybe Jesus was whiter than we think . And, as someone married to a middle eastern person, I can attest that not every one from that region is dark skinned. He probably wouldn't have had blonde hair and blue eyes, but a light olive complexion isn't unreasonable. We could play the odds and say that he was probably brown skinned with dark hair and dark eyes -- but it is an educated guess only. No one really knows what Jesus looked like.

The point is that there is no outrage over the false depiction. People are absolutely fine with the deception but want to cry out over a cartoon character. So no this is not about Jesus being black or white when everyone knows deep down inside he wasn’t white with blonde hair with blue eyes, yet everyone is fine in their delusion. Keep that same energy.

 

[Scars512]

The point is that there is no outrage over the false depiction. People are absolutely fine with the deception but want to cry out over a cartoon character. So no this is not about Jesus being black or white when everyone knows deep down inside he wasn’t white with blonde hair with blue eyes, yet everyone is fine in their delusion. Keep that same energy.

I'm sure a lot of people are outraged over it for racists reasons. Not everyone who is upset by it is racist, though. They may just be very attached to Ariel because of childhood memories and no one likes to have things from their childhood changed. It is fine to call out people who post racist objections -- but no one should assume that every objection is de facto racist.

 

[Yahda]

I'm sure a lot of people are outraged over it for racists reasons. Not everyone who is upset by it is racist, though. They may just be very attached to Ariel because of childhood memories and no one likes to have things from their childhood changed. It is fine to call out people who post racist objections -- but no one should assume that every objection is de facto racist.

No one like having things from their childhood changed ? Lol. I guess the Peter Pan syndrome is strong. It should never be that serious but I digress.

 

[manama]

So tell me again why you are mad that Disney decided to cast a black actor in “their” work ? What a hypocrite.

Now excuse me while I excuse myself from this OP full of racist hypocritical undertones from some posters. All this fake outrage over a fictional character. A cartoon character at that. Not to mention the outrage always come from these fake Godly people. Carry on manama.

Cry me a river Yahda. I just think that they could've cast a ginger actress instead since Ariel is the ONLY classic princess that is ginger. Go call someone a racist who cares.

 

[manama]

I'd be just as pissed off if they made someone white play Tiana in a princess and the frog live action adaptation.


Imagine calling someone racist because they want the cartoon character to look like that character.

 

[mecca]

The movie hasn't even begun production yet and people are already complaining lol.

 

[Yahda]

I'd be just as pissed off if they made someone white play Tiana in a princess and the frog live action adaptation.


Imagine calling someone racist because they want the cartoon character to look like that character.

Im struggling trying to imagine someone pissed off over a cartoon character period ?

We live in a world where most images and history have been falsely depicted. Where is the outrage? Some are rightfully outraged and some are outraged that they can no longer live in their delusions. It’s a new day !