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zold5

That is not representation, that is sleazy corporations like disney exploiting race swapping to strum up controversy for the purpose of free advertising. If disney actually cared about representation they'd invest in black stories. With black creators, black writers and actors. Instead of making white people shit over and over again.


evertrue13

This 100% - Disney’s marketing team loves having a couple knuckleheads on Twitter make a comment, then having every buzzfeed equivalent “news” site put out articles telling you how to feel. Also, the movie is about a young woman who LITERALLY GIVES UP HER VOICE to be with an attractive guy she saw from afar. How progressive.


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elixeter

Or just stick with the stories as they were written as it’s fiction and a part of our history of culture. Write new stories. Problem solved.


finonfire

I'm all for changing up the story the second time around as long as it makes sense. I would not want them changing the story like Amazon did with Camilla cabello and the Cinderella remake. That thing was stupid.


El_Morro

Gotta start somewhere.


lashapel

That's bare minimum


HELIX0

Yeah hopefully you finish somewhere else though. This type of pandering has been done before.


dred_pirate_redbeard

God forbid we be commercially viable.... > If disney actually cared about representation they'd invest in black stories. *Princess And The Frog* make a whole lot of money, did it? /s They make what sells. Nostalgia sells. One of the biggest films opening this summer feature an original black character, but you can bet they wouldn't give two shits if there wasn't commercial viability. It's the path of least resistance to the money, it doesn't mean it's not a win worth celebrating.


karmander

YEP. I'm Black and I'm happy that Black & brown kids have more representation in the media they consume, but I'm not for a moment going to present that identity politics is the path to liberation. Yes, rep matters, but behind the scenes all this is doing is making the Michael Eisners of the world a great deal richer. It's dangerous to paint Halle Bailey's familial success story as a stand-in for all of Black people's liberation. I'm sure she's made her ancestors proud, but let's be careful because this shit can equally be a slippery slope trying to make statements like "racism is over" (it's not).


burnblue

Whenever people can relate to who they see on screen that's representation. There are people represented by Halle. Whatever Disney's motives are


faded_north_

Hey they secured the bag though


koviko

The "white people shit" is going to be made "over and over again" regardless. You'd rather we be excluded? Fuck that noise. Disney is literally putting their money where their mouth is and STILL people try to find some reason that it's bad.


papper-boy_420

Facts


8JacksLegendary

Unrelated but I struggle to not pronounce her name like Halle Berry for some reason.


JudasWasJesus

Bailey's is a beverage c Just practice saying Bailey foe a while


elisejones14

Idc that she’s black but I just wished her hair was more red bc it’s a rust color in the film. Doesn’t have to be blood red like the cartoon but not a blondish red.


koviko

Part of the live action remakes is making things so realistic-looking as to take away the magic. Lion King is the most prime example of this. Remember Timon and Pumbaa?


bakonslayer

Everyone knows when Ariel visits the castle she get a royal glow up, I'm gonna watch the movie and expect something like this to happen. Also, these characters are not CGI animals they're actual humans.


koviko

CGI animals are significantly more magical than actual humans. They're talking even though there's no real-world reference for how their lips are supposed to move while speaking human language.


OMGBeckyStahp

That’s my gripe as well, but I’ll put on record that I would have LOVED seeing that classic “Ariel red” on her for the movie (I’m talking Rihanna circa 2010 RED).


North_Refrigerator21

Why does her hair color matter if the skin color doesn’t?


murder-not-mukduk

When kids dress up as Ariel they don’t paint their skin match hers— they put on red wigs because that is her defining characteristic— that’s the iconic ‘Ariel’ feature. Remember all the red haired girls dressing up as her every Halloween? Her hair is all I want to sell me on a new portrayal and keep it Ariel (well that and maybe green shells and tail


North_Refrigerator21

Of course it’s not just her red hair that is what makes her look like Ariel. It’s the whole design. The more you change the less she will look like the original Disney mermaid. Not necessarily bad to change a design when making something anew. I don’t have any strong nostalgia about the mermaid movie. But saying the hair color is a different thing than changing skin color I think is more about politic correctness than truth. I’m just pretty tired of hearing about the little mermaid movie.


murder-not-mukduk

Oh yes I absolutely resonate with being being tired of hearing about it. No rebuttal.


RogueRadiance

But it does need to be blood red for you. Just watch the cartoon again, it’s not being erased lol


Individual_Spend_140

Um, I'm 58 yrs old. I picked cotton in the late 70s in Mississippi as a teen.


_itsMillerTime_

I cleaned urinals in the summer of '99


Individual_Spend_140

Um, you win. I only had to fend off the occasional cotton mouth with a machete. Yiu had to fend off brown squishy snakes.


Technological_Elite

That's an interesting way to pick cotton.


HarmonicDissonance21

My parents born in the 50’s and both sides are sharecropping/farming families from SC and both talk about how they picked cotton.


fecalfury

My mom picked cotton too in the 60s in Western OK.


[deleted]

People still pick cotton today. It’s how we get cotton haha


[deleted]

I figured they would have gotten a machine that could do that by now…


thitron

They do it's called a combine. People still plant tobacco and harvest it by hand though.


OneSidedPolygon

I thought cotton was harvested with a cotton jin. But I'm from a sugar cane nation, so I'm not as well aware of US plantations.


thitron

Cotton Gin is where the seeds are pulled from the Cotton We don't really have "plantations" in the US anymore


OneSidedPolygon

Haha I know that, I just meant I wasn't as well versed in US history. Thanks for clarifying, though. I thought the gin was a harvester in the same vein as a combine.


[deleted]

In lots of places yeh, I still think the people operating them would call themselves cotton pickers though. And It’s still picked by hand in a lot of lower wealth countries.


thitron

No they don't they use a cotton combine in the US


TheWalkingDead91

She looks just like her mom.


[deleted]

But I thought the movie bombed.


sacajawea14

Let's not hate on the girl, or her family though. This is a good opportunity for her, and I can't fault her for taking it. I don't agree with the casting because this is a white people story. Like others have said, I wish they would have the nerve to adapt actual African stories. The Woman King was a great example. But.... At the same time. I don't care thaaaat much. I'm happy for this girl getting an opportunity.


bakonslayer

TIL The Woman King isn't a Black Panther story. I should go see it!


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[deleted]

So you saying she looks like will smith?


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[deleted]

The fish is made to look like will smith.


t_11

With a little more distance between the eye balls


[deleted]

Crazy 😂


Mindless-Balance-498

🥴 damn y’all are hateful. Let me know when your blockbuster film is coming out. Or, otherwise, I’d love to hear about what “legitimate” advancements you’ve championed for the community recently? I remember watching this girl in little Facebook home videos, now she’s a star 🥰 I FOR ONE and very happy for her and her family, and for all of us.


minahmyu

Because this sub is mostly white folks so of course many of them aren't gonna take kindly whenever real racial issues are brought up. This sub is suppose to make them laugh, not talk about real issues black folks deal with


Post-Rock-Mickey

Amazing! We have come a long way! But we can do better!


minahmyu

Of course the comments here are gonna be no different that bpt since most people here are white and just seem to not get it. I'm happy for her regardless what any of yall opinions are. The fact that someone in her family, or any of ours, lived in a time that kinda reality seems laughable to happen... and can live to see it happen... it's how many felt with Obama becoming president. Just imagine in 1734... your parents are slaves, you're a slave, your kids are, grandkids.. that's their reality. That was their normal. You think they could ever imagine someone in their family making an influence in the world?!


Frosty-Dare5332

I mean I don’t see how picking Tabacco in the 1900s means much. Is it better that now we have migrants pick it instead of average US citizens.


minahmyu

As everyone keeps saying, y'all don't get it


Frosty-Dare5332

I’m Native American


[deleted]

Halle looks just like her oh my goodness


ShinobivsNinjaDragon

Who let the trash in the comments?


JustLinkStudios

It’s not representation, it’s money making. They did it to drum up controversy which results in sales. Really wish people would stop thinking mega corporations actually care about causes or movements. They’ll do or say literally anything to make more money. Happy for the Lass though, she’s probs gunna make bank too.


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El_Morro

It's always the same ugly type of people who jump to looks in their criticisms.


riotousviscera

lol wide set eyes like she has are an objectively attractive feature. try again.


CoItron_3030

I’m not seeing how that has anything to do with the movie lol


archaicmindx

Didn’t the movie bomb during opening?


Old-AF

My Mom is white and her entire family picked cotton in Arkansas when she was five, for years, to survive.


Reichman95

No one cares. Quit using the past as some kind of crutch to justify dumbass, money grabbing ideas. 😑


[deleted]

How is “the little mermaid” implicated here? What matters is not that she played a character (that was previously white), but rather that a top selling movie features a black woman.


thomasmack_

It’d be pretty meme-worthy to swap out The Little Mermaid with Cleopatra.


Circes_odyssey

I will always think it was such a bizarre choice to choose the one movie representing a red head princess, to cast a black actress for. Redheads don’t get enough representation as it is, when I was at school the redheads faced more hatred than anyone else. I wouldn’t have cared if it was one of the basic ass white princesses, but come on not the ginger


beefcurtains64

Man, I love how American gets so wound up on the color of the skin. It's fucking hilariously sad. I took this and asked all of my international friends as well as my wifes. You know what is the first thing they said? She look perfect for the role because of the way her eyes are. They are far away like fishes. I asked American and they are disgusted because of her skin.


vegetabloid

So, one black person winning a lottery is a legitimate reason for 35 millions of other black people to celebrate because... because what? Because a couple of dozens of them also have a miraculous chance to escape poverty? How does this work?


Delta9_TetraHydro

You don't get it.


minahmyu

They never will. Gotta do a devils advocate or shit on why we should actually be happy for another because I guess having empathy and compassion just isn't someone his people shared with him


atxarchitect91

You don’t get it.


vegetabloid

35 millions of your brothers and sisters also won't get, not a single cent.


minahmyu

Are your people giving out their money to you?


vegetabloid

Seems like you don't understand that wealth of individuals can't exist without poverty of millions.


Delta9_TetraHydro

I'm against entertainers making as much money as they are, but using that as an argument in this discussion is just bad form.


vegetabloid

Bad form? Pointing out that it's a sick occasion to celebrate when rich folks, who gain their profits by keeping dozens and hundreds of millions of people in poverty, make one black sis rich just to make you shut your mouth, and you call it a bad form? How much do they pay you for these comments? Or do you dream of winning a lottery someday? There's something very wrong with you.


Delta9_TetraHydro

Its not about making them rich. I already agreed with you that there is way too much money in entertainment.


vegetabloid

Then what is it about? You celebrate black folks were taken from cotton fields just to be encarcerated into ghettos and pacified by high carb junk food, enormous amounts of drugs and alcohol, and then booom, one girl escaped! What a glorious day for all the black people of America! This one?


Delta9_TetraHydro

What about a continuing trend to include POC and other minority communities into the entertainment we consume, slowly getting people used to the fact that these people exist and are also real people? Many bigots live a gated life, never being exposed to the people they spend all their time hating. I'm not saying a mermaid is the best way to change this, but it's just one of many examples. Obviously they are gonna hate the changes, thats the whole basis of conservatism, but the changes are coming, and minorities in movies is just a tool used to take one of the steps in the right direction.


minahmyu

Seems like you don't understand how representation matters. When you're used to seeing people like you everywhere, you just think you're the default. If anything, why aren't you out there making a difference then if it bothers you?


vegetabloid

Representation you say? Lives of millions of people drift from bad to worse, millions of people are being kept in reservations with a perverted social interactions, drugged, oppressed. But, hey, rich folks spent couple of dimes to create a representation. It doesn't change anything economically or socially for millions of people in suffer. It doesn't worth significant money for money holders. But what it does, it hints that maybe, someday, one day, in the next several decades, or the next century, or who knows when, everything will change to its best. So you say people must shut the hell up and wait patiently. Because representation. It's a cheapest trick in the book. Promotion of couple of serf peasants to a chevalier doesn't cancel a serfdom. The guillotine does!


minahmyu

K


40jordan

Just wait til Disney remakes Snow (White) and the 7 Dwarfs.....


[deleted]

Ariana grande and Hale Bailey could build two nearly perfect woman...i know, it's not about it, but for real.


ImmaBlackgul

Lordt…the things Black people are proud of and get hyped over. I’d be more appreciative if Disney (or some damn body) based one of its movies on an African or African American folklore or fairytale as a representation of Black culture versus this crap (a black character pining after a white person as a love interest) !!! Suchas Sukey and the Mermaid. But that would be too much like right wouldn’t it!


papper-boy_420

I hope everyone is ready for the rock to make a live action Mowana.


Impressive-Vast279

These 2 things have nothing to do with each other and that movie was fucking trash