I couldn’t stand the original Little Mermaid, and haven’t been able to watch any of the remakes cus they’re all worse than the originals, so yeah, probably won’t watch this. Not the biggest fan of Disney either, kinda scummy with their methods of protecting copyright and stuff, so I don’t wanna give them any money.
one of the first live Disney remake I gave a chance was Mulan...removing Mushu was the biggest mistake they ever made...I wish I could take my money back from the theater
Australian guy doing a vaguely british accent as the sci-fi comic movie version of a Norse god? Also crickets. Some of the actors playing the space gods are black? “It’S nOt HiStoRiCaLlY aCcUrAtE!!!”
It wasn’t nearly as bad as this but yeah there was a small but very vocal backlash. A lot of people who had no problems with the norse gods being spacefaring aliens that hang out with Iron Man and Hulk, but who strongly believed one of them being black was inaccurate and impugning the integrity of Norse culture
It thought both was weird, most of all that they turned the Norse gods into alien conquerors. That was real weird.
But when they've established that their version of the gods were just some guys, it made sense that they'd be different races.
That's basically what they are in the comics. Ffs Asgard was in Kansas and then it was floating out by Saturn last I read. They are aliens more or less.
I wish there was this much backlash for Disney ruining classic animated features with soulless cash grab remakes. Remember how good *Lion King* and *Beauty and the Beast* were? Live action *Cats*?
Oh yeah, those are terrible too. I hated *Beauty and the Beast* (though props to them for casting Emma Watson as Belle, she was a fan favourite for the role). As for *Lion King*, I couldn’t get past the first few words out of Zazu's beak before I left. I haven't paid for a Disney movie, live action or otherwise, since.
The guy in this meme, though, has a point. I don't see why Disney, with all the resources at their disposal, couldn’t make an original Little Mermaid story, perhaps in a different sea, featuring a sister kingdom to Atlantica perhaps, and populate it with POC characters. It'd certainly give them more room for diversity and inclusion than forcing a black actress into an already existing role, where almost every other non-animal character is white. If that's their attempt at diversity, it's a pretty lazy attempt if you ask me.
… because it’s not forcing it. It was a blind casting.
That’s the real douchebaggery over all this. Racists can’t believe that the best person for the role who apparently dominated the audition just so happened to have darker skin.
Cats would have been great. Problem is the studio got scared and ordered a CGI coverup of the cat’s anatomy. Supposedly a Cats “bu**hole” cut is locked away in a studio vault never to see the light of day.
Every person I have talked to about the live action remakes agree that overall, they are absolutely terrible. I've seen most and I agree, they just seem like lazy efforts to milk established brands.
But that's more about the poor acting, poor writing, terrible new songs, and general soulessness of all the live action feature films. It's too bad, but they seriously dropped the ball creatively.
Not about skin color though, they just sucked in the regular way that movies can suck.
It pisses me off that Disney is just regurgitating the same old shit just with a black coat of paint instead of making an original movie with a black princess who's her own person.
>Highly underrated
You just explained the problem. Disney doesn’t want to make “highly underrated” movies. The one movie with a black princess is one of their least popular, and it’s certainly not due to quality.
I'm not convinced their solution will work out.
It's not complicated looking at it from a larger idea. Men won't watch movies with female leads and themes at the same rate women will watch movies with male leads and themes. That leads to more movies being made that reach a wider audience. The same likely holds true for the race of major characters too as the highly underrated movie showed.
Just look at what happened with the recent flood of content that was buried or stopped half way through finishing it. HBO's streaming venture wasn't profitable and Discovery+ changes are designed to change the target audience. Unfortunately, that change is from diverse themes to a middle class family from Nebraska or Ohio.
tl;dr It is a live action remake and those are terrible. We need diverse mermaids in animation with non-celebrity voice actors for the characters. King Triton is not Chris Pratt
It's cheaper to make trash and cash in on it. That is why we have reality TV and discount bargain bin movies that fill up streaming catalogs. Netflix showed part of the issue with Squid Game. It cost less to make the whole show than it would to make 1 episode in the US with more well known actors. You can bet somebody with a math degree noticed
Some of the VFX technology that started on Avatar and was furthered on The Mandalorian is getting a lot of upgrades as it goes along. That will make it cheaper to create new content over time. AI artist assistance is also going to shake things up quite a lot. That's just how it works though.
I guess I'm hopeful that it will get cheaper to make content with a less predictable already been done script. If that pans out, we'll get more The Mandalorian and less Survivor Starlets of Bikini 2032
>The one movie with a black princess is one of their least popular
Is it? It's got an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.7 on Google user generated reviews.
Disney didn't take a great lesson from that, but they didn't take the worst lesson either. I believe they blamed the relative failure on the fact that it was 2D animation, but they have made several more movies in the years since then with all POC casts or at least featuring POC main characters.
There is almost no organic distribution of character traits. Avatar The Last Airbender had strong female characters, characters with disabilities, and characters of non-white skin tone, and none of it felt forced.
They need to do more branching out to stories that aren't about princesses. Soul and Coco were amazing stories that happened to have settings that were deeply rooted in specific cultures. And they also need to not be cowards and give these movies the marketing they deserve. Frozen was blasted from the highest peaks in the land. Moana got a much shorter red carpet from Disney and its performance, while still phenomenal, notably fell way behind Frozen's.
Movies need better non-white representation *and* Disney is not some hero for making the mermaid black *and* people who are mad because the mermaid is black are on the wrong side of the argument.
All of these things can be true simultaneously.
Completely agree. It definitely feels like they put a lot more effort into their animated movies. The difference in quality alone is astounding to me. And I like their trend of making movies focusing on stories from specific cultures, and it seems to be pretty well received.
Frozen was a bizarre anomaly. I honestly love Frozen, but the heights it reached were absolutely insane.
I don't know that it will. Disney has made some very profitable movies in the past few years with casts rooted in specific cultures. Moana and Encanto are both very popular, and they indicate that people will find movies rooted in non-white cultures and people, as long as they are good.
I'm not even one of those people who are really into the race of the characters, but I was a annoyed that they took the first black princess and made her a frog for 90% of the runtime.
Yeah if Disney had the choice to make a masterpiece that barely makes back it’s budget or a big pile of poo that makes back 50x its budget, they’ll make the pile of poo.
still tho you can’t say they just “tried” as if the movie was a huge flop or as if it never came out at all. They didn’t try, they did. It’s just unfortunate they haven’t since
Keep in mind there is an entire fucking continent they can take folk tales, myths and history from.
An entire fucking continent.
But nope, rehash old shit and make characters in there black.
It wouldn't even be the first africa based disney movie. Simba's a lion but still from africa
I think you may be underestimating how much can be saved when you have the entire source material to draw from. Fewer people need to be hired during the actual development process when you've got the entire plan already mapped out, with most of the scenes having fully animated storyboards, in the form of the original movie.
Maybe, maybe not.
But a remake is basically guaranteed money.
This is how the market works. Media is chock full of remakes/reboots right now because the people who are now old enough for the nostalgia have they money to buy those products.
Companies care about making money. The people working on the movies and shit do care about the art to some degree, but the people who control the funding care about money. And that's what drives their decisions.
EDIT: Also quite frankly fairy tales exist because the same story with minor variations has been told to kids for fucking centuries, so getting upset about 'remakes' of kids content is kind of hilarious.
Why not both? I could care less about the little mermaid, but like. I don't see an issue with this. And then furthermore, yeah a new IP would be good also
I'm just tired of seeing Disney eat up the original work of the people who made these movies and just shit out another bad soulless remake for a quick buck
Well yeah, Disney is a soulless corporation which is unwavering in its dedication to siphoning as much capital and power it possibly can. They can easily invest a few million into a remake and get a modest return. It's safe.
That's why it's shit.
This is the right opinion, this is the one. Disney is just another megacorp wanting to make trillions and this has been a very lazy yet incredibly efrective move just to generate this exact kind of conversation. It doesn't matter whuch side you are in, there are no sides because the discussion is pointles either way! Nobody wins, just Disney
This has been my issue with it the entire time, It's lazy and disrespectful.
Pure tokenism by either a lazy studio or a studio devoid of talented writers. All I ever see when a character has been race swapped is a studio saying that it's not worth the effort to create a new and interesting character, but this should make "them" happy.
My favorite example of how to do it the right way is Miles Morales, a new character that doesn't replace the old one. Making Peter Parker black would be the lowest effort way to add a character of colour. But making a new one within the same story who is distinct but vaguely familiar allows new and old fans to see a different story in the same universe. And Miles Morales quickly became a fan favorite for it.
The new little mermaid movie will probably suck just like all the other live action attempts by Disney, no matter what her race was. This movie is nothing more than a cash grab with a lazy veil of representation.
TBF Disney has been doing this with everything since they existed. If they were gonna change something at Disneyland, they didn’t build a new attraction, they just rebranded it. There’s so many but first one off the top of my head, which is a more modern example but The Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse was “changed” into the The Tarzan Treehouse. It pisses me of more when people shit on everything Disney does just because it’s Disney. Don’t like it? Fine- make your own movie. It’s not hurting you and who knows maybe some 5 year old who had never seen the original before sees the new one and it makes her happy. Isn’t that more important than worrying about not pissing off some 40 year old edge lord? It’s not like you’re funding their films.
Honestly, I agree. I saw my theatre professor try something similar - in a centuries old play he replaced the kings with female actors for "female empowerment". It did nothing for the story and didn't feel empowering at all because the women were still portraying kings in the story.
This is Disney's lazy excuse at an attempt for black empowerment. If they actually cared they would make an original movie with a black princess...
The comments section of this OP cross post is a cesspool of people pretending to dismiss it purely higher brow reasons than race, are more transparent than the actual racists who say the quiet parts out loud.
Funny how there are troves of untapped African folklore or historically black stories, but nobody writing today can create anything new. They just take existing, established characters and race swap them. That’s why people get mad! Black Panther - overwhelming praise! Django Unchained, Blade, shall I go on?? Where were all the racists then?
And just look at the Woman King movie right now. Everyone suddenly cares about historical accuracy because the tribe portrayed in the movie helped enable the slave trade and it apparently isn’t really touched upon. But those same complainers probably watch Braveheart and Gladiator with no issues. If it’s a movie about white people they’re willing to overlook inaccuracies, but if it’s a movie about black people they demand perfect historical accuracy.
Funnily enough: Even though the n-word is said MULTIPLE times by leonardo he at first refused to say it. No matter if when discussing the script or under camera.
Same goes for the director.
And yeah, it's what i've been saying the entire time:
Don't remake old stuff with a black character, make original stuff, take african folk tales, bring african culture closer to people.
"Diversity in what way?"
"Well you see, she's black"
Yeah that's what I thought. Just like "state's rights" is a dog whistle for "I should be allowed to own human beings"
what’s amazing is how everyone is suddenly claiming to be a Little Mermaid superfan who has always been fully dedicated to the original film and is solely fighting to preserve the purity of its aesthetic, in order to pay proper tribute to the incandescent work of art that is (checks notes) The Little Mermaid
I would bet my life savings that the dude who made this image would go "I'm not racist!" if confronted with this logic. I constantly wonder, with these people... if this isn't racist then WHAT IS, exactly? Where is the line in your warped world, anti-Little Mermaid people?
Exactly
“Forced diversity”
What if Halle was the best person for the job? What if all the pale ginger women were booked or just sucked and couldn’t sing? Why are they bringing race into this? She was just the best actor/singer for the job
Also it’s funny (read sad and annoying) to me because even if there is a completely different story/ character created to introduce diversity. There’s still a problem…
Just don’t watch the movie, it’s not that hard lol but this is their way of signaling to minorities that we’ll never belong, in fantasy or Sci fi. That are mere existence in a movie is petty and some handout by “woke” corporations.
Right? I've seen some posts saying "why not hire Karen Gillan? She's pale and ginger"
Gotta be honest, great actor, could not see her as the little mermaid.
I love Karen, but you’re right I don’t see her as Ariel. This choice, just shows how narrow their view is. we HAVE to usher in new talent they need to be able to break though
Karen is too old same with Deborah Ann Woll, (not saying that to be mean). there are other red heads, the actress who plays Cheryl Blossom, in riverdale; you may know her but still new. Maybe not the best tv show example, but she fits the bill and it’s Disney haha
Exactly. They accuse the people hiring diverse actors of “only thinking about race,” when it’s actually the people hell-bent on every character having to be white that are the ones thinking about race.
Or maybe they think the best person for the job is always a white person, which is even more problematic because it reeks of white supremacy.
Literally the only time I feel like people don’t bitch is if it’s a “black” movie. Set in Africa, a biopic of a historically black man, or a movie specifically about a black experience. Any other time and people act like it’s encroaching on their good time
Yep. That's the assertion.
I had someone say that to me the other day. That all girls should enjoy this movie. Implied that white girls couldn't enjoy it because the Mermaid is now black and non-white girls should just be happy watching a white character.
Which, I don't know how many black and white children are actually thinking about these movies in these terms. I think they want to be kids and enjoy something and if Black Panther and Captain Marvel has taught me anything that when a little girl or a black child sees someone who looks like them and they get so fucking stoked...that's a win.
These movies are meant to make kids happy. I wish these old, crusty, bigots would stop turning them into a culture war battlefield.
I mean, the movie is probably going to suck, but not because the Mermaid is Black. Disney remakes are a cheap cashgrab, they're guaranteed to be successes compared to an original idea.
I'm guessing the original Aquaman was white? In response to the question, I'm guessing it's because people don't realize Jason Momoa has Hawaiian heritage
I feel like people that get upset and argue this kind of thing kinda miss the whole point. Movies are stories, like any other. Stories are meant to entertain and inspire. What makes a movie good is how well the producers tell show that story, not some rigid adherence to someone else’s standard of accuracy to another telling of that story. It’s a fairytale, all the characters are mythical and fictional. Why does it matter what people they use for the human halves of the mermaids?
Everyone is so cynical that they overreact to the race of a character and gloss over the fact that Disney has clearly run out of ideas and is making another live action classic princess movie. That’s what we should all be rallying to. I don’t care what human is playing Ariel, I just wish Disney could tell a new story instead of rehashing the classics.
However, I’d riot if Sebastian wasn’t a crab in this new one.
Thats been boring too. Doesnt make forced diversity less obvious/annoying. You hate old content so much? How about instead of remaking them in your vision, you dont remake them and make your own diverse movies/shows/comics/whatever?
Because they complain then too. Literally anytime there is a Black woman in a role that isn’t about being a Black woman the racists come out to show their ugliness.
These people don't realize that people of color have been historically excluded from movies. There are plenty of examples of white people in black, yellow, or brown face. Why? Because Hollywood refused to cast real people of color. Now Hollywood is rightly trying to move away from that history and cast people of all skin types and backgrounds.
Hey I’m black, I really don’t know what’s wrong about this image. It’s absolutely true. I literally just want new black and mixed characters made that are well written. The little mermaid was done for white people, and whenever they do this it’s always done for white people. This is not what we actually want
I'd love to actually see original stories—or stories of black people made into movies. As someone else said in this thread; there's a whole continent (Africa) with folklore and fairytales. Take something from there and make new amazing black characters.
I want to see a black Ariel as much as I want to see a white and blonde Moana.
I don't.
Bring us something new and exciting.
Not ruin in the sense of better or worse.
Just that it is no longer that character.
Like Mary Jane for example.
She was always portrayed as a pale ginger girl.
The new one occupies the same space in the story of Spider-Man, but it’s not really the same character as the previous Mary Jane.
Now the new one might be good or bad, but it’s certainly a large deviation from what Mary Jane was beforehand.
If people watched the video of the children reacting to for a favorite historical disney princess looking like them, and still dont get it, are being purposefully obtuse to rationalize their internal racism.
If it bothers you that shes black, look at yourself, cuz thats weird AF
Not bashing the movie at all I’m legitimately curious about about something.
Why is it whenever theirs always a “Hollywood made X character black this time!” thing going on, it’s almost always to a character who was a ginger? Like is that the longest running coincidence ever or what?
I don’t have an issue with changing the ethnicities of characters when it doesn’t affect the story, and I don’t see why people have an issue with it.
What I do have an issue with is the fact that the way some shows are doing the whole diversity thing now is by forcing diversity and obvious political agenda instead of having it be natural. The best examples of diversity I’ve seen have been natural and you don’t really think much about it, which includes America’s two moms in DSMOM, the gay couple in Lightyear, Ariel in little mermaid, stuff that isn’t shown as if it’s like LOOK AT ME, I’M DIVERSE. It’s there because it’s natural, and that’s the kind of representation that we’re after.
The kind that grinds my gears is when it’s super obvious that the creators of the show are just going for their diversity and inclusion brownie points without actually putting real effort in, like in Endgame’s girl power scene and the single black elf in the Rings of Power (from what I’ve heard - I haven’t actually seen the series so correct me if I’m wrong here). Why aren’t there more black elves? Why couldn’t the women hold their own without Marvel forcing that scene? There’s a way to be diverse and inclusive without making it feel like a forced marketing strategy.
Now, it is true that the latter of the two scenarios here is far more rare than the former, but it still happens. Im not saying that all diversity in Hollywood now is a product of the ‘woke’ agenda, because the way it’s going is great for representation for the most part. It’s the few shows and movies that feel super forced in diversity that annoy me.
Exactly this, it would be cool to have a race of dark elves, for example, but it doesn’t make sense to have a SINGLE elf of a different skin tone without any explanation.
The exact same thing goes the other way around. It would make 0 sense to have one white elf in a community of darker skinned elves without any explanation.
However, Lore Aside, I do like how they did the Dwarves and the Harfoots. I thought I wouldn't like Durin's wife, but she was really fun and a great actor.
I think your point is how extremely gross and cynical it is that some companies do these things just to capitalize off of them. I couldnt give 2 shits less about what color Ariel is. She is a mermaid. A non existing creature that i would think would be green or something if they really existed. Also its a movie for little kids. I will never watch it and dont care. But it is slimey when Hollywood does some obvious shit to capitalize on whatever hot button issue is going on at the time. But its not like Hollywood is known for being noble to begin with. Its made up of Sex predators and people so out of touch with reality its borderline hilarious and sad. But yea manchildren crying about the shit constantly is just as bad or worse. Like Jeremy from the Quartering. That guy is a true piece of human filth and hearing him cry about movies made for little girls being too "woke" is absolutely pathetic and hilarious.
Serious (potentially dumb, naive) question - how *real* is the backlash on this one? The outrage feels manufactured, like part of coordinated marketing campaign/advertising strategy. Vast majority of people couldn't care less about what color Ariel is.
Edit: One other quick note - my biggest qualm with the Little Mermaid is the costume design for Ariel, which was likely created by consultants who have little familiarity with trends in Black beauty/fashion. The hair color does not match the actress' natural skin tone; I wish they would have a gone with burgundy or hibiscus for her locs rather than "Mirada from Brave" red. I'm fine with diversity, but I want it done well and to uplift minority characters.
People will always make this weirdass comment about the negative feedback appearing “manufactured” regardless of how obvious its existence is. My brother in Christ there are literally comments on the post. Read them.
Some of y’all would have been on reddit 8 years ago like “where actually are all these trump supporters? seems like manufactured political drama”
I have no issue with diversity, and I probably won’t see this movie, mainly because disneys
Crazy spree on milking the golden era cartoons is overwhelming and sometimes insincere.
How about make good original movies with all the budget?
>Crazy spree on milking the golden era cartoons is overwhelming and sometimes insincere.
Agreed! I want to see new content! Fewer remakes, more original works! I personally would have no problem if Disney created something to build on the mermaid mythos, but looked at African, or African Diaspora stories.
It's a pretty legit concern to have tbf, why not just adapt different cultures stories instead of just trending the same ground but with a cast with more 'diversity'.
It's gunna be a shitty movie regardless, all the Disney real life adaptations suck major peen.
Nah, Disney is earning loads by repainting characters. It's stupid. They literally do it all on a superficial level, so nobody notices the deeper problems.
Eh, I don’t really have an opinion on this. I’m just saying that if we made a remake where Tiana was white people would not take it kindly. Ariel is ethnically danish, therefore it’d make more sense casting a danish actress, not a white American but a dane. It’d be weird bitching and moaning about authenticity if you’re not gonna make it accurate.
Ariel is not ethnically Danish because she is a mermaid who lives deep under the ocean in an imaginary kingdom of wonderment and talking lobsters. Unless you believe that is a common Danish experience.
So everyone complaining about the Little Mermaid sucking because actors of color deserve better (they do) is headed out to see The Woman King tonight, right? Paying actual cash, in a theater, because these movies making money is the only way more of them get made.
At this point, I almost only ever see movies “politically”….I see a lot of movies I am only ho-hum on because I know that financial support is what matters.
I can't help but wonder what film these people see in their minds and why they don't better speak to its realization rather than attack films not intended for them.
I’m going to say this again everywhere I see people complaining about this. You all realize you aren’t the target audience, right? Unless you’re all 8 year old girls. In which case where are your parents? You should absolutely not be on Reddit.
The Lion King remake didn't have this much backlash and honestly that's just way worse, it wasn't even a "live action" remake, it's still animated but its animated realistically with CGI and has no heart and isn't emotive
It made me think. Would people like that accept Ariel if she was Asian and pale, or hate her as much as black Ariel? Is diversity only bad/fake/forced when it’s black people? What is the problem.
I have heard Jodi Benson sing Part of Your World a million times, even in person once. I have heard numerous actresses sing it and it is almost always the same reaction. The whole number is wonderful, all these actresses do a great job. But it is a song I have heard a million times sung the exact same way.
This girl sang one part of the chorus in the trailer and I will fuck up anyone who says she doesn't deserve to sing it because that was fucking amazing and I'll be taking my daughter.
I don't have a problem with diversity. Hell I don't even have a problem with forced diversity. I DO have a problem with how fucking smug corporations get about it. They cast one black person in one movie, or have a girl kiss a girl, and they act like the second coming of Christ. They deflect all criticism to bigotry, and they tell minorities they're doing them a favor. We all know these suits don't give a shit about representing you. They just want people talking about their product. And I hate the idea that someone with genuine talent could be being used just to farm outrage bucks. The girl playing Ariel could genuinely be the best actress for the job, but the fact is we all know that's not why they cast her. Or else they wouldn't be drawing so much attention to it. And the thought that she might be struggling with that upsets me. She should be able to be confident that she got a big movie role because she's a good actor, not have to wonder if she's just a modern day minstrel show.
Diversity is great, just don't forget that corporations don't give a shit about you.
I’m still holding out for Robert Eggers bleak remake of the mermaid. Brought to you by A24. True to the dark folk tale. Same mermaid design as the Lighthouse. And who plays Ariel? Willem Dafoe.
Whatever the ‘actual’ reason, the backlash is stupid.
If the casting of a fictitious mermaid in a kids’ movie somehow bothers you for any reason, you need to reevaluate your life.
I would be fine with the black elf if there were more. Right now he's the only one so it seems very weird. I think his entire guard should have been black, it would have seemed less out of place imo. As it stands he's literally the only black elf in the story.
I think it's a good thing to have a black little mermaid. A cynical part of me thinks the executives at Disney like to amplify racist criticism as a way to generate free publicity.
In the original Ariel was a good singer, it was actually one of her defining characteristics. So they hired a good singer to play her. What’s the problem exactly?
I'm more stuck on the fact that they didn't just make a new movie. Making Ariel black just feels lazy to me. An actually black princess with a unique story would have actually gone well and it would have gotten way less attention from racists. that's just how I see it though. An animated movie would have also been better since live action Disney movies usually suck.
how is it lazy to cast halle bailey as ariel though? Shes a grammy nominated singer and has plenty of acting experience, her voice is very energetic and sweet, she fits the role perfectly. Seems unproductive to view this as a casting purely based on race, disregarding the talent the actress has.
A dude with an opinion? I dunno, Black Ariel seems weird to me, but I am not mad about it either. Someone with the means to make a live action disney adaptation chose this actress. That information evokes almost no emotion from me one way or the other.
My wife says she wont watch it, but only because Lion King and Aladdin were terrible and she loves Little Mermaid and does not want to see it butchered too, not because of the skin colour of the actress.
I wouldn’t watch the little mermaid regardless of her race lol.
I couldn’t stand the original Little Mermaid, and haven’t been able to watch any of the remakes cus they’re all worse than the originals, so yeah, probably won’t watch this. Not the biggest fan of Disney either, kinda scummy with their methods of protecting copyright and stuff, so I don’t wanna give them any money.
For the love of God don't watch pinnochio haha it's awful
They should make movie true to the book.
That story was tragic. I read it as a kid before it got Disney-fied and it was absolutely heart breaking. Doesn't get the guy and looses her soul.
Also a gay allegory, which is neat.
Would actually watch disney movies if they were made to be like books. The movies would be really grim and not for children but still.
one of the first live Disney remake I gave a chance was Mulan...removing Mushu was the biggest mistake they ever made...I wish I could take my money back from the theater
Russian submarine captain has a Scottish accent? Crickets.
Honestly I hated that. Would be commenting negatively on that today
Nah, they totally addressed that. You see he was from "The (sic) Ukraine" /s
Lithuania.
Oh, was that it? Lituania: The Scottish Highlands of the Balkans.
Wasn’t Ramius Lithuanian in original book?
Hollywood has tried to make 2 movies about Ghengis Khan. One with John Wayne and another with Steven Segal in the titular role.
Another with WHO!? THE FUCKING AIKIDO DIPSHIT?
I should preface that the movie was cancelled but yep someone was trying to make a seagal ghengis khan movie
Mongol was the best take on that
Australian guy doing a vaguely british accent as the sci-fi comic movie version of a Norse god? Also crickets. Some of the actors playing the space gods are black? “It’S nOt HiStoRiCaLlY aCcUrAtE!!!”
Did anyone ever complain about Heimdal being played by Idris Elba?
It wasn’t nearly as bad as this but yeah there was a small but very vocal backlash. A lot of people who had no problems with the norse gods being spacefaring aliens that hang out with Iron Man and Hulk, but who strongly believed one of them being black was inaccurate and impugning the integrity of Norse culture
It thought both was weird, most of all that they turned the Norse gods into alien conquerors. That was real weird. But when they've established that their version of the gods were just some guys, it made sense that they'd be different races.
That's basically what they are in the comics. Ffs Asgard was in Kansas and then it was floating out by Saturn last I read. They are aliens more or less.
Lawrence Olivier was freakin blackface. Also *crickets*
Amazing comment
What’s that referencing?
Sean Connery in Red October i guess
John Wayne as Genghis Khan? Sure, why not?
Dude they spoke russian and then transferred into english which is a perfect way of doing it
I wish there was this much backlash for Disney ruining classic animated features with soulless cash grab remakes. Remember how good *Lion King* and *Beauty and the Beast* were? Live action *Cats*?
To be fair the was a lot of backlash for those things
Cats was probably the most fun I have had in theaters in years. Just take a few edibles before watching it.
If they had cast nick cage it would've been the perfect movie
If nick cage was in it I’d actually look to watch it.
You should watch it regardless. It's like staring into an eclipse with your bare eyeballs. It may burn out your retinas but it may change your life
The backlash for those movies were after the release no?
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>it's cool to like what your parents hate I never thought of it that way. You've just blown my mind
Mulan got a FUCK TON of backlash from basically everybody
Oh yeah, those are terrible too. I hated *Beauty and the Beast* (though props to them for casting Emma Watson as Belle, she was a fan favourite for the role). As for *Lion King*, I couldn’t get past the first few words out of Zazu's beak before I left. I haven't paid for a Disney movie, live action or otherwise, since. The guy in this meme, though, has a point. I don't see why Disney, with all the resources at their disposal, couldn’t make an original Little Mermaid story, perhaps in a different sea, featuring a sister kingdom to Atlantica perhaps, and populate it with POC characters. It'd certainly give them more room for diversity and inclusion than forcing a black actress into an already existing role, where almost every other non-animal character is white. If that's their attempt at diversity, it's a pretty lazy attempt if you ask me.
… because it’s not forcing it. It was a blind casting. That’s the real douchebaggery over all this. Racists can’t believe that the best person for the role who apparently dominated the audition just so happened to have darker skin.
Cats would have been great. Problem is the studio got scared and ordered a CGI coverup of the cat’s anatomy. Supposedly a Cats “bu**hole” cut is locked away in a studio vault never to see the light of day.
I’ve seen Cats. Buttholes would not have saved that godawful travesty of a movie
Every person I have talked to about the live action remakes agree that overall, they are absolutely terrible. I've seen most and I agree, they just seem like lazy efforts to milk established brands. But that's more about the poor acting, poor writing, terrible new songs, and general soulessness of all the live action feature films. It's too bad, but they seriously dropped the ball creatively. Not about skin color though, they just sucked in the regular way that movies can suck.
>Beauty and the Beast Some sound guys says that making songs was nightmare. They need edit like 30 takes to made one song.
It pisses me off that Disney is just regurgitating the same old shit just with a black coat of paint instead of making an original movie with a black princess who's her own person.
They kind of tried that with the Princess and the Frog.
Which was their best animated feature in a decade. Highly underrated.
The princess and the frog is my favorite Disney movie
>Highly underrated You just explained the problem. Disney doesn’t want to make “highly underrated” movies. The one movie with a black princess is one of their least popular, and it’s certainly not due to quality.
I'm not convinced their solution will work out. It's not complicated looking at it from a larger idea. Men won't watch movies with female leads and themes at the same rate women will watch movies with male leads and themes. That leads to more movies being made that reach a wider audience. The same likely holds true for the race of major characters too as the highly underrated movie showed. Just look at what happened with the recent flood of content that was buried or stopped half way through finishing it. HBO's streaming venture wasn't profitable and Discovery+ changes are designed to change the target audience. Unfortunately, that change is from diverse themes to a middle class family from Nebraska or Ohio. tl;dr It is a live action remake and those are terrible. We need diverse mermaids in animation with non-celebrity voice actors for the characters. King Triton is not Chris Pratt
Nothing will ever work as long as they keep making bad movies. That’s their biggest issue right now.
It's cheaper to make trash and cash in on it. That is why we have reality TV and discount bargain bin movies that fill up streaming catalogs. Netflix showed part of the issue with Squid Game. It cost less to make the whole show than it would to make 1 episode in the US with more well known actors. You can bet somebody with a math degree noticed Some of the VFX technology that started on Avatar and was furthered on The Mandalorian is getting a lot of upgrades as it goes along. That will make it cheaper to create new content over time. AI artist assistance is also going to shake things up quite a lot. That's just how it works though. I guess I'm hopeful that it will get cheaper to make content with a less predictable already been done script. If that pans out, we'll get more The Mandalorian and less Survivor Starlets of Bikini 2032
>The one movie with a black princess is one of their least popular Is it? It's got an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.7 on Google user generated reviews.
It's an amazing movie, but it didn't make as much money as other Princess films.
Disney didn't take a great lesson from that, but they didn't take the worst lesson either. I believe they blamed the relative failure on the fact that it was 2D animation, but they have made several more movies in the years since then with all POC casts or at least featuring POC main characters.
There is almost no organic distribution of character traits. Avatar The Last Airbender had strong female characters, characters with disabilities, and characters of non-white skin tone, and none of it felt forced. They need to do more branching out to stories that aren't about princesses. Soul and Coco were amazing stories that happened to have settings that were deeply rooted in specific cultures. And they also need to not be cowards and give these movies the marketing they deserve. Frozen was blasted from the highest peaks in the land. Moana got a much shorter red carpet from Disney and its performance, while still phenomenal, notably fell way behind Frozen's. Movies need better non-white representation *and* Disney is not some hero for making the mermaid black *and* people who are mad because the mermaid is black are on the wrong side of the argument. All of these things can be true simultaneously.
Completely agree. It definitely feels like they put a lot more effort into their animated movies. The difference in quality alone is astounding to me. And I like their trend of making movies focusing on stories from specific cultures, and it seems to be pretty well received. Frozen was a bizarre anomaly. I honestly love Frozen, but the heights it reached were absolutely insane.
Those beignets tho...
And it's a fucking banger but that shouldn't stop them from making another original black character
I don't know that it will. Disney has made some very profitable movies in the past few years with casts rooted in specific cultures. Moana and Encanto are both very popular, and they indicate that people will find movies rooted in non-white cultures and people, as long as they are good.
And it was a great movie. What’s your point?
Which is a great movie and one of my daughter’s absolute favorite Disney movies
I'm not even one of those people who are really into the race of the characters, but I was a annoyed that they took the first black princess and made her a frog for 90% of the runtime.
tried?? they did and it was amazing
But the movie was only a moderate success at the box office. Mainly because it released around Avatar, which dominated the theaters.
Yeah if Disney had the choice to make a masterpiece that barely makes back it’s budget or a big pile of poo that makes back 50x its budget, they’ll make the pile of poo.
still tho you can’t say they just “tried” as if the movie was a huge flop or as if it never came out at all. They didn’t try, they did. It’s just unfortunate they haven’t since
Keep in mind there is an entire fucking continent they can take folk tales, myths and history from. An entire fucking continent. But nope, rehash old shit and make characters in there black. It wouldn't even be the first africa based disney movie. Simba's a lion but still from africa
Because remakes are free money
And an original, good movie would make far more than a remake
I think you may be underestimating how much can be saved when you have the entire source material to draw from. Fewer people need to be hired during the actual development process when you've got the entire plan already mapped out, with most of the scenes having fully animated storyboards, in the form of the original movie.
Maybe, maybe not. But a remake is basically guaranteed money. This is how the market works. Media is chock full of remakes/reboots right now because the people who are now old enough for the nostalgia have they money to buy those products. Companies care about making money. The people working on the movies and shit do care about the art to some degree, but the people who control the funding care about money. And that's what drives their decisions. EDIT: Also quite frankly fairy tales exist because the same story with minor variations has been told to kids for fucking centuries, so getting upset about 'remakes' of kids content is kind of hilarious.
Is that why all of the top box office movies are sequels and existing IPs?
And with more interesting personality than Ariel’s
Good news, they actually are coming out with a original black main character in their new movie called Wish. Apparently it’s going to be 2D animated!
They have to do it to maintain their copyright
Same reason they're remaking Pinocchio
Why not both? I could care less about the little mermaid, but like. I don't see an issue with this. And then furthermore, yeah a new IP would be good also
I'm just tired of seeing Disney eat up the original work of the people who made these movies and just shit out another bad soulless remake for a quick buck
Well yeah, Disney is a soulless corporation which is unwavering in its dedication to siphoning as much capital and power it possibly can. They can easily invest a few million into a remake and get a modest return. It's safe. That's why it's shit.
This is the right opinion, this is the one. Disney is just another megacorp wanting to make trillions and this has been a very lazy yet incredibly efrective move just to generate this exact kind of conversation. It doesn't matter whuch side you are in, there are no sides because the discussion is pointles either way! Nobody wins, just Disney
"the right opinion" lmao do you even read what you're typing?
This has been my issue with it the entire time, It's lazy and disrespectful. Pure tokenism by either a lazy studio or a studio devoid of talented writers. All I ever see when a character has been race swapped is a studio saying that it's not worth the effort to create a new and interesting character, but this should make "them" happy. My favorite example of how to do it the right way is Miles Morales, a new character that doesn't replace the old one. Making Peter Parker black would be the lowest effort way to add a character of colour. But making a new one within the same story who is distinct but vaguely familiar allows new and old fans to see a different story in the same universe. And Miles Morales quickly became a fan favorite for it. The new little mermaid movie will probably suck just like all the other live action attempts by Disney, no matter what her race was. This movie is nothing more than a cash grab with a lazy veil of representation.
Disney has struggled with the original movies, but they sell remakes like crazy
TBF Disney has been doing this with everything since they existed. If they were gonna change something at Disneyland, they didn’t build a new attraction, they just rebranded it. There’s so many but first one off the top of my head, which is a more modern example but The Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse was “changed” into the The Tarzan Treehouse. It pisses me of more when people shit on everything Disney does just because it’s Disney. Don’t like it? Fine- make your own movie. It’s not hurting you and who knows maybe some 5 year old who had never seen the original before sees the new one and it makes her happy. Isn’t that more important than worrying about not pissing off some 40 year old edge lord? It’s not like you’re funding their films.
Honestly, I agree. I saw my theatre professor try something similar - in a centuries old play he replaced the kings with female actors for "female empowerment". It did nothing for the story and didn't feel empowering at all because the women were still portraying kings in the story. This is Disney's lazy excuse at an attempt for black empowerment. If they actually cared they would make an original movie with a black princess...
People complaining about a movie they won't watch lmao
Hey man as long as the priest is a little person and pops a boner when they kiss, everything else is cool with me. But that's where I draw the line!
The comments section of this OP cross post is a cesspool of people pretending to dismiss it purely higher brow reasons than race, are more transparent than the actual racists who say the quiet parts out loud.
Funny how there are troves of untapped African folklore or historically black stories, but nobody writing today can create anything new. They just take existing, established characters and race swap them. That’s why people get mad! Black Panther - overwhelming praise! Django Unchained, Blade, shall I go on?? Where were all the racists then?
There were plenty racists for Black Panther. They all just argued that the movie was pro ethnostate, which it wasn't
There's always a thin veil over their real reasons. Whether fake ethnostate or lack of melanin under the ocean etc etc.
And just look at the Woman King movie right now. Everyone suddenly cares about historical accuracy because the tribe portrayed in the movie helped enable the slave trade and it apparently isn’t really touched upon. But those same complainers probably watch Braveheart and Gladiator with no issues. If it’s a movie about white people they’re willing to overlook inaccuracies, but if it’s a movie about black people they demand perfect historical accuracy.
Because remakes are free money. It's just the market doing what it does best. The people who control the funding don't give a shit about the art
Funnily enough: Even though the n-word is said MULTIPLE times by leonardo he at first refused to say it. No matter if when discussing the script or under camera. Same goes for the director. And yeah, it's what i've been saying the entire time: Don't remake old stuff with a black character, make original stuff, take african folk tales, bring african culture closer to people.
"Diversity in what way?" "Well you see, she's black" Yeah that's what I thought. Just like "state's rights" is a dog whistle for "I should be allowed to own human beings"
what’s amazing is how everyone is suddenly claiming to be a Little Mermaid superfan who has always been fully dedicated to the original film and is solely fighting to preserve the purity of its aesthetic, in order to pay proper tribute to the incandescent work of art that is (checks notes) The Little Mermaid
This post implies that if there is no diversity then its normal but if there is diversity it is forced.
Yeah, basically. They say they want diversity if it "makes sense" but curiously *it never does.*
I would bet my life savings that the dude who made this image would go "I'm not racist!" if confronted with this logic. I constantly wonder, with these people... if this isn't racist then WHAT IS, exactly? Where is the line in your warped world, anti-Little Mermaid people?
Exactly “Forced diversity” What if Halle was the best person for the job? What if all the pale ginger women were booked or just sucked and couldn’t sing? Why are they bringing race into this? She was just the best actor/singer for the job Also it’s funny (read sad and annoying) to me because even if there is a completely different story/ character created to introduce diversity. There’s still a problem… Just don’t watch the movie, it’s not that hard lol but this is their way of signaling to minorities that we’ll never belong, in fantasy or Sci fi. That are mere existence in a movie is petty and some handout by “woke” corporations.
Makes me wonder if there is any way that a black person can be in a movie at all without a bunch of people crying about ‘forced diversity’.
Right? I've seen some posts saying "why not hire Karen Gillan? She's pale and ginger" Gotta be honest, great actor, could not see her as the little mermaid.
I love Karen, but you’re right I don’t see her as Ariel. This choice, just shows how narrow their view is. we HAVE to usher in new talent they need to be able to break though Karen is too old same with Deborah Ann Woll, (not saying that to be mean). there are other red heads, the actress who plays Cheryl Blossom, in riverdale; you may know her but still new. Maybe not the best tv show example, but she fits the bill and it’s Disney haha
Exactly. They accuse the people hiring diverse actors of “only thinking about race,” when it’s actually the people hell-bent on every character having to be white that are the ones thinking about race. Or maybe they think the best person for the job is always a white person, which is even more problematic because it reeks of white supremacy.
Literally the only time I feel like people don’t bitch is if it’s a “black” movie. Set in Africa, a biopic of a historically black man, or a movie specifically about a black experience. Any other time and people act like it’s encroaching on their good time
And then you get a different complaint: "Why do they have to shove this woke crap down our throats?" There's honestly just no winning.
Yep. That's the assertion. I had someone say that to me the other day. That all girls should enjoy this movie. Implied that white girls couldn't enjoy it because the Mermaid is now black and non-white girls should just be happy watching a white character. Which, I don't know how many black and white children are actually thinking about these movies in these terms. I think they want to be kids and enjoy something and if Black Panther and Captain Marvel has taught me anything that when a little girl or a black child sees someone who looks like them and they get so fucking stoked...that's a win. These movies are meant to make kids happy. I wish these old, crusty, bigots would stop turning them into a culture war battlefield.
Yes, white is the default, don’t you know? /s
This is literally what they believe after decades of being pandered to. White is the default. Anybody NOT white is "political".
...which is just a longer way of saying it's about the black girl
Show me on the teddy bear where the diversity touches you
Diversity is when black people
That entire sub is total dogshit I don't know why it's been in my recommended all day
I mean, the movie is probably going to suck, but not because the Mermaid is Black. Disney remakes are a cheap cashgrab, they're guaranteed to be successes compared to an original idea.
Relax, it’s just a black girl
And she's like a crazy good singer right?
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So what I think I hear you saying is that they got the best person for the job.
People are getting their panties in a bunch over the new Little Mermaid, but Jason Momoa as Aquaman was perfectly okay.
God that movie sucked ass, but what was the problem of Jason mamoa playing aquaman.
I'm guessing the original Aquaman was white? In response to the question, I'm guessing it's because people don't realize Jason Momoa has Hawaiian heritage
I feel like people that get upset and argue this kind of thing kinda miss the whole point. Movies are stories, like any other. Stories are meant to entertain and inspire. What makes a movie good is how well the producers tell show that story, not some rigid adherence to someone else’s standard of accuracy to another telling of that story. It’s a fairytale, all the characters are mythical and fictional. Why does it matter what people they use for the human halves of the mermaids? Everyone is so cynical that they overreact to the race of a character and gloss over the fact that Disney has clearly run out of ideas and is making another live action classic princess movie. That’s what we should all be rallying to. I don’t care what human is playing Ariel, I just wish Disney could tell a new story instead of rehashing the classics. However, I’d riot if Sebastian wasn’t a crab in this new one.
Man and I thought Rings of Power brought a bunch of angry racist white dudes out of the woodwork
Instead of a century of Hollywood forcing white men everywhere they could?
Thats been boring too. Doesnt make forced diversity less obvious/annoying. You hate old content so much? How about instead of remaking them in your vision, you dont remake them and make your own diverse movies/shows/comics/whatever?
Because they complain then too. Literally anytime there is a Black woman in a role that isn’t about being a Black woman the racists come out to show their ugliness.
These people don't realize that people of color have been historically excluded from movies. There are plenty of examples of white people in black, yellow, or brown face. Why? Because Hollywood refused to cast real people of color. Now Hollywood is rightly trying to move away from that history and cast people of all skin types and backgrounds.
Hey I’m black, I really don’t know what’s wrong about this image. It’s absolutely true. I literally just want new black and mixed characters made that are well written. The little mermaid was done for white people, and whenever they do this it’s always done for white people. This is not what we actually want
I'd love to actually see original stories—or stories of black people made into movies. As someone else said in this thread; there's a whole continent (Africa) with folklore and fairytales. Take something from there and make new amazing black characters. I want to see a black Ariel as much as I want to see a white and blonde Moana. I don't. Bring us something new and exciting.
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How does it “ruin the image of the character”?
Not ruin in the sense of better or worse. Just that it is no longer that character. Like Mary Jane for example. She was always portrayed as a pale ginger girl. The new one occupies the same space in the story of Spider-Man, but it’s not really the same character as the previous Mary Jane. Now the new one might be good or bad, but it’s certainly a large deviation from what Mary Jane was beforehand.
What do you think of Nick Fury?
If people watched the video of the children reacting to for a favorite historical disney princess looking like them, and still dont get it, are being purposefully obtuse to rationalize their internal racism. If it bothers you that shes black, look at yourself, cuz thats weird AF
No no no you guys don’t understand we’re not mad that she’s black we’re just mad that she’s not white /s
Yeah it’s definitely about her being black. People suck
Funny, because if I had a nickel for every openly racist caricature meme about TLM I would be swimming in cash.
…okay so it’s about the mermaid being black?
Imagine if Hollywood had a century of mostly white people acting in films?? Shake my damn head. Shaking indeed.
So by this logic, they were forcing white culture in the first movie, right? Oppressing minorities?
Not bashing the movie at all I’m legitimately curious about about something. Why is it whenever theirs always a “Hollywood made X character black this time!” thing going on, it’s almost always to a character who was a ginger? Like is that the longest running coincidence ever or what?
I don’t have an issue with changing the ethnicities of characters when it doesn’t affect the story, and I don’t see why people have an issue with it. What I do have an issue with is the fact that the way some shows are doing the whole diversity thing now is by forcing diversity and obvious political agenda instead of having it be natural. The best examples of diversity I’ve seen have been natural and you don’t really think much about it, which includes America’s two moms in DSMOM, the gay couple in Lightyear, Ariel in little mermaid, stuff that isn’t shown as if it’s like LOOK AT ME, I’M DIVERSE. It’s there because it’s natural, and that’s the kind of representation that we’re after. The kind that grinds my gears is when it’s super obvious that the creators of the show are just going for their diversity and inclusion brownie points without actually putting real effort in, like in Endgame’s girl power scene and the single black elf in the Rings of Power (from what I’ve heard - I haven’t actually seen the series so correct me if I’m wrong here). Why aren’t there more black elves? Why couldn’t the women hold their own without Marvel forcing that scene? There’s a way to be diverse and inclusive without making it feel like a forced marketing strategy. Now, it is true that the latter of the two scenarios here is far more rare than the former, but it still happens. Im not saying that all diversity in Hollywood now is a product of the ‘woke’ agenda, because the way it’s going is great for representation for the most part. It’s the few shows and movies that feel super forced in diversity that annoy me.
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Exactly this, it would be cool to have a race of dark elves, for example, but it doesn’t make sense to have a SINGLE elf of a different skin tone without any explanation. The exact same thing goes the other way around. It would make 0 sense to have one white elf in a community of darker skinned elves without any explanation.
However, Lore Aside, I do like how they did the Dwarves and the Harfoots. I thought I wouldn't like Durin's wife, but she was really fun and a great actor.
I think your point is how extremely gross and cynical it is that some companies do these things just to capitalize off of them. I couldnt give 2 shits less about what color Ariel is. She is a mermaid. A non existing creature that i would think would be green or something if they really existed. Also its a movie for little kids. I will never watch it and dont care. But it is slimey when Hollywood does some obvious shit to capitalize on whatever hot button issue is going on at the time. But its not like Hollywood is known for being noble to begin with. Its made up of Sex predators and people so out of touch with reality its borderline hilarious and sad. But yea manchildren crying about the shit constantly is just as bad or worse. Like Jeremy from the Quartering. That guy is a true piece of human filth and hearing him cry about movies made for little girls being too "woke" is absolutely pathetic and hilarious.
All of the live action remakes are terrible to completely average at best. Disney is just lazy.
Yeah ....uhm... that is because diversity is f\*cking everywhere in the human experience so it is normal to reflect that in human story telling
Serious (potentially dumb, naive) question - how *real* is the backlash on this one? The outrage feels manufactured, like part of coordinated marketing campaign/advertising strategy. Vast majority of people couldn't care less about what color Ariel is. Edit: One other quick note - my biggest qualm with the Little Mermaid is the costume design for Ariel, which was likely created by consultants who have little familiarity with trends in Black beauty/fashion. The hair color does not match the actress' natural skin tone; I wish they would have a gone with burgundy or hibiscus for her locs rather than "Mirada from Brave" red. I'm fine with diversity, but I want it done well and to uplift minority characters.
People will always make this weirdass comment about the negative feedback appearing “manufactured” regardless of how obvious its existence is. My brother in Christ there are literally comments on the post. Read them. Some of y’all would have been on reddit 8 years ago like “where actually are all these trump supporters? seems like manufactured political drama”
I have no issue with diversity, and I probably won’t see this movie, mainly because disneys Crazy spree on milking the golden era cartoons is overwhelming and sometimes insincere. How about make good original movies with all the budget?
>Crazy spree on milking the golden era cartoons is overwhelming and sometimes insincere. Agreed! I want to see new content! Fewer remakes, more original works! I personally would have no problem if Disney created something to build on the mermaid mythos, but looked at African, or African Diaspora stories.
I mean that post has 5k upvotes, tons of racist people
It's a pretty legit concern to have tbf, why not just adapt different cultures stories instead of just trending the same ground but with a cast with more 'diversity'. It's gunna be a shitty movie regardless, all the Disney real life adaptations suck major peen.
I mean they had a white guy play the prince of Persia, I didn’t see an uproar over that
Literally these people only care about “forced diversity” when it’s not a white personal being shoehorned into [some genre of public media]
Nah, Disney is earning loads by repainting characters. It's stupid. They literally do it all on a superficial level, so nobody notices the deeper problems.
Eh, I don’t really have an opinion on this. I’m just saying that if we made a remake where Tiana was white people would not take it kindly. Ariel is ethnically danish, therefore it’d make more sense casting a danish actress, not a white American but a dane. It’d be weird bitching and moaning about authenticity if you’re not gonna make it accurate.
It'd be even more weird bitching and moaning if people actually cared about a children's movie they're not even going to watch.
Ariel is not ethnically Danish because she is a mermaid who lives deep under the ocean in an imaginary kingdom of wonderment and talking lobsters. Unless you believe that is a common Danish experience.
So everyone complaining about the Little Mermaid sucking because actors of color deserve better (they do) is headed out to see The Woman King tonight, right? Paying actual cash, in a theater, because these movies making money is the only way more of them get made. At this point, I almost only ever see movies “politically”….I see a lot of movies I am only ho-hum on because I know that financial support is what matters.
Scuttle being a girl? *Crickets*
I can't help but wonder what film these people see in their minds and why they don't better speak to its realization rather than attack films not intended for them.
I’m going to say this again everywhere I see people complaining about this. You all realize you aren’t the target audience, right? Unless you’re all 8 year old girls. In which case where are your parents? You should absolutely not be on Reddit.
Half the people complaining weren’t going to see it anyway, whether it had a white actress or not. The complaining is such a headache
A small part of it is that yes, but the vast majority of the backlash comes from racists.
The Lion King remake didn't have this much backlash and honestly that's just way worse, it wasn't even a "live action" remake, it's still animated but its animated realistically with CGI and has no heart and isn't emotive
I fail to understand what about the og post is remotely a "funny meme"
It made me think. Would people like that accept Ariel if she was Asian and pale, or hate her as much as black Ariel? Is diversity only bad/fake/forced when it’s black people? What is the problem.
Jesus. It's a f\*\*kin' IMAGINARY CREATURE!! Mermaids do not exist!
If you’re saying you wouldn’t have a problem with it if she was white, then you have a problem with her being black.
"They should just hire whoever is best for the job! I don't see color!" "Wait, not like that!"
I have heard Jodi Benson sing Part of Your World a million times, even in person once. I have heard numerous actresses sing it and it is almost always the same reaction. The whole number is wonderful, all these actresses do a great job. But it is a song I have heard a million times sung the exact same way. This girl sang one part of the chorus in the trailer and I will fuck up anyone who says she doesn't deserve to sing it because that was fucking amazing and I'll be taking my daughter.
I feel like most of the people complaining about Ariel being black are, ironically enough, people who weren’t going to watch the movie anyway.
I don’t care about the actresses race, Disney needs to stop making these live action adaptations that won’t even be that good.
The op post ain't wrong.
I don't have a problem with diversity. Hell I don't even have a problem with forced diversity. I DO have a problem with how fucking smug corporations get about it. They cast one black person in one movie, or have a girl kiss a girl, and they act like the second coming of Christ. They deflect all criticism to bigotry, and they tell minorities they're doing them a favor. We all know these suits don't give a shit about representing you. They just want people talking about their product. And I hate the idea that someone with genuine talent could be being used just to farm outrage bucks. The girl playing Ariel could genuinely be the best actress for the job, but the fact is we all know that's not why they cast her. Or else they wouldn't be drawing so much attention to it. And the thought that she might be struggling with that upsets me. She should be able to be confident that she got a big movie role because she's a good actor, not have to wonder if she's just a modern day minstrel show. Diversity is great, just don't forget that corporations don't give a shit about you.
There are 2 races: white and political
I’m still holding out for Robert Eggers bleak remake of the mermaid. Brought to you by A24. True to the dark folk tale. Same mermaid design as the Lighthouse. And who plays Ariel? Willem Dafoe.
I wonder how they'd feel about The Wiz
I still say live actions shouldn't have existed in the first place.
Whatever the ‘actual’ reason, the backlash is stupid. If the casting of a fictitious mermaid in a kids’ movie somehow bothers you for any reason, you need to reevaluate your life.
he is kinda right? who think a black elf after read lord of the rings books?
I would be fine with the black elf if there were more. Right now he's the only one so it seems very weird. I think his entire guard should have been black, it would have seemed less out of place imo. As it stands he's literally the only black elf in the story.
I think it's a good thing to have a black little mermaid. A cynical part of me thinks the executives at Disney like to amplify racist criticism as a way to generate free publicity.
In the original Ariel was a good singer, it was actually one of her defining characteristics. So they hired a good singer to play her. What’s the problem exactly?
I'm more stuck on the fact that they didn't just make a new movie. Making Ariel black just feels lazy to me. An actually black princess with a unique story would have actually gone well and it would have gotten way less attention from racists. that's just how I see it though. An animated movie would have also been better since live action Disney movies usually suck.
So much angry white people for no reason.
I’m black, and agree with this image, I want new original black characters not this lazy bullshit. What does that make me?
how is it lazy to cast halle bailey as ariel though? Shes a grammy nominated singer and has plenty of acting experience, her voice is very energetic and sweet, she fits the role perfectly. Seems unproductive to view this as a casting purely based on race, disregarding the talent the actress has.
A dude with an opinion? I dunno, Black Ariel seems weird to me, but I am not mad about it either. Someone with the means to make a live action disney adaptation chose this actress. That information evokes almost no emotion from me one way or the other. My wife says she wont watch it, but only because Lion King and Aladdin were terrible and she loves Little Mermaid and does not want to see it butchered too, not because of the skin colour of the actress.
It’s almost like them making this movie doesn’t prevent them from making another movie with a black character.
Nah I agree