The racist backlash to The Little Mermaid and Lord of The Rings is exhausting and extremely predicta

"They were six beautiful children; but the youngest was the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like all the others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish's tail." HCA

her skin was described as green. it is my understanding that HCA never mentions her hair color..

 

Because those are real people, not mythical fictional characters from a cartoon.

 

Nothing needs to be made. A film is for money and/or art. They’re all somewhere along the scale.

 

Yes, I think the directors were in scuba gear filming Ariel talk to her friendly fish.

Of course I don't, my point is that's not relevant. They went out of their way to recast the role because they think it's important for diversity reasons. How do I know this? Because Disney has openly and repeatedly told me that they prioritize that sort of thing for their projects.

Now, after Disney telling me that it's super important that they do this sort of thing, you're telling me it's not a big deal. You can't have it both ways.

 

So you draw the line at fictional cartoon characters?

So you have a problem with a Black George Washington? How racist of you. It's kind of stupid for you to care about race, it's only a movie after all.

 

"Clear and delicate as a rose-leaf" doesn't necessarily mean green. But "eyes as blue as the deepest sea" means likely White-skinned if we're talking about how people in the real world typically look.

 

Minor point of contention, but my reading of that was that her skin color is clear but delicate to the touch as a rose leaf, not that it is green.

 

Again, they didn't "recast" the role. Recast implies someone got fired. The cast the role, full stop.

Have you considered that maybe it is something that Disney takes into account, but not a big deal for me? I hardly give the race of characters cast in movies I watch a second thought. I'm just here to laugh at the people who get bent out of shape over a black mermaid actress. Her hair doesn't realistic look enough for you ... LOL. I bet you've watch hundreds of shows with white actress with dyed hair and wigs and not given it a second thought, but now you are putting your foot down. Hilarious.

 

Fact: Mermaids can have blue eyes and dark skin. Prove me wrong.

 

And you apparently choose to put your foot down for Black George Washington.

The difference is, I don't call anyone who chooses to "put their foot down" in a different place from mine a racist because I understand how arrogant and self-righteous that would be.

 

I do think black George Washington would be a weird choose unless it was a goofy comedy or something, because George Washington was a real person and was known to be white. But honestly, I wouldn't care. Please, make a movie with Black George Washington. I promise not to "put my foot down".

Now, can you honestly say that racism isn't involved here? This trailer is setting a Disney record for dislikes, and so far you have been very outspoklen about not liking it, and the only reason you can come up with for not liking the trailer is that she is black instead of the white girl you wanted....

 

I need to speak to the manager!!!

 

Hamilton. Chris Jackson. It works.
You should see Thomas Jefferson

 

that might be right

 

Yes, racism may not be at play here. In fact, the presumption should be that racism is not at play here.

A variety of things may have caused this backlash:
1. People simply not liking the trailer.
2. People disappointed that Disney is just riding nostalgia at this point and seldom comes up with anything new.
3. People disappointed that Disney insists on removing traditionally White characters and turning them Black as though this is in some way virtuous, which even this view doesn't necessarily make one racist.
4. A combination of the above three.

I think a lot of people rightfully feel that in today's climate it's okay to replace a White character with a Black character, but not the reverse. A lot of people think that they're being preached to that this sort of replacement of characters is virtuous for being in the name of diversity. People don't like being preached to, and they don't like being told that they're bad people.

If you don't care about any of these casting choices, why do you seem to go out of your way to bash all of these critics as racist? You claim it's all the same to you, yet you seem Hell bent on branding any opposition to such casting choices as racists. That seems more like activism than apathy to me.

 

Grown ass adults losing their minds over a fictitious Disney character, gosh racists are such losers lol

 

• Johnny Depp - Tonto
• Elizabeth Taylor - Cleopatra
• Ben Affleck - Argo character was Mexican
• Jake Gyllenhaal - Prince of Persia
• Natalie Wood - Puerto Rican west side story
• Mena Suvari (in corn rows) - Brandi Boski (black woman) in Stuck
• Anthony Hopkins as a Jew in the Human Stain
• Mickey Rooney’s racist portrait of a Japanese guy in Breakfast at Tiffani’s
• Angelina Jolie - black woman in mighty heart
• James D’Arcy and Jim Sturgess took Asian roles in Cloud Atlas

The list is unending.

 

Well that is true. But a lot of movies I grew up watching have been remade with ostensibly the main and sole goal of casting primarily diverse characters. There seems to be no other reason for the re- makes. The stories aren’t really different, just an obvious desire to add blacks into classic white roles.
To act like you don’t notice or you don’t care is fine. But it is happening and it is obvious. Also, Is this not racism?

 

Wasn’t the story originally by Hans Christian Anderson and written in Denmark? I remember seeing a statue to her somewhere maybe Copenhagen. The Disney cartoon version played loose with the story making her a cute little redhead.