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

I'm sure there's still some lingering around, but I suspect that even most conservatives have realized how silly the "but mermaids are supposed to be white, everyone knows that!" is.
National Review notwithstanding.

 

Gaffigan was excellent, as was Jude Law (Hook.)

 

I posted here before that when I went into my black friends homes I noticed pictures of black Jesus on their walls. Most all my black friends attended an AME Methodist church in the area.

That got me wondering about the differences which I brought up in Sunday school. I was told Jesus was a Jew and that some Jews were darker skinned that myself. Hence the black Jesus pictures.

Another thing I noticed a few years or more back were commercials with biracial couples.

Now recently gay guys.

What I haven’t seen and wonder why are commercials with lesbians?

Hummmmm

 

Gay guys are attractive for some reason. Lesbians not so much.

 

I’ve seen plenty of commercials with lesbians. And you make solid points about the importance of representation

 

If you say so.

 

Say what?

 

Haven't seen the new Little Mermaid, honestly won't. Not because of racial issues, just because I'm not a huge Disney movie fan (I do love Pixar movies) and as a straight white male I know I'm not the target audience.

But I really tire of this whole "if you're against this you're racist narrative". First of all most of us that you call racists are not racists and we don't really care what you think. We know at the bottom of our heart the person telling us we're racist is actually far more likely to be the racist themselves. I would genuinely argue that several of the regular posters on this board (including some that have posted on this thread) are far more racist than any conservative who posts here. I've laughed in the past when someone has called me racist when they are the ones displaying the racist behavior.

I wasn't for Ariel being recasted as black. Let's take the whole sea creature thing out of it. The Little Mermaid is a Danish fairy tale. Now let me ask you this, how many black Danish people have you seen in your life? Especially hundreds of years ago, I would imagine few to none. Even as of today 93% of Denmark is white. Not hard to imagine that when this fairy tale was created that number was probably closer to 100%.

Now let me ask you all this. Shouldn't blacks now be offended that they rarely get true characters of their own? Why do they get stuck with hand me downs? Isn't that far more racist and offensive?

Look at the Tiana character. Tiana was well received by audiences (of all races including whites and even the evil "racist" conservative whites) in general and has become a great princess for black girls. I've only seen Princess and the Frog once (again I'm not the target audience) but I thought it was an enjoyable movie for what it was. Tiana is an example of a character done right. They actually took the time to give her a proper backstory and a story and personality black girls could relate to and look up to. They didn't make Sleepy Beauty or Snow White black. I would argue doing that would have been the cheap and easy way out and honestly would've been a disrespect to black girls. This is what Disney is doing now, taking the cheap and easy way out.

The reason Tiana was well received by all audiences is because she was an authentic black princess and was a character black girls could relate to. She wasn't a white princess repackaged as a black princess.

If Disney really wanted a black mermaid, why not create a new mermaid story? A new mermaid character? They wouldn't have had the backlash they are having now (at a time where they don't need any additional backlash) and it would've IMO been far more respectful of the black race. Giving the black race a hand me down that will never truly be theirs honestly is a pretty big slap in the face IMO. Whether you like it or not The Little Mermaid is a Danish fairy tale and Ariel will always be associated as a white princess. After this live action movie is forgotten, when you go to a Disney theme park Ariel will be white. Just like Cinderella is still white despite that ridiculous live action movie with Brandy. How many of you all even remember that movie? So in essence you are robbing black girls of a real chance to have a mermaid princess of their own.

And why is it only blacks that you all care about? Why not make Ariel Hispanic? I haven't seen them make any traditional white princesses hispanic yet. Is that not racist? I'd remind you there are far more hispanics in this country than there are blacks. Do hispanic girls not deserve a mermaid character to look up to? Blacks are barely the #2 minority in the U.S. anymore. When white inevitably become the minority in this country it will be hispanics, not blacks, that will become the majority. And why is it that girls can only look up to princesses or characters of their own race?

So why not make Ariel hispanic? Where are the hispanic princess? Heck where are the Asian princesses (I don't count Mulan)? Is it also not racist that they only seem to care about remaking traditional white princess as black characters?

If Disney had just done an original mermaid princess movie with an original mermaid character this backlash would not have happened. But they took the cheap and easy way out and IMO deserve the backlash. Am I losing my mind like some people are about Ariel being black, not at all. I'm not going to see the movie but also understand I'm not the target audience. But being against Ariel being recast as black is not racist.

 

To each his own

 

And then maybe some are.


Stella Maxwell

 

Dude: It's a movie based on a fairy tale, not a documentary. Disney can cast whomever they wish, racists be damned. It's their money. Don't like it? Don't go see it. Don't buy the pajamas. While you claim not to be a racist, you certainly seem to have internalized a lot of their arguments.

 

And here we go, disagree with the stupid decision by Disney to give black girls a hand me down sloppy seconds princess instead of actually creating a NEW UNIQUE princess with her own story, personality and plot and you're a racist. It's so predictable and funny.

Sorry buddy but I don't claim to not be a racist. I'm not racist, simple as that, end of story. Honestly Disney is the one here who is far more racist.

What Disney did here is honestly pretty damn low. White girls, you get new princesses with original stories and outfits. Black girls, you get a recycled princess (that will always be associated as white) with a hand me down story and hand me down outfits. I'll be honest, if I was a parent (white or black) of a black girl I'd be pretty damn pissed at Disney right now.

Let me ask you something. When those young black girls who like a black Ariel go to Disney what Ariel do you think they're going to see in the character meet and greets and the parades? My guess is it's going to be a white Ariel. Just like Cinderella is still white in the parks even with the ridiculous live action Cinderella movie years back with Brandy as a black Cinderella.

So doing this is robbing black girls of a princess they can truly call their own. Again Tiana was well received by all races, including whites, because she was a new character with a unique story that black girls could really identify with. It was a princess truly for them. If whites are so racists how come they didn't protest Tiana?

You're right, I won't see it and I won't buy any of their merchandise or products. Disney has the right do to cast whoever they wish. They also have to deal with the consequences of that decision. We also have the right to criticize and call out their questionable decisions (of which they have made many in recent years).

And I would also argue their first responsibility is to their shareholders and to make money (which they aren't right now), not to make political and racial statements. I have 205 shares of Disney from when I actually used to work there. I remember when it was up at $180-$200/share. Now it's down to $88/share. The 401(k) I had at Disney is down $6,000 overall due to the stock drop. I would argue maybe their first goal should be to stop hemorrhaging money and start getting the stock price up instead of playing politics and insulting black people with hand me down sloppy seconds princesses.

 

Disney may be have problems which are reflected in the price of it's stock but it's not because of the Little Mermaid's box office.
Box Office: ‘The Little Mermaid’ Seeing $125M 4-day Opening – Deadline
'The Little Mermaid' makes box office splash with $95.5 million opening

The biggest reason that Disney is having problems is because revenue from it's streaming services have failed to meet expectations and secondly, because it's Marvel franchise is starting to get long in the tooth.
Record Decline: Why Disney+ Lost Another 4 Million Subscribers
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Opens to Lower Box Office for Marvel – IndieWire

 

Whether Disney is being lazy by not coming up with a brand new mermaid princess story could be a fair point. I haven’t seen the movie. But I think that’s a different issue than people being opposed to the casting of a Black actress to play Ariel.

The fairytale author was Danish but not sure how that’s critical to the story given that the mermaid was from a mythical underwater kingdom. Hansen’s princess angle and her human love interest may have been entirely original and Disney clearly went with those elements. But from what I can tell, mermaid folklore likely traces back to B.C. and was not specific to any culture. One of the earliest places I see mermaids having been mentioned is Syria.

I don’t believe the mermaid had a name in the Hansen fairytale and Disney came up with the name and character of Ariel. They gave her a bit of a tan though her skin in the Hansen fairytale was described as so white to be clear. Disney also gave her striking red hair, which I don’t think came from the Hansen fairytale either.

Disney apparently changed the story to make the movie less dark and more fun for kids. I don’t think Disney ever felt constrained by the Hansen version. Is there any reason her skin color is more critical to the story than her name, the language she speaks, or the color of her tail or hair?

Apparently there have been many works inspired by or adapting the Hansen fairytale. Looks like there have been Spanish and Japanese versions and even one set in Mississippi, for example.

List of The Little Mermaid adaptations - Wikipedia

 

If Jane Fonda has her way we’ll all wind up in jail.

 

True but they are also hurting themselves long term. Disney is still alienating a good part of its core audience with the politics. There are plenty of parents who aren't letting their kids see The Little Mermaid or any new Disney or Disney related movies.

The Little Mermaid live action remake is absolutely tanking overseas which is where the money is really made. Other Disney live action remakes have made at least $1 billion worldwide. Beauty and the Beast made around $1.2 billion and Lion King made over $1.6 billion. The Little Mermaid needs to get to at least $1 billion worldwide to not be a commercial failure. I genuinely don't think it gets there. I think it tops out at $700-$800 million.

But besides the movies, more and more people are cutting Disney out of their lives due to politics. These same people will also not be visiting the theme parks in future years and would've most likely been part of the core audience that Disney tries to get to its theme parks. Those kids who don't grow up going to Disney theme parks a few times as a kid will be far less likely as an adult to go visit the Disney theme parks. And anyone who has been at Disney the last few years knows that the adult Disney fans are almost as lucrative of a market for Disney as the traditional family market.

So those adults won't go to Disney and then won't take their kids to Disney either. So many adults go to Disney even without kids because they grew up going at least one every few years on vacation back when Disney wasn't political. Disney long term is probably going to lose a good bit of younger Millennials and Gen Z due to the politics and that will hurt the company big time.

That's when it will really hurt as the DPEP division (Parks and Resorts) is the only division really making money. Personally I'd love to see Disney spin off and/or sell the entire DMED division, including ABC and ESPN and get back to focusing on Parks, Resorts, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Consumer Products (Shop Disney) and the Studio segment (Pixar, Marvel and Studio Productions).

 

If certain liberals have their way any straight white male who doesn't apologize every day for being a straight white male will be in jail or a "re-education camp". Saying anything they don't approve of will also get you in jail.

The liberal elite have no respect for the 1st Amendment and would be more than happy to have hate speech laws (which of course they would get to determine what is and isn't hate speech).

 

It’s good that you’re sensitive to their feelings but thankfully Disney thought of that.

 

Short term character offering. Get back to me in a year and we'll see which character meet and greet they are doing. Be honest, which one do you really think kids are going to see in the park a year from now?

I can tell you right now, it won't be the black Ariel, especially considering it's based off the image of the actress. The company would have to provide royalty money to the actress. It's why Captain Jack Sparrow appearances are rare, every photo taken by Disney photographers Johnny Deep gets a royalty few. Same for Giselle, Amy Adams gets a royalty fee. Same with the Marvel characters and their actors and actresses. And yes I know this because at one time I was one of the Disney photographers.

They made Cinderella black once as well. Never saw a black Cinderella meet and greet in the parks though did you?

Of course it's sad the company has completely given up on authenticity. It's used to be you would never see the character in the park in two places at once. Even to the point where character meet and greets would end before parades since the character had to go to the parade. You would've never previously seen Ariel in two places at once to maintain character integrity. It doesn't look like the company cares about that anymore.

And how do you think kids are going to react when they see a black Ariel at a meet and greet and then go to another area of the park and see a white Ariel at a meet and greet?

 

The irony here is strong. (Hint: You continue to tell on yourself.)