Live-Action The Little Mermaid

[Blitzkrieg]

No red hair confirmed

 

[Abudefduf]

Disney's next animated movie after Frozen 2 is Dragon Empire, which will apparently be set in Asia and have a female protagonist, so it's not like they're not creating new stuff.

I do wish they would make something set in Africa, though.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I do wish they would make something set in Africa, though.

They have one in development atm

'Dope' Director Rick Famuyiwa is Developing Disney's First African Princess Movie, 'Sade''Dope' Director Rick Famuyiwa is Developing Disney's First African Princess Movie, 'Sade'

Disney is developing its first fairytale film starring an African princess. The House of Mouse has tapped Dopedirector Rick Famuyiwa to produce Sadé, a live-action fantasy film featuring the studio’s very first African princess.

Disney has bought the pitch to Sadé from writers Ola Shokunbi and Lindsey Reed Palmer, according to Variety. The pair are set to co-write the screenplay about “a young African girl named Sadé whose kingdom is threatened by a mysterious evil force and accepts her newly discovered magical powers to protect her people, with the help of the kingdom’s prince,” Variety reports.

 

[Boy Scout]

Sure, logically I get all that - but it's still faux-woke tokenism that achieves nothing of substance

Of course it does. It helps to further normalize people of color portraying various roles across genre fiction (for children especially) and further dispels the idea that films starring minority leads are unnecessary financial risks or just plain don’t sell.

It's also the most hilariously white savior-ish thing I've ever heard in my life… A white person deciding based on the oppression olympics perspective which races can or can not be represented in media. Good lord that's got something Orwellian about it and then condescendingly telling other races (you know, like Hispanics who are a larger proportion of American demographics) to just 'wait their turn'.

Nothing I can really do about that. All I did was answer your question.

That said: the Internet has given everyone the power to make their cases heard and push for the causes they believe in and expose the injustices their people are or have been subjected to. Now, instead of waiting for white people to succumb to white guilt or give us what we want or need, we have the power to mobilize and do it ourselves.

And I mean...there are white people who understand the importance of and believe in diversity.

Brass tacks; it's simply about power and at the moment the black celebrity lobby is exceptionally prominent and strong and they're helping create pressure through the media to push their own representation, it's never had anything to do with proportional representation or 'diversity' like many people like to claim.

That’s a remarkably cynical way of looking at it. I don’t have the time, space, or energy to attempt to change your mind. All I’ll say is that although there are absolutely people like that in the world, there are just as many (if not more) who genuinely care and want to see everyone get their chance to shine.

Depends on what you're trying to achieve - helping black people feel better superficially by changing white characters into black characters?

Who are you to say that it’s superficial?

Sure it's a success in that case. "We're sorry that material conditions are still terrible and the generational effects of slavery haven't been addressed by we hope you feel better that an icky white redhead is black now!"…hmm, I'm struggling to see that as anything other than petty and trivial.

Again, that’s an incredibly cynical - and now just plain obtuse - way of looking at it.

I also find the cognitive dissonance around this discussion amusing; both of these are true at the same time depending on the race of the character: "Representation is important; the race of the actor and character is important to the viewer".

*Viewer is white and likes a certain character being white*:

"Listen race isn't an integral part of the character so why are you complaining? Racist".

It doesn’t feel like you’re arguing in good faith, to be honest. I think any reasonable person can tell the difference between people who have a preference and expressing disappointment when their expectations aren’t met (which is fine) and those who have an overly negative, visceral reaction to a person of color being played by someone of a different color.

The “race isn’t important to the character” argument is brought up because those against race changes almost always argue for traditionalism for the sake of traditionalism (or personal preference, which I will again say is fine). There are some characters who need to be the race they were conceived as; Ariel isn’t one of them. So all this negativity surrounding a black Ariel? Sorry, but it’s silly. I’m not saying that makes you or anyone else inherently racist; but it’s not a reaction that I can really take seriously when it’s often supported by such flimsy and petty arguments. YMMV.[/QUOTE]

 

[Fincher]

I think they need a Hispanic princess movie (I'm talking animated here), and that's just speaking from pure business sense. They made The Princess and the Frog so they could have a black princess for their Disney Princess brand, but they don't have a Hispanic one when it's such a large and growing minority group in the US and a significant portion of people worldwide. More specifically, something set in Latin America.

 

[terry78]

They...just made the wildly popular BLACK PANTHER...

I mean something based on a fairy or folktale from Africa, not a Marvel flick that's guaranteed to do big regardless.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Harry Styles has apparently been cast as Prince Eric

 

[terry78]

Here we go.

 

[Zarex]

Hollywood looks for looks first and talent second. Scripts and casting agencies are very specific in those regards. They are looking for an actor that fits the character first. They then pick talent out of that pool. The only deviation from that are industry gold like RDJ, Leo, Will Smith 10 years ago, etc. In those cases, they are writing the character to the actor. This actress is an up and coming talent. She is not a household name. It is clear that they wanted a woman of color for the part. Otherwise, you would have seen a casting call for any race to tryout. They didn’t do that. Is there something wrong with that? Yes. For starters, they don’t care about the source material. If Tony Stark was an Asian woman, people would have thrown a fit and rightfully so. The other issue is that white characters aren’t intrinsically white. Them being white isn’t integral to the story. So, technically all white characters aren’t sacred ground and anyone that says anything otherwise are labeled as racists.

The thing is Ariel has never been a Caucasian woman of European descent. She's a water breathing mythical creature with fish genitals.

Try not to think of this as a PC MSM organization trying to push a SJW agenda on a nation threatened by white genocide. Instead, look at this as a greedy, soulless multi-billion dollar corporation trying to sell a crap load of brown skinned fish people dolls.

 

[Fincher]

Harry Styles has apparently been cast as Prince Eric

I feel like Disney's trying to tell me something...

 

[Shinobi Shaw]

Too bad Jussie Smollett played himself. He would’ve been a shoe in for Prince Eric.

 

[Abudefduf]

They have one in development atm

'Dope' Director Rick Famuyiwa is Developing Disney's First African Princess Movie, 'Sade''Dope' Director Rick Famuyiwa is Developing Disney's First African Princess Movie, 'Sade'

Why do I have the feeling that I already knew about this, but completely forgot? Thanks.

Harry Styles has apparently been cast as Prince Eric

Eeeeeeeeh...

 

[kaypain]

Harry Styles has apparently been cast as Prince Eric

The Shea Butter community ain't gonna like this

 

[Lencho01]

They have one in development atm

'Dope' Director Rick Famuyiwa is Developing Disney's First African Princess Movie, 'Sade''Dope' Director Rick Famuyiwa is Developing Disney's First African Princess Movie, 'Sade'

Fox was also going to do a film based of the “Children of Blood and Bone” books but I don’t know what’s up with that after Disney.

 

[Lencho01]

The Shea Butter community ain't gonna like this

What if Disney pulls a Brandy Cinderella with this one?

 

[kaypain]

What if Disney pulls a Brandy Cinderella with this one?

Meh I dont even care for The Little Mermaid to give a crap. It's one my least favorite Disney films. Despite Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl the story doesn't move me.

 

[Punisher_MAX]

I think they need a Hispanic princess movie (I'm talking animated here), and that's just speaking from pure business sense. They made The Princess and the Frog so they could have a black princess for their Disney Princess brand, but they don't have a Hispanic one when it's such a large and growing minority group in the US and a significant portion of people worldwide. More specifically, something set in Latin America.

they do have a Hispanic princess, her name is Elena of Avalor and she's prominently marketed here in the Parks. The problem is that she is from a Disney show and doesn't have her own movie which I think is a huge missed opportunity.

I also don't understand why people think it's only white people that are annoyed by the casting, I wrote before that I am Hispanic and am not a fan of the casting. My cousins and brother, also hispanic, feel the same and wish Tiana had just been elevated instead.

Id also defend minority roles being race bent whether it be whitewashed or simply changed to another minority for no rhyme or reason.

 

[Lencho01]

Meh I dont even care for The Little Mermaid to give a crap. It's one my least favorite Disney films. Despite Under The Sea and Kiss The Girl the story doesn't move me.

Oh, I was just saying like what if they cast people of all kinds of races as they did with the Brandy Cinderella (much like Broadway plays and musicals). It would just be so amusing after seeing how pressed people have been over Ariel’s casting.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I think there will be racially diverse group of girls for the Daughters of Triton

 

[Lencho01]

Broadway King Triton (Norm Lewis)...

Some fan art...

 

[Zarex]

they do have a Hispanic princess, her name is Elena of Avalor and she's prominently marketed here in the Parks. The problem is that she is from a Disney show and doesn't have her own movie which I think is a huge missed opportunity.

I also don't understand why people think it's only white people that are annoyed by the casting, I wrote before that I am Hispanic and am not a fan of the casting. My cousins and brother, also hispanic, feel the same and wish Tiana had just been elevated instead.

Id also defend minority roles being race bent whether it be whitewashed or simply changed to another minority for no rhyme or reason.

This isn't race bending. Ariel isn't caucasian.

I can kinda understand why folks would prefer the Mouse had cast an actress that bore a stronger resemblance to the cartoon. But despite being a smidge darker than 2D animated Ariel, Ms. Bailey ticks most of the boxes - young, attractive, a fantastic singer and a damn good actress. I can understand why she won the role.

 

[psylockolussus]

Apart from skin color how does one look like a hand drawn cartoon character?

Hair color, height, body built, face shape, eyes, etc...

 

[psylockolussus]

I still stand by my statement yesterday just create new princesses of different races with new backstories instead of pulling crap like this.

I would love new fairytale animated films from Disney!

 

[Dark Raven]

Hair color, height, body built, face shape, eyes, etc...

That's why some actors or actresses seem to embody their comic counterparts perfectly, while others don't.

 

[Abudefduf]

#NotMyAriel is trending worldwide on Twitter. I'm scrolling through the hashtag and all I'm seeing so far is people mad that #NotMyAriel is trending.

The people mad that #NotMyAriel is trending are the ones making it trend. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Look at that freaking tail, it's huge. She could kill a shark with that thing