Disney Live Action Little Mermaid

[JAWS]

Well sometimes I feel like it’s unnecessary. Like say making wolverine, captain America, or Batman or Superman. I feel like it’s just saying. Look guys we made this character black so now u don’t have to cry anymore about representation. I think we need to make our own characters and our own stories. We need to establish more original black characters not piggy back off white ones cause people will never see Superman as a black guy but they’ll always see black panther as black cause he was made that way.

Now in terms of Ariel. I don’t really care. It’s the sea so I’m fine with this interpretation. But if they like made her like a guy or something then I’d be like what? I agree with rippas vids sometimes. I didn’t like miles either. I feel he’s a weak character and spiderverse made him better imo.

I think Disney should focus on making an actual African princess who isn’t a frog for half the movie or a African character just in general in there new animated films.

I agree with all of this..

But much of it depends on how great the film is..

I might be scratch my head over a black James bond... But man if the movie was great, I probably would not care.

But IMO the answer is to make an original new spy movie were the character happens to be black.. More representation with original characters is the way to go IMO.

Bond is not female though.. Don't go there..

Atomic Blonde is my Female Bond

 

[loki2371]

^^ At one point I remember reading they were discussing/thinking of changing the mythos of James Bond. That the name bond was attached to the moniker of Agent 007. A code name that various agents would use over the years. That was to negate the blowback if they did indeed go ahead with a female Bond or if they cast Idris Elba as Bond. And also to address the different Bond actors over the ages.

Not a bad idea, but still lessens the history of the character.

No matter what, Connery will always be the one true James bond in my eyes...

 

[Captain Clown]

I think Disney should focus on making an actual African princess who isn’t a frog for half the movie or a African character just in general in there new animated films.

New characters don't sell, and for modern Disney it's $1,000,000,000 or nothing.

 

[Khev]

New characters don't sell

Tell that to the Guardians of the Galaxy. 99.9% of the world had never even heard of them prior to 2014. Black Panther, Deadpool and hell even Iron Man were largely unknown to non-comic fans prior to their theatrical debuts.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

I agree with all of this..

But much of it depends on how great the film is..

I might be scratch my head over a black James bond... But man if the movie was great, I probably would not care.

But IMO the answer is to make an original new spy movie were the character happens to be black.. More representation with original characters is the way to go IMO.

Bond is not female though.. Don't go there..

Atomic Blonde is my Female Bond

^^ At one point I remember reading they were discussing/thinking of changing the mythos of James Bond. That the name bond was attached to the moniker of Agent 007. A code name that various agents would use over the years. That was to negate the blowback if they did indeed go ahead with a female Bond or if they cast Idris Elba as Bond. And also to address the different Bond actors over the ages.

Not a bad idea, but still lessens the history of the character.

No matter what, Connery will always be the one true James bond in my eyes...

I'm fine with a black James Bond as long as it's Idris Elba. In a way, he'd be closer to the traditional Bond look than Daniel Craig, who looks NOTHING like Bond. He's short, blond, blue eyes, and not charming enough to buy as a ladies man. Also, there's nothing about Bond as a character that changes by changing the color of the skin, as long as the guy is British.

 

[Khev]

Well sometimes I feel like it’s unnecessary. Like say making wolverine, captain America, or Batman or Superman. I feel like it’s just saying. Look guys we made this character black so now u don’t have to cry anymore about representation. I think we need to make our own characters and our own stories. We need to establish more original black characters not piggy back off white ones cause people will never see Superman as a black guy but they’ll always see black panther as black cause he was made that way.

Now in terms of Ariel. I don’t really care. It’s the sea so I’m fine with this interpretation. But if they like made her like a guy or something then I’d be like what? I agree with rippas vids sometimes. I didn’t like miles either. I feel he’s a weak character and spiderverse made him better imo.

I think Disney should focus on making an actual African princess who isn’t a frog for half the movie or a African character just in general in there new animated films.

Yep, agreed on all points.

So does Rippa.

 

[screamingmetal]

I agree with all of this..

But much of it depends on how great the film is..

I might be scratch my head over a black James bond... But man if the movie was great, I probably would not care.

But IMO the answer is to make an original new spy movie were the character happens to be black.. More representation with original characters is the way to go IMO.

Bond is not female though.. Don't go there..

Atomic Blonde is my Female Bond

James Bond is the old school male superhero fantasy, he's a bachelor, always wealthy, expert at fighting and shooting and always wins, has the most expensive luxury car, drinks and smokes all the time, professional gambler, can drive or fly anything, and most importantly, always gets the girl with no consequences. It would never work as a woman, Bond has to be a man.
I think we'll see a black James Bond before we'd ever see an American portraying the character. Even if the American could pull off the most convincing British accent in the world and was in peak physical shape and looked the part, it would still be considered sacrilege.

 

[abake]

I don’t really care what Nu-Ariel’s race is, I have little to no interest in Disney’s “live-action” remakes.
But I do believe changing the race of established characters just for the hell of it is silly. Batman is a privileged white boy from an old money white family, Clark Kent is a white dude raised by an elderly white couple in Kansas, James Bond is a white english dude with proper english upbringing... their whiteness is part of their background and identity.
The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, to name a few, where written as caucasian/european young women in an european setting. If you want to reimagine them as something other than that, fine, but does it make sense? Wouldn’t it make more sense to give that kind of exposure to other stories that made sense with other ethnicities? Mulan, Aladdin and Pocahontas are great examples of this. I’m sure there must exist amazing stories and fairy tales from Africa, Asia and the Middle-East to mine for movies. Making Ariel black just seems lazy and somewhat insulting to not just the original story, but to both white and black people... “oh look, we just took a beloved character and changed it so we seem more woke” and “oh look, we just appropriated a traditionally white character to appease you instead of actually taking the time to look for a story that reflects and celebrates your culture”...
Black Panther is a great example of doing an ethnicity justice, from the conception of the character in the comics to how he was brought to life in the Big Screen.
Black Ariel? Not really sure... as I said, I don’t really care that much. Hopefully this girl can make the character hers, like Momoa made Aquaman his, despite not being blonde...


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[abake]

Now man, you should check your history!

Cleopatra was white. She wasn’t even African but Greek! Last I checked Greeks were white!

Oh, and Ben Kingsley (Krishna Pandit Bhanji, real name), though born in England, is of Indian descent (his father was Indian)

Thanks for pointing that out, it pisses me off when people ignore history...
Besides, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that Olympia, Alexander’s mother? I don’t think Angelina Jolie ever played Cleopatra...
And no, there’s no evidence that Olympia was black... as a matter of fact, Alexander was said to be blonde.


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[xipotec]

Wait, was this not derived from a book?

So Disneys FIRST version made her a redhead white gal, cause no way back then would anyone have accepted a darker skinned girl for that animation...

So NOW they choose to change the character slightly?

I mean, who cares?




Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Mermaids live deep under water, so that means their kind is not exposed to the sun. Therefore, from an evolutionary stand point, they can't have dark skin.

 

[screamingmetal]

Thanks for pointing that out, it pisses me off when people ignore history...
Besides, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that Olympia, Alexander’s mother? I don’t think Angelina Jolie ever played Cleopatra...
And no, there’s no evidence that Olympia was black... as a matter of fact, Alexander was said to be blonde.


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I believe Rulk was trying to be flippant. Jolie signed up for a Cleopatra movie by Villeneuve but it appears she's off it now. Cleopatra was supposed to be ugly, so Jolie is wrong for the part anyways. Though there are a few that claim Cleopatra was part ethnic Egyptian (not black), the Ptolemys were known for intermarriage, and all contemporary depictions of her on coins and busts make her appear Caucasian.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I'm fine with a black James Bond ....as long as the guy is British.

Sticking to the Brits, eh? Nationalist.

 

[abake]

Wait, was this not derived from a book?

So Disneys FIRST version made her a redhead white gal, cause no way back then would anyone have accepted a darker skinned girl for that animation...

So NOW they choose to change the character slightly?

I mean, who cares?




Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....

I was referring to the source material, The Little Mermaid was a danish children's story, and as far as I know, Andersen didn't describe her as being black, nor has the character ever been portrayed as anything but Caucasian...
However, to your point, Disney's interpretation was a little white redheaded teen, so why change it if that is what people have known as the character's look for 30 years?

Mermaids live deep under water, so that means their kind is not exposed to the sun. Therefore, from an evolutionary stand point, they can't have dark skin.

I believe Rulk was trying to be flippant. Jolie signed up for a Cleopatra movie by Villeneuve but it appears she's off it now. Cleopatra was supposed to be ugly, so Jolie is wrong for the part anyways. Though there are a few that claim Cleopatra was part ethnic Egyptian (not black), the Ptolemys were known for intermarriage, and all contemporary depictions of her on coins and busts make her appear Caucasian.

Ah, I see...

 

[TaliBane]

Cue the negativity in 3...2...1...

Yeah, imagine the negativity when Disney announces a white actress to be the lead in the live action remake of "The Princess and the Frog."

Oh wait... would that be positive... negativity?

Ah this era of identity politics... we are all going to look back and have such a laugh in 20 years. The days when corporations and brands, fueled by a small outraged population on social media, led the virtue-signalling parade until people got ACTUAL woke.

I'm fine with a black James Bond.

I think the BBC and some British university will soon be reporting that in a soon-to-be-discovered Fleming manuscript, Bond was intended to be black all along and it was race politics that prevented it from being so.

It seems like in both newer history books and in movies/TV, half the British royals of the last millennium were black all along.

 

[jedijim3002]

This thread is awesome! Great read guys. Keep it up. Very entertaining.

I’m kind of in the middle on this one. While I did do a double take when I saw the announcement I wasn’t shocked or disappointed. The girl is beautiful and can sing her ass off. Plus the fact that it’s Disney and it will be successful because it’s The Little Mermaid and all this controversy over her casting is causing a lot of media buzz which will only boost ticket sales.

I do agree with Young Rippa about this casting being a sloppy seconds hand me down of tokenism that is trying to pander to the woke crowd for virtue points and I can sympathize with him being insulted. But I can also agree with those people who believe this is a positive step forward for progressive ideals and that the roles in TV and movies should transcend race.

I think Sam Jackson made the role of Nick Fury relevant and I can’t see anyone else in that role but him much like RDJ as iron man. So if he suddenly changed to a white dude or an Asian dude or an Indian dude I’m really not sure how I’d feel. Because my expectations are already set as one familiar look for this character it would be jarring for it to change but if it was done well I wouldn’t be upset.

I think a lot of people, of all races, are used to the familiar red headed, white teen as Ariel who see her that way and find this change a bit jarring and surprising to be sure but a welcome one.

The problem I feel in this day of identity politics is that too many people are upset over stupid crap and its getting confusing. How far do you take this then?

In Doctor Strange when the Ancient One who traditionally was an old Asian man was whitewashed into Tilda Swindon, and English white woman, is that racist because of past whitewashing like Mickey Roonie as the Japanese guy in Breakfast at Tiffany’s or John Wayne as Genghis Khan? Or would it be more racist to keep the casting as an Asian man because of the stereotype?

It’s almost as if there is a land mine field of cow patties and you don’t know where to stand because somebody somewhere will be upset no matter what you do or say.


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[Dave_W]

Sticking to the Brits, eh? Nationalist.

He's being greedy. I mean we've already had Brits playing Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. I'd say Bond is fair game, give it to the best person for the job.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

He's being greedy. I mean we've already had Brits playing Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. I'd say Bond is fair game, give it to the best person for the job.

Henry Cavill.

 

[karamazov80]

I knew there would be controversy when this was announced. As Talibane posts, everybody is trying to be PC for their own groups while feigning outrage at others. Because everything in society has to be part of a culture war. And in that environment, a decision like this does get tainted by the idea that Disney is doing this for the sake of cynically appeasing one group, instead of just choosing the best person for the job. Conversely, the bulk of vocal critics are folks who are always looking for the next thing to get offended and outraged about, so those arguments tend to fall flat, but will "outrage" progressive minded people who don't take well to criticism of their own values and will post smarmy blog and Facebook posts, which will further galvanize critics of the decisions by Disney until the next Colin Kaepernick controversy rolls around.

I hope that one day we can get to the point where that won't be the norm, but unfortunately, society seems to be going in the other direction, where at least the most vocal among us are dictating the conversation, while the "silent majority" shake their heads and go about their business.

Considering that, given what it is (a cynical capitalization on nostalgia, more than anything else), I don't think most will pay much attention to superficial decisions and the movie will succeed or fail based on its general cultural relevancy (probably the most important factor in any movie's success), its technical merits, and of course, its marketing strategy moreso than whether Ariel is a pale faced ginger. But we will see! I keep expecting the bottom to fall out on Disney's success with live-action recreation of old cartoons, as I do with Star Wars and Marvel, but we're not totally there yet. Maybe we are with Star Wars. Can't wait to see how they handle Oliver and Company!

Henry Cavill.

He was excellent in the Mission: Impossible movie. Personally, Connery is the mold for me, and Brosnan was the closest to the spirit of that version of Bond in my opinion. But if you just want a suave bad-ass spy dude who can do the British accent, Cavill would work for sure.

 

[SnakeDoctor]

I don't care all that much about the Ariel casting. It does seem a bit hypocritical that those celebrating this so heavily are so appalled at "cultural appropriation" in other contexts. It is a Danish fairy tale ... so somewhat connected to Danish and Scandinavian culture. And, it's generally a bad idea to overwrite cultural folklore for demographic reasons.

But, it's not that big a deal.

I'd rather they didn't muck with James Bond, though. He's an established character, with established traits. Same with Clark Kent. And Bruce Wayne. Etc. We need not remake every popular white character with a revised race.

SnakeDoc