Diversity and Representation in Media

Everyone’s mad he isn’t blue, so no.

One hurdle to the Blue Genie that's just occurred to me is that people would feel it's disrespects the memory of Robin Williams,which is true as he practically made the whole his own

Edited by Ultimatum on Dec 19th 2018 at 11:51:40 AM

I mean is I think really disrespectful to remake a movie, just because one actor was strongly associated with a role in it.

Also there has never been any Alladin film with a non-blue genius.

Right,but we're talking Disney's Aladin,which famously has a blue genie and the film is an attempt to remake the live action,therefore the presence of a blue skinned Genie is what sets it apart from other adaptations.So for the film makers to replace his role with Will Smith it feels like they just don't care (I'm having a hard time phrasing what I mean)

Edited by Ultimatum on Dec 19th 2018 at 1:06:54 AM

Another blow against the representation of Blue people.

…Wait,what? I'm… curious and worried. The last American remake of a Korean film was rather pointless, so I wonder if they'll adapt the story more this time…

It still irks me anyway. Since they keep Americanizing foreign movies instead of just importing them as they are, the US public ends up thinking that anything not produced by Hollywood isn't worth watching.

Edited by Lyendith on Dec 19th 2018 at 10:18:14 AM

It's actually quite the opposite. To have Will Smith play a blue genie would be overwriting Robin William's performance. Will Smith states in the article that he doesn't want to compete with Williams. I don't blame him. I wouldn't want to compete with him either.

I can't say the images look great, as there is barely a resemblence to the original designs, as both Aladdin and Jasmine have more generic middle eastern garb and of course painting Will Smith blue would have it's own problems. But Smith taken in isolation doesn't look half bad, with the over the top braided hair and beard it almost imitates the feel of Genie. I do like the idea they are amping up Genies' ego, as that plays into Smith's strengths and the dialogue given implies that Genie was a huge celebrity in the distant past, an area not really explored in the animated Canon.

I'm not too thrilled with the commentary that they are "updating" Jasmines' character. When the same line was given for Cinderella and Belle the end result was actually a more bland character because they took out any big emotion or sense of whimsy, while more self-aware (superficially so, and accordingly seems more judgemental) they still ultimately have no more agency than in the original.

The only reason I may want an American remake of Train to Busan to happen is that it makes a fun story.

Train to Busan was a fantastic zombie movie and I just can’t muster enough faith or interest in a supposed Hollywood remake

What a waste of time

> and the dialogue given implies that Genie was a huge celebrity in the distant past, an area not really explored in the animated Canon.

dunno about being a huge celebrity but I've come to the conclusion that prior to being sealed in a lamp Genie was similar to Jafar,his three rules do give that impression to me least that prior to making them he did all three at some point

1)Won't kill anyone

2)He won't make anyone fall in love

3)He won't bring anyone back from the dead.

I just don't think the images look very promising, some of the shots look... really white (if that's a photo touch up or an actor thing, I can't say. Don't know enough) and I think Will Smith's Genie look just... doesn't look good. I wasn't expecting him to be blue. But it looks... bad.

Okay, since nobody is saying it...Kazaam!!!

Aladdin was Chinese in the original folk tale, face the truth you cowards

The only truth here is that this looks...bad.

Bear in mind, the old telling of Aladdin in 1001 Nights used the setting of China very loosely and not really based in historical fact. But nothing says it's better removed from there. The British film Arabian Nights (2000) actually set the story in China again.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Dec 19th 2018 at 8:52:32 AM

On another topic, Disney has made Bao, the short film that played before Incredibles 2, available on YouTube. The director of the short, Domee Shi, is developing a feature film for Pixar Studios.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Dec 19th 2018 at 8:57:04 AM

I want to see what he is going to do next. This could be interesting due to what she did in Bao.

Not sure if all Disney live-action remakes are visually uninspired or if all movies just look bland to me after watching Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse >_>

Also it might be good to mention that a lot of the architecture, clothing and other aesthetics associated with the greater Muslim world was originally Persian. Hanna Diyab (or whoever wrote the story) might not have had any idea what China actually looked like, but it's pretty clear that the setting he had in mind was something close to Khwarezmia, Bukhara or other culturally Persian Silk Road polities halfway between Syria and China. Just something to keep in mind when someone calls it an "Arab" story - which it kinda is, kinda isn't.

The Middle East has its own long history with slavery, anti-black racism and the Magical Negro trope (all of which are ubiquitous in the original One Thousand and One Nights), so I'm really wondering how Will Smith's casting as the genie is going to come off to the MENA audience. Admittedly there haven't been many black people traversing the Silk Road since its heyday (most modern black Middle Easterners live in North Africa or the Arabian Peninsula), but it feels a tiiiny bit like they're accidentally stumbling into a millennia-old racist trope here.

Hey, that reminds me James Avery aka Uncle Phil played Haroud Hazi Bin in the television series. It's kind Hilarious in Hindsight that the one who played his on-screen nephew goes on to play the Genie in the live action version. So, another Fresh Prince star has something to do with Aladdin.

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Haroud_Hazi_Bin

Maybe if this movie ends up spawning another animated series, we can get Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton) in there somehow.

Thinking about it they should have made Will Smith Aladdin..fresh 'prince' and all

Oh god this was beautiful. <3 Though strangely enough, on first viewing I had understood exactly the opposite of what was happening. Can't wait to see what Domee Shi can do in a feature film.

What's this story about sexism in Pixar studio though?

Edited by Lyendith on Dec 20th 2018 at 3:33:52 PM

dunno about being a huge celebrity but I've come to the conclusion that prior to being sealed in a lamp Genie was similar to Jafar,his three rules do give that impression to me least that prior to making them he did all three at some point 1)Won't kill anyone 2)He won't make anyone fall in love 3)He won't bring anyone back from the dead.

No, they're explicitly a "can't," not a "won't." Aside from the wording when he tells Aladdin the rules, he's genuinely shocked when it seems that Jasmine has fallen in love. He looks at his hands like "huh, I can do that?"

Disney faces criticism for trademarking the phrase, Hakuna Matata.

Edited by windleopard on Dec 20th 2018 at 10:36:53 AM