Diversity and Representation in Media

Jodi Benson, Ariel's voice actress, has spoken out in favor of Halle Bailey's casting.

I mean, in fairness, of course. She's getting paychecks from Disney. I like to think that she made the decision of her own volition but there's no chance she'd come out any other way.

Also if she don't support the casting decision she might be called a racist by some people.

That's taking a step off the slippery slope towards "no one actually likes it, they're just afraid of being called racist!"

No, some people like it, some don't, and some don't like it cause they are racist, but there also some don't like it because of other reasons. It just that it hard to tell which is which since most people when voice their reasons why they don't like can be dismissed with the phrase "cause you a racist". This can lead to some people don't want to voice their true feeling or opinion about the subject cause they are afraid of be label racist.

Edited by BattleRaizer on Jul 9th 2019 at 10:32:34 PM

Please explain what non-racist reasons there are to oppose Hallie’s casting as Ariel.

I think the point brought up before, that the mermaids being people of colour and the humans being white and Ariel wanting to be like the humans/human herself can be a little iffy, holds water as one such argument.

Fear of change, mostly. Which is regressive, though not necessarily racist.

Now, as someone who thinks the live action remakes are ridiculous and welcome any change they make because they're otherwise completely redundant, I'm a-OK with almost any change they're going to make to the source material, but others will disagree and they're not wrong.

... that, however, is a huge leap and extrapolation based off of one casting choice and I'm pretty sure no one has legitimately made that concern. That only holds water as a strawman and a false dichotomy.

Edited by Larkmarn on Jul 9th 2019 at 11:43:37 AM

A lot of the opposition I'm seeing boils down to "It's change,I hate change!" which isn't too surprising

I'm like 90% sure that they'll go with colour-blind casting on this one.

Many people feel Disney just use this move to get free publicity and pandering rather than any artistic merit or goodwill on their part.

It's got people talking about their remake before it's even started filming so yeah it's nice bit of publicity,but I wouldn't go as far to call it pandering

... okay, so. You've just unironically gone "well, people want to speak out about it, but they're afraid of being called racist" and "they're just pandering!"

And again, yes. No shit. They're pandering and looking for buzz. Because they're trying to make money. These live action remakes are inherently blatant cashgrabs. "Pandering" is such a stupid buzzword because it just means that they're trying to appeal to an audience. That's all. If they're pandering, that means that there are people to pander to. "They're only doing this because they think the idea is marketable" is nonsensical.

Claiming there's more artistic merit in making the blatant cash grab as close to the original is insane.

Edited by Larkmarn on Jul 9th 2019 at 11:52:00 AM

I do agree it is a leap. It all depends on how the final movie shakes out. I only mentioned it because it is the only one I heard that wasn't "I hate she is black" or more specifically "I hate she is not a redhead" (which, she might still be in several ways as pointed out).

Edited by akanesarumara on Jul 9th 2019 at 5:53:35 PM

Basically,wait for the actress's performance to win them over,until then you'll have to put up with people griping.

Edited by Ultimatum on Jul 9th 2019 at 3:56:38 PM

Yes, like i said in the previous page, we don't know how the remake will go, But if they decided to do a shot for shot remake with no changing to the original story then can lead to some Unfortunate Implication. And the original story and it moral already have some problems.

Edited by BattleRaizer on Jul 9th 2019 at 10:57:42 PM

I genuinely dont know what your on about

I guess one non racist though biased reason for wanting the same Ariel design is that they like it and don’t want it to change?

Like, if they had gone ahead with redhead white Ariel, I feel that’s fine? Like, same with this casting, black Ariel is also fine too?

You do realize its possible that the mermaids might be multi-ethnic in the final film, right? Ariel's family is likely to be black, but there's nothing saying all the mermaids will be. I know there are some mermaids that were POC in some of the cartoons, so it's likely to be the case here as well.

The reaction I'm seeing would be the same if was Snow White or any other princess

Humans nature can be so disappointing sometimes,we're afraid of something different and new

Let’s be honest, most of the people complaining just think a redhead would be prettier. It’s purely about the aesthetic here, which ties into the earlier accusations of racism.

Uhhhhhhh that’s.... Black women can have red hair. Plus wigs exist. No one would be whining if they’d cast a blonde actress cause they’d assume she’d dye her hair or wear a wig.

they would whine about blond Ariel and the accusations of erasure would be just as loud because it differs from the norm

Edited by Ultimatum on Jul 9th 2019 at 5:45:13 PM

It definitely wouldn't. Jesus been white 1000 years and people still painting more white Jesuses

Personally I'm hoping for a Live action The Princess and the Frog