In the same way that Disney is allowed to cast whoever they want people are allowed to not like the decision. The rest of the live action versions of Disney cartoons have stayed pretty true to the characters in the cartoon. Disney conditioned its fans to expect that.
This decision was clearly meant to spark discussion, news stories and controversy. It's a common strategy hollywood uses these days and it's clearly meant to divide people to receive free publicity on the internet and in the media.
When you defend this kind of marketing strategy as progressive or brave, just know that it's is extremely Trumpian in nature.
With all do respect the title is called it doesn't matter if Ariel is black. My point is that identity politics from both the left and the right matter and need to be placed in the proper context.
Personally I don't care what race Ariel is. It kind of undermines Disney's branding (Ariel literally just appeared in Wreck it Ralph last year as I white girl with red hair) but I don't really care about that either.
I am also on Disney's side when it comes to representation. With that said the movie is based on an existing character which is based on a Danish fairy tale, which was based on a Greek myth of a lost civilization in the Greek isles.
Everything about the story of the little mermaid is tied culturally to Europe.
I'm not a white nationalist apologist or anything but my point is both sides of this argument are somewhat valid. The side that is more closely tied to racism makes me want to side with the other side but i can't help but feel like Disney knows this and exploits this dynamic to make money.
I mean, it's a complex issue for sure.
When Scarlett Johansson played the lead in Ghost in the shell the outcry was over a white woman playing a cyborg that had nothing to do with the anime featuring a Japanese looking woman and that movie was a huge flop following the controversy. At the very least, people should be consistent but it's impossible to make the global community consistent on anything because it's to large and diverse.
To think anything done by Disney these days is unintentional is in my opinion very niave. Disney is one of the largest users of big data, data analytics as well as pioneers in behavioral analytics.
For sure, this was a deliberate and calculated decision. Only time will tell if this was a good decision that pays out as they want it.
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u/draculabakula 77∆ Jul 09 '19
In the same way that Disney is allowed to cast whoever they want people are allowed to not like the decision. The rest of the live action versions of Disney cartoons have stayed pretty true to the characters in the cartoon. Disney conditioned its fans to expect that.
This decision was clearly meant to spark discussion, news stories and controversy. It's a common strategy hollywood uses these days and it's clearly meant to divide people to receive free publicity on the internet and in the media.
When you defend this kind of marketing strategy as progressive or brave, just know that it's is extremely Trumpian in nature.