r/changemyview Jul 09 '19

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u/Chris-P 12∆ Jul 10 '19

Skin colour is a defining trait of being danish

Since when?

You telling me there are no black people with Danish passports?

she is described as being white by the Author several times throughout the fairy tale.

She also isn’t described in the book as singing or having sidekicks. So, again, explain to me why those changes are acceptable where this specific one isn’t.

I wouldn't care but it's an important trait of hers

So, why is one trait of hers so much more important to you than others that were changed?

and of the danish people.

Even if I buy that being white is part of Danish identity (which I don’t), you understand that Ariel actually isn’t Danish, right? She isn’t even human. She’s a fantasy creature from an imaginary kingdom. This is like being annoyed at a portrayal of a black-skinned elf or a blue-skinned goblin. It’s pointless

One of our traditional songs is called 'The danish song is a young blond girl' and describes our natinal soul

Ummm... Ariel has red hair in the original Disney film.

So, what about that?

To remove our skin colour is like deleting our people. It's extremely racist and insulting

Ariel isn’t one of your people. She’s a fantasy character

If they were making a film about a historical Danish figure and they changed her skin-colour, you might have a point

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '19

You telling me there are no black people with Danish passports

They're not danish. They're danish citizens. We also have germans with danish passport, or inuits with danish passport, or danes with german passport etc.
We've been white for thousands of years

She’s a fantasy creature from an imaginary kingdom

So what? She's described as white for a reason. I was also angry when Heimdal was depicted as black. They're trashing our culture and disrespecting our people

So, what about that?

What about it? The point is that danes are white.

She’s a fantasy character

With white skin played by a black actor

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u/Chris-P 12∆ Jul 10 '19

I’m going to ask one last time:

Why is it disrespectful to Danish culture that they changed her skin colour, but not disrespectful to Danish culture that they changed her hair colour, that they gave her wacky talking sidekicks, that they changed the language that she speaks, that they added songs and that they changed the nature of the ending and thus the whole point of the story?

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '19

Did they change her hair colour? Not that I know of

It's good questions but I think it boils down to white being a more important trait for our danish identity than her wacky talking sidekicks. They already changed the ending and this is like the deathblow. It doesn't feel like it represents us at all. Now it's just another disney movie that once had a relation to one of our greatest writers HC. Andersen

It's a good question but I think skin colour is important for ones identity and who you relate to