We're well aware with the whole Halley Bailey backlash for Disney's The Little Mermaid live action adaptation. Well, it's funny... Not Ha-ha funny, but funny as the stench of unpreserved meat that became rotten after a week without power.
What do I mean by that? Well, people who are not happy by the casting, because it's not faithful to the source Material are being called racist... but wait a minute... I could've sworn that this same argument was used to attack the casting on another movie...
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| Dammit, ScarJo! I'm DEFENDING YOU FOR ONCE! STOP STARING AT ME IN A DISAPPROVING MANNER! |
Yes, Laddies and Gentlema'ams! I'm talking about The Ghost in the Shell... the infamous movie where ScarJo culturally appropriated a role meant for a Japanese woman. You see where I'm getting at? The same people who claim that The Little Mermaid live action is "not for you, but for a new generation of fans" "she was the best suited for the role" were outraged at ScarJo for daring to play a role meant for a Japanese woman. Or that Benedict Cucumbersnatch played a trans role that should've been played by an actual trans person. They lose their minds when a trans character isn't played by a trans actor, but when a white character is played by a black actress... nothing.
Of course the excuse these racists will give you is: "YT PPL have been whitewashing roles for ages, so it's time for some payback."
So, using their logic: people have been racist for years, so it's time to fight racism with racism.
When a White person does something non-white is cultural appropriation. When a black person does something non-black it's representation and diversity. That's MY issue.
You can't use "cultural appropriation" to attack an actor, but defend a different actor for doing the same you criticized from the first one.
I criticize them both the same. Just like I criticized ScarJo for Kusanagi, I'm criticizing Halley Bailey for Ariel.
But Brandy did Cinderella and no one complained...
That we know of, since that was pre-internet. But I'll play: The Cinderella movie starring Brandy wasn't called Disney's Cinderella. It was called Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.
It was an adaptation of the Musical made by Rodgers and Hammerstein. So, it's NOT the same thing. Just like The Wiz is NOT the same thing as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. On Disney's The Little Mermaid, we have the original cartoon movie that was a loose adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson story where the titular character is a redhead Alyssa Milano... who most definitely isn't black.
Yes, I'm aware of the counter argument of a tall nippleless Tom Cruise as Aladdin. But back to DTLMLA: they wanted to make the titular mermaid black, fine... but then why do you cast the whitest Spaniard in all of Spain as her father!? Flounder is white, Urusula is white too! Eric is Wonderbread White... I guess it would be easier to count the non-white roles:
Sebastian who is black, and Scuttle who has been genderbent into an Asian Bottled Watter obnoxius and loud comedienne whose whole schtick is appropriate black culture.
Had King Triton been played by Terry Crews and Ursula was played by Lizzo, this would've felt more honest from Disney as an attempt to add diversity. As it officially ended up, it feels like this was a very Wonderbread Adaptation and they decided to change Ariel for the sake of SocJus brownie points.
Where were these people when an Afro-Caribbean role was stolen by a non-Afro Mexican? They were defending the change because it wasn't about sticking it to the white man. I am referring to America Chavez... had Xochtil Gomez been lighter in the color spectrum, maybe they would've complained. It's this wishy-washy bullshit what bothers me. You want to fight cultural appropriation, then fight it IN ALL DIRECTIONS, not just the ones that are convenient to you.
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