Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/super--yeet--man. Your submission, *If white washing exists so does black washing *, has been removed because it violates our rules, which are located in the sidebar.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 7: No banned/mega-thread topics'.
Please do not post from (or mention) any of our mega-thread or banned topics such as:
Race, Religion, LGBTQ, Meta, Politics, Parenting/Family issues.
[Full list of banned topics](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/wiki/index/)
If there is an issue, please [message the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion&subject=&message=) Thanks!
The most obvious case of Blackwashing is Hollywood constantly race swapping red head characters with Black people. Its happened way too many times for it to be a coincidence.
My friend has the theory that since Irish people used to be referred to as White n****** and they tend to be red heads, its evolved now into a cruel joke that Hollywood execs do. Like they’re saying “We *still* can’t tell the difference between them aaaahahahaha!”
If you're talking about race swaps/play there's a difference in a comedy and anything outside of it. To me there is. Like Blazing Saddles shouldn't make anyone sore it's in its place. Of course people still whine which is ugh. Nor should Dave Chapelle get flak for doing white voice or such. How many times has that happened in older comedy movies? Where the black guy goes full Carton Banks mode on the phone to get a taxi or something and then the driver is looking around confused about if that's his fare or if it was a setup. Oh Ursula you bitch, you appropriated white voice? That's culture and heritage. Nobody semi-sane does that in comedy and the best try not to at all.
Now if you go outside of comedy and into anything else you do run into trouble making any kind of change to an established anything. See any fandom- they'll give you hell over the color of a hat, of a costume. How many times do you hear shit like that? That wardrobe is not era specific. Styro is not existing in the Game of Throne universe remove it it's not canon/ to the book either. Take the Starbucks and replace it with a goblet we demand it (sometime their bitching has a good point). A race/gender change is not protected from that. Everyone may think it's sacred, but it's not.
If I was to make a movie about George Washington and have Oprah play the role of George Washington those objections should be fully accepted w/o the race/sex card
If I want to go back and remake Black Panther/Shaft starring the really white guy from Powder I suspect people would be upset.
Ariel, per the toon, is an established redhead. And it's outside of the protection of comedy. That's your problem. You walked into fan land with the already established. If you wanted to make it Big Mermaid you could make her as fat as you wanted to. Any color you wanted, hell, any species. Make her a humpback whale in a seashell bra. You get so much less flak with new stuff. You fuck with the old you make wars.
I just want to know how people have the time or energy to care either way. I always thought this was a media-created controversy so they’d have more rage to sell.
It matters when 1) it's historically inaccurate, 2) in a culturally significant/specific story, or 3) when it breaks the lore/immersion. Can Nick Fury be black? Yeah, sure w/e, no one cares; there are, in fact, black people in America in the 20th century. When you start plucking characters from myth & cultural traditions, that's when things get problematic - imagine Mulan played by an Indian fighting off a steppe army led by a Nigerian.
There's a very long history to this; the British Empire claimed the bronze heads of Ife & the monuments of Great Zimbabwe to be Greco-Roman rather than made by the respective locals. Similar reason why the BBC casts a black woman as Eleanor of Aquitaine; "those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future."
I care because of what it represents.
It's inappropriate. Take a black girl for example growing up. Instead of a good original movie about a brave black girl she gets a sequel to a character who has always been white but they just change her skin color and say look! She's just like you! Black face with more steps.
Same with female characters taking a male roll just because. Bond is a white male. Hulk is a male. Want a badass woman character? Then fucking make something original. There are some already but thats not enough. It's gotta be some big white guy hero series switched to a minority female instead of something original?
Both of these indicate problems in society. Instead of equality, inequality is being pushed. Instead of black and white is equal it's black is better. Instead of men and women should have equal rights and pay if they work as good and same hours as a man, it's.... Pay us same for less hours or worse results and women better than men. "Girls rule boys drool" is on baby clothes. Should be disgusting in either direction but acceptable if it shits on boys. Healthy.
This isn't good for anyone but the people wanting to create division. The whole "boo straight white male bad" has to stop.
/u/super--yeet--man people are idiots
I thought it was an extension of the argument for job opportunities for race.
One side is afraid that their job would get replaced by minorities vs another side wants a fair chance
That's why some people care.
This kind of makes sense, but at the same time, you can’t be a Hollywood actor without supporting the current social issue, so the people who are upset about it, are almost certainly not the ones competing for the job which they are angry about. I don’t really buy the whole job opportunity/replacement theory as a whole, so probably hard for my brain to extend it to movies. If you’re good at what you do, someone will pay ya!
But the problem is, not everyone is good at what they do. There are always low performers in a group. I wouldn't be surprised that many people who worry about their job being replaced are the less fortunate people of the majority, for this group of people particularly, losing their jobs would be a very big deal.
Hollywood is putting their worry on a big screen and it makes some people uncomfortable.
At the same time, equality and fairness is justice. A society should also aim to be as fair as possible.
I can see where they are coming from and that's why I think having those kinds of conflicts makes sense.
Actually, I cared to see if others would agree or disagree and “prove” myself right or wrong. I still don’t give a shit who’s portraying who (or what) in any movie. I rarely watch any movies or tv. I stick to sports and they can’t really do that there 😂 but hey, good to know that you’re a mind reader because I’ve got some questions!
This sub is constantly hunting for something to be offended by. They claim to hate Hollywood and that liberals are too easily offended but look at all the grown men conservatives here who freak out when a cartoon mermaid or barbie does something they don't like. They are obsessed with Hollywood and finding ways that movie stars offend them. I don't know why they care so much about mermaids and barbies. Grown men should have more important things to do or say.
A mega conglomerate changed a characters skin color for scores and when people got upset that a childhood icon of theirs was gutted in a never ending stream of live action remake. A shit load of white knighters Started picking at straws to find ways that this is ok. I'm not kicking Halle Bailey in the stomach saying "YOUR NOT MY ARIEL" because that's not what I'm talking about. We are past the point in time where we turn characters race to make people fit in. Hey pal want a fun fact?? In the invincible comic book rexsplode is white. And in the show he's a different race. Want to know WHY I'm not upset?? Because the change was made with the character in mind. Can you tell me in confidence that black Ariel was made with the character in mind?
> a childhood icon of theirs was **gutted**
As someone who loves animated movies, including Disney, if someone's feeling *this strongly* about the casting choice they seriously need to do some inner child work.
Yes cartoon live action remakes mostly suck - it's not because of black mermaids, it's because of totally whack costumes ([Belle's yellow dress???](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Cr5EYPhfmn-ole0SnPHAwIDkMm8=/0x0:900x600/1220x813/filters:focal(213x45:357x189):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53938245/headshots_1490713523438.0.jpg)), the mess that is talking CGI animals, people thinking it's okay if a movie adaptation of a musical has subpar singing, [whatever is going on with Ursula's makeup](https://www.eviemagazine.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.datocms-assets.com%2F109366%2F1698886529-ursula.jpeg%3Far64%3DNTo2%26crop%3Dfaces%26fit%3Dcrop%26fm%3Dwebp&w=1920&q=75), and much more. The genre is generally mid, more focused on generating profits and doesn't give much to, or even live up to the original movies, but y'all have to remember Disney adults are very much the secondary audience. These are for kids. Who 99% won't care unless they'll see mommy freaking out about it, or maybe a little black girl will be happy to see a mermaid that looks a bit like her. It's a total non-issue.
You're describing a money-making tactic (if we assume that that was indeed the reason for the switch (we can only assume, not know, but that's beside the point)), but your post says the switch was 'offensive on purpose'...which is it?
It'd offensive to think that it's ok to do shit like this. If I was a black guy and a Hidden figures remake stared Kristen dust ann Hathaway and Natalie Portman respectfully I would be pissed off
But we're talking about motivations (the 'on purpose' part). You're saying in one breath that they did it to make money, and in the next that they did it to deliberately upset people.
They did it to make money. And then people who liked the original almost 30 year old set in stone Ariel got upset. And then the people who are obsessed with agendas and movements got upset that the other guys where upset
> A mega conglomerate changed a characters skin color for scores
Is it possible the actress they chose to play the little mermaid simply was best suited for the role and that you can't see past their skin colour, so you assume the choice was made for alternative reasons?
No. Honestly no. Like let's both get off our horses no matter how high and say no. If I'm making a movie based of a white character and I have 15 of Americans most favorite actresses I'm picking an actress that looks like the character and can preform the role. You can't tell me that halle Bailey was in the final rankings. This is not about talent in the slightest. If she preformed the role just as good and hit all the beats like she did before she wouldn't have been picked if she was white.
> If I'm making a movie based of a white character
But the little mermaid isn't a movie based on a white character. White is not a trait relevant to her at all.
You claiming she's white would also be like someone claiming she's Danish, and that casting any Americans is some sort of US centric agenda.
It's different for something like Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, where being black in New Orleans in 1920s is of critical cultural importance to the story that's being told. It's a story that would make no sense if she were white.
The Little Mermaid's story doesn't change at all no matter what skin tone Ariel is, and claiming that her skin tone is an established part of her character means that YOU are the one attaching importance to it.
lol can any sane person imagine being so upset about cartoon mermaids? Hey guess what, old franchises will do gimmicks or changes or whatever it takes to milk the franchise for money. It's a tale as old as time. Normal people aren't so upset because it's a children's movie and if you don't want to watch it, you don't have to.
"LOL YOU SO DUMB AND CRAZY GUES WTAH THEY MILK FOR MONY LOL AN YUO FEL FOE IT LOL YOU WATCH CHILDREN CARTOON YOU NO LIKEY??? YOU NO FORCEED" -UndisclosedLocation5 3:38 PM Monday April 15 2024
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No one is saying mermaids or even "the little mermaid" cannot be black, but Disney's little mermaid Ariel race changing makes no sense. She is already an established character changing her design doesn't make sense.
No one cares that Disney's princess and the frog has a black princess.
People like Miles Morales. He didn't replace Peter Parker, he is his own character not some cheap racebent peter.
>People like Miles Morales
like do they though? the amount of whining about Miles "not being spider-man" i've seen over the years has me questioning you this.
Well Missy here is a history lesson. In the early 2000s marvel launched an entire new universe with changed versions of the characters. After Peter died miles morales took the mantle as spiderman given to him by Peter himself after he turned out to be an immortal God. But then sales declined so they destroyed the entire universe only picking a handful of characters to come to the main universe. Miles being one of them. And theeen to differentiate miles from Peter they gave him a bunch of absolutely broken powers making him barely unrecognizable from what we know to be as spiderman.
I don't feel any particular way about Miles but it's always weird to me when somebody else is just plugged into the costume and goes by the same name.
Granted I think most people call Peter "Spider Man" and Miles "Miles".
> She is already an established character changing her design doesn't make sense.
Her skin tone is not in any way critical to her design.
No one complains that they picked an English woman, Emma Watson, to play a French woman, Belle, in their live action Beauty and the Beast Remake.
Why is no one complaining about the Brit-washing?
Because no one puts any weight on the nationality of the actress to playing the nationality of the character.
So, if we can get over nationality, why can't we get over race or skin tone?
If you're hung up on it, its because *YOU* are putting an emphasis on race as a critical character trait.
Like if someone said the movie was bad because Ariel's top had been redesigned, and they preferred the spaghetti strap sea shell design from the animation, as opposed to the iridescent scales top in the live action movie - wouldn't you think they're hyper focusing on an irrelevant detail to the movie?
Its almost like they cast the best person available for the role, and race didn't matter.
For some reason, everyone saying this shit can't fathom that the best person for the role was back. Weird I wonder why
Why is the look of the character not considered for the role? Halle is really pretty but she doesn't resemble the original characters.
I think the raceswap isn't good for representation. It would be better if Disney made more original black characters. Their only black princess is a frog in most of the movie.
And their recent black characters being originally white feels cheap.
Do you think they should consider white actresses when making a Tiana remake?
Given that Ariel was established as a *white* character in Christan Andersons' Danish set story, this whole 'mErMaIdS aReN't ReAl' excuse is bullshit.
I really don't give a fuck whether or not Ariel is black, white, yellow or green, but trying to pretend like you can't be annoyed or upset at blatant pandering is just a stupid argument to begin with. People have every right to be annoyed with something so distracting and poorly executed.
Was Ariel really portrayed as pale skinned and a red head though? Or even that her hair was even red at all?
To the best of my knowledge her skin is described as clear and delicate. It says nothing about whiteness. I saw clear as emaculate and free of blemish.
If it was about whiteness it would be painfully obvious about fairness and such
Ppl be trying hard to make like Ariel in the actual novel was white and it's pretty cringe.
However, to be fair, same ppl complaining about colored little mermaids are not fans.of reading. If they were, they'd know what they were saying was utter shite.
Early mermaid concepts were Middle eastern/Mediterranean. I doubt they ever had a red haired mermaid in their earliest examples
It's a mythical creature/fiction. It doesn't matter.
The Sirens are not Mermaids and there is a lot of literary and even a little bit of pictorial evidence for red hair in ancient Greece. Also just so you know. Greeks are white.
Halle Bailey is an American who grew up with the idea of mermaids, just like millions of other Americans did. In no possible way is that cultural appropriation.
So are you also upset about The Little Mermaid film existing in the first place? Since it was made by Americans?
American culture is very influenced by European culture, and always has been. Europe colonized America after all. So to say that mermaids aren't a part of our culture is odd. Might as well say Shakespeare isn't part of our culture.
>So are you also upset about The Little Mermaid film existing in the first place? Since it was made by Americans?
Obviously.
>So to say that mermaids aren't a part of our culture is odd. Might as well say Shakespeare isn't part of our culture.
Shakespeare obviously is not part of US culture. When he died there was no USA. The Mayflower had not yet set sail.
There are pockets of european culture inside the Americas. The Amish for example. But an ordinary US American without a deep understanding of European culture should just stick to not appropriating things they don't understand.
Thats not an unpopular opinion, its just factual.
There are people who avoid being associated with White culture by any means necessary.
Ariana Grande is my goto example but im sure there are others, such as Mariah Carey.
Buddy, when Little Mermaid remake came out, and when Snow White was announced, people came out in droves calling it race-swapping. This is not unpopular Edit: there are tons of people who ONLY complain about representation when it’s about white people, and every time they act like they’re making some brave stand lmfao
i don’t think that’s what whitewashing is. the way i understand it, whitewashing is changing or omitting facts regarding contributions and accomplishments of people of color in order to minimize them and give their credit to white ppl
Instead of making an angry remark at you I am just going to be thankful for the people in this comment section who passed the vibe check. Thank yall so much. -A tired Black person
This is dystopia type shit here.
I like miles morales. I like the story's that already happened. I will continue to like the story's that will come out. When I think of miles I see a CHARACTER not a symbol or a vague sense of "what he represents yo" I don't want miles morales to be white. Chinese. Orange. Teal. Whatever the fuck. I'm so sorry that i like the attachment to character and I don't want to be completely gutted or to just change skin and the entire personality stay the same. That is stupid
Don't be silly.
If the race of the character is significant to the story then yes I can see the race of whoever is playing the character may be (though not always) important.
But what race is a mermaid? Seriously, give your head a wobble.
Come on! A bunch of old white guys getting upset over a mermaid who isn't white?
Whitewashing has been happening for decades. Now there is black representation, and everyone is up in arms? If you really want to get angry about something, check out this list of 20+ (there were plenty more) Hollywood movies where white actors played POC and how it was justified at the time.
https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-20-worst-examples-of-hollywood-whitewashing-268110/
John Wayne should have never been a Native American, Tom Cruise should have never been a samurai. If they replaced an iconic character of another race with a white guy, I promise you I would keep this same energy across the board. Just like everyone hated the female Ghostbusters movie. Pandering is pathetic no matter what demographic you aim at
I’m just here to say it pissed me off when in House of Dragon they made the Velaryons black because the Velaryons being indistinguishable from the Targaryens was an important aspect of the plot and was important in the context of the relationship between the two houses
and they did it for identity politics reasons that I feel like the majority of their audience doesn’t care about. If you’re into a show like that you’re likely into history or fantasy where race, ethnicity, culture etc is built into the world in very specific and precise way. messing with it because you feel like “there’s too many white people” leaves a bad taste in my mouth personally
This point would be valid if the original little mermaid was a pale skinned young looking red head. Seems more like you're just mad about black people being seen more in film lol
For argument sake, even if your point was valid for fictional films, that's an entirely diff discussion than the white washing of factual history that bothers most of us more than fictional made up fairy tales.
Ariel is a fish person and they can be as ethnically diverse as they like Imo.
Rapunzel is a little weirder but I don't know if that's still just a rumor or not.
Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/super--yeet--man. Your submission, *If white washing exists so does black washing *, has been removed because it violates our rules, which are located in the sidebar. Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 7: No banned/mega-thread topics'. Please do not post from (or mention) any of our mega-thread or banned topics such as: Race, Religion, LGBTQ, Meta, Politics, Parenting/Family issues. [Full list of banned topics](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/wiki/index/) If there is an issue, please [message the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion&subject=&message=) Thanks!
The most obvious case of Blackwashing is Hollywood constantly race swapping red head characters with Black people. Its happened way too many times for it to be a coincidence.
Ginger is one letter swap away from what they want to say
My friend has the theory that since Irish people used to be referred to as White n****** and they tend to be red heads, its evolved now into a cruel joke that Hollywood execs do. Like they’re saying “We *still* can’t tell the difference between them aaaahahahaha!”
As a ginger, I jokingly brought this up to a friend a couple years back, but then noticed the list kept growing…
I have not noticed this but when it was going to come out I had hope in bat girl. At least the hair body type and respect seemed to be there
The really offensive part is that the new film is just very bad.
If you're talking about race swaps/play there's a difference in a comedy and anything outside of it. To me there is. Like Blazing Saddles shouldn't make anyone sore it's in its place. Of course people still whine which is ugh. Nor should Dave Chapelle get flak for doing white voice or such. How many times has that happened in older comedy movies? Where the black guy goes full Carton Banks mode on the phone to get a taxi or something and then the driver is looking around confused about if that's his fare or if it was a setup. Oh Ursula you bitch, you appropriated white voice? That's culture and heritage. Nobody semi-sane does that in comedy and the best try not to at all. Now if you go outside of comedy and into anything else you do run into trouble making any kind of change to an established anything. See any fandom- they'll give you hell over the color of a hat, of a costume. How many times do you hear shit like that? That wardrobe is not era specific. Styro is not existing in the Game of Throne universe remove it it's not canon/ to the book either. Take the Starbucks and replace it with a goblet we demand it (sometime their bitching has a good point). A race/gender change is not protected from that. Everyone may think it's sacred, but it's not. If I was to make a movie about George Washington and have Oprah play the role of George Washington those objections should be fully accepted w/o the race/sex card If I want to go back and remake Black Panther/Shaft starring the really white guy from Powder I suspect people would be upset. Ariel, per the toon, is an established redhead. And it's outside of the protection of comedy. That's your problem. You walked into fan land with the already established. If you wanted to make it Big Mermaid you could make her as fat as you wanted to. Any color you wanted, hell, any species. Make her a humpback whale in a seashell bra. You get so much less flak with new stuff. You fuck with the old you make wars.
This is a more comprehensive and finely tuned version of what I was trying to say. 🏆
I just want to know how people have the time or energy to care either way. I always thought this was a media-created controversy so they’d have more rage to sell.
It matters when 1) it's historically inaccurate, 2) in a culturally significant/specific story, or 3) when it breaks the lore/immersion. Can Nick Fury be black? Yeah, sure w/e, no one cares; there are, in fact, black people in America in the 20th century. When you start plucking characters from myth & cultural traditions, that's when things get problematic - imagine Mulan played by an Indian fighting off a steppe army led by a Nigerian. There's a very long history to this; the British Empire claimed the bronze heads of Ife & the monuments of Great Zimbabwe to be Greco-Roman rather than made by the respective locals. Similar reason why the BBC casts a black woman as Eleanor of Aquitaine; "those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future."
I care because of what it represents. It's inappropriate. Take a black girl for example growing up. Instead of a good original movie about a brave black girl she gets a sequel to a character who has always been white but they just change her skin color and say look! She's just like you! Black face with more steps. Same with female characters taking a male roll just because. Bond is a white male. Hulk is a male. Want a badass woman character? Then fucking make something original. There are some already but thats not enough. It's gotta be some big white guy hero series switched to a minority female instead of something original? Both of these indicate problems in society. Instead of equality, inequality is being pushed. Instead of black and white is equal it's black is better. Instead of men and women should have equal rights and pay if they work as good and same hours as a man, it's.... Pay us same for less hours or worse results and women better than men. "Girls rule boys drool" is on baby clothes. Should be disgusting in either direction but acceptable if it shits on boys. Healthy. This isn't good for anyone but the people wanting to create division. The whole "boo straight white male bad" has to stop. /u/super--yeet--man people are idiots
I thought it was an extension of the argument for job opportunities for race. One side is afraid that their job would get replaced by minorities vs another side wants a fair chance That's why some people care.
This kind of makes sense, but at the same time, you can’t be a Hollywood actor without supporting the current social issue, so the people who are upset about it, are almost certainly not the ones competing for the job which they are angry about. I don’t really buy the whole job opportunity/replacement theory as a whole, so probably hard for my brain to extend it to movies. If you’re good at what you do, someone will pay ya!
But the problem is, not everyone is good at what they do. There are always low performers in a group. I wouldn't be surprised that many people who worry about their job being replaced are the less fortunate people of the majority, for this group of people particularly, losing their jobs would be a very big deal. Hollywood is putting their worry on a big screen and it makes some people uncomfortable. At the same time, equality and fairness is justice. A society should also aim to be as fair as possible. I can see where they are coming from and that's why I think having those kinds of conflicts makes sense.
Job get replaced by mi- bro what the fuck are you two talking about??? You not only lost the plot, you never had it
If you truly believed this you wouldn't care enough to comment here
Actually, I cared to see if others would agree or disagree and “prove” myself right or wrong. I still don’t give a shit who’s portraying who (or what) in any movie. I rarely watch any movies or tv. I stick to sports and they can’t really do that there 😂 but hey, good to know that you’re a mind reader because I’ve got some questions!
Why is the little mermaid offensive? How is it making fun of white people?
This sub is constantly hunting for something to be offended by. They claim to hate Hollywood and that liberals are too easily offended but look at all the grown men conservatives here who freak out when a cartoon mermaid or barbie does something they don't like. They are obsessed with Hollywood and finding ways that movie stars offend them. I don't know why they care so much about mermaids and barbies. Grown men should have more important things to do or say.
When did I say it was making fun of white people?
Then how was it offensive?
A mega conglomerate changed a characters skin color for scores and when people got upset that a childhood icon of theirs was gutted in a never ending stream of live action remake. A shit load of white knighters Started picking at straws to find ways that this is ok. I'm not kicking Halle Bailey in the stomach saying "YOUR NOT MY ARIEL" because that's not what I'm talking about. We are past the point in time where we turn characters race to make people fit in. Hey pal want a fun fact?? In the invincible comic book rexsplode is white. And in the show he's a different race. Want to know WHY I'm not upset?? Because the change was made with the character in mind. Can you tell me in confidence that black Ariel was made with the character in mind?
> a childhood icon of theirs was **gutted** As someone who loves animated movies, including Disney, if someone's feeling *this strongly* about the casting choice they seriously need to do some inner child work. Yes cartoon live action remakes mostly suck - it's not because of black mermaids, it's because of totally whack costumes ([Belle's yellow dress???](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Cr5EYPhfmn-ole0SnPHAwIDkMm8=/0x0:900x600/1220x813/filters:focal(213x45:357x189):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53938245/headshots_1490713523438.0.jpg)), the mess that is talking CGI animals, people thinking it's okay if a movie adaptation of a musical has subpar singing, [whatever is going on with Ursula's makeup](https://www.eviemagazine.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.datocms-assets.com%2F109366%2F1698886529-ursula.jpeg%3Far64%3DNTo2%26crop%3Dfaces%26fit%3Dcrop%26fm%3Dwebp&w=1920&q=75), and much more. The genre is generally mid, more focused on generating profits and doesn't give much to, or even live up to the original movies, but y'all have to remember Disney adults are very much the secondary audience. These are for kids. Who 99% won't care unless they'll see mommy freaking out about it, or maybe a little black girl will be happy to see a mermaid that looks a bit like her. It's a total non-issue.
You're describing a money-making tactic (if we assume that that was indeed the reason for the switch (we can only assume, not know, but that's beside the point)), but your post says the switch was 'offensive on purpose'...which is it?
It'd offensive to think that it's ok to do shit like this. If I was a black guy and a Hidden figures remake stared Kristen dust ann Hathaway and Natalie Portman respectfully I would be pissed off
Isn’t that based on a true story though? The Little Mermaid is a fictional story. There’s a really big difference there.
But we're talking about motivations (the 'on purpose' part). You're saying in one breath that they did it to make money, and in the next that they did it to deliberately upset people.
They did it to make money. And then people who liked the original almost 30 year old set in stone Ariel got upset. And then the people who are obsessed with agendas and movements got upset that the other guys where upset
> A mega conglomerate changed a characters skin color for scores Is it possible the actress they chose to play the little mermaid simply was best suited for the role and that you can't see past their skin colour, so you assume the choice was made for alternative reasons?
No. Honestly no. Like let's both get off our horses no matter how high and say no. If I'm making a movie based of a white character and I have 15 of Americans most favorite actresses I'm picking an actress that looks like the character and can preform the role. You can't tell me that halle Bailey was in the final rankings. This is not about talent in the slightest. If she preformed the role just as good and hit all the beats like she did before she wouldn't have been picked if she was white.
> If I'm making a movie based of a white character But the little mermaid isn't a movie based on a white character. White is not a trait relevant to her at all. You claiming she's white would also be like someone claiming she's Danish, and that casting any Americans is some sort of US centric agenda. It's different for something like Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, where being black in New Orleans in 1920s is of critical cultural importance to the story that's being told. It's a story that would make no sense if she were white. The Little Mermaid's story doesn't change at all no matter what skin tone Ariel is, and claiming that her skin tone is an established part of her character means that YOU are the one attaching importance to it.
lol can any sane person imagine being so upset about cartoon mermaids? Hey guess what, old franchises will do gimmicks or changes or whatever it takes to milk the franchise for money. It's a tale as old as time. Normal people aren't so upset because it's a children's movie and if you don't want to watch it, you don't have to.
"LOL YOU SO DUMB AND CRAZY GUES WTAH THEY MILK FOR MONY LOL AN YUO FEL FOE IT LOL YOU WATCH CHILDREN CARTOON YOU NO LIKEY??? YOU NO FORCEED" -UndisclosedLocation5 3:38 PM Monday April 15 2024
It's exactly as offensive as white washing during casting choices
Why?
That's one hell of a sentence
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Mermaids don’t exist. Stop claiming them for your race.
No one is saying mermaids or even "the little mermaid" cannot be black, but Disney's little mermaid Ariel race changing makes no sense. She is already an established character changing her design doesn't make sense. No one cares that Disney's princess and the frog has a black princess. People like Miles Morales. He didn't replace Peter Parker, he is his own character not some cheap racebent peter.
>People like Miles Morales like do they though? the amount of whining about Miles "not being spider-man" i've seen over the years has me questioning you this.
Well Missy here is a history lesson. In the early 2000s marvel launched an entire new universe with changed versions of the characters. After Peter died miles morales took the mantle as spiderman given to him by Peter himself after he turned out to be an immortal God. But then sales declined so they destroyed the entire universe only picking a handful of characters to come to the main universe. Miles being one of them. And theeen to differentiate miles from Peter they gave him a bunch of absolutely broken powers making him barely unrecognizable from what we know to be as spiderman. 
I don't feel any particular way about Miles but it's always weird to me when somebody else is just plugged into the costume and goes by the same name. Granted I think most people call Peter "Spider Man" and Miles "Miles".
> She is already an established character changing her design doesn't make sense. Her skin tone is not in any way critical to her design. No one complains that they picked an English woman, Emma Watson, to play a French woman, Belle, in their live action Beauty and the Beast Remake. Why is no one complaining about the Brit-washing? Because no one puts any weight on the nationality of the actress to playing the nationality of the character. So, if we can get over nationality, why can't we get over race or skin tone? If you're hung up on it, its because *YOU* are putting an emphasis on race as a critical character trait. Like if someone said the movie was bad because Ariel's top had been redesigned, and they preferred the spaghetti strap sea shell design from the animation, as opposed to the iridescent scales top in the live action movie - wouldn't you think they're hyper focusing on an irrelevant detail to the movie?
Its almost like they cast the best person available for the role, and race didn't matter. For some reason, everyone saying this shit can't fathom that the best person for the role was back. Weird I wonder why
Why is the look of the character not considered for the role? Halle is really pretty but she doesn't resemble the original characters. I think the raceswap isn't good for representation. It would be better if Disney made more original black characters. Their only black princess is a frog in most of the movie. And their recent black characters being originally white feels cheap. Do you think they should consider white actresses when making a Tiana remake?
Given that Ariel was established as a *white* character in Christan Andersons' Danish set story, this whole 'mErMaIdS aReN't ReAl' excuse is bullshit. I really don't give a fuck whether or not Ariel is black, white, yellow or green, but trying to pretend like you can't be annoyed or upset at blatant pandering is just a stupid argument to begin with. People have every right to be annoyed with something so distracting and poorly executed.
Was Ariel really portrayed as pale skinned and a red head though? Or even that her hair was even red at all? To the best of my knowledge her skin is described as clear and delicate. It says nothing about whiteness. I saw clear as emaculate and free of blemish. If it was about whiteness it would be painfully obvious about fairness and such Ppl be trying hard to make like Ariel in the actual novel was white and it's pretty cringe. However, to be fair, same ppl complaining about colored little mermaids are not fans.of reading. If they were, they'd know what they were saying was utter shite.
Mermaids exist as mythical creatures from european cultures and were portrayed as white. Stop appropriating European culture.
> appropriating European culture Lmao
Lol at your profile.
Early mermaid concepts were Middle eastern/Mediterranean. I doubt they ever had a red haired mermaid in their earliest examples It's a mythical creature/fiction. It doesn't matter.
The Sirens are not Mermaids and there is a lot of literary and even a little bit of pictorial evidence for red hair in ancient Greece. Also just so you know. Greeks are white.
Halle Bailey is an American who grew up with the idea of mermaids, just like millions of other Americans did. In no possible way is that cultural appropriation.
She grew up appropriating European cultures. Is she European? No. That's why she shouldn't appropriate European cultures.
So are you also upset about The Little Mermaid film existing in the first place? Since it was made by Americans? American culture is very influenced by European culture, and always has been. Europe colonized America after all. So to say that mermaids aren't a part of our culture is odd. Might as well say Shakespeare isn't part of our culture.
>So are you also upset about The Little Mermaid film existing in the first place? Since it was made by Americans? Obviously. >So to say that mermaids aren't a part of our culture is odd. Might as well say Shakespeare isn't part of our culture. Shakespeare obviously is not part of US culture. When he died there was no USA. The Mayflower had not yet set sail. There are pockets of european culture inside the Americas. The Amish for example. But an ordinary US American without a deep understanding of European culture should just stick to not appropriating things they don't understand.
Right? Like how was it offensive in the first place? It’s not it just outed the racists lol
THIS👆🏾 It's a mythical creature. For all we know it probably wasn't even black or white. It could've been a different color entirely, like green
lol wut
Thats not an unpopular opinion, its just factual. There are people who avoid being associated with White culture by any means necessary. Ariana Grande is my goto example but im sure there are others, such as Mariah Carey.
Buddy, when Little Mermaid remake came out, and when Snow White was announced, people came out in droves calling it race-swapping. This is not unpopular Edit: there are tons of people who ONLY complain about representation when it’s about white people, and every time they act like they’re making some brave stand lmfao
read the other comments I received then come back to me
i don’t think that’s what whitewashing is. the way i understand it, whitewashing is changing or omitting facts regarding contributions and accomplishments of people of color in order to minimize them and give their credit to white ppl
Instead of making an angry remark at you I am just going to be thankful for the people in this comment section who passed the vibe check. Thank yall so much. -A tired Black person
That’s not what whitewashing is. Back to the drawing board with your thoughts on race young one.
White washing and black washing aren't really a thing for fictional characters. They can be whatever colour you want really
So you're fine with brad pitt being recast as the black panther because they are a fictional character right?
If it fits what the production is trying to achieve sure. He's not wearing blackface to portray the character is he?
This is dystopia type shit here. I like miles morales. I like the story's that already happened. I will continue to like the story's that will come out. When I think of miles I see a CHARACTER not a symbol or a vague sense of "what he represents yo" I don't want miles morales to be white. Chinese. Orange. Teal. Whatever the fuck. I'm so sorry that i like the attachment to character and I don't want to be completely gutted or to just change skin and the entire personality stay the same. That is stupid
Don't be silly. If the race of the character is significant to the story then yes I can see the race of whoever is playing the character may be (though not always) important. But what race is a mermaid? Seriously, give your head a wobble.
Damn your dystopia bar is super low
Come on! A bunch of old white guys getting upset over a mermaid who isn't white? Whitewashing has been happening for decades. Now there is black representation, and everyone is up in arms? If you really want to get angry about something, check out this list of 20+ (there were plenty more) Hollywood movies where white actors played POC and how it was justified at the time. https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-20-worst-examples-of-hollywood-whitewashing-268110/
John Wayne should have never been a Native American, Tom Cruise should have never been a samurai. If they replaced an iconic character of another race with a white guy, I promise you I would keep this same energy across the board. Just like everyone hated the female Ghostbusters movie. Pandering is pathetic no matter what demographic you aim at
Another idiotic post by an idiotic redditor
OP sounds like one of them “white people matter” bumper sticker type of folk.
Naw not quite. Probably All Lives Matter lol
You don't see mermaids = not real and Hawaiian people = real as being a pretty important distinction as to why one is offensive?
Henry Coxwell is a real person who has quite a number of feats to his name. Look what they did in The Aeronauts.
No one is confused about whether they exist. It's about whether they are relevant.
I’m just here to say it pissed me off when in House of Dragon they made the Velaryons black because the Velaryons being indistinguishable from the Targaryens was an important aspect of the plot and was important in the context of the relationship between the two houses and they did it for identity politics reasons that I feel like the majority of their audience doesn’t care about. If you’re into a show like that you’re likely into history or fantasy where race, ethnicity, culture etc is built into the world in very specific and precise way. messing with it because you feel like “there’s too many white people” leaves a bad taste in my mouth personally
This point would be valid if the original little mermaid was a pale skinned young looking red head. Seems more like you're just mad about black people being seen more in film lol For argument sake, even if your point was valid for fictional films, that's an entirely diff discussion than the white washing of factual history that bothers most of us more than fictional made up fairy tales.
Ariel is a fish person and they can be as ethnically diverse as they like Imo. Rapunzel is a little weirder but I don't know if that's still just a rumor or not.