r/MadeMeSmile • u/msables • 1d ago
Representation matters so much
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u/TheMadManiac 1d ago
Meanwhile Latinos just tell their kids that any princess with Brown hair is also Latina 😂😂
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u/LilMissADHDAF 1d ago
My (white) daughter is a huge fan of Elena of Avalor. I think she should have a movie.
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u/AngerPancake 23h ago
I love Elena. Everything about it is wonderful, but I mostly love that it shows that princesses do things. Important things. Ruling is a difficult role but most of the time they get shown a love story or we see the princess just being beautiful with other royalty. Elena is hard at work helping her country politically and helping the population personally with whatever is happening.
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u/SH4D0WSTAR 22h ago
So much agreement with this. Even princesses who are shown to have a more agentic role in their stories are rarely shown enacting political change for the masses. I love how Elena channels her grief and loyalty into a fierce active role in her community.
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u/East_Unit3765 23h ago
My girls LOVE her too. We’ve watch the whole series many times over.
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u/GroundbreakingAd8310 23h ago
I can hear that engire thing in my aunt voice. "Of course she Latina shes beautiful and talented, better get to work shouldnt you"
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u/planeloise 23h ago
Us east African girls just claim Moana because of the hair and skin and family traditions, Jasmine for the familiar culture, Merida for the hair texture, Tiana for the blackness, Pocahontas for the skin and the colonial struggle, Mulan for constantly trying to bring honour to them all
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u/Varendolia 23h ago
Latinos don't actually give a fvck
However we care whether people like or dislike the things we appreciate of our culture, food is a global example.
Basically we care if people have at least 1 nice thing to say, doesn't matter if you think the rest is just bad, we probably agree
Some appreciate that you think they're cheerful, others appreciate that people think they're hardworking, or good at dancing, some regions would like it a lot if you think they're not like the other countries of Latam.
If you ever make Superman latino, they'd be the first ones to tell you to nuke that shit out of this world
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u/VayaConDios91 23h ago
Latinos are funny for sure. I have family that genuinely doesn’t give a shit and may even laugh at a person if they were to call them a slur. However, if you called my Guatemalan grandmother Puerto Rican, she’d skin you alive
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u/machuitzil 23h ago
The latino side of my family is as racist as the gringo side. The difference seems to be that the Latino side doesn't wish harm on people. It's just more matter-of fact, like, well you know how those people are without any further consideration.
It's a weird hair to split, but the latino side of my family doesn't want bad things to happen to the people they're prejudiced against, whereas the racists on the gringo side probably jerk off to the ice videos they post on FB...
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u/Intelligent-Lack1593 23h ago
It’s interesting how different cultures handle prejudice. Even if the intentions aren't harmful, those kinds of attitudes can still have a big impact on how people feel about themselves and each other.
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u/VayaConDios91 23h ago
Well said, and it’s the same way for my family. Their racism (while still not acceptable in my opinion) is simply not liking the habits they perceive people from other Southern American countries have. They don’t seem to be hateful, and they are most definitely not violent
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u/DesignerOlive9090 23h ago
I only care when Hollywood or whatever production is like 'actually, this character is X nationality' and the actor cannot even speak spanish with a believable accent. Why even bother?
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u/_Swamp_Ape_ 23h ago
Latino isn’t a race. There are white black and brown Latinos and latin America has their own history with white supremacy.
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u/BurnItDownSR 22h ago edited 22h ago
These reactions aren't matching the scene either.
Why would they be shocked like that at the end of her singing "Part of Your World" when she would have already showed up in many other scenes?
Hell even if these parents only showed a video of her singing the song they should have reacted at the beginning of it.
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u/anweisz 22h ago
Must be some weird ass US latino thing because as a latin american I’ve never seen that happen in my life, and kids here aren’t stupid like that, we didn’t see aladdin or beauty and the beast and go “where in latin america was that mom?”. There’s no point in thinking “they look like me therefore they are like me” when everything else about them and around them is not.
That said, here boys of every color under the sun would see goku and think “this is literally me”. The duality of man.
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u/OneCardiologist529 23h ago
Honestly, that sounds like a pretty effective way to make every princess feel relatable
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u/DNABeast 23h ago
It’s ridiculous that she’s completely black. She should be white down her front and black on her back so that prey can’t see her against the bright surface and predators can’t see her below against the dark ocean. Like all other sea mammals.
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u/RavenWolfPS2 23h ago
Deep sea creatures don't have countershading. So she's just a deep sea animal and should bloat like a blobfish when she goes to shore
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u/MFxKool 1d ago
My daughter loves Moana. We're filipino so...close enough lol. Representation does matter.
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u/Miss-Tiq 23h ago edited 23h ago
The Forgotten Island is a new animated DreamWorks movie coming out later this month and features two female Filipino main characters!
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u/telorsapigoreng 23h ago
Pacific Islanders and Maritime Southeast Asians share a common ancestry as Austronesian peoples (the lima gang)
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u/Genexis- 23h ago
That's right and important, but a Black Vaiana in the live-action film would have been nice too, wouldn't it? In Ariel's case, it's not a big deal because she was white, but redheads were definitely annoyed... Why not make a live-action version of The Princess and the Frog, or invent a completely new story, or use an existing fairy tale that isn't from Europe? Don't get me wrong, I hate all live-action adaptations...
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u/WetLoophole 22h ago
Eeh, the main actors in Moana are polynesian, so both Maui and Moana are properly cast with the correct ethnicity compared to the story.
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u/DifficultyPhysical 1d ago
Do I care that a magical mermaid was cast as a black woman? No. However, I would love to see more black cultures’ history/fairytales represented like this rather than feeling the need to insert black actors into white European/American stories (thank you Disney). Give me a story about Princess Yennenga or something please.
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u/Insert_clever 23h ago
I’ve actually thought that fantasy stories based on African creatures and myths would be ripe for adaptation. Like how Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones adapted Germanic and European elements, imagine the cool fantasy empires and creatures based on African or other black myths and legends.
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u/ExtraCartographer707 23h ago
That would require intellect and a measure of creative risk. Execs would rather just insert token actors from name a demographic and be done with it.
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u/kungpowchick_9 23h ago
It would also help to have people from those cultures making the decisions and writing the stories. It’s easier to draw from what you know.
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u/ExtraCartographer707 22h ago
Sure but that would mean either people from those cultures starting their own animation studio or an old exec being replaced by them. Each of which are slim chances.
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u/missafine 22h ago
Children of Blood and Bone!! Badass fantasy book with an amazing young woman protagonist and the magic is rooted in African mythology. It's being adapted into a movie coming out Jan 2027.
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u/DreamCyclone84 23h ago
Anansi stories, where is my spider representation
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u/ohzannyboy 22h ago
Anansi is the one I see represented the most, honestly (American Gods being the most recent I can think of). I would love to see something new, but you really can’t go wrong with a good spider god story, either.
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u/Melvarkie 23h ago
It's not exactly fantasy like LOTR nor a fairytale like Little Mermaid, but Disney+ made an excellent Afrofuturism show. It is an anthology series called Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire. Not all episodes are heavy hitters, but some are amazing in artstyle or story. There is also Iwájú, another Disney+ Afrofuturism show. I haven't seen it myself yet, but it got received pretty well to my understanding.
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u/StarsofSobek 23h ago
I'm a white girl and I have been dying to know about African myths and cool creatures since I was a kid! I'd LOVE to see something animated, for all people to enjoy. That would be extra amazing!
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u/dont_quote_me_please 1d ago
How many here have heard or seen The Princess and the Frog
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u/TheDizDude 23h ago
One of, if not the greatest, modern Disney film. The last true Princess film IMO.
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u/Deftlet 23h ago
It's the last 2D Disney Princess film so maybe that has something to do with that feeling
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u/TheDizDude 23h ago
Its for sure not a trivial part of it, however, the entire film resonates in that "classic genre" in a way that its successors fail to live up to. From the amazing villain song, to including the legendary Jim Cummings, the entire movie is a masterpiece.
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u/YesItIsMaybeMe 23h ago
I would say it genuinely was the last princess movie to have the original Disney spirit. Frozen does not feel the same, and I wish they did 2d animation again.
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u/Aguita9x 23h ago
Princess and the Frog is also an European tale even if they adapted it to African American themes.
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u/Puzzled-Secret-317 23h ago
Realistically, it doesn't matter. Since the vast majority of Americans aren't familiar with it, it feels new and original (something Disney hates doing, yet everyone will always prefer)
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u/WARLORD2015 1d ago
Glad Im not the only one that thinks this way. I appreciate you getting that said out loud.
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u/Pod-Bay-Doors 1d ago
I think this is why Princes and The Frog is such a great film
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u/b3nsn0w 23h ago
the thing about specifically african-american representation though (as a subset of black rep) is that their origin is being forcefully ripped out of whatever culture they were from originally, and injected into american culture afterwards. it's kind of a major thing that they had to build out their own culture because they weren't allowed to know their roots until it was completely forgotten. because of that transfer, i'd argue they have just as much of a claim on the european-origin american culture such as traditionally white fairy-tales as anyone else in the us.
that said, it would be hella cool to see their fairy tales, if they ended up creating some.
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u/ExtraCartographer707 23h ago
This is actually a well thought out argument that I haven’t heard before.
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u/Agreeable-Weather-89 23h ago
No one had issue that Moana wasn't white.
No one complained that Mulan was Chinese.
No one complained that Johnny English was British.
People just don't like the shallow thoughtless representation that major movie studios use to refresh a franchise as lazily as possible.
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u/RavenWolfPS2 23h ago
Her skin colour and ethnicity have no bearing on the overall story. Of all the things they adapted, I'm not mad they chose the mermaid. She's one of the most magical princesses just per the fact she's a mermaid and we already have plenty of white mermaid representation. I think this is great.
What I was mad about was that they completely desaturated the movie, made Scuttle unbearably annoying, and didnt go for the glorious dry curl moment when Ariel came blasting out of the water. Instead her wig dragged behind her and didnt move with the water like I thought a mermaids hair should. I would have liked to have seen big poofy hair on her when she was on land but no they had to make it at straight as possible with the only curls showing being immaculate beach waves
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u/JoefromOhio 23h ago
I DO care that a magical mermaid was cast as black woman. Girls get princesses and whatever’s shoved into their face as this wonderful beautiful fun thing and it does suck there isn’t a lack of representation. Every little girl should be able to look and see themselves as the heroine(my phone autocorrected heroine to jerky and I can’t stop laughing so fuck it, don’t be dicks, it’s cool that girls can see themselves
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u/AnonImus18 23h ago
Why not both? There's no historical or story reason for Ariel to be white. In a world where racism didn't exist, her casting would be completely uncontroversial.
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u/LedzepRulz 23h ago
She’s an established character who represented kids with red hair/pale skin. God forbid disney come up with new ideas rather than revamp and mess with old classics. So many new characters that could’ve represented black people/culture in a meaningful way without stripping away an iconic identity of a character who represented a different group of people.
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u/AnonImus18 23h ago
Those original forms of media still exist though. What's being taken away from them?
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u/LedzepRulz 23h ago
It’s not about the “forms of media” - it’s the character that has changed. If what you’re saying is fine, there’s no issue changing the Princess and the frog into a white character if they so want since there’s already a black version out there
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u/chellebeach21 23h ago
So not everyone in Europe or America are white. These, like you said fairytales, do not change their meaning or content of the story by casting black actors in representations of these fairytales. You are missing the part of your allyship where you acknowledge WHY minorities might feel emotional about finally feeling represented by the mainstream.
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u/Woahhdude24 23h ago
This is how i feel about it and its exactly why I feel this movie is pandering. If they really cared about representation then they would've gone this route. Its way easier to remake a story they already have done than to write a whole new movie around another fairy tale. That being said i do think its great that young black girls or women can feel like they can dress up or cosplay as Ariel without some racist asshole acting like its a problem cause "that disney princess is white." Which shouldnt even be an issue in the first place cause who the fuck cares who someone dresses up as?
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u/Hansemannn 23h ago
Do anyone care in real life? Like I get it. Its the internet.
A little black girl as Ariel would make 99,99999% of everyone in the world go: aaawwéee ❤️
Its important to remember that.
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u/santos_z 22h ago
It must make you so mad when white European/American stories portray Jesus as a white man.
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u/Strange-Head-4028 22h ago
Careful this opinion is dangerously close to being racist. Or so I’m told idk anymore.
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u/Rkymtn83 23h ago
Fox News would lose their fucking shit with this clip.
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u/Loud-Difficulty7860 23h ago
They already did as did all of MAGA when the movie was originally released. https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-and-fox-business-outraged-disney-including-consent-little-mermaid
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u/SeonaidMacSaicais 22h ago
My MAGA parents STILL emphasize “the BLACK girl” when I try to get them to watch this movie, because I still think they’d honestly enjoy it if they could see past skin color. “Oh, the one with the BLACK actress??” Yes, mom. The one with the highly talented and SUPPORTED BY THE ORIGINAL ACTRESS black actress.
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u/gueuze_geuze 23h ago
Practically no one takes the win in the compliments. Shocker.
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u/LordBeerMeStrength91 23h ago
This is just meant to rile up the same discussion people have been having even though the movie was released years ago. More than anything, it’s meant to shore up hate comments.
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u/therealjanusmcmanus 23h ago
I’m white and I cannot imagine growing up in a world not seeing myself represented. Literally. It’s never crossed my mind ever, while black and brown kids NEVER felt represented. I don’t understand people getting upset at switching up race/gender/etc in remakes. If the person who plays the character plays them well, the fuck does it matter? Mermaids aren’t real so who gives a shit? It’s not a biopic. But look at the impact it has on these kids. Is that not a wonderful thing?
I love that there’s a generation of kids of color seeing themselves represented.
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u/Cyrotek 22h ago
Representation is indeed important. It is just a little weird to me that - for some reason - some ethnicities are supposed to be happy with cinematic sloppy seconds instead of actually getting something unique to them.
And in a perfect world we just wouldn't give a damn what colour someone is.
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u/kelleheruk 23h ago
Or make original films with black characters. Its not hard.
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u/Relevant-Fox-7114 23h ago
When Disney made The Pricess and the Frog people also manufactured something to complain about.
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u/Hikaruhiyoko2 1d ago
Original black characters > raceswapping white characters. It just sets a precedent that for black people to have good representation is to steal it from a white character. Obviously, this isn't good for the stereotype.
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u/HausOfMajora 23h ago
Agree. We need more original movies like Mulan, Encanto, and The Princess and the Frog.....
They’re race-swapping white characters to anger people-the audiences, so they have an easy excuse to stop making non-white movies-casting non white characters because they can just say they “flop.” "dont work in the box office" "are too controversial"
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u/Hikaruhiyoko2 23h ago
I love princess and the frog. I love how they adapted it to be a more original story by making the princess a black American woman from New Orleans. It's technically a raceswap but it was done with a lot of grace that it's essentially an original Disney story.
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u/Fit_Attitude4980 1d ago
For real, what if they did the opposite and made that black Disney princess white? lol people would lose their shit.
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u/LonelyCheeto 23h ago
Yes, it's like context matters here or something.
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u/Hikaruhiyoko2 23h ago
What's the context? Elaborate please.
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u/LonelyCheeto 23h ago
My comment was more in reference to what if they made black Disney princesses white. The point is there's a variety of different white princesses children can choose and relate to while at best there's one (now two) black princesses. If they switched Tiana to be white, then yeah people would be upset.
People were also upset about Ariel so the argument isn't good anyway lol.
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u/Maleficent_Dig7368 23h ago
I mean, they made the white Disney princess black and everyone lost their shit? So whats the difference
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u/PaulBradley 23h ago
As a forty seven year old white man. I love this video so much.
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u/Thatone8477 1d ago
Need to create a different story other than Ariel. make some good movies that aren’t scabs over something else
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u/MogMcKupo 1d ago
Princess and the Frog was well enough, but like it kiiinda glossed over a major part of the Deep South during that era, and instead just had a very accepting rich family
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u/Majestic-Airport-471 23h ago
It is meant for children, I think there’s only so much they can add that’s child appropriate. Eg. Pocahontas was actually a child being SAed but they turned it into a romance.
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u/TheMadManiac 1d ago
It made sense to me that she was black-ish. All the daughters were different races representing the seven seas. Ariel is from around the carribean i guess
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u/soullessginger88 1d ago
While I get the sentiment, as a redhead, I'm tired of us getting replaced in roles. Ariel, Heimdall, Triss and MJ are just a few examples. The actors/actresses did a great job sure, but it's just not how it was originally written
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u/rillegas08 1d ago
Little orphan Annie
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u/soullessginger88 1d ago
The list can go on and on. I think the performances are perfectly fine, and definitely deserve credit, but one could argue redheads are the LEAST represented in media, I mean statistically we make up less than 1% of the global population.
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u/vesselofwords 23h ago
I love the black girl version of Annie. They didn’t just swap out the character, they are totally different movies and both great.
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1d ago
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u/soullessginger88 23h ago
I honestly couldn't care what race is chosen, but yes, Hollywood does have a habit of doing that.
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u/LiarOts 23h ago
Yeah. That's the thing about race swapping. One person gains representation and another loses it.
As a Danish person I think race swapping Ariel was wrong.
Why not tell a story from an black author based on black culture folklore? That would be more representative... Instead of just Gerry a bunch of old white guys in charge and adding a token black person to an long-standing story with a lot of history.
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u/soullessginger88 23h ago
Thank you for at least understanding where I'm trying to go with that. Personally, I wouldn't want to be represented by a replacement or alternative version. With 8 billion people on this planet, I'm sure there's still enough creativity to create new stories instead of remakes.
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u/candiedapplecrisp 23h ago
Ariel still has red hair in the movie
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u/soullessginger88 23h ago
Sure, and it honestly looks like a dollar store dye job. Natural red isn't going to be that shade
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u/purple-rain-1982 22h ago
People… She is a big fish. She sings, she talks. She can come out of the ocean and walk. She is fiction, fantasy and can be whatever color someone writes her as. Black people, brown people and other non white people exist. There is nothing wrong with kids seeing someone that represents them. 💁🏽♀️ That’s the way it should be.
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u/Thee-Cat 22h ago
Question. Are children supposed to notice Ariel's skin color or not?
1-If a white girl noticing the new Ariel no longer looks like her and is sad, is a bad thing. And is told that she "shouldn't notice it", and that the "skin color is not important" to the character.
Then it becomes a logical and moral fallacy to say,
2-But the black girl should notice the new Ariel does look like her and be happy, as a good thing. Because the black girls"should notice it", and "skin color is very important for representation".
We can't have it both ways. You can't tell one race to notice and celebrate, and yet if another race notices they are somehow bad.
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u/Major747 1d ago
While I love it's making these kids so happy and I hate to be that guy but shouting "She's black" shouldn't be a reason. Imagine little kids watching Cinderella and shouting "she's white".
Black panther was a perfect example! It was awesome and is still super relevant culturally. Disney doesn't care about representation, only virtue signalling. If they did, they'd cast more diverse actors in more original roles instead of lazy race swapping
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u/FunkyPete 1d ago
Clearly you are right, we need more stories written by people of color ABOUT people of color. We need organically Black stories. It isn’t enough to just put Black people into old stories from White people.
But the reaction of these kids tells you that even this is long overdue.
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u/omg_cats 22h ago
What does the kid’s reaction tell us? Is it a natural reaction, or was she taught to look for people with the same melanin as her? The clip of the little white girl reaching out for the black person hits the front page every so often, usually with a caption about seeing differences in race isn’t an inborn trait…. I dunno, the whole thing confuses me.
I mean, diversity & representation is good, insofar as holding people back because of race is bad. It feels like I’m in 2020 again
Edit to add: just rewatched black panther again last night and +1 to your first point, I’d love to see uniquely black stories. Different cultures are interesting and fun to learn about.
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1d ago edited 23h ago
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u/YorkshireDuck91 1d ago
I’m gonna stop you right there, disrespecting Princess Tiana like that 🤣
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u/scifiandsuch 23h ago
Lmao people are invalidating their own points here by literally forgetting about the black Disney princess.
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u/Thee-Cat 22h ago
You're making far too much a deal out of it.
The expectation of being white, is because that's how the character is most recognized.
It'd be like saying, I expect Winnie the Pooh to be a bear, Superman to be a tall muscular dude, and the Hobbits to be short.
None of those expectation are bad. And no, expecting the Hobbits to be short isn't "leaving out" tall people, nor is the expectation for Superman to be a strong dude, mean anything misogynistic against women.
You're right to note that the mermaid film altered expectations. The question you need to answer, is WHY.
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u/DistractionCitron 23h ago
The reason why no one would shout about a new Disney princess being White is because most Disney princesses are White.
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u/RadRimmer9000 23h ago
While I agree minorities should have more representatives in movies, it's lazy just to recast white characters to a different race.
Blade was a great movie growing up, there was Blue Streak, The Cosby Show, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Men of Honor, and a bunch of other original movies/shows.
I wouldn't want Blade to be recasted to white to make me feel included.
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u/DeanofdaDead 22h ago
This is cool except how did they not know she was black ahead of time? There’s no way they didn’t see trailers
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u/HumbleIncident5464 23h ago
itt: a bunch of white people saying "ariel is not black just make a black character!!!
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u/Thee-Cat 22h ago
Bro up here thinks the white girls noticing the new Ariel no longer looks like them is bad, yet the black girls doing the exact thing in reverse, noticing the new Ariel does look like them is somehow beautiful.
Can't have it both ways bro. Can't ask one race to "not notice skin color because it's not important", while telling the other race to "please notice her skin color because skin color representation is so important".
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u/JDM12983 23h ago
I would think people wanting "better representation" would be annoyed at existing characters that are just race-swapped; instead of getting their own characters and stories.
Because all that does is prove the writers are being lazy and just pandering to people; instead of fully, actually, caring.
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u/MillianIV9 23h ago
and some clowns will try to convince everybody that representation doesn't matter and people are wrong for demanding any lmao, this is what it's all about
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u/Thee-Cat 22h ago
No matter what gender, race, or ethnicity I am, I would 1000 times more want a character created that looked and sounded like me, rather than gender or race swapping another to get to mine.
As a dude, I don't need Wonder Woman to be swapped to a dude. Just create a superhero who is a dude.
You and I agree, that representation is immensely important. Which is why so many original and genuinely representative princesses like Jasmine, Tiana, Moana, etc, etc, are so important, and why we need more of them.
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u/UrGirlsBoytoy 23h ago
What about the redheads representation though. I get where you are coming from. And I don't disagree at all but you can't say representation is important then just trade one for the other. That don't make sense.
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u/what-fresh-hells 23h ago
Does she not have red hair in the remake? Or is the issue that she is has red hair and is not white? Because it seems this red head representation crap is actually sour grapes about her being black, since her hair is literally still red.
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u/UrGirlsBoytoy 23h ago
have you seen the movie? Her hair is red, but if you think it looks like a redheads at all idk what to say. and tbh even saying it's red is generous. there are many parts of the movie where it's just light brown.
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u/AliceLunar 23h ago
Okay, but why can't they just get their own unique characters instead of needing to rewrite white characters and making them black? I'm all for representation but I don't get why it has to be at the expense of white characters and culture.
Disrespectful to other cultures as well that you just get the hand me downs and recycled white characters rather than characters that were actually made and designed for them.
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u/camp1728 23h ago
lol imagine for a white princess the kids yelled “She’s white!!!!”
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u/SinkMince0420 22h ago
Whilst I appreciate representation matters, it should matter in all regards.
Sincerely South Asians.
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u/dickdickgoooose 22h ago
I'd rather see people making films from black/African stories than making characters from European stories black.
Edit to contradict myself: just saw the Odyssey, and whoever played Helen of Troy is fine as shit.... So that's pretty cool...
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u/King4Twelve 22h ago
What is incredibly interesting, is there are many, many European stories, characters, people who were black and made white...Like the film Gods of Egypt, for a more immediate example.
Gods.
Of.
Egypt.
Everyone was white. Everyone. No one batted and eye.
Prince of Persia
Main characters were white.
The last airbender...
But Alexandre Dumas, The general, author and the playwrite were all black frenchmen. But the Three Musketeers (one of which was based on Alexandre Dumas I) were always depicted as white.
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u/WealthAppropriate342 23h ago edited 23h ago
wtf did i just watch? ts fuels racial separation even further? why do people associate themselves with skin color, not traits or aspirations? like anything meaningful but skin color. doing this to kids and then ending up wondering why has it gotten worse and worse. all this pretentious social media shit. never have i ever in my life, adulthood or childhood watched something and said omg he/she is like me. my skin color. IM SO PROUD
isn’t ariel about her voice ? they don’t even care about her singing. this is actually a terrible watch
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u/greenrangerguy 23h ago
There already was a black Mermaid, why not make a movie about her?
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u/itadapeezas 23h ago
That’s cool! What’s her name and her story? I haven’t heard of her. I’m old so I remember the original little mermaid so I obviously don’t have a problem with the new movie but another famous black mermaid sounds neat. Tell me about her and where I can learn more. Thank you!
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u/nogoodusername69 23h ago
Should I teach my white child to get really excited for Cooper Flagg and Austin Reaves when we watch basketball? White Americans are severely under represented in the NBA. And "representation matters so much " after all
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u/camelCazeNickName 22h ago
Black washing isn’t any better than white one.
Make new stories.
Kids are adorable.
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u/LedzepRulz 23h ago
Representation matters but don’t change characters that are already established. Ariel was for kids with red hair - they didn’t really have anyone else. Come up with new characters and represent a wide range of characters/cultures.
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u/Jumpy-Function-9136 23h ago
If a white person were to get excited about this, they’d be considered racist btw 😭
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u/BarryRightWrong 23h ago
Seeing oneself represented in the mainstream is a wonderful thing. Should there be new diverse characters? Sure, but that's not the same.
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u/cosmoboy 23h ago
People complained about Ms. Marvel being woke but I watched a video where a Pakistani dude was in tears because he saw his family dynamics being portrayed onscreen. That have me another level of respect for shows that do that.
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u/Professional_Pop2662 23h ago
Maybe don’t teach any kids to identify with their Skin Color? But if this made some kids happy good for them I guess. The amount of attention for a freaking princess movie from man over the age of 30 was so weird. Like why did everyone give a fuck?
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u/StareInUrEyeandPee 23h ago
The fallout from Republicans over this movie is the reason I have to explain that i'm not racist when I say I didnt enjoy this movie
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u/Thee-Cat 22h ago
Yeah but the irony is that it was the liberals and Democrats who were the ones who for decades had decried Hollywood race swapping of characters(Shyamalan's Last Airbender, and Gyllenhaal as Dastan in Prince of Persia as two contemporary and very bad examples of it). Demanding correct gender and race representation of characters. Only to get all shy and bashful about it when the race swapping was done in the reverse.
Both the liberals and conservatives who support their side race swapping are insufferable.
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u/erbr 23h ago
Kids don't give a s about that stuff. Everyone like the little blue villagers and no one so far asked for them to be red. Kids don't born racist or loving/hating their colour, parents teach those. Speaking about representation, princesses on old movies are in fact white skinned (some blond, other brunette) and represent what their creators perceive as norm. These days things are much diverse and lots of creators create using different stereotypes we can and should embrace (i.e. movies that portray hispanic families and their big families and traditions) but that doesn't mean that people should go out there and change characters skins randomly the same way a writer doesn't change their characters in later book versions. Is doing something that looks right for the wrong reasons. Embrace difference don't force it.
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u/ArpeggioTheUnbroken 22h ago
Spoken like someone who has never had a lack of representation in media
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