MovieChat Forums > The Little Mermaid (2023) Discussion > Why is it 'woke' to use an actress who h...

Why is it 'woke' to use an actress who has african heritage as the lead?


Are all mermaids white or . . .is it because the animated movie had a white woman? Why does it matter to anybody that they hired an actress with dark complexion? It seems so absurd to me to be upset about that.

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OP there has been a huge outrage about race swapping characters. Most of the content being made stars predominating white leads. So studios are doing reinterpretations of IPs race swapping certain characters. It doesn't erase the original, in fact, it puts the spotlight on it. I've seen more people go watch Interview With The Vampire movie & read the book thanks to the tv show.

What folks try to explain is....if the character's culture isn't tied to their race, it can be changed. They did an open casting call and the story goes... she was cast because she had all the qualities they were looking for. She just wasn't white.

I haven't seen the movie yet but I wish they had made this into an original story. I mean we just had the TV show Siren that had mermaids of all different ethnicities. She could have been one of Ariel's sisters or they could have adapted an African story.

I get why they were disappointed but I think the outrage went too far. Especially coming from adult men. They were expecting real life bimbo fap material but the studio prioritized talent. However Halle is far from ugly. If you watch trailer reactions from kids of all races, they had no problems with her race.

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The dissatisfaction isn't stemming from this particular actress being black, but because this is merely the latest in a long, and seemingly unending, string of films, TV shows, and more where blackness is being elevated and whiteness denigrated. Were this film to have come from a vacuum I don't think anyone would have batted an eye, but it didn't. It's but the latest installment in a calculated campaign by a fringe group of far-left activists who have seized control of the media to push their racist agenda.

Again, this film on its own is not a big deal. Granted, they cast an actress for the lead solely because of her skin color, which is by definition racism, but it's racism that would be overlooked were that not the case in every major film and TV show.

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Interesting so then why were there no auditions of women of color for the role of Catwoman in the Dark Knight Rises? You realize there were auditions allowed for Catwoman of actresses that were white for the Batman? So was it racist of them to discriminate for Catwoman in the Dark Knight Rises considering no actresses other than white were allowed to audition?

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You are (almost certainly purposely) conflating utterly unrelated things in order to make some sort of point.

There's nothing racist about a filmmaker casting to match his vision for a character. If Nolan wants a white female Catwoman then he should only audition white females. Nearly no one has any problem with that. What's being discussed here is utterly unrelated to that.

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No I am taking your logic and applying it the other way.

If the director of little Mermaid wanted a black Aerial actress then he should only audition black actresses for the part. People have a huge issue with that. So if they take issue with that then we need to take issue with them only allowing white females for Catwoman. You do not get to have it both ways.

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Nobody's asking for it both ways. You're talking about something entirely different and pretending it applies to this situation.

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It does apply.

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No one takes issue with a director casting to suit his vision. In fact, that's what those who disagree with you WANT. We want a director to be able to audition only black actors, or only white actors, or whatever sort of actors they want.

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Then why when Zoe Kravitz was casted as Catwoman was there a sheer outrage from people? This was before a plot was revealed, a set photo or even a trailer shown. This shows that these people believe Catwoman can only be interpreted one way. Kravitz is channeling the year one version of Selina Kyle. All they did was scream woke. So no your point couldn't be more wrong. They only want her to be white is what they are saying.

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What sheer outrage are you referring to? Did a handful of people on this site complain? I don't recall any backlash whatsoever. You can certainly find a few people who believe in nearly any idea you can come up with, but that isn't indicative of the majority opinion.

I think it's very clear that nearly everyone on the anti-woke side is all in favor of directors having carte blanche to cast films as they wish. A black Cat Woman or a black mermaid are fine in a vacuum. It's when it's a part of a politically racist agenda that people respond negatively.

We oppose something like the new requirements for a film to be considered for an Oscar:

“The requirements include having at least one lead character in the movie be from an “an underrepresented racial or ethnic group”, having at least 30% of the general ensemble cast be from at least two underrepresented groups (women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people or people with disabilities), or having the movie’s subject focus on one of those groups.”

Filmmakers should be free to make any movie they want, and include all the black actors they want. They should not be FORCED to do so.

You are trying to spin this in a way that suggests people are opposed to a black actor in a prominent role, but that has nothing to do with any of it. The opposition is to the constant inclusion of political messaging in films and TV shows. When nearly every show or film being made sacrifices plot, suspense, character development, realism, and so forth in order to check as many boxes on a far-left activist’s agenda sheet, it becomes clear that we’re no longer watching entertainment, we’re watching propaganda. Disney is at the front of the line of major studios attempting to indoctrinate people, especially young people, in far-left liberal politics.

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Don't play dumb. Do I have to pull up the constant posts complaining about how the Batman was woke? Woke to lots of people is the mere thought of something being diverse. Anyways people automatically assumed that Kravitz casting was political. I don't have to take your assumptions as gospel truth. It's on you to prove them. I don't agree with being forced to include people either.

However a director can interpret a character any way he pleases. If the race isn't essential there should be no issue. Catwoman's race isn't essential no matter how much they want it to be.

The Oscars have been a joke for years. It often doesn't award the best film. It awards the film that aligns with their politics.

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It's not because I'm bothered that she (as an actress) is black...but rather Disney's insistence on casting her (solely) because she's black...*that's* what bothers me

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You aren't fooling anyone you scumbag.

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I wonder about the public reaction to a movie made about a "traditionally Black" character (from a book, other movies, or other work of fiction - or, even of historical origin) and cast a White person in the lead role.

For example, consider a film biography of Martin Luther King with Tom Cuise cast as MLK.

Or, a "Wakanda Forever" remake with mostly White actors in the lead roles.

What do you suppose the public reaction would be?

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I don’t understand Why people play dumb like they don’t get that everyone in the world is not on the same playing field.

Why do that? Why pretend like it would be the same to make fun of the President as it would be to make fun of a homeless, handicapped guy? We don’t live in a world like that and you know this.

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>I don’t understand Why people play dumb like they don’t get that everyone in the world is not on the same playing field.

Not if you keep treating them in hypocritical ways that you do.

>Why pretend like it would be the same to make fun of the President as it would be to make fun of a homeless, handicapped guy?

It is the same.

>We don’t live in a world like that and you know this.

We dont. How do we fix this hypocritical censorship so we do live in a world like this?

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There would be tons of bigots defending those. Cruise played an Asian character in Edge of Tomorrow, and if you go on that board you’ll see a overwhelming amount of racists defending it.

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Cruise played an Asian character in Edge of Tomorrow


That's news to me. Link?

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All mermaids may not be white, but the one in this story has always been white, ever since Andersen wrote the story in the 1800s. Why change now? Write a new story about a mermaid negress.

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It's a STORY. Stories get adapted Have you read the original fairy tales? They are nothing like the Disney versions.

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Why are you bending over for Woke?

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I don't know what woke is, it means something different to everyone on these boards.

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That’s the horseshit response from Wokists trying to escape the label by pretending the word doesn’t have a meaning, when it was your cult that applied the word to themselves to begin with 🤦🏻‍♂️

Why are you bending over for Woke?

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SPEAKING OF HORSESHIT...JUST EXPLAIN IT TO HIM.😂

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Eat shit, troll. If he wants to know he can ask.

Reply with this ‘😂🎄‘ to confirm that you’re the paedophile many of us suspect you to be…

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😂🎄

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This is the new tactic of the Right, if you disagree with someone, you call them a pedo.

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Okay. How is that relevant here?

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You just did it.

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No I didn’t, dickhead.

I’m not ‘of the Right’, I wasn’t disagreeing with your boyfriend, and I didn’t call anyone a pedo. I asked your boyf to confirm that he is one, which he did.

Pay attention before commenting.

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Such bullshit.

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It demonstrably isn’t ‘bullshit’, it’s right there for all to see. Idiot.

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You mean where you edited your post to try to incriminate him?

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Who the fuck asked you, stalker?

Piss off.

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No-one. But this is a forum and I'll post where I like.

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It comes as no surprise that you whine about ‘stalkers’ yet here you are doing exactly what you condemn.

Pure projection and hypocrisy.
No consistency.
No integrity.
No soul.

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I had already posted in this thread and came down here to see what was going on. I saw you, as you often are, being vile to another poster. At some of the worst points of your peak, you were spending most of your day following me around the forum and targeting me. This is nothing in comparison to that.

>No integrity. No soul

I'm not going to be lectured to about integrity or soul from someone who thinks its acceptable to lie about people being pedophilies, and who routinely edits their posts to suggest that the other user has admitted it. You have zero moral high ground here, or about anything on the website.

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Lame and unbelievable excuses for your blatant hypocrisy.

Piss off, stalker.

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PURE TRUTH,BUDDY.

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I had already posted in this thread and came down here to see what was going on. I saw you, as you often are, being vile to another poster. At some of the worst points of your peak, you were spending most of your day following me around the forum and targeting me. This is nothing in comparison to that.

>No integrity. No soul

I'm not going to be lectured to about integrity or soul from someone who thinks its acceptable to lie about people being pedophilies, and who routinely edits their posts to suggest that the other user has admitted it. You have zero moral high ground here, or about anything on the website.

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Ooooohhh snap, you owned him so hard lol

Look at him, utterly humiliated. I almost feel bad for him, but he needs to have his ego bruised, not that he would ever learn anything from it. I guess you never know though, sometimes people grow.

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Brutally sarcastic, nice work 🤣👏🏻

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You wish.

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Wait… you meant that insane slobbering blowjob post??

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Wow, you are dense.

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Holy shit you did. Aww man, that is unbelievably lame and gay 🤮🤦🏻‍♂️

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Sorry I hurt your feelings.

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[deleted]

Piss off, stalker.

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My post above me here got deleted by a moderator. Now you wouldn't happen to be a hypocrite and be reporting posts, would you? Would that make you a fascist, by your logic?

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No, I’m nothing like you I’m glad to say, but after all your creepy fascistic efforts to have dissenting opinions deleted I’m glad that you’re finally getting what you deserve.

Well done to that Mod 🍻

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>No, I’m nothing like you I’m glad to say, but after all your creepy fascistic efforts to have dissenting opinions deleted I’m glad that you’re finally getting what you deserve.

You're about the only person in this thread that has likely been reading this exchange. Someone told the mods. By your logic that makes them fascist.

And you're right, you're nothing like me. I don't hurl unfounded baseless hateful accusations at other users.

>Well done to that Mod 🍻

So now you approve of people's posts being removed by moderators? I thought that was automatically fascist.

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You can shove your tedious straw bullshit back up your ass, ya fucking dildo.

Now, mindlessly regurgitate your last post if it’s true that you take it deep in both ends. Go…

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I fail to see how any of that was remotely a strawman.

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>No, I’m nothing like you I’m glad to say, but after all your creepy fascistic efforts to have dissenting opinions deleted I’m glad that you’re finally getting what you deserve.

You're about the only person in this thread that has likely been reading this exchange. Someone told the mods. By your logic that makes them fascist.

And you're right, you're nothing like me. I don't hurl unfounded baseless hateful accusations at other users.

>Well done to that Mod 🍻

So now you approve of people's posts being removed by moderators? I thought that was automatically fascist.

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>Now, mindlessly regurgitate your last post if it’s true that you take it deep in both ends. Go…

Back to your childish editing that you continually deny you do.

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Yep, thought so.

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Yes, original fairy tales would have had the mermaid eat the prince. Original fairy tales also have mermaide be pale skinned and fish-featured. The kind of pale of a drowned man. Christian Andersen would be spinning in his grave if someone suggested a black mermaid.

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Mermaids are by definition white. They have pale skin and fish like features. Their job is to lure european sailors to their doom. They are vicious. Mermaids are white european lore that got disnified.

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If white-washing is bad, so are other forms of color-washing, yet the latter seems to be accepted and pushed. That hypocrisy is why it’s considered woke.

If it’s bad that a bunch of white people played fictional Egyptian gods from an ancient dead religion nobody practices anymore, why is it ok for colored women to play fictional European mermaids?

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good answer.

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I agree, it's not the race swapping that I have a problem with, it's the fact that race swapping is only acceptable when it's going in one direction. You can make all the excuses you want, that it's OK to discriminate in this circumstance because of past injustices or whatever but at the end of the day it is the very definition of racism, not reverse racism, just racism.

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Gee, it’s almost as if context matters or something.

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The thing is you want us to care about the skin color of the actress. You want to be able to lecture us on how progressive you are in racial relations which is why you took the time to make a threat where you throw that fact in our faces.

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The Little Mermaid is fucking shit, watched by only girls or gay guys, so I'm guessing the uproar is less to do with race and more to do with the frustration at POC's being completely unable to create any of their own mythologies, legends or fairytale characters.

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Why do you assume that they don’t have any mythologies, legends or fairytales? You just aren’t as familiar with them because you haven’t been introduced to them. They are less widely known. The Asian cultures also have an abundance of tales but do you know as many of them as you do European?

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They have plenty, i just wish they would be adapting those instead of rehashing same old. Probably wouldnt be popular. Black pharaoh letters are very interesting read, i suggest you look them up. Youll see nothing really changed. Heres an example: "Seven blessings on you. I have more soldiers so send me women and gold."

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