I’m shocked but not surprised. Honestly, I’m not even shocked anymore. Would you expect anything less from bigots? Come on now. Disney recently released the first look for its 2023 live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid.” Only this time, Black actress Halle Bailey is playing the Ariel character in this film.
YouTube hid the dislike counter on the official video. The video had 1.5 million dislikes and several racist comments under the video. There was also a group of critics with a digitally altered version that featured a White woman in place of the movie’s star actress Halle Bailey. They even referred to her as the “woke actress.” Conservatives love to mock the term “woke” to deride liberals’ calls for justice for so-called minorities. And liberals, of course, diluted the term “woke”- a term that used to be used interchangeably with the term “conscious” in an underground setting. They made a mockery of the term when they took it mainstream and altered its meaning. That’s an entirely different topic for another time.
So I guess the racists are trying to deride Disney’s attempt at showing representation for Black people as well. Some only want to see White characters and no Black characters at all. It’s not like Disney is planning on just showing Black characters and will forever eliminate White characters. It’s not like this is what Black people want. Disney is simply showing Black characters as well as White characters. And Black people will be content with that. Black people want to see positive characters that look like them. Just as Whites want to see positive characters that look like them.
But a racist mindset wants to only see their faces represented so they can be proud of their images. They also want other races to fawn over them and only be proud of their images. They can’t stand the thought of seeing other races show pride at their own likeness. It’s no attitude of “I’ll appreciate my greatness and you appreciate your greatness.” It’s “I’ll appreciate my greatness and you appreciate my greatness also- and deprecate, downplay, and deny your greatness.” Racists love being fawned over.
The critics have several disingenuous reasons why they don’t want a Black Ariel for the Disney movie, “The Little Mermaid.” Some say it’s because that wasn’t the original story. Others hide behind science while maintaining mermaids live under the sea, and as a result, will not have dark skin. This is what far-right pundit Matt Walsh claimed in his awful attempt at humor.
Others claim they hate that the new Ariel character’s race deviates from the original 1989 “The Little Mermaid” version as a White character. They say this as if they can’t show their kids the original version. All these reasons sound like splaining, scapegoating, and a colossal reach to cover their unconscious and conscious bigotry.
Anyways. Check out the story on buzzfeednews.com by Ikran Dahir and Anna Betts called “Parents Are Filming Their Black Daughters Excitedly Reacting To The ‘Little Mermaid’ Trailer And Realizing Halle Baily Is Ariel.” Their joyous reaction is priceless.
I could care less about a damn Disney movie, myself. I think we need to produce our own movies and cartoons and not rely on them portraying us in a positive light. But anyways. Stay tuned for more future content, where I go deeper and deeper.
