Does The Little Mermaid Have A Chance To Be A Hit ?

[heinz.friedrich]

Define woke. I’ve never gotten a true answer from anyone that uses the phrase. It’s so overused yet no one I know can clearly explain it.

I have also a question for you which I have never gotten a true answer from anyone that defend Disney like you.

Why does nobody of the defenders of these huge money grabbing capitalistic cooperations criticize the countries that discriminate against LGBTQ and are racist against black people?

Like here:
The story behind the racist responses to “Black Panther” in China

It seems to me that the Disney supporters dont really care about LGBTQ and racism, they only care about power of their beloved systemically homophobic and systemiclly racist organization Disney (they are racist and homophobic in other countries)

And this time, this is real racism and homophobia in the form of laws because they discriminate in censoring Black people on the movie poster and censoring films that are LGBTQ.

I am not from the United States but it seems to me like this:

The people in the US have less racism and less homophobia than other parts of the world and they are criticized extensively but the real racist and homophobic countries are not criticized (like the Uyghur reeducation camps), so they dont really practice what they are preaching. Disney supporters remind me of this:

Luke 6:41 ^
And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye?

 

[Call_Me_Dave]

I have also a question for you which I have never gotten a true answer from anyone that defend Disney like you.

Why does nobody of the defenders of these huge money grabbing capitalistic cooperations criticize the countries that discriminate against LGBTQ and are racist against black people?

Like here:
The story behind the racist responses to “Black Panther” in China

It seems to me that the Disney supporters dont really care about LGBTQ and racism, they only care about power of their beloved systemically homophobic and systemiclly racist organization Disney (they are racist and homophobic in other countries)

And this time, this is real racism and homophobia in the form of laws because they discriminate in censoring Black people on the movie poster and censoring films that are LGBTQ.

I am not from the United States but it seems to me like this:

The people in the US have less racism and less homophobia than other parts of the world and they are criticized extensively but the real racist and homophobic countries are not criticized (like the Uyghur reeducation camps), so they dont really practice what they are preaching. Disney supporters remind me of this:

Where in anything I have ever written does it read or suggest that I am a Disney “supporter”? All I ever suggested is that people are mad that their fictional character is no longer white. It’s both sad and hilarious all at once. Disney certainly has its flaws, as nearly all huge companies do. If you can find a company of that size and success that is 100% aligned with everything ethical, I’ll be shocked and impressed. I only referred to idiots crying about a brown fish-woman.

Many of the countries you mention are known as horrible, but admittedly in the USA, people care less. Mostly because people here tend to think the rest of the world is irrelevant, or they just don’t give a shit. Or both, most likely. If it’s not directly affecting them, they don’t care. It’s an extremely self centered nation.

A company censoring lbgtq and minorities on marketing is a bad look globally for sure. But as all companies do, the bottom line is the almighty dollar. You can support your causes, but if you are going to cause violence and really start to bleed money, your morals will take a step back. It’s just the nature of business. Do I wish it were different? Sure, but moral and fiscal obligations tend to conflict with each other, and money will almost always win.

 

[dreamer20]

It quite obvious that the movie will not do well at the box office. A white Zorro would also not been accepted. Lets say that Zac Efron would play Zorro. Mexicans would be pissed. They would say '' why they could not cast a mexican actor ? ''

Actors Who Have Portrayed The Original Zorro (Diego De la Vega) In Both Movie & TV Productions - IMDb
Zorro isn't a real historical figure. Zorro is a fictional character created by American Johnston McCulley from Illinois. Your post is inconsistent with the reality of big box office successes of several films in which Zorro was played by white actors - from Douglas Fairbanks to Antonio Banderas. One such film, which thoroughly I enjoyed, was "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) which even was filmed in Mexico and had Anthony Hopkins act as Zorro. Mexico didn't have a problem with it. Have you ever seen a Zorro film in your lifetime? Do you think being Mexican is synonymous with being non-white?

 

[Marco Tony]

Actors Who Have Portrayed The Original Zorro (Diego De la Vega) In Both Movie & TV Productions - IMDb
Zorro isn't a real historical figure. Zorro is a fictional character created by American Johnston McCulley from Illinois. Your post is inconsistent with the reality of big box office successes of several films in which Zorro was played by white actors - from Douglas Fairbanks to Antonio Banderas. One such film, which thoroughly I enjoyed, was "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) which even was filmed in Mexico and had Anthony Hopkins act as Zorro. Mexico didn't have a problem with it. Have you ever seen a Zorro film in your lifetime? Do you think being Mexican is synonymous with being non-white?

I saw The Mask Of Zorro. Antonio Banderas is spanish. But he is more ethnic looking. Therefore he was cast to play Zorro. Javier Bardem might have been cast also. Because he also have a ethnic look. Not all spanish actors could have look the part.

Antonio Banderas is from malaga. Which is located in the south of spain. Which means many spanish people there have middle eastern ancestors. People from south of spain, just like people from south italy have more middle eastern ancestors. Therefore they have darker skin and looks more mixed. So, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz possibly have middle eastern ancestors. Penelope Cruz also have a ethnic look. Therefore she could play a middle eastern character. She played a mexican in Bandidas. She even played a brazilian in Woman On Top. Her exotic look made her play many ethicities.

White mexicans only represents 15% of mexico. So they are a minority. The vast majority of mexicans are indigenous and mestizo. Which means mixed.

 

[Marco Tony]

The Little Mermaid box office is still up in the air. The actors involved in the movie must be worried about the success of the movie. They most likely know about the backlash already. Maybe they should have released this movie in the fall or even this spring. But releasing that movie in may when bigger movies are released, a summer release is a risk.

 

[slyfox234]

i’m sure the movie will do just fine. even if people don’t like the race swap or special effects, i’m sure they’ll still hate watch. also halle bailey (ariel) is so talented and i couldn’t imagine who would be able to outsing her for the role lol

 

[heinz.friedrich]

Where in anything I have ever written does it read or suggest that I am a Disney “supporter”? All I ever suggested is that people are mad that their fictional character is no longer white. It’s both sad and hilarious all at once. Disney certainly has its flaws, as nearly all huge companies do. If you can find a company of that size and success that is 100% aligned with everything ethical, I’ll be shocked and impressed. I only referred to idiots crying about a brown fish-woman.

Many of the countries you mention are known as horrible, but admittedly in the USA, people care less. Mostly because people here tend to think the rest of the world is irrelevant, or they just don’t give a shit. Or both, most likely. If it’s not directly affecting them, they don’t care. It’s an extremely self centered nation.

A company censoring lbgtq and minorities on marketing is a bad look globally for sure. But as all companies do, the bottom line is the almighty dollar. You can support your causes, but if you are going to cause violence and really start to bleed money, your morals will take a step back. It’s just the nature of business. Do I wish it were different? Sure, but moral and fiscal obligations tend to conflict with each other, and money will almost always win.

Sorry if I falsly accused you of supporting Disney.

So you see that this company has a double standard and also the people and the media that are supporting it?

That is what I perceive as woke, which you asked.

They claim to be righteous but do not care about righteousness. They claim to be antiracist but are racist. They claim to be proLGBTQ but are not.

And also the philosophy surrounding some woke people has a lot of additional negative ideology in it and they also have contradictions, which I explained in another post. That does not mean that the other side does not have negativity in it. They also have that.

 

[god of dunder]

Remember when Aladdin 2019 received a huge backlash and a million hate comments before its release, while Mulan 2020 is in production at that time. Disney was scared of making another live-action remake and tried to change their "remake formula" and apply it to Mulan 2020. Then Aladdin 2019 turned out to be successful in the end, while they couldn't redo Mulan 2020, then it turned out to be so awful because they thought they were doing right that time they were in production because they "changed", turned out to be ineffective and became worse. Now that they learned their lesson, I hoped they applied it to this new The Little Mermaid movie.

 

[Call_Me_Dave]

Sorry if I falsly accused you of supporting Disney.

So you see that this company has a double standard and also the people and the media that are supporting it?

That is what I perceive as woke, which you asked.

They claim to be righteous but do not care about righteousness. They claim to be antiracist but are racist. They claim to be proLGBTQ but are not.

And also the philosophy surrounding some woke people has a lot of additional negative ideology in it and they also have contradictions, which I explained in another post. That does not mean that the other side does not have negativity in it. They also have that.

Find me a person/company/group that doesn’t have a conflict of interest or ethics. We all do. We are hypocrites, every single one of us. By this theory, pro-lifers are woke because they claim they want to protect the sanctity of life, but rarely, if ever, do anything to help kids in foster care, lower adoption fees.

Anyone considered a good person who has laughed at an inappropriate comment or joke and claim to be good is woke as well.

 

[derf3]

Definition of an actor: a person whose job is literally pretending to be something that they are not. So, shouldn't anyone that is acting be permitted to take any role?

I think so.

 

[aaa830]

More I think How would late legend Howard Ashman would feel.because Disney had decide to alter the lyrics of his work on Kiss the Girl and Poor Unfortunately Soul...
Man..this woke just gone too far..

 

[aaa830]

Remember when Aladdin 2019 received a huge backlash and a million hate comments before its release, while Mulan 2020 is in production at that time. Disney was scared of making another live-action remake and tried to change their "remake formula" and apply it to Mulan 2020. Then Aladdin 2019 turned out to be successful in the end, while they couldn't redo Mulan 2020, then it turned out to be so awful because they thought they were doing right that time they were in production because they "changed", turned out to be ineffective and became worse. Now that they learned their lesson, I hoped they applied it to this new The Little Mermaid movie.

Don't forget Mulan 2020 is totally controlversal because of it's actress and actor who said anything of my place Hong Kong around 2019...
To date I don't watch the live action at all.just feel the magic got lost and I love the original animated feature more...(if you read more the back story of those animated feature you might grow more admire and love of it.)

 

[999998997]

It looks like there's a lot of discussion on whether it's appropriate for an imaginary mermaid to be a black person. Free advertising for Disney!

 

[heinz.friedrich]

These companies never learn. Now, The same happens the other way around with the live action remake of Lilo and Stitch. Which was predictable.

The same outlets and also the same people that critisized fans for being racists for not liking race swaps in Ariel, is totally fine with changing the colors of the actors if it is the other way around. The typical double standard:

Halle Bailey addresses racist trolls criticizing her role as Ariel in 'The Little Mermaid'
Disney’s casting of ‘Lilo & Stitch’ character prompts colorism debate


That happens if you racialize your fanbase and say race and representation is important instead of a colorless approach in saying you can empathize with everybody nomatter who the actor or actress is.

If you promote identity politics, you will die with identity politics, because your audience becomes obsessed with this stuff.

The desire to see "yourself"(on a racial basis, on a sex basis and on basis of your sexual orientation) in movies in a negative desire, because you are not only othering people.

You send a message to your audience that they can only identitfy with your character if it is your identity.

 

[heinz.friedrich]

Find me a person/company/group that doesn’t have a conflict of interest or ethics. We all do. We are hypocrites, every single one of us. By this theory, pro-lifers are woke because they claim they want to protect the sanctity of life, but rarely, if ever, do anything to help kids in foster care, lower adoption fees.

Anyone considered a good person who has laughed at an inappropriate comment or joke and claim to be good is woke as well.

What they are doing is not even antiracist. Even so they claim it is.

Their so-called "antiracism" creates racism. I posted something above to explain why.

The actor of the little mermaid would have had no backlash if the media and Disney would have said the race does not matter. You can see yourself in everybody nomatter the race.

This is real antiracism, not the stuff that they are promoting. Antiracism mean you do simply not care what race somebody has and you identify and empathize with everybody.

 

[Keepitsmooth]

I am disgusted with the negativity this movie is receiving. It is ridiculous to be offended by the fact the little mermaid is black. First of all mermaids are not even humans. They can be black, blue or even aliens as far as we know. Also I don’t get why people get so warmed up when literally every single movie these days has several poc in the cast. I mean if somebody wants to be really offended why not being offended when they cast black actors to play European royalty in Bridgerton?? That was f***ed up. Or when they cast a little black girl in the Pinocchio movie with Tom Hanks. Or still Jason Momoa as Aquaman. If they were fine with choices like that, then nobody should be offended by this new Little Mermaid movie. But in the end I’m sure all the bad publicity will actually be a good promotion for the movie. People will talk about it and that is gonna give a lot of exposure to the movie. Not to mention all the people that are going to be pissed with the protesters. Personally I will go see it only to prove those idiots they’re wrong. So in the end it will be fine, you’ll see

 

[god of dunder]

Don't forget Mulan 2020 is totally controlversal because of it's actress and actor who said anything of my place Hong Kong around 2019...
To date I don't watch the live action at all.just feel the magic got lost and I love the original animated feature more...(if you read more the back story of those animated feature you might grow more admire and love of it.)

yea I know, but I'm talking about the movie itself how it was badly made

 

[heinz.friedrich]

I am disgusted with the negativity this movie is receiving. It is ridiculous to be offended by the fact the little mermaid is black. First of all mermaids are not even humans. They can be black, blue or even aliens as far as we know.

If you view it as a colorless (antiracist) approach, that is correct. If they say color is important, they are contradicting themselves. In that case, skin color is important. And hollywood is making the color is important approach which is racist.

Racsim is always a form of identity politics. A racist distinguished between the races and sees other races as outgroup and different. What people dont get is that identity politics is both on the right and left of the political spectrum. The reason is because it has nothing to do with politics. But it has to do with othering. And this identity politics were done in the times of racial segregation, because they did not make a colorless approach.

But if you complain the Ariel is black and make joke about it like in this thread. You also have to complain if they harrass the actors of Lilo and Stitch for not being black enough.

They complain about racism when Ariel is black but dont complain about racism if they swap the actor a little whiter like in Lilo and Stich (they casted Hawaian actors for the roles who they thought are a little too white).

 

[heinz.friedrich]

I mean if somebody wants to be really offended why not being offended when they cast black actors to play European royalty in Bridgerton?? That was f***ed up.

Netflix recently did the same with Cleopatra. They changed the race of Cleopatra to Black. And Egyptians are angry about it and call it unislamic and blackwashing. Some Egyptians even try to sue Netflix and call for a boycott of Netflix.

I quote what the author of the documentary said to this boycott and quote the complains of Egyptians.

According to intersectionality she and also the actor of Cleopatra is more privileged as Americans and she tries to explain to Egyptians how to view things:

Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter.

I think they care about historic accuracy. You always have to understand both side of the issue. She does not.

While shooting, I became the target of a huge online hate campaign. Egyptians accused me of “blackwashing” and “stealing” their history.

And some people also called it unislamic.

You cannot call this a hate campaign and be quiet if it is the other way around. Either you complain every time or you do not complain at all. But you have to be consistent if you dont want to have a racial bias. And Hollywood has a racial bias.

And as I said, According to intersectionality the Egyptians have more rights than her, because they are more victimized people (they earn less for the same jobs.) She is privileged and therefore has no say in these matters.

NOt that I support intersectionality, I am against it, but they support it, so they are judged by it.

Amir in his bedroom in Cairo wrote to me to earnestly appeal that “Cleopatra was Greek!” Oh, Lawd! Why would that be a good thing to you, Amir? You’re Egyptian.

We need to have a conversation with ourselves about our colorism, and the internalized white supremacy that Hollywood has indoctrinated us with.

Perhaps, it’s not just that I’ve directed a series that portrays Cleopatra as Black, but that I have asked Egyptians to see themselves as Africans, and they are furious at me for that. I am okay with this.

Africa was always white and black. White in the NOrth and black in the Sub-Saharan region. To say they have to embrace being African is braindead.

They always try to call the other side names. Be it the Egyptians or the authors of the documentary. That does not really help to promote the documentary.

https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/queen-cleopatra-black-netflix-egypt-1235590708/

 

[dreamer20]

^^To be historically accurate one must note the late 15th century European construct of race didn't exist in the age of Cleopatra. It is highly unlikely Cleopatra was as fair skinned as Elizabeth Taylor. The people of Africa, including ancient Eygptians, had skin in varied shades of brown - which the ancient Egyptians depicted in their artwork. See this video by Dr. John Henrik Clarke for insight: