American R&B group Chloe and Halle Bailey of Halle has been cast to play the main character of The Little Mermaid, one of Disney's live-action movie projects. Disney's casting has caused controversy among countless people because Ariel's image, which features red hair and white skin, is very different from that of Halle, who is African american. This has caused fierce controversy among Disney fans over the pros and cons, and there are even racist remarks .
There are some opinions how people who reacted negatively to Halle Bailey's casting.
1. Disney cast an actress who can't find Ariel's symbolism, saying they will pursue diversity. Is it right to erase the character's symbolism for pursuit of diversity?
There is a rebuttal that apart from race, which the actress of appearance and atmosphere do not resemble Ariel. I understand with some of them in this part. Nevertheless, I don't think Disney did miss-casting. Visual is obviously a key element in the film, but I don't think that appearance of the character and the appearance of the actor must match. What Disney did is only chose the actor who could best express an attribute of Ariel.
2. Black washing
In the first place, the choice of the word 'black washing' is more like another racial discrimination. White supremacy is a serious inequality that exists today and that inequality exists undoubtedly within Hollywood. With structural inequality still remaining, just because some black people are given more opportunities cannot be called 'black washing'. Just because Disney chose black woman as the main character of The Little Mermaid, can 'black washing' be established in the current society? 'White Washing' is definitely real, but since there has never been a society led by black people. Therefore, the term, 'black washing' itself is impossible to form.
3. Ariel cannot be black because the original work of The Little Mermaid is a Danish fairy tale.
Disney told the people who opposed the Halle's casting, "The Danish may be black, so the mermaid may be black." And I can say Mermaid obviously does't have nationality.
The focus in The Little Mermaid is not Ariel's race or appearance. Ariel's white skin, blued eyes or red hair are not what determines the meaning of the The Little Mermaid. However, there is a flood of postings ignoring Disney's intentions, degrading the actress's appearance, and the #NotmyAriel hashtag continues.
Fairy tales are not as beautiful as people usually think. It's a cliché story, in which the roles of princes and princesses are fixed, and a princess usually has the beauty that is praised for being beautiful in the West, and only such people will have a beautiful ending. In order to get out of such a biased fairy tale world, Disney these days is trying to rule out all discrimination. Disney can show children the diversity of mermaids by eliminating the perception that "a mermaid should have white skin, blue eyes and red hair." Eventually, such efforts will be an opportunity to eliminate racism for the growing younger generation.
I also think it's really important for Disney to expand past their token "exotic" Disney princesses and normalise a spectrum of characters of different ethnicities. As you said is it not their skin colour just gives substance to the narrative, it's the characters themselves
ReplyDelete