The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

[GingerGirl3]

I’m merely addressing your own claim that Ariel is Danish. She isn’t.

Changing a few things like buildings does not change the fact that it is still a Danish story. Yea they changed things but that’s what Disney does. Like the happy ending in this and all princess stories.

 

[LittleBuford]

Changing a few things like buildings does not change the fact that it is still a Danish story.

Again, as the people who actually made the original film have explained, the story as Disney adapted it does not take place in Denmark.

Yea they changed things but that’s what Disney does.

Indeed. And that’s what they’re doing now. Bring it on, I say!

 

[mickEblu]

The bolded I agree with. But you must have impossibly high standards if you don’t consider her and Halle attractive enough for their respective roles.

I don’t think my standards are that high. The fact is they can find actresses for these roles that have the looks and the chops but since they re only willing to sift through the same few known people they don’t find them

 

[GingerGirl3]

This is the photo I keep seeing online. Not sure if it was changed at all, like if they altered her hair to make it red, but she’s obviously beautiful. She is also young so it’s the right age for a Disney Princess with that youthful innocence.

 

[GingerGirl3]

But this photo just looks so perfect for Tiana. If they were too lazy to write a story for her than they should have moved up production on The Princess and the Frog if it’s in the works or decided to do it.

 

[LittleBuford]

I don’t think my standards are that high. The fact is they can find actresses for these roles that have the looks and the chops but since they re only willing to sift through the same few known people they don’t find them

But Halle isn’t all that well known. And suitability for a role depends on much more than looks. In this case, a superb singing voice is key, and she certainly has that.

 

[mickEblu]

This is the photo I keep seeing online. Not sure if it was changed at all, like if they altered her hair to make it red, but she’s obviously beautiful. She is also young so it’s the right age for a Disney Princess with that youthful innocence.

She cute. I never said she was ugly. The pictures you posted are also more flattering than the lone picture I’ve seen of her.

 

[mickEblu]

But Halle isn’t all that well known. And suitability for a role depends on much more than looks. In this case, a superb singing voice is key, and she certainly has that.

Isn’t she a Disney channel star or something?

 

[LittleBuford]

Isn’t she a Disney channel star or something?

I’d never heard of her, and the fact that many people initially thought Disney’s announcement pertained to Halle Berry shows that she was hardly a household name.

 

[GingerGirl3]

Isn’t she a Disney channel star or something?

I’d never heard of her until she was cast but she’s on Grownish which is on a Disney owned channel. She’s also on Beyonce’s label which is probably why she was casted.

 

[TROR]

 

[LittleBuford]

With one exception, the depicted changes would have drastic narrative consequences. That exception, of course, is The Little Mermaid, because Ariel’s race is absolutely immaterial to the story.

 

[Californian Elitist]

With one exception, the depicted changes would have drastic narrative consequences. That exception, of course, is The Little Mermaid, because Ariel’s race is absolutely immaterial to the story.

*ding* *ding* *ding*

 

[SuddenStorm]

But Halle isn’t all that well known. And suitability for a role depends on much more than looks. In this case, a superb singing voice is key, and she certainly has that.

In this case, there's far more than singing that will be required to pull off the role. I'd almost say there's three main parts: Her ability to act, her ability to sing, and her ability to conduct herself in public.

The first half of the film will likely be shot with green screen and motion capture to create the underwater elements of the film- and successfully acting in a green box wearing a bunch of sensors is quite different than acting in a TV show.

Then, she also has to successfully be able to act without the assistance of her voice- utilizing body language to successfully tell a story for the second half of the movie. This is also incredibly difficult since any bit of help your acting gets from your ability to speak well is lost.

And this ignores the difficulty of filming a high budget film for Disney- the many sessions in the recording studio and the long and tedious shooting schedule. The tons and tons of publicity appearances she'll have to make over the next few years that will require her to represent one of Disney's most iconic characters to the world. Every aspect of this girls life will be scrutinized by the media and the internet for the next few years.

Her biggest acting credit- Grownish, is a sitcom. It's a comedy. And I believe she's only a supporting character. It's a completely different type of role than portraying a Disney Princess.

She's 1 for 3. She can sing incredibly well- but she's never had the amount of people paying attention to her as she will over the next few years, and none of her acting credits demonstrate the kind of experience the role will entail. She's got a lot of work ahead of her.

 

[TROR]

With one exception, the depicted changes would have drastic narrative consequences. That exception, of course, is The Little Mermaid, because Ariel’s race is absolutely immaterial to the story.

Hypothetically, if Mulan had been casted as a white woman, the story is no more changed than with the casting they picked. You can have a white family living in China. China actually isn't even that important to Mulan's story. It could be a European country being invaded by an outside threat. The only key ingredient is that it's a woman posing as a man to protect her father from war.

 

[SuddenStorm]

With one exception, the depicted changes would have drastic narrative consequences. That exception, of course, is The Little Mermaid, because Ariel’s race is absolutely immaterial to the story.

That said- I would love to see that take on Mulan

 

[Travel Junkie]

Not sure where you’re going with this? Because they used this architecture should they have casted a different actress to set it in the Mediterranean?

It still does not change anything about what I was trying to say. The fact is that Ariel is a very established character. Companies that have established IPs protect them because they resonate with the public. That connection is worth $$$. Disney has made a fool of themselves with how they are going about this. On their Freeform platform they are calling anyone who disagrees with this casting racists. On their ShopDisney they are hawking pricy Redhaired Ariel dolls and other merchandise to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the animated movie. You know the movie with the character the public loves and has bought merchandise from...but now is racist to want to look the way she was created. They could have avoided this by making a new character and story if they wanted her to be a mermaid. I’d be annoyed I wasn’t getting my redhaired pale Ariel movie but I’d be happy that they were making a new mermaid story. I’m tired of this being made into something it’s not. People love iconic characters. Period. Halle is gorgeous and has a great voice but I still think they should have done something else. Make her Tiana or even better build a new princess around her and she can be the Jodi Benson of that story.

Right, established IP characters never change.

In reality they change constantly, especially in the areas of animation and/or comics. Fictional characters are re-imagined, altered, evolved both in physical appearance and in storylines. Heck even real people are (i.e. Hamilton.) As a creative medium, it is extremely common and necessary to reboot or re-imagine stories with aspects that differentiate them from what came before it.

I am quite frankly shocked and saddened by the backlash. You say you are tired of it being made into something it's not? The point is it should be nothing. An absolute non story.

 

[LittleBuford]

In this case, there's far more than singing that will be required to pull off the role. I'd almost say there's three main parts: Her ability to act, her ability to sing, and her ability to conduct herself in public.

The first half of the film will likely be shot with green screen and motion capture to create the underwater elements of the film- and successfully acting in a green box wearing a bunch of sensors is quite different than acting in a TV show.

Then, she also has to successfully be able to act without the assistance of her voice- utilizing body language to successfully tell a story for the second half of the movie. This is also incredibly difficult since any bit of help your acting gets from your ability to speak well is lost.

And this ignores the difficulty of filming a high budget film for Disney- the many sessions in the recording studio and the long and tedious shooting schedule. The tons and tons of publicity appearances she'll have to make over the next few years that will require her to represent one of Disney's most iconic characters to the world. Every aspect of this girls life will be scrutinized by the media and the internet for the next few years.

Her biggest acting credit- Grownish, is a sitcom. It's a comedy. And I believe she's only a supporting character. It's a completely different type of role than portraying a Disney Princess.

She's 1 for 3. She can sing incredibly well- but she's never had the amount of people paying attention to her as she will over the next few years, and none of her acting credits demonstrate the kind of experience the role will entail. She's got a lot of work ahead of her.

Fair enough, but my point was simply that looks aren’t the main requirement for the role.

 

[LittleBuford]

Hypothetically, if Mulan had been casted as a white woman, the story is no more changed than with the casting they picked. You can have a white family living in China. China actually isn't even that important to Mulan's story. It could be a European country being invaded by an outside threat. The only key ingredient is that it's a woman posing as a man to protect her father from war.

But your meme didn’t show her as a woman at all. And if the story were relocated to Europe, it would no longer be called Mulan, which is a Chinese name.

 

[GingerGirl3]

Right, established IP characters never change.

View attachment 388110

In reality they change constantly, especially in the areas of animation and/or comics. Fictional characters are re-imagined, altered, evolved both in physical appearance and in storylines. Heck even real people are (i.e. Hamilton.) As a creative medium, it is extremely common and necessary to reboot or re-imagine stories with aspects that differentiate them from what came before it.

I am quite frankly shocked and saddened by the backlash. You say you are tired of it being made into something it's not? The point is it should be nothing. An absolute non story.

How do you not see what I’m saying in your picture? Mickey has evolved like other characters in a more modern way but he hasn’t fundamentally changed. Aside from going from a black and white cartoon to color they did not fundamentally change his looks. Pretty much a change to the eyes and then colorized. This casting is changing the fundamental look of the character. Few characters are as established as Disney characters. People are allowed to care about a change to the character of Ariel as created. It would have been avoided with a new character. It’s wrong to call it bigotry if people don’t want a fundamental change to an iconic character.

People complain all the time about casting. Like Scarlett Johansson as an Asian character. Heck people now say that gay characters cannot even be played by straight actors. It’s an opinion not racism.

As the smallest minority class I object. #justiceforgingers