Ariel is black now so please stop being dusty about it
The internet has been disgusting this week. Not that it isn't usually disgusting but this week has been so gross that I couldn't even think to write about anime. I was too busy dragging white supremacists to hell on my burner twitter to even begin to write a follow-up about anime zaddies. Or anything else anime or manga related and it's all because of a damn mermaid. Now, for those of you blissfully unaware of the bullshit around you, I'll fill you in on what's going on. This past week, Halle Bailey of the singing duo Chloe and Halle, was officially named as the actress cast to play Ariel in Disney's live action remake of the The Little Mermaid, another movie in a long, seemingly unending wave of Disney lazily and shamelessly milking the teats of their old properties for loose change. Upon hearing the news, I'll admit I was very indifferent. A part of me really dislikes these movies and sees them as nothing more than shameless retcon cash-grabs and I had made a point not to really care about them or attempt to see them. Then the backlash started and now I am contractually obligated to see this movie in theaters twice if nothing else than to do my part in ensuring this movie is just as big of a hit as any of the other Disney cash-grabs.
The backlash against the casting of Halle has been both expected and brutal and has left me confused about how to feel. At the same time, the think-pieces I've read and the dog avi twitters I've dragged against my better judgment have not helped in clearing up some of that confusion. On one hand, I feel like kind of righteous, familiar anger that dominated my time at my PWI during the peak of the black lives matter movement. With every Ariel with cartoonish features on top of a watermelon meme or entire thread of non-black poc talking in spanish about how disgusted they were at a black Ariel, I became more irate. Then I would become annoyed that I was even bothered by these memes. As a black woman I have bought very deeply into the "rise above it" responses for abject racism and with that comes guilt about even being affected. Then once that nonsense feeling passed, I felt even more annoyed with myself for trying to silence my own feelings. SEE THE CONFUSION?! And on the other hand, I just felt sad. Sad because I truly understand the depths of this messaging for black girls. More and more of us are online younger and younger and I know for a fact that seeing non-black people of all ethnicities, genders, ages, and ideologies band together like the avengers to opine about how the "black-washing" and "forced diversity" of turning beautiful Ariel in a "ghetto princess with a black accent" , can't be good for any us. At this point it's starting to feel very personal for me, and I'm grown. I can only imagine how I would feel if I was 9 or 10 seeing this.
There's also the issue of the false equivalencies or, intellectually dishonest rage fuel, as it were. The "You wouldn't like it if princess Tiana was white" bullshit. Like yeah, no shit we wouldn't like it and I'm sure the family of the woman princess Tiana was loosely based on wouldn't like that shit either. Since she is based on a real person and not some dusty Danish folktale with no real person to base it off of. There are no mermaids you TWATS. There was also no reason in the story of Ariel to specify her race. No plot point that revolved around her being white so it doesn't matter if the actress is white or not. In contrast Tiana has to be black or else Disney can't justify her barely being in the mo- *coughs ironically* or else the idea of her fighting just to own a restaurant during segregation doesn't make sense. But honestly, let's talk about the fact that princess Tiana was only human for two blinks of her damn movie just to turn human again long enough to get married and then... never get any follow-up cartoons or shorts made about her. Now, does that sound like how Disney would treat a white princess?? No. It really doesn't. So why would you dusties even want that?? What are you really upset about other than seeing a princess darker than a ghost playing a beautiful mermaid?
The bottom-line is that I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted at how disgusted I am because I shouldn't be surprised but you guttersnipes have really outdone yourselves and I'm blown away at how ugly it's gotten in such a short time. Even the way the news media is trying to rationalize this as a "Discussion about race in America" is making me want to through rocks and then go into depth about how fundamentally hypocritical everything is but, as you can tell by this jumbled mess, I have neither the patience nor the time. I just need people to stop being dusty and I don't know how to say that in a more dignified or intellectual way. Just stop. This is nothing but terror for little black girls and because Disney knows how to look good, they would never even dream of changing the casting at this point. It's all pointless so give it up and go back to your regularly scheduled activity of smiling in our faces and pretending you don't hate our guts for breathing. At least so the kids won't see it anymore.
The backlash against the casting of Halle has been both expected and brutal and has left me confused about how to feel. At the same time, the think-pieces I've read and the dog avi twitters I've dragged against my better judgment have not helped in clearing up some of that confusion. On one hand, I feel like kind of righteous, familiar anger that dominated my time at my PWI during the peak of the black lives matter movement. With every Ariel with cartoonish features on top of a watermelon meme or entire thread of non-black poc talking in spanish about how disgusted they were at a black Ariel, I became more irate. Then I would become annoyed that I was even bothered by these memes. As a black woman I have bought very deeply into the "rise above it" responses for abject racism and with that comes guilt about even being affected. Then once that nonsense feeling passed, I felt even more annoyed with myself for trying to silence my own feelings. SEE THE CONFUSION?! And on the other hand, I just felt sad. Sad because I truly understand the depths of this messaging for black girls. More and more of us are online younger and younger and I know for a fact that seeing non-black people of all ethnicities, genders, ages, and ideologies band together like the avengers to opine about how the "black-washing" and "forced diversity" of turning beautiful Ariel in a "ghetto princess with a black accent" , can't be good for any us. At this point it's starting to feel very personal for me, and I'm grown. I can only imagine how I would feel if I was 9 or 10 seeing this.
There's also the issue of the false equivalencies or, intellectually dishonest rage fuel, as it were. The "You wouldn't like it if princess Tiana was white" bullshit. Like yeah, no shit we wouldn't like it and I'm sure the family of the woman princess Tiana was loosely based on wouldn't like that shit either. Since she is based on a real person and not some dusty Danish folktale with no real person to base it off of. There are no mermaids you TWATS. There was also no reason in the story of Ariel to specify her race. No plot point that revolved around her being white so it doesn't matter if the actress is white or not. In contrast Tiana has to be black or else Disney can't justify her barely being in the mo- *coughs ironically* or else the idea of her fighting just to own a restaurant during segregation doesn't make sense. But honestly, let's talk about the fact that princess Tiana was only human for two blinks of her damn movie just to turn human again long enough to get married and then... never get any follow-up cartoons or shorts made about her. Now, does that sound like how Disney would treat a white princess?? No. It really doesn't. So why would you dusties even want that?? What are you really upset about other than seeing a princess darker than a ghost playing a beautiful mermaid?
The bottom-line is that I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted at how disgusted I am because I shouldn't be surprised but you guttersnipes have really outdone yourselves and I'm blown away at how ugly it's gotten in such a short time. Even the way the news media is trying to rationalize this as a "Discussion about race in America" is making me want to through rocks and then go into depth about how fundamentally hypocritical everything is but, as you can tell by this jumbled mess, I have neither the patience nor the time. I just need people to stop being dusty and I don't know how to say that in a more dignified or intellectual way. Just stop. This is nothing but terror for little black girls and because Disney knows how to look good, they would never even dream of changing the casting at this point. It's all pointless so give it up and go back to your regularly scheduled activity of smiling in our faces and pretending you don't hate our guts for breathing. At least so the kids won't see it anymore.
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