Since no one here actually reads stuff I post, I have some things to get off my chest.
First: I’m a redhead. Ariel is one of my least favorite Disney characters. I’m happy that little girls of color have another strong female to look up to with the upcoming live-action movie.
But, I am not impressed with the casting choice.
Not because I’m white and it somehow invalidates my childhood. Let’s put it into perspective (I did this on Facebook and was accused of being racist or having blind spots in my thinking).
Imagine: You are a female child who is different from everyone else. You are vilified for that difference and treated poorly because of that difference. There are a few dolls available that look like you, and you own them. Whenever the mean kids come, you cuddle your look-a-like dolls to you and cry. Then, a movie comes out that depicts a female lead who looks like you and she’s everything you want to be. Sure, you don’t really identify with her, but she’s all the positive things you desire. The other kids fall in love with her and suddenly decide you look like her and act like her enough that they can’t tease you anymore. So they stop.
You develop a sense of empathy for others, understanding a small fraction of their struggles and you are overjoyed when other little girls who look like you get to have the same treatment.
Folks are back to vilifying you. You watch as your subset has iconic characters redone with a new subset. You, personally, have coping mechanisms to deal with The Haters. You no longer cry into your dolls. You speak up and speak out. But, you still wonder at the shift in representation... Does anyone else notice?
Now. Put all that into the package of being white. Suddenly, you’re a racist! How dare you say that people of your white subset need representation! You’re too old for that! Plus, you still have the original character!
So... here’s this: When is it okay to marginalize someone? Because my fear isn’t that little black girls now have a mermaid to look to. It’s that those little girls in 30 years will be using their technology to post statements expressing surprise and frustration at the commoditization of subsets and being told to “Simmer down; you’re being racist” or “You still have your version” or whatever. Â
Exploitation is not a step in the right direction.
If you want a “Step in the right direction,” how about writing a script for a myth from the Ashanti tribe of Africa? Why not create a story based in the voodoo culture of Haiti? There are so many stories begging to be told from cultures that are not white and do not include white mythologies. In 30 years, Disney may do a live action movie of Princess and the Frog and cast a Native American in the role of Tiana. The race isn’t integral to the story.
Speak of Native Americans, when can we see them portrayed in a positive light in media? Can we get Marvel to include American Avenger, American Eagle, Black Crow, Crusader-X, etc?
...and can we talk about the lack of positive Jewish representation in media? I mean, Fox had the perfect Jewish superhero in The Thing from Fantastic 4...and yet, BOTH TIMES, they cut that particularly integral part of the character from their scripts...and there was no outcry from anyone. When questioned, a Jewish friend of mine said, “It’s because we’re used to it.”
I don’t want anyone to be used to that. To not having representation; to having representation stripped away; to having negatively stereotyped representation.Â
I saw an ad for State Farm before a movie the other day. It’s socially acceptable racism, I think (here’s a link: https://youtu.be/XQjOQS-1V2g). Sure, it’s funny and memorable as State Farm commercials are. However, why is every single person Asian? Is it because they’re gamers? Because they’re anime fighters? Because they’re bad drivers? I don’t know. Take your pick of the stereotypes. I found it odd and surprising, but, hey! Representation, right!?!
Exploitation =\= representation.
Anyway. This has been my rant of the day now that I finally got back to Tumblr. It’s, like, the only place I can safely state things like this without people jumping down my throat to tell me I’m racist when... I’m not. I’m pointing out a societal problem that will continue to get worse because it’s “acceptable.”
...there was going to be a “Second...” to this post, but damned if I can remember what I wanted to talk about. Probably something witchy.
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