The Little Mermaid | Disney | May 26, 2023 | Queen Halle will rule the summer!

[TMP]

 

[Eric S'ennui]

I mean I guess, but...Idris woulda been perfect

[CoolioD1]

salazar's back for more revenge?!?!

[OncomingStorm93]

EXCLUSIVE First Look at Javier Bardem as King Triton (with the Trident)!

 

[Ororo Munroe]

2 hours ago, Morieris said:

Dang, I didn't think that one would actually pan out.

 

Are they ever going to cast more black people? Probably Sebastian, right, but I think most of the main human(oid) characters are done with.

Since the article says Ariel's mom will be in this movie, I think they will cast a black actress. I would hope so. 

 

Javier is good casting. I can see him as Triton. 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Ororo Munroe

[jedijake]

Javier as Triton....that would be interesting.

 

But then again "in talks" means just that. There are others who are inevitably also "in talks" that aren't being/haven't been mentioned yet.

[ban1o]

4 hours ago, Morieris said:

Dang, I didn't think that one would actually pan out.

 

Are they ever going to cast more black people? Probably Sebastian, right, but I think most of the main human(oid) characters are done with.

hopefully the sisters and mom. Halle is not mixed in real life but I guess they were really considering Zendaya that whole time because this casting  is lmao 

[filmlover]

Javier Bardem is an inspired choice for Triton. I'm liking the decision of a diverse cast for this.

[ban1o]

 Honestly I'm wary about this movie now. I thought they were going to cast a black actor as King Triton. The black community isn't going to show up and support this in large numbers if Halle is the only black character. We'll see with the sisters.... 

[filmlover]

6 minutes ago, ban1o said:

 Honestly I'm wary about this movie now. I thought they were going to cast a black actor as King Triton. The black community isn't going to show up and support this in large numbers if Halle is the only black character. We'll see with the sisters.... 

Seems like the choice to go with a color blind cast is an intentional one. FWIW Rob Marshall started off as a theatre director before turning to movies and color blind casting has always been a thing on the stage so it's not that big of a surprise that that would be applied to movies. Seems to be a common theme for stage directors who turned to movies because the lady who directed Mary, Queen of Scots last year also said in an interview it was her own choice to diversify the cast, historical accuracy be damned. 

[ban1o]

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

Seems like the choice to go with a color blind cast is an intentional one. FWIW Rob Marshall started off as a theatre director before turning to movies and color blind casting has always been a thing on the stage so it's not that big of a surprise that that would be applied to movies. Seems to be a common theme for stage directors who turned to movies because the lady who directed Mary, Queen of Scots last year also said in an interview it was her own choice to diversify the cast, historical accuracy be damned. 

I love Javier Bardem but if Halle is the only black actor it will add to the suggestions it was just stunt or PC casting. And I'm a huge chloexhalle fan. 

 

I'm a big theatre fan and I'm fine with color blind casting in general on stage (aside from when race is relevant to character) I can admit it usually doesn't work as well in film. I watched Brandy's Cinderella a lot as a kid and although I was fine with that it was a tv movie targeted at kids made in the 90s I don't think a big theatrical release will work as well. We'll just wait and see though  

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by ban1o

[Ororo Munroe]

Well I figured from the start that the cast would look more like Brandy's Cinderella movie than another Black Panther. And I'm ok with it, especially since there is the danger of pushing a problematic narrative in which Ariel is seen as wanting to "escape" her black family for a life with a white prince. 

 

I also think Disney is just trying to cover all their bases. They want to spice up their live-action remakes, capitalize on the popularity of diverse casting while not excluding one of their main demos (white women - hence, the desire to cast someone like Harry Styles). 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Ororo Munroe

[Julian1410]

Most excited for mccarthy of all the other castings. Just cause if she wants to she can really do extraordinary things

[Poseidon]

I seriously hate the idea to cast a black actress as Ariel.

 

Not because i'm racist, no. It's more of the opposite. 

What is the message here? The message is, that she and her skin colour are degraded to be a gimmick. As so often in life, even in our oh so progressive society, a black person only gets what's left over by white people. A role of a red haired white princess , generously handed to a black actress...by white people. 

 

Hollywood, wake up. get behind your desks and write original movies and roles and then cast people of all skin colours naturally and because of their talent. Make those roles theirs from the beginning. The past has happend, we can't make up for it being all white. But we can create a future, where colour doesn't matter anymore.

 

What we don't need ist more black actors playing more black roles (Don't get me wrong, there is still more room for movies race plays an important role. But those movies at least got considered to be made more often recently already )  What we need is stories where those Katniss Everdeens, those Owen Gradys just happen to be black. There is no reason why they couldn't be. When somebody aks, why they are black, the answer should be: Why not? There's no answer to that. 

[jedijake]

12 hours ago, Poseidon said:

I seriously hate the idea to cast a black actress as Ariel.

 

Not because i'm racist, no. It's more of the opposite. 

What is the message here? The message is, that she and her skin colour are degraded to be a gimmick. As so often in life, even in our oh so progressive society, a black person only gets what's left over by white people. A role of a red haired white princess , generously handed to a black actress...by white people. 

 

 

I tend to agree with that. I have no problem with Hallie as Ariel and have seen some GREAT work up art for what she should/could look like and it's amazing. But I too feel like it could send the wrong message to those celebrating it. With all the white casting rumors out there, why aren't there other POC in the film? Why no Hispanics/Latin American cast members? Why no other African American actors? I realize they probably don't want to alter the entire film, but there could be/should be those who were ecstatic over the casting that end up being rather insulted and offended to realize it MAY have been all for PR. Ariel in every other source will still be the 1989 Ariel (parks, rides, shows, meet and greets, parades, etc.). There are those who are happy that they are finally getting "their" princess (other than Tiana I guess) but are they? Is it all a smoke screen? If all other Ariels don't change, then what does this ACTUALLY do for any progressive movement that may have been seen in this?

 

It's essentially casting a POC as a white character rather than actually creating a POC character. I find that to be actually insulting and more of a hand-me-down due to the laziness of not creating a whole new story with whole new characters and cultures.

[filmlover]

6 minutes ago, jedijake said:

I tend to agree with that. I have no problem with Hallie as Ariel and have seen some GREAT work up art for what she should/could look like and it's amazing. But I too feel like it could send the wrong message to those celebrating it. With all the white casting rumors out there, why aren't there other POC in the film? Why no Hispanics/Latin American cast members? Why no other African American actors? I realize they probably don't want to alter the entire film, but there could be/should be those who were ecstatic over the casting that end up being rather insulted and offended to realize it MAY have been all for PR. Ariel in every other source will still be the 1989 Ariel (parks, rides, shows, meet and greets, parades, etc.). There are those who are happy that they are finally getting "their" princess (other than Tiana I guess) but are they? Is it all a smoke screen? If all other Ariels don't change, then what does this ACTUALLY do for any progressive movement that may have been seen in this?

 

It's essentially casting a POC as a white character rather than actually creating a POC character. I find that to be actually insulting and more of a hand-me-down due to the laziness of not creating a whole new story with whole new characters and cultures.

Looking at the cast for this so far (gender-swapped Scuttle, Bardem as Triton), they clearly are going the diverse casting route. It's a fairy tale, not a historical drama, so it's pretty much a non-issue.

[Ororo Munroe]

1 hour ago, jedijake said:

It's essentially casting a POC as a white character rather than actually creating a POC character. I find that to be actually insulting and more of a hand-me-down due to the laziness of not creating a whole new story with whole new characters and cultures.

As a black woman, I can tell you I don't find it insulting and really, I wish people would stop pushing this argument because it doesn't hold up. It's past time for all of us to realize that most of these characters are only white in the first place because of the time in which they were created and there is no valid reason why they can't be any other race. I'd say not wanting to see them as anything but white is actually what is short-sighted and lazy. Certainly, racebending is no more lazy than a straight-forward adaptation and if you're ok with other changes to the story (which happens with almost every adaptation) then I'm not sure why race should be a sticking point. 

 

Of course creating new stories and characters is a great idea but it should not be viewed as a substitution or better solution to race or gender bending. As long as these (predominantly white) adaptations remain popular, the latter will always be a great way to add diversity. 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Ororo Munroe

[Valonqar]

People should stop obsessing with messaging. seriously, not everything is a freakin political message. Right now, I see 2 fractions:

 

Black Ariel, what is the message?

 

Black Ariel gives up her voice for the white Prince, what is the message?

 

Both sides are reeling for different reasons. if you want a real problem than look no further from Disney sanitizing the original story to begin with. The whole point of TLM was that she made a mistake (by trying to be who she isn't) that she couldn't retract but redeemed herself by making the right decision which is owning up to her mistake. becoming a human was a mistake but saving her ass by killing the prince and his true love would be worse. However, Disney removed tragedy and made the whole thing la la la music la la la happy ending la la la. Whether Ariel is black or white doesn't really matter when her stupidity is rewarded by the end of the movie cause of course Eric falls in love with her for who she is and not her voice or some believe-in-yourself shit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ororo Munroe]

1 hour ago, Valonqar said:

People should stop obsessing with messaging. seriously, not everything is a freakin political message. Right now, I see 2 fractions:

 

Black Ariel, what is the message?

 

Black Ariel gives up her voice for the white Prince, what is the message?

 

Both sides are reeling for different reasons. if you want a real problem than look no further from Disney sanitizing the original story to begin with. The whole point of TLM was that she made a mistake (by trying to be who she isn't) that she couldn't retract but redeemed herself by making the right decision which is owning up to her mistake. becoming a human was a mistake but saving her ass by killing the prince and his true love would be worse. However, Disney removed tragedy and made the whole thing la la la music la la la happy ending la la la. Whether Ariel is black or white doesn't really matter when her stupidity is rewarded by the end of the movie cause of course Eric falls in love with her for who she is and not her voice or some believe-in-yourself shit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol. Thank you for setting us all straight on what the real problem is. 🙄

 

Seriously, Ariel's problem is not stupidity but naivete...she is only 16, after all. There is an argument to be made as to whether her happy ending should have involved changing who she is. But she had a fascination with the surface before Eric came along and ultimately, the message is that she should be free to explore and be whatever/whoever she wants to be. 

Edited July 19, 2019 by Ororo Munroe

[jedijake]

See this is the type of thing that I worry about the most from the casting. 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cats-trailer-controversey-francesca-hayward-111333065.html

 

She's playing a CAT. 

Edited July 19, 2019 by jedijake