This editor hasn’t seen the live-action “The Little Mermaid,” but the animated version was the first movie he took his daughter to see in a theater. As you know, Ariel has been racially swapped with a black actress. If that was supposed to cause controversy, it failed. However, one British activist is slamming the movie for glossing over slavery — how could they not address slavery in the movie?
Comic Book Resources reports:
According to Deadline, Marcus Ryder, former chair of the Royal Television Society Diversity Committee charity, has called out the new movie for glossing over slavery. The story seemingly takes place in the Caribbean during the 18th century, when chattel slavery was a common practice, but The Little Mermaid only presents racial harmony. “Setting the fantastical story in this time and place is literally the equivalent of setting a love story between Jew and Gentile in 1940 Germany and ignoring the Jewish holocaust,” Marcus argued in a blog post.
“We owe it to our children to give them the most amazing fantastical stories possible to help their imaginations grow,” he continued. “We do not do this by ‘whitewashing’ out the difficult parts of our history. We do it by embracing our rich history and empowering them with the truth.”
It’s “literally the equivalent” of ignoring the Holocaust.
Was… was he dropped on his head as a child?
— Kieran Eleison (@KieranEleison) June 2, 2023
Well, I slam former chair of the RTS Diversity Committee Marcus Ryder for ignoring the fact that The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale.
— Don Wolt (@tlowdon) June 3, 2023
Oh. Mermaids were slaves. Got it.
— JayJay McMaster, CD (@tantrumblue1) June 3, 2023
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The presence of merpeople, magic wielding octopus women, and talking animals should have been a clue that this isn't the same universe as most of us live in.
— Claude Rains, Zombie (@CRainsZombie) June 2, 2023
Fine, I think it'd be weird to have Eric buy Ariel at a slaver's market, but if that's what yall want I guess we can try it
— As an AI Large Language Model, (@Corvaiex) June 2, 2023
Remember, no matter how much you try to appease the grievance mongers, they will ALWAYS find something more to be aggrieved about.
— Can of Spam (@iDoLikeSpam) June 2, 2023
Always. Disney is just not woke enough.
Right! What was Hans Christian Anderson thinking?
— Dr Ellery Samwise (@EllerySamwise) June 2, 2023
Isn’t it a fantasy? Would this be like complaining that Lord of the rings, which has a medieval period setting ignores feudalism and the land owning class system
— Scott ‘Blaze’ Weatherly (@Scottweatherly) June 2, 2023
On behalf of the Jews…we recognize that this is a childrens movie and so not care.
— .:Glÿph:. 🕯 (@feralfatalex) June 1, 2023
I hope he will be OK. Think about the pyschic trauma he is going to go through when he finds out mermaids aren't real and crabs don't talk.
— Texas Paladin (@RC_UTSA) June 2, 2023
I’m not up on my American/Afro-American/Caribbean history but curious @marcusryder were there a lot of mermaids taken as slaves to Caribbean islands?
— Scottie (@BuffaloBlueBear) June 3, 2023
How could Disney just overlook the Caribbean slave trade in a children’s movie about a mermaid?
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Related:
New York Times critic says ‘The Little Mermaid’ is missing joy, fun, and … kink https://t.co/Mqj6iWd2oJ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 27, 2023
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