![]() The negative attention on The Little Mermaid and The Lord of the Rings has fueled a groundswell of support from other fans who view such anger as founded in racism. These fans now face repeated battles as they watch one franchise after another fall into the clutches of progressive directors and writers who insist on - gasp - casting women in the lead roles, or - gasp - casting actors of color in roles long reserved for white people. Taking the detractors at face value, however, you have a pantheon of geeks who just want to see their beloved tales left alone. Let’s face it: Most of the stories that have been passed down to us throughout the centuries have been created for us by white men.įrom a progressive standpoint, stories all could use a good shake-up by varying their points of view through casting, and pop culture is full of narratives ripe for retelling. The anger intensifies to a new level when they’re big changes that shake the foundations of a story that was originally framed within a white, male worldview. After all, this is the same cycle of backlash that plays out when any beloved story gets rebooted (or, in the case of Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, adapted to film for the first time) and makes any changes, big or small. To anyone who’s paid any attention to geek culture over the past decade or so, these arguments probably feel endless and exhausting. ![]() The exhausting and extremely predictable racist backlash.Where have all the Disney villains gone?.The live action remake of the Little Mermaid, explained Then last week, Disney released the first trailer for The Little Mermaid, featuring Bailey singing “Part of Your World.” Thousands of YouTube users brigaded, leaving more than 2 million dislikes and countless derogatory comments on the trailer, and creating memes ridiculing the film for casting Bailey and mocking all of its supporters. Fans’ chief complaint was that the decision to include nonwhite characters had ruined the authenticity of Tolkien’s world, because he had never described his elves, hobbits, men, and dwarves as anything other than white. The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power first drew widespread anger from fans because it casts Black and Asian actors as characters across the spectrum of fictional Middle Earth races. Meanwhile, some ostensible fans of Disney’s animated Little Mermaid are rejecting the new live-action version for swapping out the titular mermaid’s famous blue eyes and red hair for the features of Black actress Halle Bailey. Two new adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Little Mermaid are prompting deep outrage and indignation among fans who are arguing that the projects’ increased diversity has weakened their faithfulness to the original story.ĭetractors of Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series, which debuted this month, claim that casting Black and Asian actors undermines the show’s faithfulness to Tolkien’s world.
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