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People have pointed out examples of blackface in Hollywood and how we are given our just do as black culture to be represented in a typically white character role. But I don't really hear much people talking about Disney, a company that is worth hold on $196,000,000,000 with the capital B. They happen to be making this film The Little Mermaid. Do you think they are scared of this chatter? No
A couple of phrases that you mentioned stood out to me. One was the concern over the videos of the young girls identifying themselves in the upcoming Little Mermaid. And then the other was, what good did Black Panther do for Black culture? And I definitely can see the flaws and the problems in either of these things. But as with most things, I think there's a lot of nuance and complexity. And so I'm curious what you're thoughts are on the ideal ways for Black culture to flourish
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:51
So I think black culture has to be created from a black viewpoint that's not homogenized and meant to make everyone feel good, but it's more to be authentic and true. And there is a lot of that out there. But it always pales in comparison when Disney does something. When Disney does something, it's courageous, it's brave, but when moonlight comes out, it gets a mention or two as a critical darling and that's it. That's it
So there's a couple of things here that I want to unpack, and you know this, but I'm a big Disney person. My wife and I are both Disney people. Not the crazy Disney people, but we do love Disney when they're on our honeymoon. I totally acknowledge the evils that are associated with Disney. It's kind of hard not to, especially when you lay out the amount of money that they have. Nobody gets that amount of money by doing things the nice way
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:58
But at the time, it felt good. It was a virtue signaling triumph moment for black people. But sometimes you can be pawns in the game of Hollywood. So I hope the movie does well and it's actually a good movie and it's not just really bankable because of a race swap of the role, but, yeah, I guess we'll just figure it out
Thank you, Dewuan, for your thoughtful reply. It's frustrating that to try to deconstruct, to change things for the future is so much more complex than people often talk about or think about out in the way that, for instance, racism and capitalism are so tightly hand fisted together. And it's like you tug on one and it drags the other with it. You tug on the other and it drags the other with it. And I think only addressing all of it maybe is a way forward
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 1:25
But, you know, Christina, it's what starts the conversation. Disney needs to do these things. I know, as a dollar incentive. I have talked about that, and that's the subject of the post, but as well as a statement in cinema. And once they start, others will
J.L. Beasley
@Her_Sisu · 2:39
But you know who I'm talking to. But yeah, one of them baby girls. They definitely were onto something. Having someone who is relatively popular right now in a positive way to be a part of this movie in a major way, generating conversations and discussions about where are we with acceptance in America, diversity in America, race relations in America, so on and so forth. And smart move, but doing it around a fictional character
Hey, bro, I see you going in on this post, man. Yeah. Disney. I see they have set the standards for what is great and what is not great, especially for black starring characters. Black starring actors. This kind of brings me back to the Woman King film. Right. Viola Davis went to one of the studios that tried to get the movie made. And one of these film studios wanted a light skin starring actor. They didn't want a dark skin
I wonder if his character was because I think they had big name for his character. But if his character was, I guess you could say, somewhat diminished. I wonder if they kind of diminish his character because of China's response. China wasn't really too thrilled about the black actor. So I wonder if they kind of like, oh, man, I wonder if China has something to do because China, they got that power when it comes to cinema
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:39
They are the most stereotypical films where people of color, if they are in the film, they are a stereotypical version of themselves or even they have less screen time. Black Panther film that went gross to billion dollars, right? In China, they had to wear a cover. Black Panther didn't. Chablic Bozeman's face was not on the poster. They instead had a mask. Due to the fact that black films don't traffic well in China
Dewuan .
@FryedOreo · 4:32
So if it goes over well, that's great. But I do wonder at times it seems like Zendaya or somebody else is always kind of getting these leading roles and, yeah, it can be a bit problematic. But hopefully the diversity and inclusion because there's so many people that so many groups that want to be included in film as they should be for stories of diversity are meant to be told. And it's the most unique, authentic stories that are being told. Yeah
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