Racist Disney fans mocked for claiming 'science proves mermaids can't be black'

[SMOGZINN]

He's a comedic actor, not a comedian. Watch him and Kevin Hart on the graham norton show (a british chat show) - Kevin Hart, who I don't particularly like, was ribbing/improving and cracking up the place because he has the improv and stage training while smith tried very hard but it was obvious he needs a script. He's a funny comedic actor, but the genie role (at least as created by Williams) needed that go with the flow energy of someone with more comedic skills

I'll agree with that. It just sounded like you were trying to say that Will Smith was best used as a dramatic actor.

It is also worth remembering that Robin Williams was a comedic genius we won't soon replace. Maybe because anyone else that could survive the amount of drugs he took went into music.

 

[Meghan54]

I'm looking forward to the live action remake of Pixar's "Cars" with casting choices done with the same principles as this movie. Maybe it will star a Pontiac Aztek.

OK....call me dense, but when someone goes out of their way to mention a Pontiac Aztek and then immediately thereafter post a pic of a car, one would think it'd be of an example of the aforementioned Aztek instead of the 1990's vintage Volvo used instead.

 

[ch33zw1z]

OK....call me dense, but when someone goes out of their way to mention a Pontiac Aztek and then immediately thereafter post a pic of a car, one would think it'd be of an example of the aforementioned Aztek instead of the 1990's vintage Volvo used instead.

Poor Glenn, so angry about this he doesn't even realize his analogy doesn't work. Lightning was originally based on the Corvette, but the final design was "generic". Live action would just be a black version of lightning (maybe a modified Corvette), and Glenn would melt again. In his analogy, he's actually saying a black mermaid will be like a 2nd class mermaid, whether that's intentional or not, well....

 

[Greenman]

Would a black mermaid have a different name than a white one? Something to designate the difference?
I still hold that they're all Irish, so they should be called barmaids, but I'm willing to entertain new ideas.

 

[feralkid]

Dismissed their lunacy while acknowledging there is still a legitimate discussion on the topic, and a fair amount of hypocrisy, because our society is incapable of having an intelligent conversation involving racists.

Fixed that for you...poor little snowflake.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Fixed that for you...poor little snowflake.

Thank you for proving my point

 

[darkswordsman17]

Wait, are we trying to say that the Fresh Prince is not a comedian? That MIB was a drama?
Will Smith has done well in a few dramatic rolls, but they are the exception not the rule.

Just for the record I have not seen the 'live action' just about anything because I think the entire concept of making live action versions of cartoons is stupid. Hollywood, and the entire world, should have learned that lesson with with Popeye in 1980. It had Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall and was still terrible.

I don't agree. I think its possible to make live action versions of cartoons (especially when that stuff is based on fairy tales and other stuff that has been depicted in stage and film). Popeye was terrible because Popeye isn't very good to begin with and they went too literal (giant oversized forearms) with the design and were limited in how that could really translate (and I don't think Robin Williams was a good fit for the character and casting Shelley Duvall in a cartoon comedy not long after Kubrick tortured her into mental health issues was another bad decision). These newer ones are more realistic and CGI lets them do things that wouldn't have been possible before.

Plus Ninja Turtles worked out ok live action. Sure they watered it down for kids (but they did that for the cartoon already) and then it got Michael Bay'ed. And they've translated comics to movies with reasonably decent results (sure some terrible ones, but multiple good ones). I don't think there's any issue inherent to translating one to the other, its more in how its done. But that's true of translating any and all things to movies.

He's a comedic actor, not a comedian. Watch him and Kevin Hart on the graham norton show (a british chat show) - Kevin Hart, who I don't particularly like, was ribbing/improving and cracking up the place because he has the improv and stage training while smith tried very hard but it was obvious he needs a script. He's a funny comedic actor, but the genie role (at least as created by Williams) needed that go with the flow energy of someone with more comedic skills

Eh, I think he's better than you give him credit for, or rather was at one point. I think a lot of the mannerisms that made his characters in much of the 90s movies was him, not unlike Robin Williams making roles his own (not saying its anywhere close to the same variety and breadth, but I feel like both had their kinda own way of imparting themselves into the characters that good comedians have).

But he'd have a script. Disney isn't going to do anything that isn't scripted and ok'ed by probably multiple levels before it gets released these days. I don't know, but I'd guess (or maybe hope) they probably went a bit different direction with the live action CGI one as well (honestly, they should've gotten Baz Luhrmman instead of Guy Ritchie!). I think they could make him work, but then I think it'd be silly to try and mimic Robin's genie by pretty much anyone anyway, so it'd be a bit silly to even try. Based on how little Disney promoted it, I have to imagine it must not be a very good movie, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did and it didn't work well.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out Smith was a fallback option from someone who turned it down or had other reasons that Disney removed them (some reason I think Aziz Ansari might have been considered until the sexual misconduct allegation - I'm basing that on nothing just weird feeling that he might have been a consideration although maybe he would've been some other character - Iago maybe?). Or maybe he was their first choice and they had tailored things to try and fit him (like they did with Robin Williams on the original - they went for broke and wrote the genie for him, and he I believe initially said no, but then they threw together a quick animation of some of his stand-up and it won him over).

 

[darkswordsman17]

Thank you for proving my point

No, you proved the point that you're incapable of having worthwhile discussion on this in the first place. Its funny that all of that worthwhile discussion has focused on how fucking stupid it is to be bitching about the skin color/race of a goddamned cartoon character based on mythological creatures, and how you dumb shits doing it are the ones that are struggling to talk about race without being fucking raging dumbfucks at every single step along the way.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Ding ding.

Reverse the roles and replace a black with an asian/white and there would be a complete 180 on the public reaction.

If you can't understand why there'd be a total opposite reaction then you're just fucking stupid. Because historically, white people have been doing that shit specifically to marginalize and belittle other ethnic groups, on top of the worse stuff they were doing as well (little stuff like, you know, literal genocide). Blackface and similar was overwhelmingly about them doing a role and mocking other races/cultures like assholes. That's why they're doing basically the total opposite, wherein they're not denigrating white people, but rather looking to give other ethnic groups (and women) representation.

And yet you fucking idiots rage about people saying concentration camps when you're literally fucking putting people in concentration camps, but yes its other people being so mean to you because they're not continuing to make everything white and male dominant. Most of the time they're not even insulting white or male, and yet you act like its the fucking Holocaust.

 

[glenn1]

No, you proved the point that you're incapable of having worthwhile discussion on this in the first place. Its funny that all of that worthwhile discussion has focused on how fucking stupid it is to be bitching about the skin color/race of a goddamned cartoon character based on mythological creatures, and how you dumb shits doing it are the ones that are struggling to talk about race without being fucking raging dumbfucks at every single step along the way.

This isn’t the first time when folks have pointed out dubious casting decisions. For example, casting Johnny Depp as Tonto in the recent remake of the Lone Ranger got the same level of questioning as this story. Or Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi in the remake of ghost in the shell. Like with a black Ariel, no one raised that much fuss but it was pointed out there was no real need to make an American Indian character a white actor or an Asian character a white actor.

 

[Starbuck1975]

No, you proved the point that you're incapable of having worthwhile discussion on this in the first place. Its funny that all of that worthwhile discussion has focused on how fucking stupid it is to be bitching about the skin color/race of a goddamned cartoon character based on mythological creatures, and how you dumb shits doing it are the ones that are struggling to talk about race without being fucking raging dumbfucks at every single step along the way.

Thank you for further proving my point. Read post 43 and then come back and apologize for knee jerking.

 

[Jhhnn]

This isn’t the first time when folks have pointed out dubious casting decisions. For example, casting Johnny Depp as Tonto in the recent remake of the Lone Ranger got the same level of questioning as this story. Or Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi in the remake of ghost in the shell. Like with a black Ariel, no one raised that much fuss but it was pointed out there was no real need to make an American Indian character a white actor or an Asian character a white actor.

Meh. Hollywood has whitewashed ethnic characters since forever but modern audiences have begun to demand more realism. Quite how that applies to a cartoon fish character is something I really don't understand.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Meh. Hollywood has whitewashed ethnic characters since forever but modern audiences have begun to demand more realism. Quite how that applies to a cartoon fish character is something I really don't understand.

And Alex Raymons depicted Ming the Merciless as having stereotypical east Asian features. Max Von Sydow’s version of the character from the campy 80s movie is iconic, can the character still have a fu manchu mustache in the upcoming animated remake?

When Italian culture is a defining characteristic of movie character, it usually means he is a mobster.

Game of Thrones relied on ethnic tropes to differentiate the varied cultures of its fictional world. Targaryans as Aryan. Starks as Nordic. Dorne as Middle Eastern. The free cities as vaguely far eastern, right down to the carpets and bazaars.

 

[CZroe]

This isn’t the first time when folks have pointed out dubious casting decisions. For example, casting Johnny Depp as Tonto in the recent remake of the Lone Ranger got the same level of questioning as this story. Or Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi in the remake of ghost in the shell. Like with a black Ariel, no one raised that much fuss but it was pointed out there was no real need to make an American Indian character a white actor or an Asian character a white actor.

Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi only caused a stir because idiots thought her shell was supposed to be Japanese in the source material. It wasn’t. They even gave her blue eyes in the anime. The fictional scenario’s entire point was about blurring the lines of identity and self. It was always supposed to be a Japanese ghost in a western-looking Caucasian shell.

 

[zinfamous]

Dismissed their lunacy while acknowledging there is still a legitimate discussion on the topic, and a fair amount of hypocrisy, because our society is incapable of having an intelligent conversation involving race.

"two sides to every story" fallacy.

fairy tales and traditional, non-determinant stories have been co-opted by all cultures for millennia. Might as well toss out most everything that Shakespeare adapted, when he first wrote such plays. But you won't bitch about it, because it's now "proper western with proper people of western persuasion" in your brain. This discussion really never existed, but you demand that it does.

you are wrong.

 

[zinfamous]

Except that’s not what I said. Methinks you are easily triggered.

Oh you said it. You just don't fucking understand the words coming out of your mouth.

Pause and listen to yourself for once.

 

[zinfamous]

Ding ding.

Reverse the roles and replace a black with an asian/white and there would be a complete 180 on the public reaction.

It's like flies on shit. Morons just flock to logical fallacies with the same type of prediction that the Greeks discovered nearly 3000 years ago.

 

[zinfamous]

This isn’t the first time when folks have pointed out dubious casting decisions. For example, casting Johnny Depp as Tonto in the recent remake of the Lone Ranger got the same level of questioning as this story. Or Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi in the remake of ghost in the shell. Like with a black Ariel, no one raised that much fuss but it was pointed out there was no real need to make an American Indian character a white actor or an Asian character a white actor.

You're now trying to compare adapting stories into different cultures to casting one ehtnicity to represent another.

These are different issues. One might hope that you understand, but you won't.

--personally, I'm not particularly bothered by either (this shit about casting is always a money decision by, mostly, untalented assholes born into $$$ and given titles like "executive producer", with no other job but to sit on a couch and watch casting videos, overriding the decisions of the pros...but this is another topic, and again--it has nothing to do with the retarded conservatives butthurt about this historic non-issue mentioned in the news piece that is featured in this thread)

 

[Ichinisan]

This isn’t the first time when folks have pointed out dubious casting decisions. For example, casting ... Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi in the remake of ghost in the shell. Like with a black Ariel, no one raised that much fuss but it was pointed out there was no real need to make ... an Asian character a white actor.

People were really stupid about that one. If you watch the original "Ghost in the Shell," it's obvious that Major Kusanagi's "shell" (body) has a German ethnic appearance (basically, a white person). The casting was faithful to the earlier film (and manga?).

 

[Starbuck1975]

"two sides to every story" fallacy.

fairy tales and traditional, non-determinant stories have been co-opted by all cultures for millennia. Might as well toss out most everything that Shakespeare adapted, when he first wrote such plays. But you won't bitch about it, because it's now "proper western with proper people of western persuasion" in your brain. This discussion really never existed, but you demand that it does.

you are wrong.

I am demanding nothing. Stop being a drama queen, and take your own advice for a change.

 

[zinfamous]

I am demanding nothing. Stop being a drama queen, and take your own advice for a change.

Oh you are demanding, Starbucks. You are demanding very much. All these things.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Oh you are demanding, Starbucks. You are demanding very much. All these things.

I demand you stop acting like a triggered little drama queen. A discussion forum in which you are incapable of having one.

 

[mikeymikec]

The GitS 2017 angle: I looked up a few articles to find the director's perspective on Scarlett Johansson's casting and not once did they cite anything about the character / the origin of her prosthetic body etc that made her an appropriate choice. The responses were along the lines of "Scarlett is totally cyberpunk"... whatever that means. I'd be inclined to bet that the people behind the 2017 version barely read the screenplay for that movie let alone had any meaningful idea of the prior content that it was seemingly very loosely based on.

In the case of the 2017 movie, my concern wasn't who they cast (though 'western production, mostly western cast' didn't inspire me with confidence for a potential faithful addition to the franchise), the trailers just looked like utter bollocks: to me it seemed like her character had been completely re-written to be a self-destructive delicate little flower who questionably needs to be told the facts about her life and who she really is by a man. That didn't even vaguely fit with my impression of The Major, nor did that seem like an interesting new twist on her character.

 

[Ichinisan]

The GitS angle: I looked up a few articles to find the director's perspective on Scarlett Johansson's casting and not once did they cite anything about the character / the origin of her prosthetic body etc that made her an appropriate choice. The responses were along the lines of "Scarlett is totally cyberpunk"... whatever that means. I'd be inclined to bet that the people behind the 2017 version barely read the screenplay for that movie let alone had any idea of the prior content that it was seemingly very loosely based on.

Yes. I've read a lot of discussion about the criticism and that never comes up for some reason. It's clear to me that people are afraid to say that the Kusanagi character's physical appearance was never supposed to be Asian. I don't understand why.

Album with 3 images:

https://imgur.com/a/bxgYkwA

 

[CZroe]

Yes. I've read a lot of discussion about the criticism and that never comes up for some reason. It's clear to me that people are afraid to say that the Kusanagi character's physical appearance was never supposed to be Asian. I don't understand why.

Album with 3 images:

https://imgur.com/a/bxgYkwA

It’s because they embraced the controversy much like Ghostbusters 2016. It was free press.