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I read an article last week where a DEI expert was angry about the new release of The Little Mermaid because it wasn't nearly racist enough; that 18th-century C

I read an article last week where a DEI expert was angry about the new release of The Little Mermaid because it wasn't nearly racist enough; that 18th-century Caribbean people were friends and kind to each other no matter what their race or sex; it was unconscionable that history should be rewritten to leave out the allegedly horrible experiences being had by BIPOC in that place and time.

pessimizer 3y ago
That's a symptom of trying to rewrite white stories and stick black people into them. It's the same process as trying to rewrite male stories with female protagonists. It's the creation of fictional pasts. If all we see is fictional pasts where black people are just white people with tans, and women are just pretty men, what are black people and women complaining about? They should have just tried harder.
- slg 3y ago
  And the reason we get these stories in this way is not because of anything related to wokeism, progressivism, DEI, or whatever buzzword you wanted use. It is because of risk averse capitalists. Disney knows a Black Little Mermaid is a safer investment than an original story with a Black protagonist so that is the version we get.
  - themaninthedark 3y ago
    That is rather racist isn't it?(Not your comment but the attitude held by the corporation)
    - slg 3y ago
      No, it is cynical, ignorant, and lazy, but I don't think it qualifies as racist. I would compare it to those people who like to claim they "don't see race". It isn't actually racist because it isn't discriminatory or putting one race above another. It is just ignoring something that often can't be ignored.
- watwut 3y ago
  The original story was a fiction too and creates fictional past too. That exact same story with only males in it ... was a fiction. Those males never existed and never did any of those things. Variant of the same fictional story with a woman or a black person is ... exactly as fictional as original. The real world back then contained both men and women. None of them done the mythical things stories are about. Modern reimagining of The Three Musketeers make Musketeers sound more honorable and noble then actual text. Some comedies make them sound incapable, clumsy and funny. Dumas politics was not pro-ancient regime and he actually makes it clear. Making that into super honorable flawless dudes is as much "changing past fiction" as if you slapped gender or race or made them eskimos. But somehow that is fine. > If all we see is fictional pasts where black people are just white people with tans, and women are just pretty men, what are black people and women complaining about? In general, they complain about how they are or were treated back in real world. They also complain about being depicted in fiction as dumb simpletons without agency and then people on discussion forums claiming that those dumb simpletons depictions somehow constitute historical reality.
watwut 3y ago
The Little Mermaid is not a history and does not contain historical lessons.

pessimizer 3y ago

That's a symptom of trying to rewrite white stories and stick black people into them. It's the same process as trying to rewrite male stories with female protagonists. It's the creation of fictional pasts. If all we see is fictional pasts where black people are just white people with tans, and women are just pretty men, what are black people and women complaining about? They should have just tried harder.

slg 3y ago
And the reason we get these stories in this way is not because of anything related to wokeism, progressivism, DEI, or whatever buzzword you wanted use. It is because of risk averse capitalists. Disney knows a Black Little Mermaid is a safer investment than an original story with a Black protagonist so that is the version we get.
- themaninthedark 3y ago
  That is rather racist isn't it?(Not your comment but the attitude held by the corporation)
  - slg 3y ago
    No, it is cynical, ignorant, and lazy, but I don't think it qualifies as racist. I would compare it to those people who like to claim they "don't see race". It isn't actually racist because it isn't discriminatory or putting one race above another. It is just ignoring something that often can't be ignored.
watwut 3y ago
The original story was a fiction too and creates fictional past too. That exact same story with only males in it ... was a fiction. Those males never existed and never did any of those things. Variant of the same fictional story with a woman or a black person is ... exactly as fictional as original. The real world back then contained both men and women. None of them done the mythical things stories are about. Modern reimagining of The Three Musketeers make Musketeers sound more honorable and noble then actual text. Some comedies make them sound incapable, clumsy and funny. Dumas politics was not pro-ancient regime and he actually makes it clear. Making that into super honorable flawless dudes is as much "changing past fiction" as if you slapped gender or race or made them eskimos. But somehow that is fine. > If all we see is fictional pasts where black people are just white people with tans, and women are just pretty men, what are black people and women complaining about? In general, they complain about how they are or were treated back in real world. They also complain about being depicted in fiction as dumb simpletons without agency and then people on discussion forums claiming that those dumb simpletons depictions somehow constitute historical reality.

watwut 3y ago

The Little Mermaid is not a history and does not contain historical lessons.