Discrimination Within Our Industry

 

As you have probably seen this week, the new trailer for the latest Disney remake came out. The Little Mermaid trailer was released earlier this week and it has sparked many a debate... it gained over “1.5 million dislikes in 2 days” (Forbes.com) …. why? Because the actress cast to play Ariel is coloured… 

Their argument for so much hate towards the casting is that in the original ‘Animated movie’ she was white, and by changing her race changes the whole movie. Now, if her race or cultural background were important for the plot, I’m talking Mulan, Pocahontas etc, I would understand. But Ariel is a mythical creature. Her race or the colour of her skin bares no importance in the plot or any place of the storyline. I, for one, am delighted with the casting choice, some might say it’s more accurate. According to marine biologist and National Museum of Natural History curator Karen Osborn, as written in an article on Buzzfeed: "As you get deeper, you see animals that are pigmented or deep red [because] there's hardly any red light in the deep sea, so being red is effectively being black. Then you see lots of brown fish and lots of blackfish and lots of ultra-black fish.”

After all this drama and backlash from the trailer, social media was simultaneously flooded with reaction videos (a new norm) of young, coloured girls watching the trailer and becoming very emotional realising that Ariel will be ‘coloured like them’. In the world of Disney, people of colour are not represented as equally as white people and to have another actor/ actress of colour, playing a leading role on the big screen can only be a good thing. It’s time we normalise people of colour in main roles. It’s time to change the way we think. Young girls and boys shouldn’t be shocked to realise that the new lead in a Disney movie isn’t white… What are we teaching our children? We preach about equality, and it’s come a long way… the only problem is it hasn’t come far enough, yet! 

Our industry is riddled with discrimination. Every one of us, including myself, will have experienced it first hand or if not second hand. Not being seen for an audition because of height, told you’re too big, too small, wrong look… etc 

How do we change it? Well, we must be the ones who demand the change. If we demand it as a consumer, it must change. 

Have you experienced discrimination? What are your thoughts on the new little mermaid casting? Are you for or against it?