its really weird how thorough it is and there are a ton of examples. new spiderman movies, mary jane is black. little mermaid black. starfire black (though still a redhead, which is interesting). triss in the witcher is black (though brunette in the books not the game). orphan annie is black now. wally west is now black (flash movie). they turned cyclone (a redhead with storm powers) into a black lady, which is kinda a trope at this point... hawk girl is black now, cw rendition of arrow. bat woman is black now. april o'neil from TMNT. heimdall in the marvel comics was a redhead but black now. beau from she-ra was redheaded but black now. the thing's wife is now black. alice monahan from hellboy is now black. artemis in wonder woman used to be a redhead. judge renslayer in loki (from the most recent thing). bat girl is black now. the character design of domino in deadpool is very cool though.
i think itd be lit if we got some historical african religious stories with a fantastical twist, i really would like to see some authentic stuff rather than just copy pasting black people over redheads. wakanda is an example but the fusion there does africa dirty, i think. theres so many cultures and so many dead myths and religions to explore that simply havent even been considered. they could make some fantastic watching material that no one has considered or seen before.
or just come up with new characters and weave them into plot importance
Yeah in addition to all the good points here, I actually do dislike how characters are being switched to POC at random, because usually their out-of-place skin color is just not acknowledged at all. (I should say, in some settings it really doesn't matter and you can absolutely swap).
And making "European fairy tale but Blasian this time" is absolutely, absolutely done instead of doing any kind of original content set in a non-white cultural setting.
I would love to see 90% the characters on my screen not be white, but it's pretty hollow if they're just literally pretending to be white.
There was a great DS9 episode where they all cosplay 1930's or something in the Holosuites, and Sisko gets uncomfortable because the holosuite program was just pretending racism didn't exist, and treating every human player like respected professionals and members of mainstream society.
It was the only portrayal in Star Trek that I can think of, where those citizens of the utopian future still have to acknowledge that being Black still holds on to some meaning even into the future, especially as residents of the former USA, which Sisko & family are.
There were some other DS9 episodes that talked about race, like the bell riots one and the one where Sisko's mind is going back to the 40's author who has to ghostwrite as a white man.
The DS9 episode was Badda-Bing Badda-Bang and it was Vic Fontaine's 1950s Vegas casino.
I always liked that moment as you said because it is someone acknowledging the problem created with historical programs in a world that has moved passed that history.
I like that Yates' counter-argument is that it might be nice to experience history as it should have been, rather than how it really was.
I don't really come down on either side but it's an interesting way to look at it.
Wouldn't be surprised if it was Avery Brooks who asked for the scene tbh. He was often vocally critical of some choices because he didn't want to be just another black character they were they often written. It's why he liked his relationship with Jake Sisko so much.
On a related note, the episode If Wishes Were Horses script was changed from a leprechaun into Rumplestiltskin because Colm Meaney objected to the Irish stereotype.
Reminds me of a point my friend made about which comic characters can just be POC and which would need actual changes. Like Captain America if it is Rogers then that changes everything, and even different characters like Sam Wilson need to have the racism of the symbol of America be addressed earnestly. Batman on the other hand more easily can be black, same with Peter Parker Spider-Man.
A lot of media really does try to act colorblind, with no understanding or care for the fact that all those unique experiences POCs face that we talk about mattering, actually carry over and you can't just write a white story and call it a day.
With Little Mermaid, you have the whole of mythology to work with, but instead take a European novel based on some French folklore. If it has to be name recognition then do a story more specific to mermaids in African culture like Mami Wata, Njuzu, Aycayla, or Jengu. I am glad these films are getting more diversity, and if it is between a white-lead remake and a black-lead remake then the latter is the best route, but we need to not just relegate black leads to existing roles in European stories
Yeah the title "the little mermaid" could be used to describe fucking anyone, and you can just have a different mermaid - it can take place in the same world and timeline, just far away.
You could even share characters, if you set it just a few years apart. Younger Ursula could come by doing something bad or whatever, and maybe getting owned by the African mermaids really fucks her up
What movie are you talking about?
that would be pretty sick ngl but no its a straw man. ive seen european medieval stuff where just black actors pretend to be English or whatever