Minorities in Comics and Other Media, etc

[80sbaby]

I noticed the usual suspects are complaining about Nico Parker being cast in How to Train a Dragon- the live action version.

Looking at the character and looking at Nico Parker, I can see why they cast her, if she puts on a blond wig, she pretty much looks the part (although I think she's naturally blond or something but I'm not sure).

Folks have a problem with her because she has a black African grandmother. She has a white father and a white grandfather, calling her "BlaCk" is a pretty weird. If folks are bringing in "one-drop classifications" into the discussion, then they are veering from right-wing commentators straight into white supremacy ideology. It's the same thing with Adele James as Cleopatra or Rachel Zegler as Snow White, folks are allowing their racism make them stupid.

To be fair, the "one drop" thing is used by black people just as much as it is white folks, so it's not just about propping up white supremacy ideals. And the reasons are understandable but we need to seriously have a conversation about things like this and realizing the new paradigm of race relations today. However, we're definitely not ready for that conversation.

[Adam Allen]

To be fair, the "one drop" thing is used by black people just as much as it is white folks, so it's not just about propping up white supremacy ideals. And the reasons are understandable but we need to seriously have a conversation about things like this and realizing the new paradigm of race relations today. However, we're definitely not ready for that conversation.

Black people had no choice in the matter of adapting the "one drop" thing. It's not like it was optional; that's not how white supremacy works.

What conversation is it that we're not ready for? And I guess "we" is the collective of all of the US? Because I'm pretty down for conversations on new paradigms of race relations, personally.

[80sbaby]

Black people had no choice in the matter of adapting the "one drop" thing. It's not like it was optional; that's not how white supremacy works.

What conversation is it that we're not ready for? And I guess "we" is the collective of all of the US? Because I'm pretty down for conversations on new paradigms of race relations, personally.

Initially no, we didn't have a choice. However we do now. Yet we still use it in the same manner we use the N-word, i.e. taking it back. Whereas before, it was seen as something that tainted the person, we see it as something to be proud of and embrace fully.

And yes, I meant "we" as in generally speaking.

[Username taken]

Black people had no choice in the matter of adapting the "one drop" thing. It's not like it was optional; that's not how white supremacy works.

What conversation is it that we're not ready for? And I guess "we" is the collective of all of the US? Because I'm pretty down for conversations on new paradigms of race relations, personally.

To be fair, the "one drop" thing is used by black people just as much as it is white folks, so it's not just about propping up white supremacy ideals. And the reasons are understandable but we need to seriously have a conversation about things like this and realizing the new paradigm of race relations today. However, we're definitely not ready for that conversation.

I agree with Allen here.

Black people had no say in determining one-drop designations. I don't even know why people still use them considering most folks that are mixed are what they are- multiracial and biracial.

I can't imagine most people will look at Nico Parker and say she's black. Folks are bringing up her race because they know her mother. The girl is as white as she is black (if one wants to go with genealogy, she's just about 25% black).

I have no problems with conversations on race. I understand 80s point that people shy away from them but the truth is the discussions aren't starting in minority communities and minorities are going to be forced to discuss them whether they like it or not.

[G. Boney]

Best of luck. That's a smart gimmick for an anthology by a new writer.

Thank you.

(Don't know if I'd call myself "new" though heh heh)

[Agent Z]

An article discussing the conversation about The Little Mermaid's box office.

Like TLM, Aladdin also opened in the U.S. on Memorial Day Weekend 2019. Its box office for the entire holiday weekend was $116,805,962. The Little Mermaid opened on Memorial Day Weekend 2023 (post-pandemic, with no Will Smith-level name attached) to $118,818,903. TLM had a lot stacked against it and still outperformed Aladdin’s opening in the U.S.

Since Hollywood prioritizes China as a market, and that’s what Variety wanted to talk about, here are the Chinese opening weekend figures for these films (in descending order):

Cinderella (2015) – $71.5M

The Lion King (2019) – $54.2M

The Jungle Book (2016) – $49M

Beauty & the Beast (2017) – $44.5M

Aladdin (2019) – $18.5M

The Little Mermaid (2023) – $2.5M

So, TLM did make the least money of all the live-action Disney films when it opened in China. Here’s some additional context:

Aladdin, which has an Arab protagonist and also cast a role originally played by a white actor with a big-name Black actor, made nine times more. It’s likely that Will Smith, who is a global superstar, has more name recognition than Halle Bailey does in China.

Aladdin and its predecessors came out in or before 2019. Before the COVID-19 pandemic changed people’s moviegoing habits.

Yes, The Lion King is about animals, but it takes place in Africa, has Black actors voicing most of the roles, and has the power of Beyoncé. The film, and everything surrounding it, has a deeply African vibe.

The Jungle Book also has a brown main character. So, of all the live-action Disney remakes so far, only two have starred white people.

Could you argue that, since Cinderella made the most money in China, they “prefer” movies with white leads? You could. But that dismisses the fact that the films that didn’t have white leads, which was most of them, made a substantial amount of money in China. So, this fear that we keep rehashing about whether China will accept films with Black leads (or other POC) is unfounded and stale.

Since capitalism prioritizes profit, it makes more sense to add up all the money.

[Agent Z]

Here are the worldwide, original release opening weekend box office numbers for these films (followed by the number of countries in which they opened):

The Lion King (2019) – $465,135,528 – 52

Beauty & the Beast (2017) – $417,166,791 – 52

Aladdin (2019) – $287,825,365 – 52

The Jungle Book (2016) – $233,253,664 – 53

Cinderella (2015) – $127,334,983 – 62

The Little Mermaid (2023) – $118,818,903 – 46

TLM opened in fewer countries than the others. So, why isn’t the story that The Little Mermaid technically made more in its opening weekend, percentage-wise, than Cinderella (the story of the whitest white girl) did?

The Little Mermaid is currently sitting at $338,770,045 worldwide, having just opened a week ago. Cinderella made $542,351,353 over its entire original, global theatrical release. Meanwhile, Aladdin and The Lion King (one story with non-white leads, the other a deeply African story) each broke $1 billion in their original releases.

We need to stop trotting out the “fear of China’s racism” narrative every time we release a film with a Black protagonist globally. Let’s stick with discussing facts that actually exist, rather than upholding studios’ misguided fears.

https://www.themarysue.com/the-littl...ce=mostpopular

[Username taken]

https://www.themarysue.com/the-littl...ce=mostpopular

Good article.

Interestingly, The Little Mermaid crossed $400 m ww this weekend.

It's not the disaster folks are making it out to be. Not at all.

[Agent Z]

[Username taken]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/mo...235515014/amp/

Interesting.

[Moon Ronin]

Good article.

Interestingly, The Little Mermaid crossed $400 m ww this weekend.

It's not the disaster folks are making it out to be. Not at all.

$400 sounds good but to account for production cost, marketing, residuals, and market yield it needs to make at least 550 to 600 to break even and over 700 to be some what successful. So the Little Mermaid is still financially under water. With the Barbie movie come up followed by Disney's Elemental movie and Dreamworks Teenage Kraken movie and with the Spiderverse movie already out the competition is building creating an even steeper hill for TLM to clime to at least make the break even point.

Also with big movies like Oppenheimer, Indiana Jones, and Mission Imposable the diminished screens make it almost near imposable for TLM to make it to the successful point. So yes at this time The Little Mermaid is on the road to be an investment failure.

[Username taken]

$400 sounds good but to account for production cost, marketing, residuals, and market yield it needs to make at least 550 to 600 to break even and over 700 to be some what successful. So the Little Mermaid is still financially under water. With the Barbie movie come up followed by Disney's Elemental movie and Dreamworks Teenage Kraken movie and with the Spiderverse movie already out the competition is building creating an even steeper hill for TLM to clime to at least make the break even point.

Also with big movies like Oppenheimer, Indiana Jones, and Mission Imposable the diminished screens make it almost near imposable for TLM to make it to the successful point. So yes at this time The Little Mermaid is on the road to be an investment failure.

It's still playing in theatres. It should finish domestic box office north of $300 million and global well over $500m WW+.

The film has held onto most of its screens and will likely do so because it's doing well in the US. It's not a box office juggernaut by any means but it's not also a disaster a lot of folks are making it out to be because of the strong US box office. North American audiences don't have problems with black mermaids.

I mean, it's getting an animated spin-off, if it was a disaster, it's highly unlikely Disney would spin it off. For me, the funniest part of that announcement were how they dude bros reacted to it, some of them were like "does it mean Ariel is black forever", at this point, I guess she is.

[Username taken]

https://www.newsweek.com/spider-vers...irates-1806966

Across the Spider-Verse banned in UAE.

The dude bros in the US have been so focused on Disney's "woke-stuff" that Across the Spider-Verse just slipped through.

[Overhazard]

https://www.newsweek.com/spider-vers...irates-1806966

Across the Spider-Verse banned in UAE.

The dude bros in the US have been so focused on Disney's "woke-stuff" that Across the Spider-Verse just slipped through.

They would probably call the UAE "Based" because of the trans flag and they're fighting the "woke propaganda" in the US. It's...just a blink-and-you'll-miss it- trans flag. It's not hurting anyone, or indoctrinating anyone.

[ed2962]

https://www.newsweek.com/spider-vers...irates-1806966

Across the Spider-Verse banned in UAE.

The dude bros in the US have been so focused on Disney's "woke-stuff" that Across the Spider-Verse just slipped through.

I think it's more that they couldn't go hard and do their normal "get woke go broke" thing with Spiderverse because too many normal people actually like Miles. But I have seen some of the usual suspects bemoan the trans flag in the film.