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The Little Mermaid is Disney propaganda Guilt-ridden millennials are its target audience

The right side of history (Disney)


June 5, 2023   6 mins

One of the musical highlights of the original, animated Little Mermaid is a scene in which Ariel, newly human, tries to get Prince Eric to kiss her. If he doesn’t, she’ll turn back into a mermaid, but because Ariel has lost her voice, her main job is to sit there looking available; the actual seduction is stage-managed by her crab friend Sebastian, who sings encouragement into Eric’s ear:

Yes, you want her, look at her you know you do.
Possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her.

In the new version of The Little Mermaid, presumably out of deference to our evolving, post-MeToo sensibilities surrounding sexual consent, that line has been subtly changed. In 2023, Sebastian’s advice is: “Use your words, boy, and ask her.”

Not so romantic, but in this case, the question does seem necessary, since Ariel’s feelings are far from obvious. While 1989 Ariel makes it quite clear that she’s keen, our contemporary one, played by the pop singer Halle Bailey, has no thoughts of kissing at all — because, in a truly massive departure from the animated source material, she’s forgotten she needs to in order to win her freedom.

It’s not hard to see how the film’s writers might have talked themselves into giving their new Ariel amnesia: it’s not very feminist to have your heroine spend the bulk of her screen time voicelessly thirsting after a man, after all. But in stripping Ariel of her goal — stay human by seducing the prince — the writers have effectively gutted the character: now, she wanders vacantly through every scene with neither purpose nor agency.

I realise that this is a very adult complaint about a film that is ostensibly for children — but then, I’m not sure children are The Little Mermaid‘s intended audience. Like so many of Disney’s live-action remakes, this movie is for the now-middle aged millennial women who grew up watching (and loving) the 1989 original — only to become scandalised, as adults, by their heterocentrism, their whiteness, their phobias and isms. While Disney World is embroiled in an ongoing conflict with Florida governor Ron DeSantis — a sort of proxy war for the soul of the nation — the Disney content mill is plagued by the same anxieties as much of its adult audience.

The beloved but problematic cartoons from the bad old days remain available on the Disney+ streaming service, but come affixed with a hectoring title card that you cannot fast forward through: “This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” it reads. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

Meanwhile, many of its newer offerings are meant to be part of that future, explicitly catering to progressive sensibilities — and, perhaps equally important, sparking consternation among conservatives. The Little Mermaid — with its vague handwaving in the direction of consent culture, its dutiful nods to the environmental damage wrought by humans on the undersea world, and a black actress bringing the house down in a traditionally white role — is clearly intended to be part of that “more inclusive future”. As is the 2022 movie Lightyear, which featured an, albeit chaste, lesbian kiss, and Frozen 2, which was animated by an anti-colonialist message.

In fact, that heady mix of liberal millennial guilt and Nineties-era nostalgia is an animating force behind much of today’s most controversial entertainment, from the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters to the release of new, sensitivity-edited editions of works by Roald Dahl and R.L. Stine. Kids don’t notice this stuff, but adults do, which is entirely the point: all these choices generated a backlash from the Right, which in turn generated a backlash to the backlash from the Left, which in turn generated months’ worth of frantic coverage from a media establishment that relies on rage-clicks to keep the lights on.

Unfortunately, in the quest to make The Little Mermaid inclusive, Disney seems to have forgotten that it should also be watchable, and the resulting film feels at once bloated and muted. Gone are the fish playing musical instruments, the whispering moray eels who recruit Ariel to Ursula’s lair. Bailey, a phenomenal singer, is miscast as a character who is silent during most of the story’s pivotal moments. And yet, more positive reviews, while noticeably cagey about the quality of the film itself, lavish praise on both her performance as Ariel and on the Disney corporation for selecting her. “If these films are to have any purpose beyond being nostalgia-powered cash-ins, it must be to allow all children — not just the white ones — to see themselves as Magic Kingdom denizens,” suggested the Guardian, while a Variety critic adds that, “the most important thing about remaking this particular favourite for a fresh generation is maintaining the fantasy that any of us can be Ariel”.

In other words: even if the movie is bad, it has the best intentions. It’s on the right side of history. And isn’t that what matters?

In this framework, any objection to movies such as The Little Mermaid can be understood as conservatives having a meltdown over the mere inclusion of diverse characters on screen. Perhaps this is true in some cases. But I suspect that what people really object to is a Hollywood apparatus that does not seek to entertain an audience so much as hand-hold it to the morally correct conclusions.

When Ted Lasso — a show featuring a multiracial cast, strong female characters, and an uplifting message of sportsmanship, self-betterment, and general decency — became the subject of backlash during its recent third and final season, it wasn’t because people suddenly became incensed by its diversity. It was because it started featuring scenes that could have migrated out of one of those dramatised instructional videos they show during DEI compliance training: such as the locker room lecture about looking at nude photos that followed a massive celebrity leak. If people balk at this, perhaps it’s less because they disagree with the substance of the message, and more because they resent its intrusiveness — can’t a guy just enjoy a TV show without having lessons in moral betterment foisted upon him, Sesame Street-style, by a bunch of actors dressed up as footballers?

At the root of this is the notion that art is inherently political, and hence that every mainstream entertainment property must necessarily double as either a morality play, or a salvo in the ongoing culture wars. For those who subscribe to this framework, there is no opting out; if your film doesn’t announce its politics, a set of politics will be assigned to it by a critical apparatus that is increasingly incapable of understanding art in anything but crude identitarian terms. One of the more incisive reviews of The Little Mermaid, written by Wesley Morris of the New York Times, describes the film as “everything nobody should want in a movie: dutiful and defensive, yet desperate for approval”. He’s right. And yet, even as he notes that the film is something of a trainwreck — and even as he admits that obsessing over the political correctness of movies like this is “a misery” — he nevertheless insists that it, and the other Disney films like it, are “important, culturally reparative work”. And so he reinforces the idea that art described as “important” need not concern itself with being beautiful, or moving, or funny.

Critics and creators alike are increasingly caught in the trap of the “important” movie, which substitutes political pieties for a good story and markets itself on controversy instead of hype. Long before The Little Mermaid hit cinemas, progressives understood that they were basically obligated to support it for political reasons; even now, the narrative persists that anyone who dislikes the movie must be a racist troll (that is, unless they’re denouncing it for not being woke enough). And the “important” movie is many things: explicitly moral and painstakingly diverse. Checking its privilege. Centring marginalised voices. Sparking conversations and moving toward a more inclusive future. And yet it is invariably bad in every way — including the ways in which it attempts to do better.

Consider the original Little Mermaid, a story about a young woman who yearned for independence; who made a reckless, impulsive bargain in the hopes of pursuing the life she wanted; who learns that choices like this have a ripple effect well beyond the confines of one’s own life. Now consider the politically correct version of the same story, in which Ariel is conveniently saved, by amnesia, from knowing what she’s done — and hence deprived of any opportunity to own it, to reckon with it. The former story is about a girl who does things; the latter is about a girl to whom things happen. Which of these is supposed to be a vision of female empowerment, again?

This is perhaps the worst thing about Disney’s contemporary remakes: not that they are blatant cash grabs, but that they are infantilising. The original Little Mermaid placed infinitely more trust in its intended audience of children than the new version places in those same children, now that they’re grown up. And while it still includes that moment, at the end, in which Sebastian waxes wise about autonomy — “Children got to be free to lead their own lives” — it’s hard to fathom, after two hours and fifteen minutes of Ariel stumbling like a hapless sleepwalker through her own story, that anyone really believes it.


Kat Rosenfield is an UnHerd columnist and co-host of the Feminine Chaos podcast. Her latest novel is You Must Remember This.

katrosenfield

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Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
10 months ago

“Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

Rather than refrain from monetising our back catalogue (which we would do if we had any principles and actually believed in all that woke guff), here’s a patronising reminder that you’re a racist even for watching. That’ll be $10.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
10 months ago

A truly staggering display of greedy minded hypocrisy. Simple solution, don’t pay to be insulted. The Disney company that made those movies you treasured as a child only ever cared about your parents’ money, and whatever values they preached back then or are preaching now were and are preached in the hopes it will lead to greater profits.

Last edited 10 months ago by Steve Jolly
Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago

Disney has tied its locks in bows.

Michael Layman
Michael Layman
9 months ago

Forget diversity and racism, it is only about the money for Disney and always will be.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
9 months ago

I just about failed grade 12 social studies because I wrote an essay about Disney propaganda in pushing anthropomorphic deer. My teacher hated it, along with my poem about Flanders fields, which conveyed, “prepare for war or we subject to it”.
That was not the intent of his class.

It all worked out in the end, it turns out you could just take the provincial test and replace your school score with it.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
10 months ago

A truly staggering display of greedy minded hypocrisy. Simple solution, don’t pay to be insulted. The Disney company that made those movies you treasured as a child only ever cared about your parents’ money, and whatever values they preached back then or are preaching now were and are preached in the hopes it will lead to greater profits.

Last edited 10 months ago by Steve Jolly
Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago

Disney has tied its locks in bows.

Michael Layman
Michael Layman
9 months ago

Forget diversity and racism, it is only about the money for Disney and always will be.

Bret Larson
Bret Larson
9 months ago

I just about failed grade 12 social studies because I wrote an essay about Disney propaganda in pushing anthropomorphic deer. My teacher hated it, along with my poem about Flanders fields, which conveyed, “prepare for war or we subject to it”.
That was not the intent of his class.

It all worked out in the end, it turns out you could just take the provincial test and replace your school score with it.

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
10 months ago

“Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

Rather than refrain from monetising our back catalogue (which we would do if we had any principles and actually believed in all that woke guff), here’s a patronising reminder that you’re a racist even for watching. That’ll be $10.

Peter D
Peter D
10 months ago

When people talk about being inclusive, the very first thing they do is exclude. Exclusion is a psychopathic tendency, a feminine one; and one that can cut deeper than the more masculine psychopathic actions.
Those that use the term equity, they also exclude. It is a nasty group of people who are causing such harm in our society.

Another thing. A character from any other part of the world would have to be represented by someone from that part of the world. Today we are black washing too often. Most white people don’t care when this happens but it is becoming so common place now that the majority of white people will have had enough. More and more people are feeling as if they are being replaced. This is not a good space to venture into

Derek Smith
Derek Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

What makes this more interesting – although still frustrating, is that many of these race-swapped characters were originally white redheads.

There is online talk of a Hollywood ‘Gingercide’.

Last edited 10 months ago by Derek Smith
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Cancel your Sky/Netflicks subscription and you TV licence

Sophy T
Sophy T
10 months ago

Or watch Korean drama on Netflix. It’s superior to Western drama in every way.

Sophy T
Sophy T
10 months ago

Or watch Korean drama on Netflix. It’s superior to Western drama in every way.

Todd Jacobs
Todd Jacobs
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Jeez, how about toning down the BS just a little…

Jim M
Jim M
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Whites are being replaced. They should feel that they are being replaced because it is happening. Most of Britain will be non-white in a generation and people are expected to accept their own cultural and racial suicide. There are way too many black people on British television and that is just to get people accustomed to the idea that there are no white societies. This whole suicidal culture is disgusting and I can’t wait for its collapse.

john gill
john gill
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim M

i agree completely. White replacement, in media and in in the flesh, is simply a fact on both sides of the Atlantic. At this point it’s almost irrelevant whether it’s the rseult of a conspiracy or merely “a fit of absent-mindedness” by our elites. However, if it was the latter then it was a very convenient and self-interested fit.

If we want reclaim our cultural heritage then we must firstnwrest back control of the educational and media establishments from the fanatics who now control them.Next we need to sharply reduce immigration flow so that we can assimilate those who have arrived over the last 20 years or so. These two things will do more than anything to help us all become proud and loyal citizens of our respective nations. And, finally. white people need to start making babies again, and soon. Cratering birthrates are generally a
stong indicator of cultural apathy, if not despair.

I hope its just old man’s pessimism but I don’t like our chances to do any of those things. Even so, I would love to read the history of the next 100 years, though I fear it will have to be a secret history.

jack levy
jack levy
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim M

Bc people don’t want equality, they want control and power.

john gill
john gill
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim M

i agree completely. White replacement, in media and in in the flesh, is simply a fact on both sides of the Atlantic. At this point it’s almost irrelevant whether it’s the rseult of a conspiracy or merely “a fit of absent-mindedness” by our elites. However, if it was the latter then it was a very convenient and self-interested fit.

If we want reclaim our cultural heritage then we must firstnwrest back control of the educational and media establishments from the fanatics who now control them.Next we need to sharply reduce immigration flow so that we can assimilate those who have arrived over the last 20 years or so. These two things will do more than anything to help us all become proud and loyal citizens of our respective nations. And, finally. white people need to start making babies again, and soon. Cratering birthrates are generally a
stong indicator of cultural apathy, if not despair.

I hope its just old man’s pessimism but I don’t like our chances to do any of those things. Even so, I would love to read the history of the next 100 years, though I fear it will have to be a secret history.

jack levy
jack levy
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim M

Bc people don’t want equality, they want control and power.

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Division Exclusion Inequity.

jack levy
jack levy
10 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Inclusivity kills.

jack levy
jack levy
10 months ago
Reply to  Gordon Black

Inclusivity kills.

Coralie Palmer
Coralie Palmer
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

I’m entirely with the writer of this piece about the lamed-brained re-writing of reality in Disney remakes. But ‘Exclusion is a psychopathic tendency, a feminine one; and one that can cut deeper than the more masculine psychopathic actions.’? Yeah right. All those centuries of men-only clubs, guilds, political parties, were just figments of my imagination then.
Exclusion is not a unique property of one sex.And viz the writer’s daft assertion that Disney’s changes are for ‘middle-aged millenials’, I remain unconvinced. The half-witted changes in publishing and media are led by people in their twenties who are allowed to over-influence content by the utter spinelessness of their employers: who, in turn, mistake social media for the voice of the people.
The whole fatuous trend is a macedoine of stupidities. Got rot them all.

Last edited 10 months ago by Coralie Palmer
Peter D
Peter D
10 months ago
Reply to  Coralie Palmer

You mistake my use of feminine and masculine traits as sole use for females and males. We all have traits of both feminine and masculine. They have been categorised as such because each trait is not 50% each gender. Physical violence is considered masculine because 60% of violent acts are done by males. Most of those are harmless play and so we don’t register it.
Modern society is like the Emperor’s new clothes. Look below the surface and everyone is not happy. The West is a powder keg, and DEI is the fuel.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
10 months ago
Reply to  Coralie Palmer

All those centuries of men-only clubs, guilds, political parties, were just figments of my imagination then.

Yes, but women had their own things that they took care of which were just as important. I’m afraid matriarchal societies just don’t do very well historically, not because women are necessarily lousy at running them, but because the kind of men they foster become passive and disengaged. In turn the strong matriarchal types become turned off by their own men and look to stronger foreign males to mate with who then take over and bring in a more patriarchal system.
I think we are now reaching this stage in the West: women vilifying their own culture and preferring others they consider more exciting and exotic. In the meantime many young men are growing up without suitable role models or functional male codes of conduct. Eventually, when the drugs, p0rn, and computer games wear off and they are no longer sedated, a new generation of men will take over and destroy the ‘evil’ system that kept them enthralled.

Last edited 10 months ago by Julian Farrows
Peter D
Peter D
10 months ago
Reply to  Coralie Palmer

You mistake my use of feminine and masculine traits as sole use for females and males. We all have traits of both feminine and masculine. They have been categorised as such because each trait is not 50% each gender. Physical violence is considered masculine because 60% of violent acts are done by males. Most of those are harmless play and so we don’t register it.
Modern society is like the Emperor’s new clothes. Look below the surface and everyone is not happy. The West is a powder keg, and DEI is the fuel.

Julian Farrows
Julian Farrows
10 months ago
Reply to  Coralie Palmer

All those centuries of men-only clubs, guilds, political parties, were just figments of my imagination then.

Yes, but women had their own things that they took care of which were just as important. I’m afraid matriarchal societies just don’t do very well historically, not because women are necessarily lousy at running them, but because the kind of men they foster become passive and disengaged. In turn the strong matriarchal types become turned off by their own men and look to stronger foreign males to mate with who then take over and bring in a more patriarchal system.
I think we are now reaching this stage in the West: women vilifying their own culture and preferring others they consider more exciting and exotic. In the meantime many young men are growing up without suitable role models or functional male codes of conduct. Eventually, when the drugs, p0rn, and computer games wear off and they are no longer sedated, a new generation of men will take over and destroy the ‘evil’ system that kept them enthralled.

Last edited 10 months ago by Julian Farrows
Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

I agree that the attempt to be inclusive can very often exclude, because we can’t fit the whole of humanity into one big happy family that loves one another dearly. I recently experienced wanting to include a group member in a social media group who had always been a member but been absent for a long time and tentatively wanted to re-enter the space. My support for her led to the immediate exit of another member who had been very active, because she wanted to keep the space safe and comfortable for herself, and accused me of having “a thing about inclusion”. People need to take care of their own needs and make choices accordingly – fair play to her. But I’m not sure about exclusion being a feminine “psychopathic tendency” – that seem a little harsh! I think that depends on one’s own life experiences. I have tended to see it as being healthily feminine to wish to include others, as healthy mothering seeks to include all her children. Exclusion, boundary-setting, clarity etc come across to me as more masculine in nature. And neither are psychopathic!

Derek Smith
Derek Smith
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

What makes this more interesting – although still frustrating, is that many of these race-swapped characters were originally white redheads.

There is online talk of a Hollywood ‘Gingercide’.

Last edited 10 months ago by Derek Smith
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Cancel your Sky/Netflicks subscription and you TV licence

Todd Jacobs
Todd Jacobs
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Jeez, how about toning down the BS just a little…

Jim M
Jim M
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Whites are being replaced. They should feel that they are being replaced because it is happening. Most of Britain will be non-white in a generation and people are expected to accept their own cultural and racial suicide. There are way too many black people on British television and that is just to get people accustomed to the idea that there are no white societies. This whole suicidal culture is disgusting and I can’t wait for its collapse.

Gordon Black
Gordon Black
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

Division Exclusion Inequity.

Coralie Palmer
Coralie Palmer
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

I’m entirely with the writer of this piece about the lamed-brained re-writing of reality in Disney remakes. But ‘Exclusion is a psychopathic tendency, a feminine one; and one that can cut deeper than the more masculine psychopathic actions.’? Yeah right. All those centuries of men-only clubs, guilds, political parties, were just figments of my imagination then.
Exclusion is not a unique property of one sex.And viz the writer’s daft assertion that Disney’s changes are for ‘middle-aged millenials’, I remain unconvinced. The half-witted changes in publishing and media are led by people in their twenties who are allowed to over-influence content by the utter spinelessness of their employers: who, in turn, mistake social media for the voice of the people.
The whole fatuous trend is a macedoine of stupidities. Got rot them all.

Last edited 10 months ago by Coralie Palmer
Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
10 months ago
Reply to  Peter D

I agree that the attempt to be inclusive can very often exclude, because we can’t fit the whole of humanity into one big happy family that loves one another dearly. I recently experienced wanting to include a group member in a social media group who had always been a member but been absent for a long time and tentatively wanted to re-enter the space. My support for her led to the immediate exit of another member who had been very active, because she wanted to keep the space safe and comfortable for herself, and accused me of having “a thing about inclusion”. People need to take care of their own needs and make choices accordingly – fair play to her. But I’m not sure about exclusion being a feminine “psychopathic tendency” – that seem a little harsh! I think that depends on one’s own life experiences. I have tended to see it as being healthily feminine to wish to include others, as healthy mothering seeks to include all her children. Exclusion, boundary-setting, clarity etc come across to me as more masculine in nature. And neither are psychopathic!

Peter D
Peter D
10 months ago

When people talk about being inclusive, the very first thing they do is exclude. Exclusion is a psychopathic tendency, a feminine one; and one that can cut deeper than the more masculine psychopathic actions.
Those that use the term equity, they also exclude. It is a nasty group of people who are causing such harm in our society.

Another thing. A character from any other part of the world would have to be represented by someone from that part of the world. Today we are black washing too often. Most white people don’t care when this happens but it is becoming so common place now that the majority of white people will have had enough. More and more people are feeling as if they are being replaced. This is not a good space to venture into

Marcus Leach
Marcus Leach
10 months ago

In recent times, one of the favourite occupations of Leftists has been to scold white people for engaging “cultural appropriation”. Pity the poor white woman who decided to have her hair put in cornrows, or the fresher who put on a sombrero and a false moustache to go to a fancy dress party,Shrill voices of social denunciation were just dying to inflict shame on them.
Roll on a few years and we are seeing the wholesale cultural appropriation of the art, literature and even the history of the white race. The works of Hans Christian Andersen, Dickens, Shakespeare, and numerous other authors are having their art torn apart and retrofitted to not only remove whitely and replace them with a coloured people, but to use the work to attack the white race. The same has happened with our history, for example, Channel 5’s production of Anne Boleyn.
Part of the reason for the these appropriations is to forward the progressive, woke agenda of pulling down Western civilisation and demonising white culture and history. But in doing so it shows up the paucity of the contribution of great works of art, literature and invention by those the “progressives” deify and would have us replaced with. When they do actually do African stories they are either purely ficticious (Black Panther’s Wakanda”) or are historically falsified to remove the nasty and unfortunate bits ( the Agojie women in the The Woman King).
In the absence of black cultural achievement and invention, the Leftist “progressives”, simultaneouly appropriate white culture and acheivements on a grand scale, and then use it to attack,demonise, and discredit the white race and venerate those whose actual stories and history are full of inconvenient facts.
To think of the absurdity of calling the replacement of white authors by those of other races in British universities, “decolonisation”. It is, of course, the complete opposite. It is the colonisation of white culture in our own homeland.

Atticus Basilhoff
Atticus Basilhoff
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

I’m eagerly awaiting a biopic of MLK starring Larry the Cable Guy. I doubt the left or black community will have any qualms with that cultural appropriation.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

Yes, progressives keep using words like equity, cultural appropriation, or reparative decolonialization but they really just hate white people.

Jim M
Jim M
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

It’s just racial Marxism. Class resentment was not enough but racial resentment works every time. Don’t have a multiracial society or it will be destroyed eventually.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim M

Societies need a group to hate, and race is low-hanging fruit.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim M

Societies need a group to hate, and race is low-hanging fruit.

Esther Fapohunda
Esther Fapohunda
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

Your paranoia is peeking through

Jim M
Jim M
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

It’s just racial Marxism. Class resentment was not enough but racial resentment works every time. Don’t have a multiracial society or it will be destroyed eventually.

Esther Fapohunda
Esther Fapohunda
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

Your paranoia is peeking through

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

Your point about Cultural Appropriation is accurate and points out the absurdity of Intersectionality but you’ve taken the Leftist provocation and done exactly what they wanted you to do; Promote Race Essentialism.

Just because Leftists use Orwellian tactics to promote Race Tribalism doesn’t mean it should be fought by accepting the rules of their cynical game. You’ve fallen into their trap and are promoting the Superiority of the White Race. There is No White Race. There is a single Human Race.

Now it’s a totally different argument to opine that certain Cultures promote ideas and lifestyles that create more human flourishing. Progressives intentionally try to muddle the distinction between Culture and Race because it allows them to control narratives without having to interrogate their own truth claims. But in highlighting the absurdity of Intersectionality, you went the Race Essentialism route, which I think is both wrong and counterproductive.

Marcus Leach
Marcus Leach
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

I haven’t fallen in to any trap. I simply disagree with your assertions

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

What do you mean then by “white culture” and “white achievements.”

I see Anglo achievements, American Achievements, French Achievements. I don’t see “White Achievements.”

If this is a matter of Race than what’s to be said about the German Idealism behind the Woke Movement?

All of this progressive stuff is a byproduct of German Idealism integrated into other belief systems. Without Kant, Hegel and the boys none of this would be happening.

Geoff Cooper
Geoff Cooper
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Yes, there’s no more a ‘white’ race than there is a ‘black’ one, or ‘women’ or ‘gays’ or any other groups, this is just leftist nonsense.

Marcus Leach
Marcus Leach
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Fine. You believe that human beings who have followed different evolutionary paths because of differing physical environments are fundamentally the same. I don’t beleive that.
Just as differing environments created distinctive physical differences between human beings, logically it would also have operated on mental capbilities and personality traits. That is what I have found to be the case in my personal experience and acquired knowledge.
Now you can speak of a the nuances and subtle distinctions within groups and similarities between them. But on a macro scale there are fundamental differences which we see played out time and time again both in Europe and in Afrca,

Last edited 10 months ago by Marcus Leach
Claire England
Claire England
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

If brown and beige and white folk had followed different evolutionary paths, we wouldn’t be able to make babies with each other!!! We’re all one race, with superficial differences due to millennia spent in veey different climates.

Claire England
Claire England
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

If brown and beige and white folk had followed different evolutionary paths, we wouldn’t be able to make babies with each other!!! We’re all one race, with superficial differences due to millennia spent in veey different climates.

Stevie K
Stevie K
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Well done for drawing the connection with German Idealism and its connection on through to Marx, the Frankfurt Group…..and following the post 1968 rise of cultural politics, now most lecturers, students and staff at your local academic institution or NGO etc.

Geoff Cooper
Geoff Cooper
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Yes, there’s no more a ‘white’ race than there is a ‘black’ one, or ‘women’ or ‘gays’ or any other groups, this is just leftist nonsense.

Marcus Leach
Marcus Leach
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Fine. You believe that human beings who have followed different evolutionary paths because of differing physical environments are fundamentally the same. I don’t beleive that.
Just as differing environments created distinctive physical differences between human beings, logically it would also have operated on mental capbilities and personality traits. That is what I have found to be the case in my personal experience and acquired knowledge.
Now you can speak of a the nuances and subtle distinctions within groups and similarities between them. But on a macro scale there are fundamental differences which we see played out time and time again both in Europe and in Afrca,

Last edited 10 months ago by Marcus Leach
Stevie K
Stevie K
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Well done for drawing the connection with German Idealism and its connection on through to Marx, the Frankfurt Group…..and following the post 1968 rise of cultural politics, now most lecturers, students and staff at your local academic institution or NGO etc.

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

What do you mean then by “white culture” and “white achievements.”

I see Anglo achievements, American Achievements, French Achievements. I don’t see “White Achievements.”

If this is a matter of Race than what’s to be said about the German Idealism behind the Woke Movement?

All of this progressive stuff is a byproduct of German Idealism integrated into other belief systems. Without Kant, Hegel and the boys none of this would be happening.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

My take: if the left wasn’t demonizing white people for every time one took a role meant for some “marginalized group”, I wouldn’t have cared at all that they cast a black Ariel, a character from a Danish folktale. It’s the hypocrisy that is so frustrating since it’s blatantly targeting one group. And more annoyingly, it’s ruining film and television.

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

100%. All I’m saying is that it’s all a Provocation. It’s how the left operates. Problem-Reaction-Solution. They create the problem that provokes a reaction and the solution is to brand all opponents by the worst reactions.

I know he didn’t mean it how I interpreted it…but that’s how the left will interpret, brand those reactions and use them to “progress” their political censorship agenda.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Sadly, I agree. Worst of all, I think this type of political messaging is creating actual white supremacists. The word nazi has been thrown around so long we’re all desensitized to it.
It’s a natural response when a person is told they don’t deserve what they have because of their skin color and sins of their ancestors.

Carmel Shortall
Carmel Shortall
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

“Worst of all, I think this type of political messaging is creating actual white supremacists.”

I do believe that is the intention. And if white people don’t comply by becoming white supremacists, the threat from them will still be invented for the new ‘war on terror’. Here’s something by Whitney Webb from March last year:

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/ukraine-new-al-qaeda/

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

Agree. It’s already happening.

Carmel Shortall
Carmel Shortall
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

“Worst of all, I think this type of political messaging is creating actual white supremacists.”

I do believe that is the intention. And if white people don’t comply by becoming white supremacists, the threat from them will still be invented for the new ‘war on terror’. Here’s something by Whitney Webb from March last year:

https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/ukraine-new-al-qaeda/

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

Agree. It’s already happening.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

Sadly, I agree. Worst of all, I think this type of political messaging is creating actual white supremacists. The word nazi has been thrown around so long we’re all desensitized to it.
It’s a natural response when a person is told they don’t deserve what they have because of their skin color and sins of their ancestors.

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Ali W

100%. All I’m saying is that it’s all a Provocation. It’s how the left operates. Problem-Reaction-Solution. They create the problem that provokes a reaction and the solution is to brand all opponents by the worst reactions.

I know he didn’t mean it how I interpreted it…but that’s how the left will interpret, brand those reactions and use them to “progress” their political censorship agenda.

Marcus Leach
Marcus Leach
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

I haven’t fallen in to any trap. I simply disagree with your assertions

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  T Bone

My take: if the left wasn’t demonizing white people for every time one took a role meant for some “marginalized group”, I wouldn’t have cared at all that they cast a black Ariel, a character from a Danish folktale. It’s the hypocrisy that is so frustrating since it’s blatantly targeting one group. And more annoyingly, it’s ruining film and television.

Atticus Basilhoff
Atticus Basilhoff
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

I’m eagerly awaiting a biopic of MLK starring Larry the Cable Guy. I doubt the left or black community will have any qualms with that cultural appropriation.

Ali W
Ali W
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

Yes, progressives keep using words like equity, cultural appropriation, or reparative decolonialization but they really just hate white people.

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcus Leach

Your point about Cultural Appropriation is accurate and points out the absurdity of Intersectionality but you’ve taken the Leftist provocation and done exactly what they wanted you to do; Promote Race Essentialism.

Just because Leftists use Orwellian tactics to promote Race Tribalism doesn’t mean it should be fought by accepting the rules of their cynical game. You’ve fallen into their trap and are promoting the Superiority of the White Race. There is No White Race. There is a single Human Race.

Now it’s a totally different argument to opine that certain Cultures promote ideas and lifestyles that create more human flourishing. Progressives intentionally try to muddle the distinction between Culture and Race because it allows them to control narratives without having to interrogate their own truth claims. But in highlighting the absurdity of Intersectionality, you went the Race Essentialism route, which I think is both wrong and counterproductive.

Marcus Leach
Marcus Leach
10 months ago

In recent times, one of the favourite occupations of Leftists has been to scold white people for engaging “cultural appropriation”. Pity the poor white woman who decided to have her hair put in cornrows, or the fresher who put on a sombrero and a false moustache to go to a fancy dress party,Shrill voices of social denunciation were just dying to inflict shame on them.
Roll on a few years and we are seeing the wholesale cultural appropriation of the art, literature and even the history of the white race. The works of Hans Christian Andersen, Dickens, Shakespeare, and numerous other authors are having their art torn apart and retrofitted to not only remove whitely and replace them with a coloured people, but to use the work to attack the white race. The same has happened with our history, for example, Channel 5’s production of Anne Boleyn.
Part of the reason for the these appropriations is to forward the progressive, woke agenda of pulling down Western civilisation and demonising white culture and history. But in doing so it shows up the paucity of the contribution of great works of art, literature and invention by those the “progressives” deify and would have us replaced with. When they do actually do African stories they are either purely ficticious (Black Panther’s Wakanda”) or are historically falsified to remove the nasty and unfortunate bits ( the Agojie women in the The Woman King).
In the absence of black cultural achievement and invention, the Leftist “progressives”, simultaneouly appropriate white culture and acheivements on a grand scale, and then use it to attack,demonise, and discredit the white race and venerate those whose actual stories and history are full of inconvenient facts.
To think of the absurdity of calling the replacement of white authors by those of other races in British universities, “decolonisation”. It is, of course, the complete opposite. It is the colonisation of white culture in our own homeland.

J Mo
J Mo
10 months ago

One day recently I googled the Brian Jacques series of books about animals living in a community, much loved by me as a child. The first article I came across was by a female writer berating Jacques for not making any of the swash buckling characters female. This fact ruined her enjoyment of the books since she couldn’t place herself in those characters’ positions.

I never noticed. It never mattered to me, as I had an imagination, and this meant my own mind didn’t apply shackles to itself. It’s deeply sad that imagination has been so denigrated by younger generations.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  J Mo

The fact that I will never be a British officer under Queen Victoria never ruined the brilliant Flashman books for me, either.

Caty Gonzales
Caty Gonzales
10 months ago
Reply to  J Mo

This kind of thing always reminds of this bit from the Simpsons:
“When I read your magazine, I don’t see one wrinkled face or single toothless grin. For shame. To the sickos at ‘Modern Bride’ magazine.” – Abe “Grampa” Simpson

Hilary Easton
Hilary Easton
10 months ago
Reply to  J Mo

Quite true, I have many heroes in life and most of them are males of colour, such as Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama. But I am a white female, what is wrong with me?

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  J Mo

The fact that I will never be a British officer under Queen Victoria never ruined the brilliant Flashman books for me, either.

Caty Gonzales
Caty Gonzales
10 months ago
Reply to  J Mo

This kind of thing always reminds of this bit from the Simpsons:
“When I read your magazine, I don’t see one wrinkled face or single toothless grin. For shame. To the sickos at ‘Modern Bride’ magazine.” – Abe “Grampa” Simpson

Hilary Easton
Hilary Easton
10 months ago
Reply to  J Mo

Quite true, I have many heroes in life and most of them are males of colour, such as Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama. But I am a white female, what is wrong with me?

J Mo
J Mo
10 months ago

One day recently I googled the Brian Jacques series of books about animals living in a community, much loved by me as a child. The first article I came across was by a female writer berating Jacques for not making any of the swash buckling characters female. This fact ruined her enjoyment of the books since she couldn’t place herself in those characters’ positions.

I never noticed. It never mattered to me, as I had an imagination, and this meant my own mind didn’t apply shackles to itself. It’s deeply sad that imagination has been so denigrated by younger generations.

J Bryant
J Bryant
10 months ago

Interesting article. And the big question (actually, the only question that really matters) is…how much did the movie gross at the box office?
And the answer (from various internet sources) is…not all that much relative to large production and marketing costs. In particular, the income from ex-US markets is poor.
No clear explanation from the internet for the relatively poor performance, but the lack of overseas viewers might potentially be explained by the DEI moralizing being badly received outside the US. I’m sure, however, the msm won’t report that possibility.

Last edited 10 months ago by J Bryant
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Movie has earned $209 million, but the budget was $250 million!! How can it possibly be this expensive to make a movie? I’m sure it will turn a small profit, but it has to be disappointing.

J Bryant
J Bryant
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

“Movie has earned $209 million, but the budget was $250 million!!”
Yes, the production budget was $250 million, but there was an additional $100 million spent on marketing.
I wonder how many of these ideologically-driven duds movie studios are willing to lose money on before they go back to providing entertainment?

Emil Castelli
Emil Castelli
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

If you think the ‘Entertainment Industry is about entertaining you totally misunderstand everything. Entertaining is the carrot they use to pass you the poison.

The Medical-Bio-Pharma industrial Complex is NOT about health, it is much opposite to that.

The Education Industry is not about education, and the Military Industrial Complex is not about Defense…The MSM is not about ‘News’.

They are all just Lizard People Conquering the World by destroying the Middle Class and Working class, what we call the ‘NWO’. They are all now just 5th Generation Warfare directed against us.

But they miscalculate – the Global Elites. They planned on a Neo-Feudalism with us Serfs, and them Masters….But….

They took their eye off AI, haha, and now they suspect AI will be the Master, and them just cockroaches in the palace walls….haha… if allowed even that….

Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

AI will have us all extinguished.

Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

AI will have us all extinguished.

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Disney provides bow locks.

Emil Castelli
Emil Castelli
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

If you think the ‘Entertainment Industry is about entertaining you totally misunderstand everything. Entertaining is the carrot they use to pass you the poison.

The Medical-Bio-Pharma industrial Complex is NOT about health, it is much opposite to that.

The Education Industry is not about education, and the Military Industrial Complex is not about Defense…The MSM is not about ‘News’.

They are all just Lizard People Conquering the World by destroying the Middle Class and Working class, what we call the ‘NWO’. They are all now just 5th Generation Warfare directed against us.

But they miscalculate – the Global Elites. They planned on a Neo-Feudalism with us Serfs, and them Masters….But….

They took their eye off AI, haha, and now they suspect AI will be the Master, and them just cockroaches in the palace walls….haha… if allowed even that….

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Disney provides bow locks.

Amy Horseman
Amy Horseman
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The majority of it goes on what’s called “Above the line talent”. The lead actors, director and writer, and long list of executive producers, will all get fees in the multiple millions. Millions more will be spent on their trailers and first-class travel and assistants and nannies. A huge chunk will be spent on advertising and marketing gimmicks. The actual production costs (camera equipment, editing suite, audio production, sets, costumes, hair and make-up) will come to just a couple of million. If you want to watch an excellent movie that cost a tiny fraction of this budget. I recommend “Ladybird”, currently showing on iPlayer.

Last edited 10 months ago by Amy Horseman
Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

That it made that amount is a testament to what has transpired over the past decades.
Personally, I am sick of it and tell people in no uncertain measure. Don’t need fools for friends. No more Mr PC. Calling it as I see it and I think we all should. If they call me “whatever” homophobe, racist, misogynist, antisemitic, and the rest, I can always defeat them in pure argument and call on my old friends to put their silly accusations to rest. The only ism / phobia / et al; i probably have now become a fully fledged misanthrope – thanks to these loonies.

Last edited 10 months ago by Andy O'Gorman
Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

You’re Disneyphobic – you beast!

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

You’re Disneyphobic – you beast!

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

So I looked up the production cost and box office for the original and the sums are $40 and $211 million. Yes, over 30 years ago the original actually grossed more than the modern remake.

J Bryant
J Bryant
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

“Movie has earned $209 million, but the budget was $250 million!!”
Yes, the production budget was $250 million, but there was an additional $100 million spent on marketing.
I wonder how many of these ideologically-driven duds movie studios are willing to lose money on before they go back to providing entertainment?

Amy Horseman
Amy Horseman
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The majority of it goes on what’s called “Above the line talent”. The lead actors, director and writer, and long list of executive producers, will all get fees in the multiple millions. Millions more will be spent on their trailers and first-class travel and assistants and nannies. A huge chunk will be spent on advertising and marketing gimmicks. The actual production costs (camera equipment, editing suite, audio production, sets, costumes, hair and make-up) will come to just a couple of million. If you want to watch an excellent movie that cost a tiny fraction of this budget. I recommend “Ladybird”, currently showing on iPlayer.

Last edited 10 months ago by Amy Horseman
Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

That it made that amount is a testament to what has transpired over the past decades.
Personally, I am sick of it and tell people in no uncertain measure. Don’t need fools for friends. No more Mr PC. Calling it as I see it and I think we all should. If they call me “whatever” homophobe, racist, misogynist, antisemitic, and the rest, I can always defeat them in pure argument and call on my old friends to put their silly accusations to rest. The only ism / phobia / et al; i probably have now become a fully fledged misanthrope – thanks to these loonies.

Last edited 10 months ago by Andy O'Gorman
Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

So I looked up the production cost and box office for the original and the sums are $40 and $211 million. Yes, over 30 years ago the original actually grossed more than the modern remake.

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

It’s bow locks.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

Movie has earned $209 million, but the budget was $250 million!! How can it possibly be this expensive to make a movie? I’m sure it will turn a small profit, but it has to be disappointing.

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  J Bryant

It’s bow locks.

J Bryant
J Bryant
10 months ago

Interesting article. And the big question (actually, the only question that really matters) is…how much did the movie gross at the box office?
And the answer (from various internet sources) is…not all that much relative to large production and marketing costs. In particular, the income from ex-US markets is poor.
No clear explanation from the internet for the relatively poor performance, but the lack of overseas viewers might potentially be explained by the DEI moralizing being badly received outside the US. I’m sure, however, the msm won’t report that possibility.

Last edited 10 months ago by J Bryant
T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago

I think at this point it’s become clear that Leftism is nothing more than a Provocation. An attempt to provoke a reaction. It pushes transgressive boundaries until the disuption sparks a public resistance that the left can seize upon, label as Fascist, Phobic or etc and then claim the moral high road. But at the end of the day, its an unproductive money pit.

Critical Leftism like Intersectionality is now so far beyond parody that one has to think the Theorists at the “Policy Institutes” are already planning the Gaslight Synthesis to act like none of this ever happened. Just like how they effectively convinced the Public that they had nothing to do with civil unrest, inflation, lowered education outcomes or Covid lockdown policies.

T Bone
T Bone
10 months ago

I think at this point it’s become clear that Leftism is nothing more than a Provocation. An attempt to provoke a reaction. It pushes transgressive boundaries until the disuption sparks a public resistance that the left can seize upon, label as Fascist, Phobic or etc and then claim the moral high road. But at the end of the day, its an unproductive money pit.

Critical Leftism like Intersectionality is now so far beyond parody that one has to think the Theorists at the “Policy Institutes” are already planning the Gaslight Synthesis to act like none of this ever happened. Just like how they effectively convinced the Public that they had nothing to do with civil unrest, inflation, lowered education outcomes or Covid lockdown policies.

R Wright
R Wright
10 months ago

I do wonder whether non-white individuals who watch films like this have a pang of guilt over the possibility that they are being pandered to by white middle class middle aged women who refuse to write new, interesting non-white characters for them to look up to.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

But if white, middle-aged middle-class women attempted to write new, interesting non-white characters for them to look up to, they’d be hounded, punished, and cancelled for having the temerity to speak in an inauthentic voice.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  R Wright

But if white, middle-aged middle-class women attempted to write new, interesting non-white characters for them to look up to, they’d be hounded, punished, and cancelled for having the temerity to speak in an inauthentic voice.

R Wright
R Wright
10 months ago

I do wonder whether non-white individuals who watch films like this have a pang of guilt over the possibility that they are being pandered to by white middle class middle aged women who refuse to write new, interesting non-white characters for them to look up to.

Kelly Madden
Kelly Madden
10 months ago

As an orthodox/conservative Christian, I’m reminded of the unwatchable “Christian movies” of my youth. (Not even aware of them, I hope?) Preachy. Wooden—no, leaden. Suspension of disbelief never.
To paraphrase the (Christian) novelist Dorothy Sayers, the only “Christian” film is a good film, brilliantly done.
A fortiori…
If “The Little Mermaid” and many other Hans Christian Andersen stories have endured for almost 200 years, it’s because they captured something so powerfully true that it didn’t have to be stated in propositions. Indeed, it couldn’t be said in propositions, not so powerfully as in a tale.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is Orwell before Orwell.
These “adaptations,” however, are Stalinist after Stalin.

Kelly Madden
Kelly Madden
10 months ago

As an orthodox/conservative Christian, I’m reminded of the unwatchable “Christian movies” of my youth. (Not even aware of them, I hope?) Preachy. Wooden—no, leaden. Suspension of disbelief never.
To paraphrase the (Christian) novelist Dorothy Sayers, the only “Christian” film is a good film, brilliantly done.
A fortiori…
If “The Little Mermaid” and many other Hans Christian Andersen stories have endured for almost 200 years, it’s because they captured something so powerfully true that it didn’t have to be stated in propositions. Indeed, it couldn’t be said in propositions, not so powerfully as in a tale.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is Orwell before Orwell.
These “adaptations,” however, are Stalinist after Stalin.

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
10 months ago

“Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”
….. and we are not going to surrender the income stream this content produces

Last edited 10 months ago by Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
10 months ago

“Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”
….. and we are not going to surrender the income stream this content produces

Last edited 10 months ago by Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago

Honestly, I don’t care what colour the actress is. She’s playing a mermaid. Last I looked this is a totally made up species. Who cares.

The article did remind me of a series called Ballers, with the Rock. The first three or four seasons were awesome – spicy, irreverent, human, funny. And then it suddenly got woke. It became angry and moralizing – and boring. And then it was gone.

Interesting tidbit. Their idea of a Trump supporter was one of those intergenerational ultra wealthy white guys – wearing a sweater tied around his neck and talking in an old money New England accent. And playing tennis!! I kid you not. This was their idea of a Trump supporter.

Emil Castelli
Emil Castelli
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I think it appropriate to cast a European fairy tale with Europeans. Why Not?

And so lets ask the dreaded ‘Why Not’? – only we probably may not. We all know the reason, but still……..

We must seem an odd people to all the rest of the world. Not happy with our bodies, achievements, ethnicity, culture, past…..The ‘Troons’ (the rude word for transsexuals – I wonder if it will slide past…) have multi $Billions of effort directed at getting children to self mutilate the genitalia they were born with – chemically and physically, and reject who they are utterly. We do not just enable that, we force it on them – and so the Western people are trained to despise their own selves as a people, and all this is a bit of it. It is a weird world now days.

If something is not by accident, then is is for a reason, and so what reason describes the insanity of the modern Western era?

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

I’m no different than the vast majority of people on this site – alarmed and troubled by the woke march through our institutions. IMO, the ethnicity of the Little Mermaid is a big nothing burger compared to mutilating children in the name of gender affirming care, or the myriad of other examples out there.

Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

While I would have agreed with you not that long ago, I take issue with the double standard applied here. Try and have a white portray Margaret Singana in Ipi Tombi and there would be howls of cultural appropriation – then calls for heads to roll and boycotts. If this is not checked now, all history will be adulterated and that is unacceptable. The precipice is not that far off.
Perhaps you should reacquaint yourself with what is now transpiring in South Africa.
By government decree companies may not employ whites anymore.
And to think that I gave up so much of my energies as a young man to fight against the Apartheid regime, only to see the laws that [w]e finally eradicated return 30 years later.
Where is the moral outrage now? I’ll stop there!

Last edited 10 months ago by Andy O'Gorman
Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

We had friends – American self-described liberals – who lived in Cape Town during Apartheid. They often spoke of it very fondly, and had lovely pictures of the flower-covered house they rented. We haven’t spoken for years, but I do wonder what they’d make of South Africa today.

Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago

Well Cape town still has a semblance of order since the Democrat Alliance retook the province and the city from the ANC and they are the bastion of progress in a county falling apart at the seams. So they would be shocked at the squatter camps that the ANC allowed spring up, no, helped set up in order to get control of the city and province, which the DA is helping them to lift themselves out of poverty. (Not a DA member, but giving credit where credit is due.) In fact up to 74% on their 2023/24 budget is earmarked in one manner or the other to assist these people. The province I live in Natal, is a disaster by comparison.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

How do you bear it? When I read about t he hideous violence being committed against white citizens – hunting them like animals, for one example – I fear for anyone white who remain there.

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

How do you bear it? When I read about t he hideous violence being committed against white citizens – hunting them like animals, for one example – I fear for anyone white who remain there.

Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago

Well Cape town still has a semblance of order since the Democrat Alliance retook the province and the city from the ANC and they are the bastion of progress in a county falling apart at the seams. So they would be shocked at the squatter camps that the ANC allowed spring up, no, helped set up in order to get control of the city and province, which the DA is helping them to lift themselves out of poverty. (Not a DA member, but giving credit where credit is due.) In fact up to 74% on their 2023/24 budget is earmarked in one manner or the other to assist these people. The province I live in Natal, is a disaster by comparison.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

Margaret Singana is an actual person. There’s a big difference. The Little Mermaid isn’t even a fictional person. She’s a fictional species. It is quite possible to be outraged at the latest developments in South Africa and think the ethnicity of the Little Mermaid is a nothing burger.

You can’t be outraged at everything. You might want to save that for issues that are actually outrageous. Not the Little Mermaid.

Jim M
Jim M
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

Do you have the news link about not employing whites anymore? Any whites still in the country are risking a necklacing. They don’t even like other black nationalities immigrating into the country, why should they like whites?

Allison Barrows
Allison Barrows
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

We had friends – American self-described liberals – who lived in Cape Town during Apartheid. They often spoke of it very fondly, and had lovely pictures of the flower-covered house they rented. We haven’t spoken for years, but I do wonder what they’d make of South Africa today.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

Margaret Singana is an actual person. There’s a big difference. The Little Mermaid isn’t even a fictional person. She’s a fictional species. It is quite possible to be outraged at the latest developments in South Africa and think the ethnicity of the Little Mermaid is a nothing burger.

You can’t be outraged at everything. You might want to save that for issues that are actually outrageous. Not the Little Mermaid.

Jim M
Jim M
10 months ago
Reply to  Andy O'Gorman

Do you have the news link about not employing whites anymore? Any whites still in the country are risking a necklacing. They don’t even like other black nationalities immigrating into the country, why should they like whites?

Andy O'Gorman
Andy O'Gorman
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

While I would have agreed with you not that long ago, I take issue with the double standard applied here. Try and have a white portray Margaret Singana in Ipi Tombi and there would be howls of cultural appropriation – then calls for heads to roll and boycotts. If this is not checked now, all history will be adulterated and that is unacceptable. The precipice is not that far off.
Perhaps you should reacquaint yourself with what is now transpiring in South Africa.
By government decree companies may not employ whites anymore.
And to think that I gave up so much of my energies as a young man to fight against the Apartheid regime, only to see the laws that [w]e finally eradicated return 30 years later.
Where is the moral outrage now? I’ll stop there!

Last edited 10 months ago by Andy O'Gorman
Jeff Butcher
Jeff Butcher
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

Most Western Europeans are definitely not like this, at least in my corner of it and are growing increasingly resentful at the behaviour of these morons. The thing that frightens me is that it’s all bubbling under the surface.

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

It’s adults encountering children to self mutilate, left wing adults, who’ve been too busy thinking they’re better than everybody else to live like a human. Mermaids are purple apart from the ones that ain’t.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

I’m no different than the vast majority of people on this site – alarmed and troubled by the woke march through our institutions. IMO, the ethnicity of the Little Mermaid is a big nothing burger compared to mutilating children in the name of gender affirming care, or the myriad of other examples out there.

Jeff Butcher
Jeff Butcher
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

Most Western Europeans are definitely not like this, at least in my corner of it and are growing increasingly resentful at the behaviour of these morons. The thing that frightens me is that it’s all bubbling under the surface.

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  Emil Castelli

It’s adults encountering children to self mutilate, left wing adults, who’ve been too busy thinking they’re better than everybody else to live like a human. Mermaids are purple apart from the ones that ain’t.

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The colour of the mermaid is insignificant. It’s a scientifically proven fact that all mermaids are purple, apart from the ones who ain’t.

Emil Castelli
Emil Castelli
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

I think it appropriate to cast a European fairy tale with Europeans. Why Not?

And so lets ask the dreaded ‘Why Not’? – only we probably may not. We all know the reason, but still……..

We must seem an odd people to all the rest of the world. Not happy with our bodies, achievements, ethnicity, culture, past…..The ‘Troons’ (the rude word for transsexuals – I wonder if it will slide past…) have multi $Billions of effort directed at getting children to self mutilate the genitalia they were born with – chemically and physically, and reject who they are utterly. We do not just enable that, we force it on them – and so the Western people are trained to despise their own selves as a people, and all this is a bit of it. It is a weird world now days.

If something is not by accident, then is is for a reason, and so what reason describes the insanity of the modern Western era?

Ronald Bell
Ronald Bell
10 months ago
Reply to  Jim Veenbaas

The colour of the mermaid is insignificant. It’s a scientifically proven fact that all mermaids are purple, apart from the ones who ain’t.

Jim Veenbaas
Jim Veenbaas
10 months ago

Honestly, I don’t care what colour the actress is. She’s playing a mermaid. Last I looked this is a totally made up species. Who cares.

The article did remind me of a series called Ballers, with the Rock. The first three or four seasons were awesome – spicy, irreverent, human, funny. And then it suddenly got woke. It became angry and moralizing – and boring. And then it was gone.

Interesting tidbit. Their idea of a Trump supporter was one of those intergenerational ultra wealthy white guys – wearing a sweater tied around his neck and talking in an old money New England accent. And playing tennis!! I kid you not. This was their idea of a Trump supporter.

Jonathan Andrews
Jonathan Andrews
10 months ago

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” it reads. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

I cannot adequately express how much I hate this. I hate the contempt for our (near) ancestors. I hate the moral superiority of the idiots that write this. I hate the contempt in which they hold us, as if we are incapable of making judgements. How dare they?

Lennon Ó Náraigh
Lennon Ó Náraigh
10 months ago

The worst part is that the disclaimer can’t be fast-forwarded. Apparently.

Lennon Ó Náraigh
Lennon Ó Náraigh
10 months ago

The worst part is that the disclaimer can’t be fast-forwarded. Apparently.

Jonathan Andrews
Jonathan Andrews
10 months ago

“This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” it reads. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”

I cannot adequately express how much I hate this. I hate the contempt for our (near) ancestors. I hate the moral superiority of the idiots that write this. I hate the contempt in which they hold us, as if we are incapable of making judgements. How dare they?

Amy Horseman
Amy Horseman
10 months ago

Give me “Megamind” every day of the week. They don’t make them like they used to!

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Amy Horseman

Bullfighting and the Isle of Man TT races have NO equal for entertainment.

Amy Horseman
Amy Horseman
10 months ago

Ugh! Each to his own.

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Amy Horseman

May I ask have you ever attended either of them?

E Wyatt
E Wyatt
10 months ago

What decent person would attend a bullfight?

Mark Phillips
Mark Phillips
10 months ago
Reply to  E Wyatt

What sort of person makes utterly ignorant comments about bull fighting?
The Course Camarguaise (Camargue bullfighting). Bloodless, except accidentally. Do look it up and educate yourself. Spanish bullfighting is not the only one.

Last edited 10 months ago by Mark Phillips
Mark Phillips
Mark Phillips
10 months ago
Reply to  E Wyatt

What sort of person makes utterly ignorant comments about bull fighting?
The Course Camarguaise (Camargue bullfighting). Bloodless, except accidentally. Do look it up and educate yourself. Spanish bullfighting is not the only one.

Last edited 10 months ago by Mark Phillips
E Wyatt
E Wyatt
10 months ago

What decent person would attend a bullfight?

Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Amy Horseman

May I ask have you ever attended either of them?

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
10 months ago

I might throw in a day at the PDC World Darts, where the crowd is as entertaining as the sport.

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
10 months ago

Agree about the TT. Watch the documentary “Closer to the Edge”

Last edited 10 months ago by Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Amy Horseman
Amy Horseman
10 months ago

Ugh! Each to his own.

Alphonse Pfarti
Alphonse Pfarti
10 months ago

I might throw in a day at the PDC World Darts, where the crowd is as entertaining as the sport.

Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Ethniciodo Rodenydo
10 months ago

Agree about the TT. Watch the documentary “Closer to the Edge”

Last edited 10 months ago by Ethniciodo Rodenydo
Charles Stanhope
Charles Stanhope
10 months ago
Reply to  Amy Horseman

Bullfighting and the Isle of Man TT races have NO equal for entertainment.

Amy Horseman
Amy Horseman
10 months ago

Give me “Megamind” every day of the week. They don’t make them like they used to!

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
10 months ago

Disney animation has always straddled the border between art and indoctrination propaganda. It’s no coincidence Walt did so much of the latter during WWII. Disney has been unashamedly pushing values for its entire history. It was pushing values back Walt made the animated movie that shall not be named back in the 40’s. They basically invented the ‘message for kids’ genre of movie. Once upon a time, (pun intended), it pushed vaguely Christian values like familial love, generosity, kindness, humility, courage, etc. As I got into my teen years and started thinking for myself, I began to realize this, and not coincidentally, this was about the time I stopped going to Disney movies. I don’t have kids, so I honestly have little care for what values they’re pushing these days. If society needs a multinational corporation or a government to give us our moral compasses, we’re already well past saving. I say let them go as woke as they want and choke on it as their losses mount.

Steve Jolly
Steve Jolly
10 months ago

Disney animation has always straddled the border between art and indoctrination propaganda. It’s no coincidence Walt did so much of the latter during WWII. Disney has been unashamedly pushing values for its entire history. It was pushing values back Walt made the animated movie that shall not be named back in the 40’s. They basically invented the ‘message for kids’ genre of movie. Once upon a time, (pun intended), it pushed vaguely Christian values like familial love, generosity, kindness, humility, courage, etc. As I got into my teen years and started thinking for myself, I began to realize this, and not coincidentally, this was about the time I stopped going to Disney movies. I don’t have kids, so I honestly have little care for what values they’re pushing these days. If society needs a multinational corporation or a government to give us our moral compasses, we’re already well past saving. I say let them go as woke as they want and choke on it as their losses mount.

Sophy T
Sophy T
10 months ago

These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.’
If they were wrong then, why were they shown then?

Karl Juhnke
Karl Juhnke
10 months ago
Reply to  Sophy T

It would seem Disney was in the business of shaping people’s behaviour and beliefs back then as it is now.

Karl Juhnke
Karl Juhnke
10 months ago
Reply to  Sophy T

It would seem Disney was in the business of shaping people’s behaviour and beliefs back then as it is now.

Sophy T
Sophy T
10 months ago

These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.’
If they were wrong then, why were they shown then?

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
10 months ago

Queerness is the new despotism and its influence in the culture has gone from strong to paralyzingly strong. Yet there is powerful resistance below the surface. “In a video looking at this past weekend’s box office numbers, OMB Reviews wrote, “The Little Mermaid dropped 58% domestically and is still making next to nothing internationally. And let’s just say that film is essentially guaranteed to not only flop, but also to be a massive flop for Disney and could ultimately be one of the worst performing movies in their entire history.”

Jerry Carroll
Jerry Carroll
10 months ago

Queerness is the new despotism and its influence in the culture has gone from strong to paralyzingly strong. Yet there is powerful resistance below the surface. “In a video looking at this past weekend’s box office numbers, OMB Reviews wrote, “The Little Mermaid dropped 58% domestically and is still making next to nothing internationally. And let’s just say that film is essentially guaranteed to not only flop, but also to be a massive flop for Disney and could ultimately be one of the worst performing movies in their entire history.”

Paul Nathanson
Paul Nathanson
10 months ago

The Little Mermaid is hardly the only example of Disney’s “re-imagining” folklore for children, although earlier productions focused more attention on “gender” than race. Aladdin (2019) and Mulan (2020), for instance, are about “feisty” girls and target both feminist adults along with their proto-feminist daughters (and indirectly their proto-feminist sons).
But the most infamous example of Disney’s cinematic indoctrination would surely be Beauty and the Beast (1991), which is about as far from the original story (and earlier cinematic adaptations) as the studio could possibly get. For more on that, see Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, Spreading Misandry (State University of New York Press, 2001), chapter 6, pages 160-167. (Don’t buy the expensive book from Amazon, just ask any library to get it for you on inter-library loan.)

Last edited 10 months ago by Paul Nathanson
Paul Nathanson
Paul Nathanson
10 months ago

The Little Mermaid is hardly the only example of Disney’s “re-imagining” folklore for children, although earlier productions focused more attention on “gender” than race. Aladdin (2019) and Mulan (2020), for instance, are about “feisty” girls and target both feminist adults along with their proto-feminist daughters (and indirectly their proto-feminist sons).
But the most infamous example of Disney’s cinematic indoctrination would surely be Beauty and the Beast (1991), which is about as far from the original story (and earlier cinematic adaptations) as the studio could possibly get. For more on that, see Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, Spreading Misandry (State University of New York Press, 2001), chapter 6, pages 160-167. (Don’t buy the expensive book from Amazon, just ask any library to get it for you on inter-library loan.)

Last edited 10 months ago by Paul Nathanson
Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
10 months ago

This is reminding me of what’s happened to Doctor Who, which has had to bring back David Tennant briefly to rescue it from oblivion, before it ploughs on with the political correctness and moralising. From most conversations I’ve had about it, people have been switching off because of both bad writing and the preachy storylines – and the former may be a consequence of being restricted to the latter.

Helen Hughes
Helen Hughes
10 months ago

This is reminding me of what’s happened to Doctor Who, which has had to bring back David Tennant briefly to rescue it from oblivion, before it ploughs on with the political correctness and moralising. From most conversations I’ve had about it, people have been switching off because of both bad writing and the preachy storylines – and the former may be a consequence of being restricted to the latter.

Barry Stokes
Barry Stokes
10 months ago

Sounds like fish cultural appropriation to me. Pass the chips please.

Barry Stokes
Barry Stokes
10 months ago

Sounds like fish cultural appropriation to me. Pass the chips please.

Ramon Bloomberg
Ramon Bloomberg
10 months ago

Good article

Ramon Bloomberg
Ramon Bloomberg
10 months ago

Good article

Barry Stokes
Barry Stokes
10 months ago

Why has my comment been struck from the records?

Barry Stokes
Barry Stokes
10 months ago

Why has my comment been struck from the records?