Toxic Fandoms
Originally published on Sept. 22, 2022
A few things have happened in the last few weeks that I wanted to give my two cents on; the premiere of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" on Amazon and the teaser trailer for Disney's live-action remake of "The Little Mermaid." Both of these have made news for daring to feature people of color.
Let's start with "The Rings of Power." Tolkien fans are outraged that the show cast Black actors as elves and dwarves. Their justification is that Tolkien never put Black people in the books and that elves were described as "fair-skinned." Elon Musk (yeah, that one) tweeted that "Tolkien is turning over in his grave" because the creators had the gall to cast Black people as elves, dwarves, and halflings (Hobbits).
Then a few weeks later, at D23, Disney unveiled the teaser trailer for "The Little Mermaid," and again, the racist corners of the internet lost their minds. They were not mad at the movie's plot; the teaser only showed Halle Bailey singing "Part of Your World."
Outrage over casting minorities is something that has been happening more and more. Kelly Marie Tran was bullied off social media because she was Asian and in the "Star Wars" Universe. John Boyega, who played Finn in the recent "Star Wars" trilogy, experienced a lot of the same thing. "Stormtroopers can't be Black" was the common feeling among the worst parts of society. They also had problems with Daisy Ridley's Rey being the lead character. This past year Moses Ingram was harassed for her role in "Obi-Wan" on Disney+.
Why, in these fictional worlds, can't minorities be prominent characters? You are telling me that in these worlds that can have magic, dragons, monsters, swords made of light, aliens, and superpowers that it can't have people who aren't white? What is the possible defense to only wanting to see white men in movies and tv shows? There isn't one. It is racism and sexism. Plain and simple. I am a straight, white male. If I want to see media where I am represented, I have 100 years of movies and tv to choose from.
Race, sexual orientation, gender, religious beliefs. None of these should matter in our media. The only thing that should matter is the quality of the product. Some of the biggest movies of the past ten years are proof of this. Look at "Crazy Rich Asians," "Black Panther," and even the "Fast and Furious" movies feature very diverse casts.
Representation matters. Look no further than the reaction videos of Black children reacting to the teaser for "The Little Mermaid." Their faces when Ariel makes her appearance is heartwarming. In one video, a little girl says, "She looks like me."
