LOCAL and Florida Politics

[prahaboheme]

Predictions are that Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer, and Barbie are all set for a big opening weekend. Top Gun Maverick was a huge success domestic and foreign.

Indiana Jones just seems like a relic in comparison.  

Edited July 6, 2023 by prahaboheme

[shardoon]

5 minutes ago, prahaboheme said:

Predictions are that Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer, and Barbie are all set for a big opening weekend.
 

I'm actually looking forward to Oppenheimer. Supposedly got real good reviews. As crazy as it sounds, got me doing a little research and was dumbfounded that there is a theoretical capable plan that was proposed to create a 10,000 megaton bomb..... literally a 10 gigaton bomb. Projections were that it would flash ignite and over pressurize an area the size of New England, and that is before the radiation damage. Thankfully, the plans never materialized with building the damn thing.

Now back on topic. I just returned home from a 4th of July vacation this morning. The airport was busy as hell.  

Edited July 6, 2023 by shardoon

[HankStrong]

On 7/5/2023 at 6:06 PM, jrs2 said:

Little Mermaid

This isn't the thread for it, but for the love of God I'd love for someone to show me some proof that a fictional race of creatures of mermaids must be one skin color or else they are "woke" or something.  What other fictional races do we have to worry about skintone with?  Is Bigfoot white or black under that fur?  Can there be brown-skinned witches, ghouls, and wizards? What about elves, dwarves, or hobbits must they all be white?

[shardoon]

1 hour ago, HankStrong said:

This isn't the thread for it, but for the love of God I'd love for someone to show me some proof that a fictional race of creatures of mermaids must be one skin color or else they are "woke" or something.  What other fictional races do we have to worry about skintone with?  Is Bigfoot white or black under that fur?  Can there be brown-skinned witches, ghouls, and wizards? What about elves, dwarves, or hobbits must they all be white?

You are correct, this really isn't the thread for this. But since you asked, I would presume any fictional creature can be of any race. However, the character,  Ariel,  was already a white red headed character from the original story. It is what is it, although good effort to rationalize it. With that being said, I have no problem with Disney trying to diversify their characters...... but it's stupid for doing it to characters that already have an identity. Is Disney without any creativity to dream up new characters and storylines for these new characters for the future?

Edited July 7, 2023 by shardoon

[jack]

1 hour ago, HankStrong said:

This isn't the thread for it, but for the love of God I'd love for someone to show me some proof that a fictional race of creatures of mermaids must be one skin color or else they are "woke" or something.  What other fictional races do we have to worry about skintone with?  Is Bigfoot white or black under that fur?  Can there be brown-skinned witches, ghouls, and wizards? What about elves, dwarves, or hobbits must they all be white?

I hear you but it seems like those kind of people cannot be reasoned with. Unless it is a historical figure where their appearance impacted their life, it does not matter what the gender or skin color is.

[shardoon]

I had a friend send me pics from Epcot and it is so empty.

https://insidethemagic.net/2023/07/walt-disney-world-crowds-vanish-parks-at-their-emptiest-in-10-years-cj1/

[HankStrong]

3 hours ago, shardoon said:

Ariel,  was already a white red headed character from the original story.

She's not described as white, nor a redhead in the original story.  She doesn't even have a name.  She comes from an underwater kingdom way out in the ocean and is only referred to as The Little Mermaid.  Don't hide behind blatant racism by saying I'm rationalizing.  I'm not.  Pocahontas should be Native American because first she was real and second because of the story context.  Lilo & Moana should be Polynesian (skin color varies greatly), Belle should be French (not British! Come on, that was insulting casting right there!), and Mulan should be Chinese.   All because of story context.

Breaking news: Humpty Dumpty wasn't ever described as an egg.  Dracula could turn into a lot of things, not just a bat.  Frankenstein's monster was yellow with long, flowing raven hair and beautiful teeth.  Jack Reacher was a hulking 6'5" 250lb man with massive muscles and not Tom Cruise.  Also of note, donkey & dragons can't have babies that look like flying donkeys that breathe fire.

[jgardnerucf]

15 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Humpty Dumpty

was a cast iron cannon...

[jrs2]

47 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

She's not described as white, nor a redhead in the original story.  She doesn't even have a name.  She comes from an underwater kingdom way out in the ocean and is only referred to as The Little Mermaid.  Don't hide behind blatant racism by saying I'm rationalizing.  I'm not.  Pocahontas should be Native American because first she was real and second because of the story context.  Lilo & Moana should be Polynesian (skin color varies greatly), Belle should be French (not British! Come on, that was insulting casting right there!), and Mulan should be Chinese.   All because of story context.

Breaking news: Humpty Dumpty wasn't ever described as an egg.  Dracula could turn into a lot of things, not just a bat.  Frankenstein's monster was yellow with long, flowing raven hair and beautiful teeth.  Jack Reacher was a hulking 6'5" 250lb man with massive muscles and not Tom Cruise.  Also of note, donkey & dragons can't have babies that look like flying donkeys that breathe fire.

kids don't read books, Hank.  They watch cartoons.  And if they do read a book, it looks something like so:

 

[jrs2]

And, @HankStrongAriel's look was based off of model Sherri Stoner.  The idea came from Hans Christian Anderson but Disney made their own story:

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by jrs2

[angela1117]

On 7/5/2023 at 7:28 PM, prahaboheme said:

I'm quite enjoying watching DeShameless implode on the national stage.

same!

 

[shardoon]

3 hours ago, HankStrong said:

She's not described as white, nor a redhead in the original story.  She doesn't even have a name.  She comes from an underwater kingdom way out in the ocean and is only referred to as The Little Mermaid.  Don't hide behind blatant racism by saying I'm rationalizing.  I'm not.  Pocahontas should be Native American because first she was real and second because of the story context.  Lilo & Moana should be Polynesian (skin color varies greatly), Belle should be French (not British! Come on, that was insulting casting right there!), and Mulan should be Chinese.   All because of story context.

Breaking news: Humpty Dumpty wasn't ever described as an egg.  Dracula could turn into a lot of things, not just a bat.  Frankenstein's monster was yellow with long, flowing raven hair and beautiful teeth.  Jack Reacher was a hulking 6'5" 250lb man with massive muscles and not Tom Cruise.  Also of note, donkey & dragons can't have babies that look like flying donkeys that breathe fire.

Losing an arguement does not give you the right to call someone a racist. Shame on you and be better. And as others mentioned, outside of a very select few, nobody knows the Little Mermaid from the original story. And if we were following your failed attempt to rationalize, then this new version of the Little Mermaid should not have had the lead character's name as Ariel. As you stated, the original story had no name. However, they didn't do that, so yes, I feel it was stupid. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by shardoon

[shardoon]

Since Indiana Jones was brought up, but got back from seeing it. I do not think it's woke. I actually thought it was pretty good. I don't know why there are negative reviews and it isn't doing good at the box office. I'm amazed at how AI paired with CGI can bring youth back to actors. Literally the first 30 minutes was  the Harrison Ford from the 1980's. The only thing that they could have done better was use a AI created voice from his younger self. AI can do that. Instead, they dubbed Harrsion Ford's current voice, which you can tell is an elderly Ford's voice. 

It's scary, but in theory, an actor can play the leading role in countless films after their death. If an actor's estate is ok with getting paid for these roles, this may be where the future is. 

[nite owℓ]

On 7/7/2023 at 9:59 AM, shardoon said:

You are correct, this really isn't the thread for this. But since you asked, I would presume any fictional creature can be of any race. However, the character,  Ariel,  was already a white red headed character from the original story. It is what is it, although good effort to rationalize it. With that being said, I have no problem with Disney trying to diversify their characters...... but it's stupid for doing it to characters that already have an identity. Is Disney without any creativity to dream up new characters and storylines for these new characters for the future?

This. It's stupid and lazy. Instead of creating new characters or stories, they shoehorned another race into the role. It's not pleasant when characters get whitewashed and it's the same when roles are reversed because it causes a backlash/resentment. Is it really so hard to make new stories starring people of color? Casting directors also made Ariel's father, King Triton, a hispanic and Ariel's sisters were misc. races they really tried to check all the boxes in the movie lol.

[HankStrong]

On 7/7/2023 at 6:01 PM, shardoon said:

Losing an arguement does not give you the right to call someone a racist. Shame on you and be better. And as others mentioned, outside of a very select few, nobody knows the Little Mermaid from the original story. And if we were following your failed attempt to rationalize, then this new version of the Little Mermaid should not have had the lead character's name as Ariel. As you stated, the original story had no name. However, they didn't do that, so yes, I feel it was stupid. 

I'm not going to play in these politics threads and it is my intent that this will be my last comment here.  I didn't lose an argument and call you a racist. I know it's popular now to just declare yourself a winner and expect it to be true, but we're not competing here.

There is no reason The Little Mermaid can't be whatever skin color she is.  There is nothing inherently white/redhead about a mermaid falling in love and giving up her voice to win him over.  It makes ZERO difference to the story.  If she is white, black, Asian, Hispanic, pale, dark, tan, it doesn't matter.  The story doesn't change.  That's the point.  Anger or imaginary rage about her not being white with red hair is silly.  Saying it's not how people remember the character is silly.  Lots of people have played Batman, The Joker, Spider-Man, Superman, James Bond, Jack Ryan, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Catwoman, Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, Robin Hood, etc.  You may have a favorite, but different actors bring different things to the role.  You'd be really confused if you look at the Spiderverse because in different versions of that character, different people get bitten by the spider.  Is it Gwen?  Is it Miles? Is it Peter?  Is it Peni?

There are many movies where it does make a difference what color your skin is, what you look like, or what race you are.  It's vital to the story.  However getting angry because of this casting choice isn't based in storytelling.  It's based in not wanting a black actress in the role because she's not white.  

Fake examples: Casting Jennifer Lopez as Harriet Tubman?  Casting Danny DeVito as Abraham Lincoln?  Jet Li as George W. Bush?  Denzel Washington as FDR?  Matt Damon as a slave in the American South in 1855?  Those roles matter.  Real example: Scarlett Johansson as the young Japanese woman Major in Ghost in the Shell was just wrong and made no sense.

 

 

Racism.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck, looks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

[jack]

6 hours ago, nite owℓ said:

This. It's stupid and lazy. Instead of creating new characters or stories, they shoehorned another race into the role. It's not pleasant when characters get whitewashed and it's the same when roles are reversed because it causes a backlash/resentment. Is it really so hard to make new stories starring people of color? Casting directors also made Ariel's father, King Triton, a hispanic and Ariel's sisters were misc. races they really tried to check all the boxes in the movie lol.

Character get changed all the time and no one cares. Height, weight, national origin etc. But change the  the skin color and people go nuts. 

Ariel's sister represent the different seas. It is not a stretch to have them look differently. 

[shardoon]

41 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

I'm not going to play in these politics threads and it is my intent that this will be my last comment here.  I didn't lose an argument and call you a racist. I know it's popular now to just declare yourself a winner and expect it to be true, but we're not competing here.

There is no reason The Little Mermaid can't be whatever skin color she is.  There is nothing inherently white/redhead about a mermaid falling in love and giving up her voice to win him over.  It makes ZERO difference to the story.  If she is white, black, Asian, Hispanic, pale, dark, tan, it doesn't matter.  The story doesn't change.  That's the point.  Anger or imaginary rage about her not being white with red hair is silly.  Saying it's not how people remember the character is silly.  Lots of people have played Batman, The Joker, Spider-Man, Superman, James Bond, Jack Ryan, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Catwoman, Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, Robin Hood, etc.  You may have a favorite, but different actors bring different things to the role.  You'd be really confused if you look at the Spiderverse because in different versions of that character, different people get bitten by the spider.  Is it Gwen?  Is it Miles? Is it Peter?  Is it Peni?

There are many movies where it does make a difference what color your skin is, what you look like, or what race you are.  It's vital to the story.  However getting angry because of this casting choice isn't based in storytelling.  It's based in not wanting a black actress in the role because she's not white.  

Fake examples: Casting Jennifer Lopez as Harriet Tubman?  Casting Danny DeVito as Abraham Lincoln?  Jet Li as George W. Bush?  Denzel Washington as FDR?  Matt Damon as a slave in the American South in 1855?  Those roles matter.  Real example: Scarlett Johansson as the young Japanese woman Major in Ghost in the Shell was just wrong and made no sense.

 

 

Racism.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck, looks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

And there it is. Someone disagrees with you and they are a racist. Good luck in life with your soapboxing. You are losing arguments against yourself, all on the same post. You claim you did not call me a racist, then you infer that exact thing.  Once again, shame on you. The world will always be racist to you if that is what you make out the world to be. Are there racists out there? Sure. However, people can have opinions on a topic and not be a racist just because it goes against your opinion on the matter. How about, its a character that already had an identity. You mentioned lots of actors/actresses that were played by many different people with different appearances. You mentioned James Bond. Surely you would remember the uproar when Daniel Craig was casted as him. What was the uproar about? Well, he had blond hair and 007 always had dark hair. Maybe its time you take your blinders off and admit, not everything is about race. People that only see the world through race are racists themselves and I truly believe you are better than that. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by shardoon

[HankStrong]

5 hours ago, shardoon said:

And there it is. Someone disagrees with you and they are a racist. 

Shame on me for taking this bait.  I'll be quick and as succinct as possible.  I disagree with you and I did not specifically claim YOU were a racist, nor did I call you one.  Quite specifically correlation does not imply causation in this case.  I do not believe this is racist because I do not agree with it.  I believe that the vast bulk of the uproar over a black Little Mermaid is based on some degree of racism, even an unconscious bias sort of racism.  I did not print you a specific badge that says "Hello, I'm a racist" on it or something.  I do feel that racism is involved in this story, but I'm not labeling specific people as such.  

5 hours ago, shardoon said:

Good luck in life with your soapboxing. You are losing arguments against yourself, all on the same post. You claim you did not call me a racist, then you infer that exact thing.  Once again, shame on you. The world will always be racist to you if that is what you make out the world to be. The world will always be racist to you if that is what you make out the world to be. Are there racists out there? Sure. However, people can have opinions on a topic and not be a racist just because it goes against your opinion on the matter.

Another victory claim! Much like DJ Khalid, all you do is win!  Stop changing the point.  I did not claim the entire world was racist, nor that I see it everywhere.  I am specifically talking about one movie, one character, and the reaction to that character. 

As a sidebar, it might be effective to learn the difference between infer and imply.  I cannot infer something I said myself.  However, I didn't imply it either.  I said this directly without implying anything at all:  However getting angry because of this casting choice isn't based in storytelling.  It's based in not wanting a black actress in the role because she's not white.  

5 hours ago, shardoon said:

Once again, shame on you. How about, its a character that already had an identity. You mentioned lots of actors/actresses that were played by many different people with different appearances. You mentioned James Bond. Surely you would remember the uproar when Daniel Craig was casted as him. What was the uproar about? Well, he had blond hair and 007 always had dark hair. Maybe its time you take your blinders off and admit, not everything is about race. People that only see the world through race are racists themselves and I truly believe you are better than that. 

This sort of sounds like you're building a straw man fallacy attempt.  My comments aren't that it is somehow OK to have an uproar about white people like Daniel Craig, but not people of other races.  I think the info you provided about the blonde Bond uproar is weak on their part.  Why should they care what color his hair is?  It doesn't change the story in any way.  Are you trying to agree with me or are you switching the conversation to trying to present a superficially similar (but not equal) version of what I'm saying to win again?   Am I against a blonde Bond in this scenario of yours? I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out that I think Idris Elba would be AMAZING as James Bond.  There is nothing inherent to the Bond story that requires him to be white.  However, if you make James Bond a Brazilian special agent for whatever their agency is called (without Googling that I don't know) then you have completely changed the story.  He's a British agent.  Idris is British.  That works.  I know a lot of people are against that, too, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the color of his skin to those folks.  Bond just has an identity! (that's sarcasm)

Again, I hang my head in shame for even replying.  I shouldn't have taken the bait.

[jrs2]

8 hours ago, HankStrong said:

I'm not going to play in these politics threads and it is my intent that this will be my last comment here.  I didn't lose an argument and call you a racist. I know it's popular now to just declare yourself a winner and expect it to be true, but we're not competing here.

There is no reason The Little Mermaid can't be whatever skin color she is.  There is nothing inherently white/redhead about a mermaid falling in love and giving up her voice to win him over.  It makes ZERO difference to the story.  If she is white, black, Asian, Hispanic, pale, dark, tan, it doesn't matter.  The story doesn't change.  That's the point.  Anger or imaginary rage about her not being white with red hair is silly.  Saying it's not how people remember the character is silly.  Lots of people have played Batman, The Joker, Spider-Man, Superman, James Bond, Jack Ryan, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Catwoman, Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, Robin Hood, etc.  You may have a favorite, but different actors bring different things to the role.  You'd be really confused if you look at the Spiderverse because in different versions of that character, different people get bitten by the spider.  Is it Gwen?  Is it Miles? Is it Peter?  Is it Peni?

There are many movies where it does make a difference what color your skin is, what you look like, or what race you are.  It's vital to the story.  However getting angry because of this casting choice isn't based in storytelling.  It's based in not wanting a black actress in the role because she's not white.  

Fake examples: Casting Jennifer Lopez as Harriet Tubman?  Casting Danny DeVito as Abraham Lincoln?  Jet Li as George W. Bush?  Denzel Washington as FDR?  Matt Damon as a slave in the American South in 1855?  Those roles matter.  Real example: Scarlett Johansson as the young Japanese woman Major in Ghost in the Shell was just wrong and made no sense.

 

 

Racism.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck, looks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

@nite owℓsaid it best.  They are not making new movies; rather, they are remaking the same movies with an established fan base with minorities in the starring roles instead. 

As for your statement I bolded above:  my question to you is simply, so what?  Is it racist to expect Ariel to be a white redhead because that's what she was in the prior movie/story?   They're losing money at the box office b/c it's a bunch of BS and people aren't buying into their BS.  Are they mow going to fire all the white redheads at the character greeting stations at the parks and replace them with black female characters instead?   When that fails, just don't call white people racists, again, when they reject them too.    

What's laughable is that they themselves have talked about "diversity" in their casting decisions.   The director to Love Actually repented for God's sake for his big "sin".  Little Mermaid is simply continuing a trend of canceling white people under the guise of "diversity."

So when casting and the field comprises all races and hair colors, who do you choose? Well, if she was a white redhead, you choose the white redhead.   Who do you cast when you are trying to push your woke ideology onto society?  The black girl (in this case).  I'm surprised they didn't go with a tranny.

Did Kathleen Kennedy have a say in this or was it merely Disney Studios' DEI agent?

And on the "racist" comment or allusion to being one because "it's based on not wanting a black actress in the role because she's not white," well, tough, Disney chose a black girl, and that decision gets the ire.  I would have said the same thing if Ariel was my Vietnamese manicurist, or my Hindu tailor's niece.  White red-head.  And it's not racist to expect one in this case.

I mean, dang, did Non-Prince Harry piss that many people off with Megan that now even Disney hates all gingers? Apparently so...

 

[jrs2]

3 hours ago, HankStrong said:

Shame on me for taking this bait.  I'll be quick and as succinct as possible.  I disagree with you and I did not specifically claim YOU were a racist, nor did I call you one.  Quite specifically correlation does not imply causation in this case.  I do not believe this is racist because I do not agree with it.  I believe that the vast bulk of the uproar over a black Little Mermaid is based on some degree of racism, even an unconscious bias sort of racism.  I did not print you a specific badge that says "Hello, I'm a racist" on it or something.  I do feel that racism is involved in this story, but I'm not labeling specific people as such.  

Another victory claim! Much like DJ Khalid, all you do is win!  Stop changing the point.  I did not claim the entire world was racist, nor that I see it everywhere.  I am specifically talking about one movie, one character, and the reaction to that character. 

As a sidebar, it might be effective to learn the difference between infer and imply.  I cannot infer something I said myself.  However, I didn't imply it either.  I said this directly without implying anything at all:  However getting angry because of this casting choice isn't based in storytelling.  It's based in not wanting a black actress in the role because she's not white.  

This sort of sounds like you're building a straw man fallacy attempt.  My comments aren't that it is somehow OK to have an uproar about white people like Daniel Craig, but not people of other races.  I think the info you provided about the blonde Bond uproar is weak on their part.  Why should they care what color his hair is?  It doesn't change the story in any way.  Are you trying to agree with me or are you switching the conversation to trying to present a superficially similar (but not equal) version of what I'm saying to win again?   Am I against a blonde Bond in this scenario of yours? I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out that I think Idris Elba would be AMAZING as James Bond.  There is nothing inherent to the Bond story that requires him to be white.  However, if you make James Bond a Brazilian special agent for whatever their agency is called (without Googling that I don't know) then you have completely changed the story.  He's a British agent.  Idris is British.  That works.  I know a lot of people are against that, too, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the color of his skin to those folks.  Bond just has an identity! (that's sarcasm)

Again, I hang my head in shame for even replying.  I shouldn't have taken the bait.

bias is not racism, especially not contextual bias (ala in the context of a white redhead playing Ariel, who is a white redhead in all prior media on the character)...

The term "unconscious racism" is nothing more than an insidious leftist black activism term to place shame onto someone white.  It's bullsh!t.  Only racists label others as having an unconscious racism. Because if the tabula rasa is really a thing, everybody is a blank slate with different life experiences and no one knows everyone else's life experiences.

Racial bias is not racism, conscious or unconscious.  But it's more complicated with whites when ethnicity is involved.  Black immigrants have different ethnicities too, whether you're Jamaican, Haitian, Ethiopian, etc.  But just because you're Italian and want your Italian daughter to make babies with another Italian and to dump her black boyfriend doesn't make you a racist.  If it's ok for Muhammed Ali and Malcom X to preach ethnic and racial similarity, then it's not racist for whites to do the same.

As for Idris Elba, I think he would be a fantastic Bond.  Except for one thing:  MI-6 was geared towards the spy vs spy during the Cold War with the KGB.  I think a black agent would stand out just a little.  But times and enemies change.   Now, in The A-Team the movie, the army guy that was pursuing The A-Team, "Lynch," was made a code name versus the name of the actual character's name.  They would have to make "James Bond" a code name as well because now they are changing the race.  In Doctor Who, they just make him regenerate into a different person which explains casting changes.  

[JFW657]

Re: The Little Woke Mermaid.... 

To myself and a lot of others I think, it's got little, if anything, to do with race or skin color.

It's mainly just the pandering to popular opinion that some find annoying.

The bowing and scraping and eagerness to quiet the squeaky wheels. 

A small group of people complains that they aren't being represented equally or fairly, so in typical corporate pandering fashion, big companies like Disney jump on the bandwagon and try to prove how enlightened and socially conscious they want us to believe they are.

See also Aunt Jemima and Mrs Butterworth's Syrups, Uncle Ben's Rice, Eskimo Pie Ice Cream, The Frito Bandito, etc.

There's just an air of fakeness and phoniness about it all. 

Also, a lot of people don't like having their memories of things that were significant to them in their youth, tossed out the window and remade into some new, flavor of the day version that has current, popular appeal.  

Leave the old stuff alone.

Go out and create new stuff.  

[shardoon]

2 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Re: The Little Woke Mermaid.... 

To myself and a lot of others I think, it's got little, if anything, to do with race or skin color.

It's mainly just the pandering to popular opinion that some find annoying.

The bowing and scraping and eagerness to quiet the squeaky wheels. 

A small group of people complains that they aren't being represented equally or fairly, so in typical corporate pandering fashion, big companies like Disney jump on the bandwagon and try to prove how enlightened and socially conscious they want us to believe they are.

See also Aunt Jemima and Mrs Butterworth's Syrups, Uncle Ben's Rice, Eskimo Pie Ice Cream, The Frito Bandito, etc.

There's just an air of fakeness and phoniness about it all. 

Also, a lot of people don't like having their memories of things that were significant to them in their youth, tossed out the window and remade into some new, flavor of the day version that has current, popular appeal.  

Leave the old stuff alone.

Go out and create new stuff.  

I agree. It's as simple as that.

Elite academics have too many soapboxes to yell from while dissecting innocent morals and motives with the unfortunate flaws of their own biases which paint everything as racist. At best, they are simply misguided, at worst, they themselves are racists. Thats how we wind up with black only areas on college campuses that ban white. What ever happened to diversity? What happened to the melting pot? That's what made this country great. This is what happens when race baiters harness social media to get rich while sowing discord.

With that being said, sure, there are some racists out there that will be on one side of this debate. However, the large majority of people are not looking it from a race point of view. There would also be uproar with casting a blond hair, green eyed, norweigian girl as Ariel and personally I think it would be equally stupid by Disney. Sure, there is a small subset of the population that are racists and had sinister reasons for being upset. However, just as bad as them were the race baiters that labeled everyone as racists that was upset with the Disney move. 

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by shardoon

[jack]

The problem with this kind of thinking is that everything gets labeled woke or social justice. Even if the creator had no intentions. 

If everything is woke, nothing is woke.

[shardoon]

45 minutes ago, jack said:

The problem with this kind of thinking is that everything gets labeled woke or social justice. Even if the creator had no intentions. 

If everything is woke, nothing is woke.

That is true as well. Many have been calling Indy 5 woke. I happened to like the movie and did not think it was. The problem is that social media has created a lot of social discord. According to some, everything is woke. According to others, everything is racist. If you don't agree with me, then you are woke. If you don't agree with them, then you are racist. 

People can have opinions without being woke and without being racist. 

[jrs2]

1 hour ago, jack said:

The problem with this kind of thinking is that everything gets labeled woke or social justice. Even if the creator had no intentions. 

If everything is woke, nothing is woke.

And @shardoon in the case of Indy, Kathleen Kennedy stated she wanted a female lead.  She stated as much for the SW Sequals too and a follow up movie in the works.  That is her "agenda" and its no secret.  But she didn't stop there...

As with @shardoonI also liked Indy 5 and the female lead.  But even Karen Allen was surprised when Spielberg was asked to step to the side and her role as Miriam was reduced drastically to almost nothing while the Brit was front and center.  And that's because of KK.  Karen Allen represents a prior generation and is not "useful" to KK's agenda of having these Millennials be front and center instead of the classic era heroes.  Karen Allen was a hero just as much as Harrison Ford.  

But KK chose to show an over the hill Indy down on his luck wanting to commit suicide in the past and actually had a script for Indy erasing himself out of existence in one version.  They abandoned this after much protest.  Then, they had a scenario where Indy comes back to Miriam and they are reunited with Short Round, and they all ride off into the sunset together.  Instead, they opted for a groveling old man in A.D. Syracuse who has to get slugged in the face by the Millennial because he doesn't want to go back to his depressing life.  I mean, Indy was a professor at UofC and lived in the family home.  Based on their story arc, he now lived in an apartment in a student ghetto at a lesser school somewhere in Manhattan.  Since when (yeah I know about his son's death, the divorce, etc.)?

So, WOKE Disney took a guy that found ancient relics at his own peril, had a roni with Miriam Ravenwood, challenged the Hovitos, challenged snakes, Nazi soldiers, had the balls to unbox The Ark, had the balls to go deep into occupied Austria to rescue his dad from a Nazi stronghold, punched out Shroeder on the Hindenberg, had the balls to drink from the Holy Grail to test it to save his wounded dad, went back into the Temple of Doom to rescue enslaved children facing 50 to 1 odds, challenged the Soviets and survived an atomic blast while shielding himself in a fridge.  So, now, this Ultimate Alpha is reduced to being a shell of his former self and that's purposefully done by KK and Disney.

And the thing about his goddaughter Helena Shaw being the lead, they had to create a totally new character to set the stage for introducing her into the story.  What happened to his other university buddy from Raiders and Last Crusade?  Why couldn't the lead have been Sala's daughter?  That would have made more sense.  And on that note, Sala...  this rebel against the Nazi's, ally to Indy, has been reduced to a simple NYC cab driver.

Miriam is a sad old lady now buying groceries at the market, Sala is just a cab driver now, and Indy is a suicidal bitter old man living in a student ghetto.  Give me a break...

Spielberg would have never approved of all those portrayals.

Why care?  I called Disney out back in 2015 with Episode 7; and that was before I had ever heard of the notion of "woke."  When they killed off Han Solo (whoops, plot spoiler), the entire cinema was mortified.  My office and I went to a bar drowning in our sorrows like a real person actually died.  No bullsh!t.  We were there for hours trying to come to terms with it all.  I almost called my priest.  How sad is that?  How pathetic is that?  Yeah, I admit it.  Generation X.  But, that's the point...you grow up with movie heroes, male and female, and then a leftist organization like Disney gets hold of the IP, resurrects them, and ...BAM.   I called them out back then that killing off Han Solo was an attack on a generation of fans that believed in the Alpha male hero that were least likely to succumb to Disney's current woke ideologies.  And I hit that nail squarely on its head.  Because they did the same thing to Luke Skywalker in Episode 8, and then killed off Leia in Episode 9.

So this is just a continuation of a woke agenda in hitting a generation on all fronts; and this is the fictional movie hero front, in a franchise that's larger than life, that has major annual conventions, a huge collectibles history (they perfected it), and an incredible lore (not...Data's brother, Lore).