The Hate Problem Of Disney‘s Life Action Remakes
Why we should celebrate the remakes and love the originals.
Disney is currently transforming many of its animated all-time family favorites into live-action remakes.
But not only will they be live-action…no, Disney wants to bring the stories into the 21st century with changes in the storyline and with the diversity of its cast members.
Sounds good, or not???
I believe that it is a nice thing, that Disney wants to let the old classics brighten up again in a new light. But it appears that everybody seems to have an opinion about those remakes, and if you browse through social media, you will find some pretty nasty comments and opinions.
Well, I have a more positive and supportive approach to it.
We have to admit that in a modern and open-minded world, some aspects of the old Disney stories just seem a little bit fallen out of time. But that doesn’t mean that the originals are bad.
They have enchanted many generations of children and adults as well. However, you don’t have to make them exactly the same way again to create some Disney magic.
That’s why we shouldn’t look at the remakes as improvements of the originals, because that would mean that the originals were worse.
No, we should look at them as separate movies that want to tell a different story to enchant new generations the same way the originals did and are still doing.
Children nowadays just find themselves in a different world, with different problems, and therefore, they need different role models.
Let’s take a look at The Little Mermaid. The original is wonderful, the drawings, the songs, and a story that made generations dream about living Ariel’s life.
But let us face the truth — mermaids are fictional creatures. So, there is no point in making the change of skin color a scandal. There is no wrong or right because it is fictional.
It’s not like making Rosa Park in her biopic portrayed by a young withe girl. Still, it appears that many people are upset about this minor change which doesn’t affect the story in any way.
There is absolutely no excuse for making racist comments about the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel.
It just gives a young black girl the opportunity to feel represented. Moreover, children don’t care about skin color, they care about emotions. So why do adults who are not the targeted audience of the movie, judge over the skin color of a fictional character?
Talking about the live-action adaptation of Aladin, Princess Jasmine’s role is more active. She doesn’t want to be silenced, she wants to be heard and fights for her right to become the next “Sultan” of her country and the people she cares so much for.
I think that gives the story a good spin, but it doesn’t make the original bad. The original has its own qualities; the remake just tells a different story.
Another shitstorm hit Disney for a movie that hasn’t even been released. Snow White. Rachel Zegler, the lead actress has caused quite some controversy with comments about the remake.
It is said that the new movie will be more about women’s empowerment and the dream of becoming a leader and not about being a helpless princess who is waiting for a prince to save her.
Fans of the original don’t seem to like that twist. Furthermore, they even criticize the casting of Rachel Zegler because she doesn’t quite fit the “lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow” description of the original Snow White.
Yet again, racist shaming of a lead actress has nothing to do with her quality in acting. I believe the new movie will fit the future audience better, but again, it doesn’t make the original less valuable.
It will be an independent movie with a different twist to the original.
Sadly there are more examples when exceptional movies were “canceled” because of racism and unhealthy limiting nostalgia.
We just talk about how all these remakes flop, but we don’t talk about not even giving them a chance. Our retrogressive society basically prevents future generations from having those joyous sparkling eyes children used to have.
Summing up, I believe those different approaches are a good thing.
Furthermore, it is important to say that we should give these movies a chance to tell their own stories and not undermine their success and the importance of their different approaches to telling great stories.
Moreover, adults should not cancel the remakes for not being the originals. They loved the originals for good reasons but grew up in a different time.
We should let future generations of Disney princesses and princes judge about the remakes, and we will be surprised about how open-minded children are.
That’s a thing we should all try to learn again.
