With a voice that could entrance sailors to jump to their deaths and acting talent that directors would be delighted to have, Zendaya has been rumored to cast as the live action version of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Yet, mere days after rumors spread, the news blew up with negative backlash.
Most backlash would be about the actor/actresses ‘shady past’ or even about their talent, but that’s not the case. The old age way of thinking hasn’t disappeared just yet; the backlash on Zendaya is about the color of her skin. Many racist tweets surfaced about a “black” actress playing a “white” fictional character, or that Disney is just trying to include more people of color for the money, and even more backlash about how the actress doesn’t even look like the little mermaid. Though who are they all fooling? Underneath all that framed ‘Disney devotion’ is nothing but racism. Put it this way: would you rather have the actress look like the character but sing and act horribly, or would you rather just enjoy the film with a talented actress who just so happens to have darker skin than a fictional character who doesn’t even have a ‘canon’ ethnicity? Despite this obvious answer, people continue to drive home the old age way of thinking. This backlash on people of color has also surfaced months ago when The Last Jedi premiered and revealed one of the characters was being played by an Asian actress named Kelly Marie Tran. Tran had been the first woman of color as a lead character in the Star Wars series, despite her superb acting skills and her role allowing more children to remember that the world is changing, she had gotten backlash for the color of her skin. With racial slurs and internet trolls sending nothing but hate over her character, it seemed like we were all back to square one. Eventually, Tran spoke out about it all, she had shared her story about how hurtful those comments were. However, Tran now believes that seeing an actor or actress who were different races was important. It gave hope and provided better imagery for kids who were watching. A wide range of people are speaking out against the ‘haters’ who continue to slander Zendaya just because of her skin. They are encouraging her to take the role because so many people are hyped and excited to just see the her as Ariel. With Zendaya’s appearance in recent films like The Greatest Showman, that showed off her acting AND singing abilities making it a great recommendation for anyone doubting her talent. As well as SpiderMan: Homecoming, where once more displayed her acting abilities. With these and many more films, we viewers know that skin is just a color, it’s not a big deal. So I hope, as well as so many people, Zendaya will take the role as the beloved Little Mermaid. |