Race-Switching In Media

   After reading and analyzing the assigned texts on The Little Mermaid, “The white nostalgia fueling the ‘Little Mermaid’ backlash” by Brooke Newman and “I Don’t Want a Black Ariel.” – ‘Why We Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Race Switching’ from The Final Cutback, are both review articles that give different perspectives on the topic and idea of “race switching” in the movie “The Little Mermaid” since Ariel (protagonist) is given a black role, which became unusual for many fans who felt connected to the original. With both authors giving their views on whether race-switching should exist in the media, they accomplish it in a way that appeals to their intended audience.

    Regarding Context, Issue, and Purpose, race-switching is a controversial topic involving the race switch of a popular fictional character as a way of supposedly bringing representation to people outside of the typical Western audience and because of (Newman relayed): “a different demographic coming of age in a more diverse America.”The issue is that most of these reboots perform poorly compared to their predecessors due to emotional and nostalgic attachment to the original as relayed by Newman: “by replacing a beloved redheaded, white cartoon character with a black live-action Ariel, Disney had tainted loyal fans’ childhood memories.” Newman supports the idea of race-switching in the media as there isn’t enough representation for certain minorities (e.g. African Americans). Her article’s purpose was to show that diversity is now the norm, stating that “The era of white-only princesses is over, thankfully.”, since we’re apparently past the stage of predominantly white characters being mainstream, we should now appeal to the newer generation rather than ourselves. Cutback being unsatisfied with the idea, his article’s purpose offers a neutral take on how race-switching should be handled in a way that doesn’t alter the source material and can still satisfy the main audience, claiming that “Representation is not something that should just be visual i.e through seeing a black face in place of another on-screen; it should be through diverse stories, characters, settings as well as the casting.” By creating new characters of different races with their own original stories, if these variants achieved the same level of success as their true counterparts, then it can still be considered as representation since the source material stayed the same and something new and unique was created and integrated that connects to the original story.

   Describing the authors, Brooke Newman is a British white woman who is a historian. The Final Cutback is an alias used by an anonymous individual, who is probably a black male and a movie reviewer. Brooke Newman’s profession as a historian explains why she supports race-switching, as she has a “special interest in the history of slavery, and the abolition movement” according to her Virginia Commonwealth University profile, which contributes to her ideology of the welfare and treatment of African Americans, with it being that there isn’t enough representation for these people in the media as she states religiously in her article along with the hashtag “#NotMyWhiteNostalgia.” Moving on to the Final Cutback, despite being black, he doesn’t outright support the idea of race-switching and presents how it can coexist, which could mean that he knows more about race portrayal than what a white woman would, as it becomes ironic that he prefers original films not wanting anything to do with race as stated: “So yeah, I don’t want a Black Ariel or Black Clark Kent or a Black version of anyone. Give us that new original content!”.

   Both articles are opinion-based, with Newman’s article published in the Washington Post and Cutbacks on Medium a year apart. With both publishing labels leaning towards the left (liberal), these opinions are coming from individuals from different races who have different thoughts on race in the media, with Newman being passively snarky against Donald Trump’s remarks on race: “In Trump’s America, it’s possible to return to a “simpler” past characterized by upward economic mobility and straight, white male cultural and political dominance.” which she opposes. While Cutback despite being black, doesn’t care for representation in films as he states: “Personally I prefer characters remain as they were created, or in this case, as they’ve manifested on screen; they became popular and loved as they are and I’d rather they stay that way rather than being altered for the sake of it.” However, Medium is supposedly an unreliable source that amateur bloggers mainly run while the Washington Post is more resourceful and has verifiable credibility from authors in prestigious positions in society. Because of this, Newman’s article will probably be looked at more positively presenting herself as a symbol of representation, and the Final Cutback, being an anonymous individual, will be known to a lesser extent, despite having a more logical opinion that doesn’t stick to a mandatory norm.

   For the intended audiences, Newman’s article appeals to those who disagree with her take while Cutback’s appeals to those who agree otherwise. In Newman’s article, she directly references those who had seen Black Ariel and calls them out for being “racist” due to the backlash surrounding the character’s race switch when it was first revealed: “Outraged by Bailey’s casting as Ariel, many (white) Disney fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment and to threaten to boycott the film.” She criticizes them for not being considerate enough and judging them too quickly based on her appearance without actually watching the movie. In Cutback’s article, his take is how race-switching should be handled differently, and with Medium being an unbiased source, his logical opinions are what drives his audience to agree with him, since it satisfies both sides of those that want representation in media while not changing the source material completely as he states: “if we are given a new story and being asked to see things from a different perspective, race switching is fair and justified.” As for the extended audiences, Newman’s article could appeal to those who had seen the movie, since they didn’t judge Ariel which could consider them “not racist”, while Cutbacks could bring in people who disagree with him, as they either want to race-switch being implemented on long-time fictional characters that are crucial to their respective franchise.

   Overall, the whole idea of race-switching is debatable. However, because these authors present their opinions in a manner that is contradictory to each other, it becomes a larger analysis in itself, with how they appeal to their intended audience, which brings in newer readers from the extended side.

MLA Works Cited:

“I Don’t Want a Black Ariel. ” — Why We Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Race Switching | The Final Cutback: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QlIWEiklQ3ac6FJM9OspBSEuTR1bZ8o9/view?usp=classroom_web&authuser=0

The white nostalgia fueling the ‘Little Mermaid’ backlash | Brooke Newman: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NXSzQbY2w1LM8EEDw07_79QRmgcr7oDJ/view?usp=classroom_web&authuser=0

Brooke Newman profile: https://history.vcu.edu/directory/newman.html

The Final Cutback profile: https://medium.com/@jpeekay