Are You Afraid of Diversity?
This past decade has seen more actors of color in "traditionally" white roles than ever before...And it's causing a social media meltdown
A few weeks ago (months? I’m losing track of time), rumors hit the internet allegeding that Avantika Vandanapu would star in Disney’s remake of Rapunzel. Only, she was never officially cast because the movie doesn’t actually exist. It was a fancast, entirely made up.
This small detail meant nothing to the hundreds of netizens who stormed Avantika’s social media, calling her derogatory names. Meanwhile, numerous TikTok creators showed themselves sobbing at the prospect of having an Indian actress play their beloved white Rapunzel.
The racist hellfire raining down on Avantika is one cloud of many that have been haunting actresses of color in the past few years. There was, of course, the campaign against Halle Bailey, as conservatives and Christians alike vowed to boycott Disney’s remake of The Little Mermaid. There was the nauseating attacks against then 12-year-old Leah Jeffries, who was cast as Annabeth Chase in the remake of Percy Jackson. And, even before that, there was the horrific hatred levied at then nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis, who dared portray Little Orphan Annie in 2014.
These castings are being referred to as “blackwashing,” (Yes, even Avantika’s somehow), which refers to casting Black people (or POC) in “traditionally” white roles. Blackwashing may sound familiar to you, as it’s the relative of the more popular term, “whitewashing.” Whitewashing refers to casting a white person in the role of a COC (character of color lol). An example would be 2010’s Last Airbender, where white actors played Inuit characters, Sokka and Katara. And you can’t forget 2019’s Harriet, whose producer went on record and said that studio executives wanted to cast Julia Roberts in the lead role…of Harriet Tubman.
It’s going to be a fever dream of a video.
For this T.O.E prompt, I want to know your thoughts on the subject! Is “blackwashing” the same as “whitewashing”? How do you feel about remakes that include more diversity than the original? And why are so many white women crying in their cars about a made up film? Let me know, besties!
These are just general questions for the masses. Please, write freely if the ghost of a wordsmith possesses you. I just work here.
For a chance to have your submission read in the upcoming video, please email your thoughts to tragedyoferrors@shanspeare.com by May 10th, 12:00 a.m. EST.
Keep in mind that submissions are automatically classified as “anonymous” unless you explicitly state permission for your name to be read out loud! (For example: Hi, my name is [blank] and I give you permission to use my name in your video!) Video submissions and audio submissions are more than welcome!
I can’t wait to hear from you!
Shanspeare <3
some thoughts as a white european:
1) getting enraged about a Disney remake is objectively silly, because no matter what we still have the original. nostalgia makes people irrationally angry about children's cartoons, but i think it's pretty obvious that this must be (also) about something else.
2) the backlash is pretty obviously racist imho, it's the media version of "reverse racism" which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how racism in society works, of how institutionalised it is. white people have a sense of entitlement over things that really should be shared in society, like in this case access to representation, they perceive that if brown people have more space in society it threatens something dear to them, and like, that's literally just racism.
3) but the white folks who genuinely get angry about the little mermaid remake don't experience it as such. like, when we say "this is actually just about racism" they feel profoundly misunderstood and like we're not taking them seriously, and i think this causes more anger. it's kind of like when you're a kid and the fact that you have to stop playing videogames feels like the worst disrespect ever so you throw an entitled tantrum, when actually you're just tired and hungry. but like, if someone pointed out to you that you're just tired and hungry, it would feel very dismissive, it would probably enrage you.
4) and this is all very frustrating because i think there is genuine criticism to be made of these live action remakes. for starter, the CGI looks like ass. but also, i think Disney knows what it's doing, and i think they're treating the actresses cast in these movies as sacrificial victims. paradoxically, there is a kind of blackwashing going on, but it's disney dressing up as a woke company.
5) many white people are genuinely convinced that black people hold disproportionate power in society. this is because they feel like the power black people should hold is very small, but they'll never admit it. instead, they use those few occasions in which black people do manage to rise above the average (like when the largest media conglomerate in the west casts a black actress as their new star, or when the first black president of the US is elected) to validate their delusions.
6) misogyny is a huge component of this. weird how y'all didn't make all this mess when Will Smith was cast as the genie in Aladdin huh
thanks for reading all of this love your videos <3
I am a white girl from Germany so I don't have the best insight on this. But I (like many other people) grew up with Grimm's tales and Fairytales in general.
So in my opinion "Black washing" isn't a problem there since these story's don't really have characters that always look the same in every, even if there is no need to if it doesn't have any relevance story wise. It is good to see diversity especially for younger children who might not see themselves represented that often in media. I grew up looking a lot like those characters and I think everyone deserves that to a certain degree.