[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Oh my, I did not know she was so young, then I guess cameras could indeed make her uncomfortable. I wonder how she would feel about them this time around now that she is more experienced and older.

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch She has since played in a few films and series, so probably a very different story now.

When looking at the pics from the premiere of Moana you can see physical resemblance to the character:



I stumbled upon an article about why she would not be playing in the live action remake, she mainly pointed out the age, but between the lines the ancestry is mentioned as well. It was following an outrage about the casting of Nani for Lilo&Stitch remake (the chosen actor has much lighter skin than the animation character and is lacking the racial features due to mixed descent).

She goes on to explain that she wishes for a better representation of Moana’s character and will step aside to let someone new take on the role: “I believe it is absolutely vital that casting accurately represents the characters and stories we want to tell.
“I am truly honoured to pass this baton to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent to honor our incredible Pacific peoples, cultures, and communities that helped inspire her story, and I look forward to all the beautiful Pacific representation to come.”

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Yeah, I can see the resemblance somewhat.

That is a nice sentiment, it is nice to preserve ancestry in ethnic stories and settings. Netflix is doing a somewhat better job, maybe, in their different production divisions across the globe. Maybe it is more complex with movies? They get more spotlight.

But lately, that has been a hot topic in general, too. Either the Snowhite actress's skin is too dark, or the Nani actress's skin is too light, this seems to be something people talk a lot about.

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch The actor choice for Snow White is a bit odd. It is a major change when the character was described as "pale like snow" and then has a fair bit of tan in the live action movie. Oh well, at least the trailer looks alright.

I know people were upset about the Black mermaid, but in my opinion that's a less significant change than the case of Snow White.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka Maybe snow is of a different colour in that fairytale land 😅 Which trailer do you mean, the new one with CGI gnomes? To me, it looked too computer-animated, makes me wonder if they used any real locations at all.

I guess it may be a less significant change indeed because, as you said, one of Snowhites main features is skin as white as snow (as per her mother's wish), hence the name even. Of course changing such a core and, well, name-bearing feature of the character is a sizable alteration.

With mermaid, I did not mind it, and logically, it would make sense. I mean, assuming mermaids are biologically similar to humans in terms of handling temperature, to feel comfortable being underwater all the time, they would indeed need to live in more tropical regions where darker skin is natural. That does not explain why the earth-dwellers in the same region do not have skin as dark, though. 😅

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch Yeah, the new trailer. I didn't mind it looking very computer animated, because it's supposed to be some fantasy land after all. The controversy around the dwarves was another thing that scratches my head, it feels like Disney is trying to force some very unneccessary changes.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka It is fantasy, but to me, computer animation is not on that flawless level yet. It occasionally looks creepy to me. But I guess the Grimm Brothers would appreciate, unedited versions of their fables are rather gory.

About dwarves, they kept changing them, yeah. I thought the first time they did it was because of something Peter Dinklage said?

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch Possibly. I read somewhere that he is not well liked by other little people, because his actions are bringing more harm than good to other people with this condition.

[DoctorEldritch]

@Saka I do not follow him all that closely, I only know him from GoT and that cameo somewhere in Avengers, not sure what else he is up to.

But it may be that the issue is more complex than that. I mean, in a balanced and stable industry, no one person should be able to determine what is good and what is harmful for the community they are a part of, and no single voice should be powerful enough to make a company change their plans on the go. Those are all complex issues that deserve a proper forum.

But that's wishful thinking on my part about how things should work instead of how they actually work. 😅

[Saka]

@DoctorEldritch I don't follow him either, but this was explained in some article when the drama about the dwarves first happened.