Kulturkampf

[PhoenixDark]

I think Disney is really all in on the culture war. They can't think of any way to make a Snow White movie interesting so the attention must come from making snow white a Latina and the dwarves a random mix of races, genders and heights.

Question is if this will pay off at the box office or not. If this is another flop I could imagine Disney doing a complete 180° and playing it pretty conservative for their next slate.

I don't think they'll change views on race swapping, which is understandable in the sense that rising demographics means marketing towards little Hispanic/black/Asian/etc kids is lucrative. I just wish they'd admit that's all this is, because for the most part Disney has no interest in telling Hispanic/black/Asian/etc stories. They want butts in seats. But given that this isn't really putting butts in seats beyond a handful of examples, like Miles Morales/Spiderman? Surely there has to be some course correction. 

The thing I don't understand...all of these IPs have global reach, massive success, mind share etc etc yet each time this happens the argument is "well we wanted to tell a diverse story that current generations can relate to." But...the current generation has been relating to the previous versions too, it was incredibly popular/successful, and its "diversity" related to universal truths or experiences people related to. The LOTR films grossed billions of dollars, the novels have been translated into every language on earth, and the story has stood the test of time for nearly a century. I'm not sure have to relate to current generations in order to get them to watch...LOTR. Or Snow White. Or anything, really. Doesn't mean I'd expect this stuff to be lily white either. I'm all for seeing black and Hispanic people in stuff. Too bad it's rarely more than token participation or a race swap. And it's usually done in a corny 2000s SyFy Channel way. The seven non-dwarves in those pics look laughable. The costume design is bad, the actors look weird, you already know the dialogue will be cringe worthy. It's like a generation of studio execs decided to put Jar Jar Binks in everything...but make him a non-white human. Surely there's a better way to include black people in shit than to constantly do this.

Frozen 2 is a great example of having various groups without feeling forced or corny. It's also the most successful thing Disney has done in ages. Yet for whatever reason instead of going in that direction (diverse main or side characters who are actually...characters) they keep making diverse caricatures.