I've been looking for something to talk about on my blog for some time now. For a while, I toyed with making this an archive of sorts. But I'm back, because something has just been unavoidable to talk about.

Disney recently announced the casting for a live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. This remake is set to feature a black lead who announced proudly on Twitter that she will not be bleaching her skin. Well, of course she won't, that would just be Whiteface. This is, of course, hot on the heels of the racist casting of a black woman as the red-headed Ariel, but hey, those gingers don't have souls, amirite?

It may sound like I'm being horribly, horribly racist. But that's only because Disney is. Their casting choice for Snow White? It was done in a racist cartoon. By the name Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves.

In an attempt to try and eliminate racism, the practitioner of equity is often the most racist. Nowadays, people will say a black Dracula is stunning and brave. I call it Blacula, an old Blaxploitation flick among the lines of a film whose name I can't even say but has a memorable theme song. Which is the point; the whole movie is priding itself on the idea of “We have black people!” As if people like Billy Dee Williams, Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, John Boyega, Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones, Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, and a host of countless others never had the chance to make it big in Hollywood until the House of Mouse let them into their club. And that's just the men!

These cultural depictions usually come down to one of three depictions: African Natives, Confederate Slaves, and The Hood; and all three are just evolved forms of the Savage, Sambo, and Mammy that black culture previously decried. Yet these forms are being called revolutionary despite being essentially the same thing with a new coat of paint, especially by people outside the black community who don't realize how much harm they do not only on an external level, but an internal level.

Think of it this way: if you praise a violent thug solely based on the color of their skin because “I finally get to see someone like me on film”... who do you see? The skin color, or the personality?

Indeed, plenty in the black community, however many table scraps they are thrown at by the house owners, reject this ideology and create their own icons, people who can be identified with by anyone. Eve's Bayou tells the story of turmoil in a Louisiana family, but doesn't indulge in stereotyping. It even features Samuel L. Jackson in a role outside his usual violent action star persona. Yet, when others try and pander to the audience, they typically fall into one of the negative stereotypes of the modern era. Yet rather than call a spade a spade, the casual audience doesn't realize they are being fed lies.

Only through the creation of positive role models can the stereotypes be broken. Miles Morales from Into The Spider-Verse is a soulful musician artist, and an intelligent one to boot. Breaking away from these stereotypes made him beloved by many. And it was the concept behind Finn from Star Wars that made him a beloved character, with Lando Calrisian and Mace Windu being not far behind. People are so worried that original black characters won't succeed... except research has shown they not only can, they do. Black Panther ring any bells?

In their strive to rewrite history, Disney has created a new issue that plagues their modern work. They have turned the black community into a pawn in the game. They have objectified them. Tokenized them.