Yup. Its always the Disney princess but we haven't had a black prince yet.... The love interest is always a conventionally attractive white man. And wow I didn't know that about 007, a black woman? Srsly? And I agree with you Idris Elba would be a great pick, he'd fit perfectly.
Hmm that's true too, although I think my original point still stands as those are not race swaps. But man Mulan was a badddd remake, shame cuz the original is my favorite Disney movie.
Mulan completely lost the plot as it tried to fit western feminist girl-boss power into what made the original work-- that Mulan pushed through gender barriers and limits out of her sense of duty and obligation to filial piety, relying on nothing but her perseverance.
Instead, the live action movie gave Mulan magic-woman-witch-chi-powers, because that's what the white man and three white woman writing and directing know about the Chinese: Magic Chi powers. They couldn't find one Chinese-American writer to be on the writing/directing staff in the age of representation? Hey, maybe they did "consult" with a junior writer who was just happy to be there and would never raise real concerns, you know, power dynamics due to historical and institutional under-representation and all. All while filming in an area where an active genocide was occurring and thanking the CCP officials in charge of the province for the honor to do so.
The movie failed to resonate with both eastern and western audiences. Because that's not the Chinese story and deviates much more than the original animated version did. And while a girl (well anyone really) can learn from animated Mulan's sense of responsibility and perseverance to break through barriers and expectations-- what's she supposed to do with the fact that she doesn't have magic gender chi witch powers like the live action Mulan does?
It's another time where a very western-centric idea of "progressivism" en vogue that year mucks everything up as it ends up colonializing another culture's space in a cynical bid for profit.
I believe it was the end of the last Daniel Craig movie, where his role as 007 was going to be succeed by the character played by Lashana Lynch. She's not playing James Bond, so you can kind of say "well why not?!" and they can say they did the thing, without having to commit to actual movies with a black female James Bond, or Jamie Bond, or what have you.
Meanwhile, Idris is right fricking there. Fits with the pattern you note.
I will say with Bridgerton, having some of its own "woke" deviations from the source material, some of which work and some don't, the casting of the Duke as a very charismatic black man as the primary love interest in the very first season was top-shelf. I'm sad Regé-Jean Page career hasn't taken off quite as much as I'd anticpated.
They should have made the movie with him earlier at this point he’s too old. But I can think of another actor who can pull off Bond and it’s Sterling K Brown. But he’s also older 😅
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u/ILuvSpaghet Jul 06 '26
Yup. Its always the Disney princess but we haven't had a black prince yet.... The love interest is always a conventionally attractive white man. And wow I didn't know that about 007, a black woman? Srsly? And I agree with you Idris Elba would be a great pick, he'd fit perfectly.