With Disney's latest live-action abomination of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on the horizon, the point has been raised that Rachel Zegler is another in the long list of Disney race-swaps, taking a European tale and putting in an actor or actress in a role that was previously established as a white character.
Race swaps aren't always political and sometimes don't matter, but they too often are. In the case of Disney's race swaps, they are politically driven and the executives haven't been shy about their DEI aims.
(READ: DE-Why? The People Who Started the Fire at Disney Are Walking Away as It Burns)
As I wrote back in March when April O'Neil of NinjaTurtles fame was race swapped into a black woman, the obsession behind modern race swaps is based on spite and for white men in particular. As I wrote back then:
They race swap purely because many of these hard-leftist elitists have a deep-seated animosity or even hatred for white people, and eliminating them from roles and subsequently inciting anger about this elimination (which they see as purely white backlash despite the evidence), makes them feel like they’re not only doing something moral for society but, more accurately, they’re scratching their own hateful, racist itch.
The lie from Hollywood is that this is about "inclusivity," making it seem as if arguing against these politically-driven race swaps is based on racism itself. Under the banner of "inclusivity," they can eject characters from their own stories and replace them with modernized versions who hardly resemble the character they're parading around as both physically and mentally.
However, it's become pretty clear that even when it comes down to it, even inclusivity of other races isn't their goal. It's cultural erasure and not just of white people.
A perfect example would be in another upcoming live-action remake from Disney, Lilo & Stitch.
For those that have never seen the film, Lilo & Stitch is about a small, cute, but incredibly destructive alien creature that crashlands in Hawaii. It befriends a young girl named Lilo and her sister Nani, becoming an adopted part of their family, and slowly learns the value of "Ohana," leaving behind his destructive and evil tendencies and embracing love and friendship.
As the film takes place in Hawaii, it's only natural that Disney would cast Pacific Islanders in their remake, which they did. Yet, despite the literal race being accurate, the radical leftists weren't pleased and threw a fit because the man they cast wasn't dark enough. The backlash to this was out of control, with people suggesting they kill the producer and casting directors.
As you can see, simply meeting certain levels of melanin is a requirement in order to be considered passable by leftist cultural judges.
You can also this in the upcoming Prince of Persia video game where the character, a Persian man, is made to look almost exactly like Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger from the Black Panther movies if he were just a tad more light-skinned.
They really just made the Prince of Persia Killmonger from Black Panther. What is with the gaming and media industry these days. pic.twitter.com/VmdgEwuDYs
— Truth Enjoyer (@TruthEnjoyer_) June 12, 2023
Even Persians are too light-skinned for the modern left.
The obsession is bizarre, to say the least, and while it's born of pure, unadulterated racism, you can see that preoccupation with skin color even extends to melanin levels. Even lighter-skinned individuals evoke violent wishes from the left despite being of the race in question.
It's a very solid reason why this race-swapping trend needs to die and stories be told as they were intended. Again, while certain race swaps here and there aren't necessarily an issue and can sometimes make the part better as the actor best fits the role, race swaps that are political in nature are racist at their core. It's the idea that the presence of certain races or skin tones must be reduced in order for others to thrive.
Why they insist on race-swapping previously established characters instead of leftists creating new characters also shows that this isn't about inclusivity, but the aforementioned cultural erasure. They don't have to go after these white characters, but they do. Studios like Disney have the power and ability to introduce all sorts of new characters from all sorts of backgrounds, yet they chose to destroy instead of create.
You can't even be of a lighter skin tone.
This erasure is dangerous, not just because it treats races as others but because it encourages a sort of cultural and racial arrested development. No one is creating anything new, just repurposing previous creations to fit a political narrative. Moreover, the races who are given these roles to replace the white characters are only being given hand-me-downs. No dynamic characters are being created that belong to that race and the main conversation about these repurposed characters involves racism and theft.
It's not conducive for creativity or race relations, yet as the ideologically radical left have demonstrated, creativity and good race relations are hardly their concern.
