this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2025
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Can we be upset about all of them?
Maybe, but Ariel is a fucking mer-person whose race is undefined in the OG story
Isn't this the original illustration?
She, famously, has no idea how humans live. She is culturally distinct from the Europeans on the coast.
She has more in common with the fish that she speaks to. She's basically a magic dolphin.
Meanwhile, the people in the OP image are humans (to my knowledge, I'm not a nerd). Humans who have lived in the human world with human pasts full of human culture which give context to their characterization. I'm sure their background stories matter to their fans.
Nobody argues about what color the scales on Ariel's tail should be.
I'll defer to your delphine expertise. Although Snow White is the one that really got me, she's explicitly described in the text, her snow white skin is her primary physical characteristic.
Don't get me wrong, I am upset about the others, or at least as upset as is reasonable for the ethnicities of fictional characters. But consistency is consistency. I'd rather see more stories from diverse cultures than arbitrary race-switching.
I don't particularly care about arbitrary race switching in fairy tales. Race has no bearing whatsoever on the actual story of Snow White
no, that illustration apparently came 12 years later
anyway as an 1800s fairy tale for children, imo i think it's fine to view it through the lens of whichever culture you want. the trouble imo begins when trying to ascribe something to the story which it certainly did not contain - even that is probably basically harmless if you're just confused or something, but it certainly becomes a problem when it's used to justify unfairly shitting on someone else for a slightly different yet completely harmless alternative depiction.
um sweaty the artist drew it on WHITE paper for a reason
Idc about the original story, i care about the disney version. Disney changes them all drasticaly anyway.
SANTA CLAUS IS WHITE
PEOPLE FROM THE NORTH POLE ARE WHITE
St. Nicholas was a Greek Turk though, so bad example
Not a Turk, he was most likely Lycian, Anatolian people that at the time of his birth were completely greekified. Turks only show there many centuries later.
SANTA CLAUS ISN'T FROM THE GODDAMNED MIDDLE EAST HE NEVER HAD A CHRISTMAS THAT WASN'T WHITE AAAAAA