With my love for film and television, I am always overjoyed when women of color are cast in movies and shows. Growing up, I didn’t see much representation, so I like to celebrate what there is now. But where I find comfort and joy in seeing women of color in film, others find hate and dissatisfaction.
It happens all the time. When they released the trailer for the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, I was excited…. But there were all these hate comments on the YouTube, like “She looks nothing like Astrid!” I am so tired. When I watch a live action adaptation, I’m more excited about how the character is played, not their looks.
It is a constant cycle: women of color earn parts in beloved properties (TV or film) and the hate is fast. Rachel Zegler and Halle Bailey both got so much hate for their Disney princess roles. Even young actors like Leah Sava Jefferies (Annabeth Chase in Percy Jackson and the Olympian series) and Nico Parker (Astrid in How to Train Your Dragon live-action) were subject to online detesting. I feel defensive enough to shed light on what they endure and why I admire them for their strength.
Let’s start with Leah Sava Jefferies. Disney announced the cast of Percy Jackson on May 5, 2022, and the comments are filled with major backlash surrounding the casting of Annabeth Chase. After the initial announcement, every post following shortly after got negative comments about Jefferies. “Annabeth is ruined.” “Why the hell Annabeth is not look the same as described in the books?!! Stop doing that crap.” Jefferies was only thirteen when then, a Black girl set to take on a character who in the book is white and blond.
Although Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan was heavily involved in picking the cast, some fans were still not satisfied, claiming the choice of a Black, instead of a white Annabeth, somehow destroys the story. Even after he constantly praised the young actors for embodying the characters so well.
This one hurt because as a fan of the books, I didn’t think twice about the casting because I was confident that with Riordan’s involvement, Jefferies would do a fantastic job and she did! She nailed the role. Looking at comments on the Percy Jackson series now, no one comments on the casting, and I think every single actor on the team proved the haters wrong – especially Jefferies. She deserves so much admiration for her acting but also how she handled herself, remaining confident and strong even after the criticisms. When asked in interviews about the hate, she would just remind viewers that she was chosen by the creator himself. She sets a great example.
Nico Parker, who is set to play Astrid, is currently enduring a similar storm. Yes, Astrid in the animated How to Train Your Dragon has blonde hair and is white, but she was voiced by America Ferrera. The hate has reached a point where like Riordan, Dean Deblois, co-writer and director of the animated HTTYD, shared that although many girls that looked like Astrid auditioned, he decided to pick the actress that best embodied her personality. It’s like online trolls can’t fathom that a Black girl could really just be the best.
Halle Bailey received so much hate when she was announced as the Little Mermaid for Disney’s live adaptation, despite having red hair and a lovely voice. When the film came out, though, Bailey did an outstanding job playing Ariel.
But the Internet didn’t wait to cast judgement on Bailey, as a Black woman. The trailer for The Little Mermaid has 2 million dislikes and only 375K likes. That’s a 5:1 ratio of hate! Latina Rachel Zegler is getting similar treatment for starring in Snow White, which is coming out March 21. That trailer has 1.5 million dislikes and 53K likes or about three dislikes for every like. Meanwhile, when white actress, Lily James, starred in the 2015 version of Cinderella, that trailer got only 900 dislikes and 24K likes. Her ratio was more than flipped for every single dislike she got, she got more than 24 likes. Must be nice to be given the benefit of the doubt!
The bummer is that people don’t grow and realize that their close-mindedness is the problem, not the race of the character. One commenter said, “When are they going to remake MULAN with an all white cast?” Another said they can’t wait to see a “white princess Tiana.” Talk about petty! Plus, obviously, comments like that are in bad faith because Mulan and Tiana’s The Princess and the Frog are about specific and real times and places, where the characters’ race and ethnicity matter. Mermaids, dragons, witches, and demigods are all make believe and can be from any group without changing the heart of the story.
Variety had Bailey and Zegler as a pair for their Actors on Actors segment (where actors interview actors). One of the top comments is “This interview was Disney ‘s best fictional work in years.” When Zegler asked Bailey how she felt about the backlash, Bailey responded with, “So yeah, that was definitely something that I had to navigate, but it turned out to be the most beautiful lesson to me just to block any naysayers or negativity out, and for me, I found that it helped me.”
Overall, these actresses are inspirations, and it is my hope that people meet their casting with excitement and leave racism out of it. I wish nothing but the best for women of color in film – they certainly don’t deserve the hate. I know I can’t wait to see what Zegler and Parker bring to their characters on the big screen.
