The modern era is seeing an unprecedented volume of political debates and cultural wars that have deemed practices that were previously prevalent unacceptable, opening opportunities to groups of people that were previously neglected. At first glance, this seems to tell us that we’re advancing in a positive direction in terms of discrimination, but are we really?

Political correctness, especially in the world of media, has given historically marginalized communities a chance to become mainstream participants. Films and television series whose main characters are colored are now a common sight, many reaching critical acclaim. However, an excessive level of political correctness oversimplifies complex problems and becomes the source of a dangerous either-or fallacy. A timely example could be that if you do not agree with a black little mermaid, you are immediately considered racist. 

In the 1989 Disney animation, the little mermaid is white and has red hair. The 2023 remake of The Little Mermaid cast Halle Bailey, a black actress with her natural locs, sparking controversy. Until now, most stories that gained huge popularity were centered around caucasian characters, posing a difficulty for other races to get attention with an original story of their own. However, this does not mean that they should take roles that do not align with their identities simply for the sake of increasing media representation, especially when protagonists’ race no longer directly links to a film’s success. This can potentially be interpreted as cultural appropriation, which is, ironically, an issue that marginalized communities aimed to tackle.

We need to ask ourselves a fundamental question: If we cast a black person for a character that is originally white, is that progress toward racial equality? No — this is an instance of inaccurate representation, and does not permanently expand the media market to a broader range of people. Take The Princess and the Frog, for example. Tiana in the story is black, and making a live-action adaptation with a black actress starring Tiana will not be a problem at all. What would cause a backlash is casting a white actress for Tiana. The same applies to the exact opposite case. Non-white actresses should not get a “pass” to be cast as Snow White simply because they need more representation in the media. However, the overheated dispute over disparities between races in terms of media representation has made even this obvious deduction unacceptable to some; casting doubt on how an actress of Latin descent will act as Snow White in the upcoming live-action film would no longer get past people without being called out as racist.

Moreover, remakes build upon the nostalgia of audiences that are already well-versed in the original stories. Defying the purpose of the remakes may, for the time being, earn actors of marginalized communities roles but in the long run could diminish the public support for the media industry. This may deter them from making novel attempts and revert back to their traditional keynote of only adopting stories that are guaranteed success.

It is time to create new pieces dedicated to marginalized groups of people and their experiences. Although writing completely new stories for them will be ideal, this is not necessarily the only option. Just like how Hidden Figures, based on the novel of the same name, achieved significant success

both commercially and cinematically, there are plenty of stories written for traditionally underrepresented people that have full potential to receive acclaim if they are adapted into more popular forms of media.

Shoehorning people into roles and characters that do not resonate with their background will not root out the problems in the status quo, where the influence of some communities are feeble compared to the others. The Little Mermaid is a valuable attempt with significant implications for the advent of the modern media industry, but moving forward, we need to ponder means through which underrepresented groups can consolidate their standings through media that truly represent themselves; all communities should be able to tell their own stories without relying on others.