this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2025
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Memes

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[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 6 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Isn't this the original illustration?

[–] echolalia@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 1 points 5 days ago

I don't particularly care about arbitrary race switching in fairy tales. Race has no bearing whatsoever on the actual story of Snow White

[–] ganymede@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

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.

[–] AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml 0 points 5 days ago

um sweaty the artist drew it on WHITE paper for a reason