What Fantasy Race Arguments Really Say About Us

It has been weeks, and still the backlash rages on. You can turn to any corner of the internet and find it, raging internet trolls whose lives have been “destroyed”. Not by war or any government mandates. No. By the choice of Disney+ to release a straight-to-television version of The Little Mermaid in which the lead role (Ariel) is played by a Black woman.

The latest in a growing trend of digital race wars, this fantasy casting has created a mess of opinion across the internet. Just like the battles over Amazon’s Black Middle Earth elves, and previous explosions over Disney’s Star Wars castings, we are facing a dramatic up and down. There’s a lot to learn in these arguments, though. In fact, the controversies say a lot about who we are as individuals and as a society.

What is with the fantasy race wars?

The fantasy race wars have become one of the longest-lasting and absurd internet arguments to-date. Men and women alike have turned the internet into a boneyard of negativity and “hot takes”. A lot of it comes from white communities, shocked to see a change in a cartoon they (apparently) hold so dear. While the rest comes from Black communities worldwide, ecstatic for even this simple act of inclusion and representation.

It’s sad. Pathetic, even, that all of us know someone who has taken to the internet to blast out an opinion on Black elves or the new Black Ariel. One or two of us even know someone who has become apoplectic with rage on the entire idea of different races being applied to fantasy constructs.

We’re moving through a strange new world. The increasingly self-obsessed masses are becoming unable to see the bigger picture in anything. They insist, instead, on seeing their reflection in all things. Threaten that reflection, especially in terms of childhood nostalgia, and all control is lost. We’re entering an age of fantasy race wars, and it says everything about who we are as individuals and a society.

What the fantasy world race arguments say about us.

For those who can step outside of themselves, their cultures, and their ideologies — there is a lot to be learned. Disengaging from the argument, you see how pointless it is, and how it shows our biggest shortcomings as a society and maybe a species. We are being manipulated. We are being pulled into ourselves. And nothing will change it if we don’t stop it consciously.

Too many of us are in “me” mode

The narcissism of these arguments is one of the first striking things about these arguments. Taking the time to grandstand over a cartoon to-live-action mermaid is the peak of entitlement and narcissism. It reveals a person who is so caught up in “me” mode that they can’t tolerate anyone else taking up space in their main-character story line.

You see, a white narcissist is going to struggle to go to a movie and see themselves in a Black mermaid. Like all narcissists, this type of person is completely caught up in themselves and the stories they are always running their heads about who they are in the world.

They may be bound to their nostalgic ties, or just obsessed with their own white reflections. Even the arrogance of having a public opinion on such a ridiculous reveals a great deal of narcissistic tendency. Too many people are stuck in “me, me, me” mode and they don’t care what this means or doesn’t mean on an emotional, social, or even political level.

There’s a total lack of empathy

That narcissism reveals an even bigger problem in these fantasy race war arguments. Within hours of The Little Mermaid trailer being revealed, platforms like TikTok were flooded with happy Black children who were overjoyed at seeing themselves as a favorite princess. Immediately, they were countered with hateful and callous responses. What’s the problem?

Aside from the obvious, this nasty response to the joyful tears of Black children revealed a HUGE empathy problem.

How could anyone watch a video of a happy child and then react so viciously to destroy that joy? To be so blatantly mean-spirited shows a distinct lack of compassion. Petty arguments don’t matter when a child can have a few moments of innocent joy. In a world so cruel, and so brutal (especially to Black children) how could any of us deny any child something so simple?

These arguments, again, reveal people who are obsessed with themselves. They care about their own attachment to a cartoon than to giving a child a few moments of that same childhood innocence they value in their nostalgia.

Our immaturity is matchless

Again, the obvious problems (like racism) aside, this entire argument — and every single argument like it — belies a major, major immaturity in our society. It’s a petty and ridiculous argument to have. None of us should care if a fictional character is white, blue, yellow, orange, or aquamarine. They are fictional characters. They don’t exist, and they never have. They exist purely in the person’s imagination, consuming it to create whatever message or story they want to.

That’s the point of fantasy. It’s escapism. It’s always existed as a way for us to entertain ourselves, teach lessons, and learn more about our world and our own inner lives.

Frankly, all of this mermaid crap is an immature argument to have. Who cares what color a child’s fantasy character is? What self-respecting adult has the time and energy to get online and fight over the skin color of a FAKE half-fish woman?

All the while world economies are crashing…wars are escalating. All of this while plagues, hurricanes, and senseless poverty rage unchecked? Literally — grow up. Get a job. Do something productive with your time, because this is not it. This mermaid will change nothing. Your elves change nothing. Fix the real problems in reality around you.

We’re distracted beyond repair

For those who have been observing the patterns for a long time, you know that there is a decades-long distraction war that’s been going on for years. Distractions are used against you to do everything from shaping your voting to changing your buying habits. Most of the time, you don’t even realize you’re being manipulated or having your strings pulled.

These fantasy race wars are certainly a part of these new distraction techniques.

On one hand, the scandal and upset will ensure a televised hit. Millions of new users will download the Disney+ app and sign up for subscriptions, all to take a political stand or to show themselves as being on the “right side” of history. Others will do it so they have carte blanche to complain and go on racist tirades.

But then there’s the other angle. The one in which your energy is drained, directing all your upset in one direction while your powers are diminished in the other. When you are mentally and emotionally directed by central media outlets, you wind up taking what you’re fed.

Are you likely to stand up and fight the corruption in your local government if you’re tired from a day of work and a weekend of screaming on the internet? Or are you likely to be too drained to get out and get interested in what’s happening in the real world around you? Maybe all of this proves that we’re distracted beyond repair.

Where do we go from here?

Even so, we can’t lose hope. More and more of us are waking up and beginning to see the bigger picture. It’s becoming obvious that our emotions are being used against us, and that distracting arguments are being used to make money and check individual power (and the power of community, too). The more obvious that becomes, the better chance we have of changing the way our world works.

Breaking the cycle requires bigger action, bigger conversations, than arguing online over a westernized-mermaid. Genuine change will happen when we:

• Stop allowing our emotions to be outwardly directed
• Focus our attention on those who shape policy
• Questioning helpful action vs. performative action
• Avoid in-fighting with the mutually powerless

In the end, it is the people who have the numbers to demand real and meaningful change in this world. If you need an example of that, you have only to look at Russia and Iran. Greece and Ukraine.

We can shape this world into something new and beautiful, but it won’t happen by wasting our energy on the internet with tired, pointless, and petty arguments. These performative stances for and against fantasy characters do nothing to improve the real lives of the people around you.

That Disney movie won’t change policy. It won’t reform the U.S. justice system. It won’t end qualified immunity for the police, or for-profit prisons, racist infrastructure, or the real, measured execution of Black men, women, and children on American streets.

What will change that is getting off the internet and getting into the streets…like the women of Iran and the farmers of the Netherlands. It will change when we stop yelling at each other and start yelling at our politicians and thought leaders. The racism, the genocide, it will end when we demand that it ends and align our intentions with correct action.

Until then? Well, we’ll be fighting over the color of westernized, colonized fictional characters. What a way to melt down civilization, huh? Here’s to hoping we find a better way. Here’s to hoping we learn how to let everyone enjoy the small joys we find in this challenging world.

E.B. Johnson is a top writer, coach, and podcaster who specializes in narcissistic family abuse and recovery. With over two-decades of abuse recovery experience, she’s made it her mission to help others free themselves from the shadows of narcissistic abuse.

© E.B. Johnson 2022