Disney’s Big Mistake

Full disclosure: I don’t watch ABC’s Once Upon A Time. But I pay attention to all sorts of pop-culture news, and yesterday a story about this show caught my eye. That’s because the show has cast an actress to play Ursula from The Little Mermaid, and in doing so they made a very big mistake. In case you need a reminder, this is what Ursula looks like (with Ariel shown for perspective, just in case you need it):

Love those fat arms!
Love those fat arms!

And this is what Merrin Dungey looks like, who has been cast as Ursula:

Merrin-Dungey

You can’t convince me that there weren’t any fat actresses out there to choose from. What they’ve done is take a part ready-made for a fat person (how many of those exist?!), and failed to give that part to a fat person. Surprising? No. Frustrating? Yes.

Sadly, Disney isn’t the only one pulling stunts like this. Check out the original Amanda Waller, part of the DC Comics universe:

Amandahead

Here’s what she looks like on Arrow:

cynthia-addai-robinson-as-amanda-waller

You know, I used the word “mistake” in the title of this post, but a mistake to me implies that you didn’t know better. Disney and DC know better. Disney knows that Ursula is a big fat woman and DC knows that Amanda Waller is, too, and they cast thin women anyway.

There’s this ludicrous idea that showing fat people in media will encourage people to be (or stay) fat. I mean, clearly I’m fat because I learned it from Ursula, and now when I see a skinny version of this excellent villain, I’m going to learn the error of my ways and become forever thin, right?

Fat chance.

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