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Disney releases Maui costume that lets kids pretend to be Polynesian

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So racist why is this John Cena white and not see through

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I don't know what's worse. Being outraged over this or the people outraged that the rocks character was too fat for a Polynesia God. Props to Disney for making this movie when they could just be making Frozen 2 and 3.
 

Tagg9

Member
I honestly don't see an issue with this.

We'd likely have people throwing a fit if there was no costume at all, and the costume they have produced is as inoffensive and racially sensitive as possible. The only way to get around the dark-skinned body suit might be to have see-through arms/legs with only the tattoos showing?
 

SoulUnison

Banned
I'm way more offended by costumes that try to make things "sexy" that really shouldn't be.

These are kid's costumes. I bet a kid's reasoning for this costume would be "Because that character was awesome" or "Because I get to have all the cool tattoos."
I don't think the kid, if applicable, even factors in the "skin color" of the costume, which is actually kind of cool and the lesson we want to teach in the end, right?

I dunno. Sometimes I just feel like anything that has a chance of getting kids interested in other countries and cultures is pretty cool.
 

Crocodile

Member
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maybe im just being ignorant, i dont see how else to produce a costume for kids of this character without an elaborate removable tattoo kit or body paint. which would be a mess.

if the character were blue i would expect a blue suit. now if kids start painting their faces and hands brown to match the skin suit, i can see the problem.

being melanin rich myself i think it's cool brown characters are becoming known in children movies.

Did you watch Tropic Thunder? Because this was a weird example to pluck. Within the context of that movie, RDJ's character explicitly gets shit on for doing that. Like everyone understands what he is doing is messed up and calls him out on it.
 

AlteredBeast

Fork 'em, Sparky!
Being interested in other cultures is appropriation. Full stop. The next time you eat food from or wear clothing of another culture different from your own, just think of the pain you are causing those poor people.
 

Zackat

Member
092.jpg

maybe im just being ignorant, i dont see how else to produce a costume for kids of this character without an elaborate removable tattoo kit or body paint. which would be a mess.

if the character were blue i would expect a blue suit. now if kids start painting their faces and hands brown to match the skin suit, i can see the problem.

being melanin rich myself i think it's cool brown characters are becoming known in children movies.

hehe the irony.

he got a ton of shit for it in the movie. lol
 

kami_sama

Member
First of all, the costume, with tattoos and padding, would only be possible like it is now.
Second, I don't know if the skin color on the costume is the same as blackface, it doesn't have neither the same impact, or the same cultural significance.
All in all, I think this is a very small thing to be outraged about.
 
There's really no way around this. The design of the character is terrible to make a costume from. Suprised Disney didn't think up some contrived look for the character solely for the merchandising. Should've cut their losses and released some removable tattoos and been done with it because they're definitely going to have a controversy on their hands when kids actually dress up in that.
 

AlteredBeast

Fork 'em, Sparky!
There's really no way around this. The design of the character is terrible to make a costume from. Suprised Disney didn't think up some contrived look for the character solely for the merchandising. Should've cut their losses and released some removable tattoos and been done with it because they're definitely going to have a controversy on their hands when kids actually dress up in that.

No they won't. Especially once the movie is a hit. Nobody will see it as making fun of their culture and will instead be proud that kids are excited to dress like their favorite character, which in turn engenders pride. This isn't a hulking fat suit designed to look like a caricature of an obese Polynesian person, this is a brave warrior god and nothing else.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
There's really no way around this. The design of the character is terrible to make a costume from. Suprised Disney didn't think up some contrived look for the character solely for the merchandising. Should've cut their losses and released some removable tattoos and been done with it because they're definitely going to have a controversy on their hands when kids actually dress up in that.
Tattoos are a huge part of Polynesian culture. It would be cultural appropriation to just sell the tattoos too.
 
The backlash here is messed up. It's made to look like a particular character. I don't see how there is intent for mockery or appropriation in a kid's costume like this.

If people keep throwing outrage at such instances, I feel like these studios are just gonna go "fuck it" and become really weary of dabbling in anything that involves diversity, lest they offend and anger some people with every, little innocuous thing.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
That costume looks more like Buffalo Bill caught Maui and through him in his pit to thin him down and then skin him for his body suit.

I'd fuck me as a Polynesian God
 

RoyalFool

Banned
What? People moan that there are not enough ethnic characters represented in movies and then they moan that making merchandise of them is somehow racist.

What has the world come to, when people get offended for the fun of it. It's almost like they feel they earn some sort of kudos for being the first to kick up a stink over something.

#AllCosplayMatters
 
No they won't. Especially once the movie is a hit. Nobody will see it as making fun of their culture and will instead be proud that kids are excited to dress like their favorite character, which in turn engenders pride. This isn't a hulking fat suit designed to look like a caricature of an obese Polynesian person, this is a brave warrior god and nothing else.

There's been outrage over much less and I can guarantee some people will see it as problematic. The fact that they didn't have white children dress up in that for their promo pic slowed the storm a little but it's coming.

And I'm sure you're speaking for all Polynesian people when you say that nobody will see it as making fun of their culture.
 

Breads

Banned
What? People moan that there are not enough ethnic characters represented in movies and then they moan that making merchandise of them is somehow racist.

What has the world come to, when people get offended for the fun of it. It's almost like they feel they earn some sort of kudos for being the first to kick up a stink over something.

#AllCosplayMatters

It's almost like race is a complex issue that isn't easily solved by token gestures and literal skin suits.

Sorry you're outraged at people's outraged. If I said I never moaned about ethnic representation and prefer the sanctity of artist intent, instead choosing to bemoan racial/gender mandates from the money above, does it add validity to my opinion?
 
It's almost like this is a complex issue that isn't easily solved by token gestures and literal skin suits.

Where do we go from here with having diversity in our entertainment though? An entity like Disney is damned and accused of appropriation for giving an ethnic character their full, typical movie treatment, yet damned and accused of whitewashing when they don't.
 

RoyalFool

Banned
It's almost like this is a complex issue that isn't easily solved by token gestures and literal skin suits.

Or it's a complete non-issue that a few sjws want to make into one for shits and giggles

Until a Polynesian comes here and tells me this deeply offends them on some level I can't comprehend, I'm going with the prior

He's a cool character. And it's a bodysuit that will look stupid on white folk.

I'm a ginger scot, should I write a letter of complaint about the Merida wig? I really hope we don't have any blue genies browsing that website...
 
Hilarious that the same people not cool with Twitch-whoever dropping N-bombs are okay with this. This is blackface; the shameful reduction and productization of a PEOPLE. Not "WWE" characters, you fuck! Believe it or not, Dwayne does not represent Polynesia. Polynesians are a PEOPLE! No less important than any other.
 

sirap

Member
I would've loved to have worn that as a kid. Instant transformation from my scrawny ass to swole warrior.
 

AlteredBeast

Fork 'em, Sparky!
There's been outrage over much less and I can guarantee some people will see it as problematic. The fact that they didn't have white children dress up in that for their promo pic slowed the storm a little but it's coming.

And I'm sure you're speaking for all Polynesian people when you say that nobody will see it as making fun of their culture.

I don't give credence to what a highly vocal, although extremely statistically insignificant group says. There is no reason to be outraged by this except for in one particular reason:

They may be people out there who believe in these deities in a literal fashion. I could see a subset of those believers (however tiny a group they are) being offended by a costumed portrayal in general of their deity. I could not, however see them being any more offended by the fact that a person of a different culture could then put on the costume qns appropriate their deity...

It's just stupid. There are probably 1000 people in New York who would get violently outraged if someone told then definitively that Chicago Deep Dish pizza was better than New York Style. Should we give those people credence because of their offended feelings?

Should we ban things that offend a populace regardless of the size of that group?
 
Or it's a complete non-issue that a few sjws want to make into one for shits and giggles

Until a Polynesian comes here and tells me this deeply offends them on some level I can't comprehend, I'm going with the prior

He's a cool character. And it's a bodysuit that will look stupid on white folk.

I'm a ginger scot, should I write a letter of complaint about the Merida wig? I really hope we don't have any blue genies browsing that website...

It's like some white people in the internet tell other white people what is racist.
 
Just so I'm up to date.
So is the logic that every costume, at any age, is taboo if it's from any real-life culture on the planet? Unless you are born in that culture (in which case it isn't a costume really).

What about ancient cultures?
 
There is no mocking, malice or racist intentions involved here. If kids want to be like the character from the movie, that's actually pretty cool, since there aren't that many big (and animated) movies with minorities in the lead roles.

I can see why because of the history of blackface and such it is a sensitive issue, but I don't think the same issues apply to a costume like this.

Tough issue though. But having this be the only movie they don't sell costumes for would also stand out as strange. Just a difficult character design to make one for.
 

Oreoleo

Member
They should just make all the characters in all their movies little white boys and girls then we wouldn't have this problem!
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Disney should just keep making movies starring white people. It isn't worth the cultural appropriation blowback.
 
I get exactly why this is a problematic costume. That said, if my kid were inspired by people of color and wanted to dress up as them, I would pretty much feel like I'm doing things right. And it's a good thing that people of color are getting to be lead characters in Disney movies.

Blackface seems a little bit of a stretch to bring up; that is a specific thing with specific historical context, never done lovingly, perpetrated by grown ass racist adults. Kids being inspired to emulate heroes of color is actually pretty much great. "Blackface" as a term should probably not be shorthand for "any transmuting of any racial identity in any context," especially when we're talking about children who are doing it today with positive intent (as opposed to adults doing it pre-civil rights with racist intent).

Also, I don't think kids would get it at all if someone came up to them while they're wearing their brown tattoo muscle suit and scolded them. The thought of people trying to put a stop to them makes me sad, actually. But, if it hurts people's feelings to see this kind of pretend play going on it's probably not the way to go about paying homage to the character.
 

Alienfan

Member
Hilarious that the same people not cool with Twitch-whoever dropping N-bombs are okay with this. This is blackface; the shameful reduction and productization of a PEOPLE. Not "WWE" characters, you fuck! Believe it or not, Dwayne does not represent Polynesia. Polynesians are a PEOPLE! No less important than any other.
Fuck this thread is over the top, jesus. How the fuck is this "black facing"? What, we should condemn kids for dressing up as their favourite character? Or only allow them to dress up as characters that are the same ethnicity as them? Your rhetoric seems to be reinforcing racism more than anything else, YOU'RE the one reducing a population to tattoos and skin colour you realise that right? Most will see this as a (admittedly tacky) costume for Maui, because, you know, those are his tattoos and skin colour
 
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