Brown People aren't Interchangeable
I’m not going to see Aladdin. I’m going full Dr.Strange/Ghost in the Shell on this. I was worried they wouldn’t cast an Arabian Aladdin and I was proven wrong. They got a handsome young Arabian guy named Mesa to play Aladdin. When I saw this I was relieved. However when I saw Naomi Scott, an actress I loved in Power Rangers and before that in Lemonade Mouth, my heart sank. This entire time I never expected them not to have an Arabian Jasmine. As a young black girl, Jasmine was who I looked up to and the closest to what I saw in the mirror. A dark skinned girl who was independent and brave. Naomi Scott can achieve the independent and brave parts when she plays the character but she will never and can never represent all the young brown Arabian and middle eastern girls in general who will now not see themselves as a princess. Especially in the age when being Middle Eastern in the west is seen with such negativity and racism. I don’t dislike Naomi by any means, I blame Disney more than her personally but she must understand she’s gonna get backlash for the rest of her career whether she likes it or not. I’d also like to note for all “stans” that no amount of tan (which would be brownface stop it) and makeup will somehow make her Arabian.
