They found the choice a little soulful.
Disney Pixar’s latest “Soul” movie received a fierce online reaction, with viewers considering the role of Tina Fey in the “racially insensitive” movie. The criticism comes amid a wave of brilliant reviews praising the music of the Disney + launch, the animation and the description of black culture.
The revolutionary animated film, which features the studio’s first African-American protagonist, follows high school jazz teacher Joe Gardner (played by Jamie Foxx), whose untimely death causes him to embark on a posthumous pilgrimage to recover the lost soul.
Along the way, Joe helps a disillusioned spirit named 22 (played by Tina Fey) rediscover his reason for living – and in the process he gains a better understanding of what it means to be alive.
Needless to say, Fey’s cast was attacked by Twitterers who were always sincere, who felt that the key role should have gone to a black actor or actress.
“Yeah, throwing Tina Fey like 22 in Soul didn’t do it for me, 22 should have been voiced by a black boy.” he mocked a guard dog on social media.
Another wrote“I think he should have made Queen King or Tiffany Haddish express Tina Fey’s character.”
Some viewers were particularly divided over the long part of the film in which Fey’s voice commands Joe Gardner’s body in “Freaky Friday.”
“The first Black Protagonist of the studio needed the soul of a middle-aged white woman to lead her life on the right path,” a critic of the cinematic white savior-ism broke out. “Thank you for paying attention to ‘racist images.’ They …
Another close, “Including Tina Fey for body-changing bits and not a predominantly black comedian feels a lot like someone said“ We don’t want to alienate our white audience ”… his cause.
The “soul” is not the only project that has been accused of improper race casting until late. The “Wonderful Woman of 1984” star, Gal Gadot, was destroyed by Cleopatra’s portrait, with critics saying that an Arab or African actress should play the role of the iconic Egyptian leader instead of the 35-year-old Israeli actress.
Gadot hurried to close the detractors. “First of all, if you want to be true to the facts, then Cleopatra was Macedonian,” she told BBC Arabic. “I was looking for a Macedonian actress to suit Cleopatra. He wasn’t there. And I was very passionate about Cleopatra. “