Recently, many film and TV studios in Hollywood have gone above and beyond to better represent groups that previously saw little to no screen time.

Though the movies have shown true progression towards a more inclusive world in a time where people are more diverse than ever, some believe that Hollywood is merely embracing “woke culture” to make a quick buck.

This backlash has been apparent with the trailer for the live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” being released, among other recent shows and movies.

The main character, Ariel, is being played by African American actress Halle Bailey. This sparked an outrage across social media, with many pointing out how the cartoon adaptation depicted Ariel as white.

As a result, the trailer surpassed 1.5 million dislikes in just two days.

At the Spectator, while we all have different opinions on what classifies something as “woke,” the common denominator is that we believe that giving other groups main roles is a sign of society progressing.

Additionally, we think that changing a fictional character from their source material should not be considered as “woke.” After all, they are just that: pure fiction.

However, we do also believe that there is a fine line between representing other people to actually being “woke” and think that some groups would be better represented as new characters entirely rather than playing characters that already exist.

While some people have gone as far as saying that their childhood memories have been tarnished by these actions, others believe that this gives renewed hope and inspiration to the next generation.

Though Hollywood has taken huge strides in becoming a more inclusive and representative industry, we believe that there is still more to be done.

This editorial reflects the general opinion of The Spectator.