For me, it's a delicate balance of substituting coffee for sleep.Originally Posted by MermaidBonnie
When my oldest son was growing up, he would need to be turned 2-3 times during the night. That was my job. So for 20 years I literally slept in 2-3 hour shifts.
(Formerly known as Æolius)
Imagine for a moment you are Hannah. You walk up to- Africa, and say- I made this project. It's about you, to honor you. But after thinking about it, I was the best at it, so it's starring me.
In the bigger picture, can it possibly be true? Does it honor a culture?
Is the film really about honoring culture? Not at all about-
the bottom line?
so if it is about making money, and it is at the expense of culture, veiled as honoring culture- that feels wrong.
That's where I feel like I want to make sure is the difference- show me videos of awesome mermaids is different than show me someone more skilled than Hannah. I feel like in that context, they don't at all need to be more skilled than Hannah to be a little girls dream come true, and I think the extra work it might take to compensate for the gap in training (not knowing, again, anything specific about this production) would be well worth it to use a person of color. It takes effort. I feel like the effort isn't just worth it, but crucial. In the name of honoring culture, and in the name of making progress, and in the name of being the solution, not the problem
hi Bonnie what's good. Just resurfacing because people have been talking me what's going on.
As mer whisper said, if you want videos you can search easily search Enakai/spindrift, mermaid malia, coradion (you might have heard of them as all three work or are friends with Mermaid Kariel in Hawaii) and sirena, Singapore's first mermaid, and countless others. You seem like a smart enough mer to use a simple google search engine, or YouTube, or Instagram to find the videos.
But for your convenience because you seem to have a bit of trouble searching for equally qualified mers who are up to par with Hannah, here are videos of Sirena of Singapore. https://m.facebook.com/thesingaporem...deos/?mt_nav=1 she has also been features in many videos such as Clicknetwork.coms video with Xiaxue.
Malia and Enakai have Facebook pages as well which you should find easily and there will be videos there.
Good luck in your search efforts for more videos!
The SeaGlass Siren
I think the information is there, as to why this doesn't promote, include, or respect mers of color in this community.
I think the other half of the conversation needs to be- so doing it right, what does that look like?
What do we need to champion as the way things SHOULD be happening?
I feel like the first piece is- if you were to make a film about culture, because you had the platform and money to do so, shouldn't the first step be to have people of that culture tell their OWN story? write their OWN script? because then you aren't having to research how to make it 'not offensive'- you are giving a voice to the authentic story in the first place.
For me here's a big issue- assuming that Hannah is by far the most skilled swimmer- why is it worth it to write the role of that goddess in a way that relies on THAT EXACT level of swimming, and sacrifice such an important part of who she is? Why would that be okay? Is it really necessary, in order to portray how magical and amazing she is, for it to use some swimming technique that only Hannah possesses? (assuming that's the case- I have no clue)
Is that exact specific swimming technique REALLY what most embodies the spirit of that goddess?
It isn't, it doesn't, it's not. no.
so the conversation being about- is or isn't Hannah the best by far swimmer- isn't the point. I don't know.
I do know that if she were literally half dolphin and raised underwater and could hold her breath effortlessly for 20 minutes, I still wouldn't think she was the best fit for the role of an African mermaid goddess
Over the last couple years I have found a ton of videos just browsing google and youtube. They are there.
My point was that I don't know how they compare to Hannah- but it's because I have never seen one of Hannah's videos, lol
Merman Dan of course I was kidding
none of it directed at you. I think we're all tired of certain people bringing up their kids as deflection is all as if they're the only one with a kid, when lots of members have them!
Dan you are my hero!!!!! I wrote you awhile back about adopting children with special needs as my hubby is a special educator. Id love to hear more of your family's story. It is so beautiful what you and your wife do! ❤️
or you could use the internet yourself. Look at the water phenoix for starters. She does all the same stuff. No one owes you any proof. you still wont aknowledge your own tone policing.
Merwandering you have been nothing but insightful, genuine, and full of grace, and I'm so delighted to have met you on here. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for being so kind
Starfrit I can't wait to watch these videos when I get home. Thank you for sharing them
I'm not a connoisseur at all and am the first to admit I have no idea what I'm looking at or talking about when it comes to this,
but I just pulled up a couple videos, and- I guess I should have before, because- in my mind I was taking into account what she said- that she had a bunch of groundbreaking footage and out of this world skill...
I don't see a ton of difference?
I PROMISE i am not being a jerk, I am seriously asking- what's the big deal?
the videos don't look THAT different at first glance?
feel free to school me, but...
Black merfolk since Bonnie clearly seems unable to search herself or is out of touch with who is who: (please don't try to hid ebehind I want to show kids like you couldnt possibly find anyone to show kids... *rolls eyes*)
Eric Juku
Fernando
Mali lee
Momo
The water Phoenix (the real mer from the film)
Pheonix mer
Reiku
naja from Najestic who I already posted
mermaid cydnea
Madison Juliet
Whitney
Suki
AND THESE ARE JUST MY FRIENDS not even all the black mers in our community, or the black free divers, or the black underwater stunt folks,
You really can't wrap your head around how inappropriate your comments are. "I need proof" and people keep giving it to you..
lol
think she missed that one starfit
Actually please don't anyone school me here, this thread not about Hannah's swimming, but now I'm intrigued, lol
Thanks SeaGlass, yes I do know some of these women personally. I thank you for taking the time to share a link. I'm not as tech savvy as some of you ladies. Yes I can google things but you never know what pops up (mermaid porn for example, gross!!!) and I wanted to have specific links to these videos of these girls who would play the African goddess better. Again I wasn't using my daughter as a deflection just I had to go and had some typos. of course I'm not surprised as I do have people on here blocked for that reason-turning things into negative ones. I will take the information shared with me and take a good look at it and learn and grow. Thank you again to those who were kind. I will remember that ❤️
can't wait for this film
Merwandering, I think you would enjoy Hannah's videos. The one with all the Sharks is my fave! you are correct the thread is not about that. Thanks again ladies and gentlemen.
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