I really want to be excited for Beauty and the Beast. I loved the cartoon as a kid, their set looks gorgeous in the trailer, and I’m sure that it’ll be a huge blockbuster with great costumes and special effects. But looking at the cast list just feels like an overwhelming disappointment. I fully respect all the actors, and while I don’t want to undermine their abilities or in any way minimize their influence inside and outside the entertainment sphere, I have to ask- are they necessary?

Did we need Emma Watson, a white, British woman to play Belle? Remakes of movies should introduce new aspects, fresh perspectives, and something different than the original. Since we already have a white cartoon character, it would have been refreshing to get a non-white actress as Belle this time. There is no shortage of gorgeous, talented, capable minority women. Gina Rodriguez would have been an excellent choice. Or Diane Guerrero. Or Keke Palmer. Or Brenda Song. Disney had an excellent opportunity to take a fictional story and fill it with a diverse cast but instead they chose to go the safe route.

Hollywood is constantly making excuses to purposefully exclude minority men and women. If it’s a historical movie then the argument is “well there weren’t that many _____ people in this particular place at this particular time”, if it’s in another country then “_____ people don't live here”, and apparently if it’s a fictional cartoon then it’s “well this actor looks like the one we made-up from years ago so we have to stick with that.”

All these arguments don’t even take into account the fact that we just had a predominantly-white

Cinderella cast last year. Ignoring race and arguing that these movies have social justice value because of their feminist aspects is just white feminism. Empowering women and normalizing feminist is values is great, but giving representation to entire communities that are systematically disenfranchised is really, really important too. Giving “feminist” parts exclusively to white women isn’t really feminist at all. We don’t need another all-white Beauty and the Beast movie because we already have the original. What we need is more movies that give minority women platforms to be feminist icons, share their unique perspectives, and influence popular culture.