The film is produced by two-time Emmy® winner Marc Platt (“Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” “Grease Live!”), Miranda, two-time Emmy winner John DeLuca (“Tony Bennett: An American Classic”), and Rob Marshall, with Jeffrey Silver (“The Lion King”) serving as executive producer. The songs feature music from multiple Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin”) and lyrics by Howard Ashman, and new lyrics by three-time Tony Award® winner Lin-Manuel Miranda. Spritfarer is an indie game by Thunder Lotus, inspired by the mythological tale of Charon, the Spiritfarer that takes you to the underworld after you die. “The Little Mermaid” is directed by Oscar® nominee Rob Marshall (“Chicago,” “Mary Poppins Returns”)with a screenplay by two-time Oscar nominee David Magee (“Life of Pi,” “Finding Neverland”). The film stars singer and actress Halle Bailey (“grown-ish”) as Ariel Jonah Hauer-King (“A Dog’s Way Home”) as Prince Eric Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) as the voice of Sebastian Awkwafina (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) as the voice of Scuttle Jacob Tremblay (“Luca”) as the voice of Flounder Noma Dumezweni (“Mary Poppins Returns”) as Queen Selina Art Malik (“Homeland”) as Sir Grimsby with Oscar® winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”) as King Triton and two-time Academy Award® nominee Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “Bridesmaids”) as Ursula. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea and, while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. Hopefully, in time, Spiritfarer will became the beautiful, inclusive game it was always meant to be.“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The developer's dedication to correcting its error is very admirable, and assuming it follows through on its promise, it will serve as a shining example of how developers can admit their mistakes and actually make their games better by being more sensitive to their audiences' needs. Unfortunately, Thunder Lotus' mistake is far from the only example of harmful, ableist language being used in popular culture. In an ideal world, no one would have to contend with seeing essential facets of their life treated so callously by the media they consume and love. Spiritfarer is a game about kindness, love, and empathy, and it's tragic to see such a heartfelt project bogged down by such a harmful message. The team even took the time to thank Kayla Whaley for her perspective when she showed up to commend Thunder Lotus for its commitment to change and improvement. Thunder Lotus can be seen frequently in the replies to its own Twitter post, being vocal and open about what it did wrong and even frankly and earnestly debating fans who are coming to its defense and arguing that the game shouldn't be changed. This statement seems like more than just PR damage control, too. The team closed the letter by promising to reexamine the game, studying it for any hint of insensitive language and removing it wherever necessary. Thunder Lotus emphasized that Spiritfarer was designed with a spirit of empathy in mind for every aspect, and that this insensitive rhetoric stood in strong contrast to this core message. The company owned up, admitting that the language used by the character was harmful to disabled people and that it enforced an ableist viewpoint. Yesterday, Thunder Lotus posted an open letter on Twitter apologizing for its mistake. These complaints are not being taken lightly by Spiritfarer's developer. Related: Spiritfarer: All Abilities In The Game (& How To Unlock Them) Whaley even took the time to point out that she was deeply enjoying the rest of the game. Whaley summed up one character's thoughts on their journey to the afterlife as, "only in death was I able to be free from my dreaded wheelchair." As Whaley points out, a scene with the character in Spiritfarer invokes the ableist rhetoric that "death is better than disability" - a very harmful mindset that many disabled people constantly push against, and that she was understandably outraged to see in such an otherwise pleasant game. Recently, Kayla Whaley - a Spiritfarer player who uses a wheelchair herself - took to Twitter to complain about how the game handled one of the deceased spirits Stella bonds with during her journey. But it hasn't all been good news for Spiritfarer.
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