"It's just a commercial. It's just a mermaid. It's just a superhero." And yet, every time those roles are reversed—online outrage flares up. Why?
By: Shannon Truesdell
A Disorienting Photo Series
A captivating photo series published in O, The Oprah Magazine flipped familiar situations with a racial spin: a white child surrounded by Black dolls, a white servant with a Black housewife, and white salon techs serving Asian customers. Scenes meant to question the "norm". They expose how deeply we internalize who belongs where in society.
A white girl looks at a row of dolls, all of whom have dark skin tones, challenging toy aisle norms. Image: Chris Buck/O, the Oprah Magazine
Art? Or A Deeper Issue
But this isn’t just about photography. Projects like this are not new and have always prompted broader reflections, one on a growing trend across media of role reversals in race, gender, and power.
From TikTok trends to pop music, these inversions are everywhere, and almost always provoke strong reactions. In an ideal world, reversals would simply spark productive conversation. Online, however, they are often met with suspicion, outrage, or dismissal. In other words: the internet, by extension, people, don’t like to be uncomfortable.
Technology amplifies these moments. Social media platforms are not neutral bystanders; they thrive on conflict, emotion, and polarization. The more unsettling a post, the more likely it is to be shared, commented on, and boosted by the algorithm. Role reversals, especially when they tackle sensitive issues like race and gender, are lightning rods for attention. With increased access to technology, the faster the advancement, the faster the uproar.
Women smiling, dressed in suits, around a male employee's desk in an office. Credit: Dove Cameron, “Breakfast”
Music Videos and Messy Conversations
Take Dove Cameron’s “Breakfast,” a glossy, stylized music video where women hold power in roles usually dominated by men. Social issues such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade sparked inspiration for a startling scene. "It was meant to make viewers uncomfortable," Cameron said. And it did. The internet reacted with a mix of praise and resistance—proof of how rare and provocative it is for men to be in situations common to women. That discomfort is the point. Role reversal isn’t about swapping for symmetry—it’s about revealing the inequalities we’ve normalized. Reclaiming power and independence in catch phrases such as TikTok’s “How hard can it be? Boys do it” trend, where women take on traditionally male-coded jobs or behaviors, exposing double standards with humor and confidence.
"It's uncomfortable to watch at parts, and that was the aim," says Cameron
These examples aren't just fads or stylized commentaries. They are provocations designed to expose imbalance. They invite the question: What if power dynamics were flipped? Would this still feel normal? Often, the answer is no.
Google Search of the TikTok trend "How hard could it be? Boys do it."
Film, Fanbases, and Fury
Online platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter (now X) have become spaces for resistance and magnifiers of backlash. Think of the 2016 all-female Ghostbusters reboot, which was review-bombed before its release. Or the controversy around casting a Black actress as Ariel in Disney's live-action Little Mermaid. These reactions reveal that even fictional reversals can evoke genuine discomfort in the real world.
Halle Bailey as Ariel in ‘The Little Mermaid’ (Disney)
Representation is not neutral. When dominant norms are challenged, even fictionally, they reveal the quiet assumptions lurking in media and society. The starkest reactions often come from racial reversals, perhaps because they are harder to deflect with humor. Gender reversals are frequently softened with satire or aesthetics, as in Dove Cameron’s video. But the O Magazine photos are quiet and realistic. Their simplicity makes them harder to dismiss.
Representation, Technology, and the Role of Discomfort
So how do technology, media, and creative storytelling open conversations about race, gender, and systemic inequality? By making the invisible visible, and sometimes impossible to ignore. The hypocrisy, glaringly obvious. Whether it’s a staged photograph, a viral TikTok trend, or a stylized music video, these tools allow creators to flip assumptions and hold up a mirror to society.
Technology amplifies this process. Photography lets us stage powerful visual metaphors. AI can recast iconic characters in different racial identities. Social media gives everyday people a platform to remix, critique, or challenge dominant narratives. Film and music reach audiences emotionally, while even a short trend or meme can spark serious debate that spreads ideas beyond a small town, city, or country.
But it’s not just about what we create—it’s about what we do with it. These tools don’t automatically bring justice or change. They start the conversation that can unite individuals. When we react—whether with laughter, discomfort, anger, or reflection—we’re doing the work of unpacking the stories we’ve been told and the roles we’ve been assigned.
In a digital world full of content, role reversals stand out because they challenge what we’re used to seeing. And that discomfort? That’s what helps us grow. It’s how we move from scrolling past injustice to actually seeing it—and maybe, one day, changing it.
References:
Bero, T. (2023, June 9). The global backlash against The Little Mermaid proves why we needed a Black Ariel. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com
Irvin, J. (2022, August 25). Dove Cameron knows her 'Roe v. Wade'-inspired 'Breakfast' music video is 'uncomfortable' to watch. People. https://people.com
Lusina, A. (2022, December 22). Role-reversal photo series challenges traditional gender stereotypes. PetaPixel. https://petapixel.com
Perez, C. C. (2019). Invisible women: Data bias in a world designed for men. Abrams Press.
Werft, H., & Gralki, P. (2017, May 31). This photo series will make you see race in a new way. Global Citizen. https://www.globalcitizen.org
Dove Cameron. (2022). Breakfast [Official music video]. YouTube.