But companies DO actually have a lot of control. Large companies literally inform culture on every imaginable level--particularly the ones who control the media (few more than Disney/Pixar, which virtually monopolize children's media and have an outsize influence on the development of children's morality and aspirations). Of course, there's a reciprocal exchange that occurs between people and media; they each inform each other in a chicken/egg capacity, but there's absolutely no denying at this point the role that prominent media plays in shaping social norms and evolving culture en masse.
Which is why you're right on some level that featuring Black protagonists can be considered a step forward; there's plenty of Black people (and people of all ethnicities) celebrating this as a step forward, while acknowledging --or not, which is fine-- that this is still Disney and thus there are still going to be some huge problems. And that's fine; it's not binary, and I don't even think the original poster was arguing that every single thing about this film was absolutely terrible and counterproductive. The point is, if we are going to collectively agree that the goal is "steps forward," then we can BOTH celebrate the aspects of this which feel/are progressive, and still point out the ways in which we need to continue evolving. If every time there was "progress" within a broken/unjust system we unilaterally celebrated it and went home, we would all be sitting in even more regressive arrested development than we already are; change is human nature and criticism, even of the things that might appear frivolous to some, is part of how we point out the things that need to continue evolving in order for us to get there.
Yes, once companies create something, they can't absolutely control what happens to it beyond the marketing and merchandising and franchising and broadcasting (although those things are still beacons of extreme and fairly consistent control when you think of the role television in particular plays in people's lives, especially Disney for most children). However, what you alluded to as a concept that was adapted and re-scripted to fit a Black protagonist is precisely the problem. Yes, many of the creatives and producers were Black. But it was created by white men, and the re-jiggering of the plot in order to become "enhanced" with getting diversity trophies and harnessing aspects of Black culture that would elevate the entertainment value AND marketing appeal of the film are still cooptive in a harmful way; it treats Blackness as an accessory to enhance capital value instead of as a complex identity with a vast history as you mentioned of omission at best or deep mockery, defamation and caricaturing in film (including from their own stock).
Part of the problem when you decide to feature a Black protagonist in American media is that, whether you like it or not, things are going to be "about race" because we still don't exist in a societal paradigm where Blackness isn't instantaneously feared and reviled and othered (which I'm sure I don't have to tell you but is very much corroborated by mass incarceration, police abuse statistics, political representation, demographics of Fortune 500 companies, and general wealth disparities in America, among many other things). So, of course, in a media and cultural landscape where we collectively still don't know how to dismantle white supremacy in society, let alone in our own subconscious (or consciousness), many mistakes will inevitably be made when attempting to generate the projects of portrayals that ideally will help move us "forward." And that is okay to some extent, as long as the criticisms of those mistakes are received with an open mind and heart, as long as we collectively understand that we are all complex beings and it's okay to like things that are problematic (because nothing and none of us are perfect), and as long as we make a concerted effort to continue trying to do better. Criticism must not be conflated with crucifixion.
