Towards the beginning of September 2022, Disney released the teaser for The Little Mermaid live-action movie that is to be released in May of 2023. It stars the American singer and actress, Halle Bailey, and the controversy following this casting choice is simply unreal.
The teaser has received an enormous amount of hate due to Ariel being Black. There have been numerous ignorant comments being made across the Internet over her skin color. I came across a tweet on Twitter suggesting that the producers should have casted a White actress for the role since the animated character was White.
Another tweet goes on to argue that just like Mulan was kept Chinese in the live-action movie, Ariel should have been kept White. To counter this argument, Mulan incorporates Chinese culture into its story and message, hence why the decision was made as it was.
However, in response to the hate, the new film has received, many people have also been standing their ground and supporting Bailey in her role. Lin-Manual Miranda took a stand against the racist backlash being thrown at Bailey and expressed his support for her casting.
Casting an African-American woman in this live-action movie will help open up doors to the possibility of more actors and actresses of color being casted in Disney movies. Bailey is Disney’s second ever Black princess, with Anika Noni Rose, voicing Princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog, being the first. It is 2022, and times are changing now more than ever.
Representation matters; so many young children around the world lack that feeling of seeing themselves through the characters on screen. There has been a countless amount of TikTok’s showing the youth’s reaction to seeing the new Ariel on screen; it is heartwarming. They say phrases such as “She looks like me!” and that alone shows the impact representation can have. It is important for all children to know they are accepted and that their skin color is a beautiful gift.
As Bailey said in a separate tweet, “sometimes I really wish we lived in a less negative world…”