If you read my last article about the live-action Aladdin, you already know how I feel about live action Disney in general, but that is not the point. The point is that Halle Bailey got cast as the live-action Ariel and there was an outcry on social media. Tweets of support as well as opposition were seen across Twitter and hashtags like #NotMyAriel were trending. As a hardcore Disney fan I set out to investigate the reasons why people were so upset with the casting.
It seems that race is the problem
People lashed out online because Halle isn’t the Ariel that they grew up with: the Ariel that is white and has red hair. Their reasoning is that Ariel is a Danish fairytale and, therefore, Ariel needs to be white in order to be accurate to the movie. The hashtag #NotMyAriel was started to showcase their disappointment. Celebrities such as Zendaya, Mariah Carey and many more immediately defended and supported the young actress.
Image by Trends Map, tweet by @glorihrious on Twitter
Image by Elite Daily, tweet by @zendaya on Twitter
Image by Pop Culture, tweet by @halleberry on Twitter
Firstly, some history on Halle Bailey
Halle Bailey is a girl who with her sister, Chloe, formed the duo Chloe X Halle. The two of them began uploading covers of songs to their YouTube channel when they were aged 13 and 11 in 2015. Their rendition of ‘Pretty Hurts’ by Beyoncé made them go viral in 2016 and the singer herself signed them to Parkwood Entertainment, her management. The two trained under her, made cameos in the visual album Lemonade and were Beyoncé’s opening act on her The Formation World Tour. That being said, Halle Bailey has been trained by one of the world’s most influential vocalists so there’s no doubt that she’ll bring Ariel’s voice to life.
Image by POPSUGAR Australia
The original voice actress of Ariel, Jodi Benson, defended Halle and supports her
Jodi Benson, the voice of the original Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” addressed the issue at a convention saying, “I think that the spirit of a character is what really matters. What you bring to the table in a character as far as their heart, and their spirit, is what really counts.” Benson also reportedly said, “And the outside package – cause let’s face it, I’m really, really old – and so when I’m singing ‘Part of Your World,’ if you were to judge me on the way that I look on the outside, it might change the way that you interpret the song. But if you close your eyes, you can still hear the spirit of Ariel.”
“We need to be storytellers,” she said. “And no matter what we look like on the outside, no matter our race, our nation, the colour of our skin, our dialect, whether I’m tall or thin, whether I’m overweight or underweight, or my hair is whatever colour, we really need to tell the story.”
Image by Getty on Newshub
My opinion on the matter
From what I understand, people are angry that Ariel is now a black princess instead of the Ariel they grew up watching. “Ariel was white so the actress needs to be white”, but here’s the thing… she doesn’t have to be. Ariel’s skin colour never played a role in the movie. She wanted legs so that she could be with Prince Eric whereas Tiana, from Princess and the Frog, grew up in New Orleans and lived through the Jim Crow Laws. Her entire story revolved around her being a black girl which is why there would be an uproar if a white woman was ever cast as a live action Tiana.
The Little Mermaid is a movie I grew up with as well as several other Disney Princess movies that were all absolutely magical, but I’m thrilled to have a black Ariel that young girls can watch and see themselves in. Even though I don’t necessarily like live-action Disney movies, I’ll definitely be seeing this one.