It was around 2019 when I first heard about Disney putting Little Mermaid into live action. The casting a non-white actress as Ariel sparked debate all over the internet. Yet the discussion threads didn’t last until its official released trailer recently. The clips immediately amassed three million dislikes. The hashtag #notmyariel went viral on Twitter, along with netizens arguing why Halle Bailey is not a good fit for this adaptation.

Disney is known for its creations of classic animated characters. On the top of my head I could name so many of them - Cinderella, Aurora, Bella, Snow White, Ariel, and the list goes on.

Recently, Disney's remake of The Little Mermaid was born.

A myriad hate comments online targeted towards the new film reflects the unfair treatments marginal groups receive and supremacy white people hold. There are instances when the arguments on the inappropriateness to star a black actress do not hold true. Little Mermaid is one of the Disney productions that is flexible with casting since it has nothing to do with culture - Ariel is simply a red-haired mermaid who decided to trade her voice for a pair of legs after falling in love with a human. Be it Pocohantas, Mulan, or Tiana, they represent and act according to their cultural backgrounds. While Ariel, at least as a Disney princess, was an adaptation of an original story that isn’t limited to roles or gender.

Hollywood, throughout history, was known for being “too white”. We get the sense that even with Disney animations, almost every prince and princess is white. It is a deeply rooted culture that takes time to adjust and make improvements in the changing modern era. Thinking back to the Hays Code that encouraged miscegenation, or the ban on romantic relationships between people of different ethnic groups, led directors to star white celebrities as lead roles. While colored people are not supposed to be the lead protagonists, many actors and actresses experienced blackwashing and yellow-washing, which in a modern point of view, are also unacceptable and disrespectful to non-white cultures. This is an infinitive cycle of discrimination.

Yet, progress can be seen with recent TV series and movies such as Bridgerton and Percy Jackson, both that emphasized diversity. Disney’s wokeness and their effort to show it can be effective through Little Mermaid.

Some noted that their children didn’t mind the casting; they only see the characters and consider actresses like Bailey beautiful. Several viral Tiktoks also show the black people’s happiness and pride for being represented and put in the public eye. It is perhaps the chaotic matured world and the original and stereotypical version that gave way to limitations of what people should and should not do or expect from.

Disney's continuous remakes of classic animations leaves their relevance in question. Years ago when Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin were announced to be released as live actions, the general public, including me, found it cool and new, as they bought fantasies into real life. However, it seems to me that the public interest towards Disney’s real-person adaptations became cliched. There wasn’t so much appeal and attention given to them: the recent Little Mermaid (besides its controversy), Lilo and Stitch, Moana, and Snow White. The company should create more unique characters that can soon be iconic like they did with Coco and Encanto that introduce cultural and cross border heritages to the world, not solely depending on replications of the old classics.

Under the Sea

Sources

InSight Scoop