“Mom! Ariel is a brunette like me!”
By Morgan Sung NBCnews
Fathers and mothers of black girls are sharing videos on social media of their daughters being excited to see the trailer for the next Disney movie. Little Mermaidstarring actress Halle Bailey as Ariel.
“Mom!” exclaims a girl in a video posted on the TikTok network by user nickyknackpaddywack, “she’s a brunette like me!”
This is one of many videos shared on TikTok and Twitter with tags like #representative questions (representation matters) to emphasize the value of character diversity in children’s stories, despite criticism of Disney.
Disney unveiled the film at the D23 convention over the weekend. The video has 11 million views on the YouTube network.
However, his post revived racist comments that had already surfaced in 2019 when it was announced that Bailey would be the main character; In the original film released in 1989, Ariel was a cartoon character with white skin and red hair.
In a video shared by TikTok user Precious Avery, a girl named Emery is seen lying on a couch, sitting up straight as Bailey appears on screen. “I think she’s brunette!” Emery exclaims in the video, “Brunette Ariel is so cute.”
User callmedarii posted a similar video of his daughters’ reactions: “This is why performance matters! We can’t wait to see this,” he captioned the clip.
“Is Ariel really black?” asks a girl in a video posted by user jendayis682. “In this movie Little Mermaid yes, it will be,” replies the videographer.
“Do they understand how our babies feel seeing themselves in fairy tales that the world has told them are not meant for them?” jendayis682 wrote. “Say what you want and complain all you want… I don’t hear anything about the joy and emotion this girl feels seeing a person representing her,” he added.
The film will feature four new songs by Latin composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, more detailed mermaid tails and a black princess, director Rob Marshall said, according to Variety magazine.
[Muere el director de cine Jean-Luc Godard, figura clave del séptimo arte, a los 91 años]
Marshall said the live-action animated remake “will honor the original animated film” but that he wants to “bring some depth” to the reimagined story.
Critics have argued that the cast is not faithful to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, which was originally published in Denmark in the 19th century. But many fans defended Bailey’s choice, noting that the 1989 Disney film also wasn’t particularly faithful to Andersen’s fairy tale, which is a violent story that ends with the death of the Little Mermaid after the prince marries another a woman.
Screenwriter Jennifer Hutchinson, who worked on the series In Satan’s shoes and now for the series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powersaid he liked the “nightmare factory version” of Little Mermaid.
In a Twitter thread, he summarized Andersen’s original story in which the little mermaid has to stab the prince to get her tail back, but can’t bring herself to do it. “It turns into sea foam,” Hutchinson says, “so what do people say about staying true to Andersen’s original story?”
Other Twitter users also mentioned details from the original story that Disney hadn’t included in its 1989 film.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote Little Mermaid in 1837. This is not a legend or a myth,” said Twitter user ViragoX. “Her skin is described as translucent green. Her hair color is never mentioned. She is in constant agony with every step she takes, the prince treats her like a pet, then marries someone else.”
In a recent interview with Variety, Bailey spoke about the racism she faced, describing the support her grandparents gave her.
“It was inspiring and encouraging to hear those words of encouragement,” he said. “They were telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is going to do for us, for our community, for all the little black and brown girls who are going to see themselves when they look at you.’
