“This is the real Ariel”
MADRID, September 14 (CultureLeisure) –
At the last D23 Expo, Disney released the trailer for The Little Mermaid, a live-action remake of the 1989 classic Directed by Rob Marshall. Starring Halle Bailey, the film received an award huge response on social media, with a special emphasis on black girls. A tsunami of love capable of destroying the displays of hatred, as old as it is stubborn, from racist and xenophobic “haters”.
Bailey’s Choicea young black actress and singer, already caused controversy from some reactionary sectors at the time. But despite the predictable racist criticism, the truth is this With its trailer alone, the film managed to generate a huge cultural impact. Millions of people, especially girls, have seen themselves represented in one of Disney’s great stories.
So hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the networks to support Bailey, defending it This remake of The Little Mermaid promises a lot thanks to her acting and her spectacular voice, which can be heard in the trailer. But above all they wanted to make it clear that the great triumph of the film lies in a gesture in favor of racial diversity.
A gesture that will allow, unlike their parents and grandparents, many girls and boys can see themselves reflected on the screen. In the following Twitter thread, user @normanination4 collects a a series of videos of the little ones getting excited about the character. In these tracks recorded by their parents and relatives, girls from different places see the trailer for the first time and are excited and surprised to see that the “real Ariel” it is like them, just as one celebrates.
“She’s black! Ariel is black!”, says another girl. “She’s black like me,” a third excited girl tells her mother. “I want to see her now!” A little girl comments to her father after watching the trailer with her sisters. The reactions of girls with hopeful eyes to the new little mermaid are already hundreds on the Internet, proving that risky decisions like these are a very positive thing.
As I scroll through TikTok, I keep seeing parents filming their kids’ reactions to the Little Mermaid trailer. So instead of focusing so much on the negative, I decided to show a thread with the little black kids who are excited to see their favorite princess look like them.
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 11, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 12, 2022
— Lai💔 (@normanination4) September 12, 2022
i’m sick of reading grown men mad about the little black mermaid when the only ones who matter are thempic.twitter.com/td5AmyVwSI
— Nash (@olivernashbb) September 13, 2022
If The Little Mermaid is black, it is not for you, Javier, 36, nor for you, Rosa, 32, it is for the new generations who also want to see themselves reflected in fantastic films that have always been on the white market for almost 100 years. So if there are so many conflicts, look at the cartoon
— Manumanito (@manumanito) September 10, 2022
In the original story, the little mermaid wasn’t red-haired, her name wasn’t Ariel, the prince married someone else and she died. It is a metaphor for author Hans Christian Andersen’s homosexual love for a friend of his who married a woman. This is not “faithfulness to history”, this is racism.
— Gem MJ (@gmaemejota) September 11, 2022
Apart from these beautiful reactions to the progress of the film On the part of her target audience, there is also a lot of advocacy for Bailey from voices who have something to say about it. specific, the voice actress, who played Ariel in the original House of the Mouse film, wanted to show her support for her successor.
In an Instagram story, Jodi Benson wrote the following: “I’m so excited, so excited! Hallie, you are absolutely amazing. I am so proud of you and your wonderful performance as Ariel. It was wonderful to celebrate with your family here at the D23 Expo.” A few words to which Bailey responded: “Thank you very much. It means the world comes from you! You made Ariel magical for us.”
