Little Mermaid Trailer Reactions Show Disney Movie’s Cultural Impact (screenrant.com)
In September of this year the first trailer for the new Little Mermaid Live Action movie was released. The new movie stars Halle Bailey, an African American actress as Ariel which caused a lot of mixed reviews.
Many people were very upset by this casting decision as in the animated version of The Little Mermaid Ariel is a fiery white, red head with big blue eyes. People don’t understand why the media industry tries so hard to be woke that they change appearances of characters who are engrained in many people’s minds and childhoods looking a certain way. Many people commented on the decision saying things like “what if Disney were to cast a blonde, white girl as Tiana from Princess and The Frog… everyone would be pissed.” Others cited the fact that Ariel is the only red headed princess so why doesn’t representation for red heads matter?
People don’t understand why in all of the other live action princess movies Disney has done such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Mulan they have casted people who look like their animated characters but decided to switch it up this time. Due to this Halle faced a lot of backlash.
Halle did not mind receiving negative comments about her in this role because she knew representation matters. She talked a lot about how one of the main reasons she auditioned for and accepted this role in the first place was because she knew that if she was a young girl seeing a black princess would have really changed her confidence and overall outlook of herself. In other words, she knew what her doing this role would mean to other little black girls all over the world.
Halle was extremely correct about this. Ever since the new Little Mermaid trailer came out social media platforms have been blowing up with tons of videos of little girls reacting to the trailer and being so excited to see a princess that looks like them. It is so important to represent all races, genders, disabilities, etc. in media because everyone should be able to recognize themselves in a character they admire.
Ariels race has nothing to do with the plot of the movie so there is no reason why people shouldn’t be able to accept and embrace the cultural impact that casting a black princess will have for little African American girls everywhere. It is truly great to see movies branching out to represent and advocate for everyone. For example, I can remember similar reviews of little girls loving seeing the representation in the hit movie Encanto. A big part of public relations is being diverse and embracing other people’s perspectives and backgrounds. We have talked a lot about diversity in class recently so it’s great to find examples of companies that are doing a great job at breaking down barriers compared to how they have been in the past.
I personally can’t wait for the release of the Little Mermaid in May of 2023 and to see Halle Bailey absolutely kill it in this role and make little girls everywhere feel seen and beautiful.