Halle Bailey as Ariel – Outdated Debate Over Casting of the “The Little Mermaid”
Hope and the Backlash
“She’s like me!”
The pure excitement of little black and brown girls from all over the world might have captured your eyes. Halle Bailey, a 23-year-old American actress, stars as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid,” which opens on 26 May 2023. The news has a meaningful impact as there has only been one other Black Disney princess in Disney’s nearly 100-year history, Princess Tiana, in “The Princess and the Frog.”
The Little Mermaid’s one-minute trailer has brought smiles to millions of children and was praised by their parents; however, it was not without a significant amount of racist backlash. Disney had no choice but to turn off ‘dislikes’ after receiving 1.8 million on the trailer, and the hashtag #NotMyAriel has been bouncing around Twitter. Some attempt to be faithful to the original The Little Mermaid, where Jodi Benson played Ariel in 1989 (even though there is no typical type of “Mermaid“- it is fiction in the first place!) and express disapproval of Bailey’s casting. Even worse, a Twitter user has been suspended as a consequence of posting a remake of the trailer that has been whitewashed with AI, claiming to have “fixed” the original trailer.
Some might start to wonder if Disney was not expecting all the possible racist reactions and suppose choosing Bailey as Ariel was intended for political correctness. Is this casting politically motivated? If so, is it a bad thing?
Why was Halle Bailey chosen as Ariel?
According to an interview by Variety, Bailey grew up watching “The Little Mermaid,” and it was truly an inspiration to her – “Her [Ariel’s] sense of longing, her searching for herself, was something that I could resonate with,” looking back on her childhood. And her profound yearning gave her a way to play the character.
On a side note, Bailey is well-known as one half of Chloe×Halle, an R&B sister duo. Their path in music began by uploading Beyoncé covers on their Youtube channel in 2012 and blooming into the Best New Artist at the 2019 Grammy Awards.
Marshall recalled that Halle’s soulful vocal moved him to tears, convincing him she must have been made for the role.
Mayu Taniguchi
Rob Marshall, best known as a director of “The Chicago” film version, firstly discovered Bailey’s exceptional talent for singing when witnessing the sister’s performance of “Where Is the Love?” on the 2019 Grammy telecast. He was mesmerised by her voice; however, he was unsure whether her talent would transfer into acting. Marshall invited Bailey to his audition for “The Little Mermaid,” asking her to sing “Part of Your World,” a signature piece for the film. Marshall recalled that Halle’s soulful vocal moved him to tears, convincing him she must have been made for the role. He added: “It’s the most chilling, and the most thrilling, film moment because it crystallises not just her incredible vocal ability but the emotional passion she has in singing it.”
As the above reveals, it seems reasonable to think that casting was not entirely motivated politically; rather, it was because of Bailey’s extraordinary singing ability that drags the audience into the story. Even if this casting was intended for political correctness, is it something that has to be bashed so severely? Was the casting wrong because it broke a childhood image of Ariel? Or was it a one-step forward to realise inclusive media representation?
The media frenzy impact on the release of “The Little Mermaid”
Unfortunately, as Stuart Heritage argued in The Guardian, many may predict that the ongoing turmoil over Bailey’s casting overshadows its beautiful story and might not be appreciated anymore. Nevertheless, it is still true that Bailey donning Ariel’s fins encouraged countless children. The actress has also acknowledged how significant her live-action re-imaging film will be to lift the hurdle regarding race, which has been laid for ten decades in Disney’s history.
“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special and that they should be a princess in every single way… There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.” Bailey said in Variety’s interview.
Image Credits: People Magazine, 2022.
As a coloured woman who grew up watching “The Little Mermaid,” Bailey added, “I know what it would’ve meant to me as a little girl to have been able to see a Black Ariel when I was younger.” Bailey recalled that during the shooting, she was passionate about conveying all the special feelings she cherished when watching the film when she was little. Her strong desire and soul are indeed passed onto the audience.
Sterling Shanks, one of the parents who recorded their children watching the trailer, shared his comforting feelings with the New York Times, saying that: “Seeing an actual manifestation of something you love and are passionate about makes that thing more realistic and makes you feel included; that’s my hope for them.” Other parents also agreed that children have to have a representation that makes them feel proud of themselves and should be able to believe anything is possible.
If you step back and look around at the reactions from children in pyjamas, you will see how much this coming film meant to many people. Additionally, this is not only about black and brown communities. The release of this film may have forged a stepping stone for possible equal media representation.
How should this controversy be addressed?
Despite all the worldwide expectations toward the upcoming film, explicit racist comments are indeed prevailing. At the same time, some views are not necessarily based on racism but should be interrogated. It is an opinion from bystanders, commenting: “It is just a movie. I do not care whether Ariel is white or black.”
Stuart Heritage from Guardian is also among those who hold this perspective. In his article on 15 September 2022, he claims: “The boring spat over the Disney trailer makes idiots of us all –whether Ariel is black or white, it is clearly a film that should rightfully be ignored then forgotten forever.”
It might be true that the casting of Disney films seems trivial for many of us with seemingly more serious matters to deal with. Notwithstanding, as Bailey told in her interview: “Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.” Can we stand on the side-line with folded arms because it is just a children’s movie? Or is there something that we can and should do?
It might be fair to point out that people are sparking the same controversy on race over and over again. Moreover, as Nicky Lungaro expressed in the New York Times interview, Halle’s casting should not be regarded as epoch-making in the first place. The underrepresentation of coloured people in media reinforces people’s stereotype, assuming “princess should be white.” According to research conducted by McKinsey & Company, black actors play only 11% of main film roles, demonstrating the dominance of the white population in the American film industry. As such, people continue making racist comments without noticing their statement is such.
Reaction from the audience matters to the film industry. It can reinforce existing framing; however, it can also open up a path for diversified screens.
Support 2023 “The Little Mermaid” and break the convention.
Header Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons.
