‘Part of Your World’: Disney’s Little Mermaid Remake Makes Waves
The Little Mermaid is the latest Disney remake that is making waves in American cinema. The 2023 rendition of the 1989 classic about a peculiar mermaid who falls in love with a human has an ensemble cast featuring Emmy Award winning actress Melissa McCarthy, Academy Award winning actor Javier Bardem, and the film debut of Grammy Award winning singer and actress Halle Bailey.
The film is one of many series of live action remakes Disney has released in the last few years, with other films including Beauty and the Beast (2017), The Lion King (2019), Dumbo (2019), Aladdin (2019), and Mulan (2020). Upon the announcement of the film, it was met with controversy surrounding Bailey’s casting. Leading to a barrage of racist and misogynistic comments all over social media.
Writer Allegra Frank, in her 2022 article for The Daily Beast, “The Racist Backlash to Halle Bailey’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Is Out of Control”, writes, “since Disney announced that Bailey was playing Ariel in 2019, there has been no shortage of backlash…much of it is tinged with racism, of course. Halle Bailey is Black; Ariel, a fictional, animated character, appears to be white in the 1989 animated film. Despite the utter irrelevance of Ariel’s skin color and Bailey’s abundant talent, casting a young Black woman in the lead role was clearly unacceptable.”
Despite the controversy, the film has built quite a following as it has meticulously implemented a promotional strategy; one that has featured Bailey appearing at various Disney venues as well as teaser trailers being released as well. Millions of young black girls have been captivated by seeing a Disney character that looks exactly like them.
Writer KathyPierre, in her 2023 article for Parents.com, “Halle Bailey Is an Inspiration in the Newest ‘Little Mermaid’ Teasers”, writes, “it’s long-established that marginalized people need to see themselves reflected positively in the media… ‘There’s this body of research and a term known as ‘symbolic annihilation,’ which is the idea that if you don’t see people like you in the media you consume, you must somehow be unimportant,’ Nicole Martins, an associate professor at Indiana University told HuffPost in 2017… in this case, that means Bailey’sx prominence and rise to Disney princess-hood is all the more meaningful. And she understands what it will mean for Black children to see her as a mermaid.”
Though it is absolutely unfortunate that in the 21st century, America is still dealing with a representation problem. The fact that mainstream audiences find that Black actors portraying characters outside of maids, prostitutes, gangsters, slaves, and everything in between is a problem highlights the work still left to do regarding race and representation in media and film.
