The little mermaid in the book was white. Here is how Hans Christian Andersen described the little mermaid: “They were six lovely girls, but the youngest was the most beautiful of them all.
The movie is loosely based on the fairy tale, so Disney has the freedom to give Ariel any skin color they want. In the 1989 movie, Ariel was born in the fictional underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which technically makes her Atlantican, not Danish.
Why did Disney make Ariel black if she is white in the original film? In the original danish fairytale the little mermaid was explicitly specified as white several times.
He says they were looking for the best actor for the role of any ethnicity who could not only sing but convey traits such as strength, passion, beauty, joy and intelligence, which they found in Bailey.
Bailey, a Black actress, takes on the role of the singing mermaid made famous by Jodi Benson. Benson voiced and provided the vocals for Ariel in the animated classic, where Ariel was depicted as a white mermaid.
Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ Trailer Sparks Racist Remarks
When did Disney announce Black Ariel?
Controversies. After the announcement of Bailey's involvement in July 2019 and the release of first teaser in September 2022, the film gained mixed responses from the public for casting an African-American actress as Ariel, who was originally Caucasian with red hair in the 1989 animated film.
In the original 1989 Disney animated classic, Ariel's character is White, with straight red hair. But as Murphy and other young Black and brown girls head to theaters this weekend to see “The Little Mermaid,” they'll find an Ariel that is very much a reflection of themselves.
Even if we get nothing else out of these remakes, being racially nimble with how they are cast helps both old and young audiences reimagine what our cultural icons look like. Representation is important, but we also need to separate canon from whiteness and decolonize society's sense of who children should look up to.
Although the Disney classic doesn't explicitly state her nationality, her story is derived from Charles Perrault's French fairy tale “Cendrillon.” The grandeur of her royal ball and the charming château reflect the opulence of France's royal history.
In the new, 2024 Disney adaptation of the classic fairy tale, Snow White will be played by Latina actress Rachel Zegler despite her name and the former popular depictions of the princess.
Yes, mermaids are mythological creatures, but their African origins are real according to Jalondra Davis, an assistant professor of English at the University of California, Riverside. And some mermaids are Black.
There are several instances when Eric's mother Queen Salina (Noma Dumezweni), who is Black and adopted him as a child when he washed up from the ocean, chastises him for his obvious love for beings that are considered other.
So, why the change? One theory is that each of Ariel's sisters represents different oceans that are home to various cultures and ethnicities. It's pretty problematic to have mermaids who all look the same representing such an expansive underwater world.
Moana as she appears in Moana (2016). Inspired by Polynesian mythology, Moana is depicted as the strong-willed daughter of a chief of a Polynesian village, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with the goddess Te Fiti.
(For an interesting video about the relationship between the Sami, Norway, and the making of Frozen 2, click here.) Anna and Elsa are not white either. They are Northuldra raised Arendellian, aka Native Raised Other. Regardless of where they end up by the end of the movie, they are and always will be Native women.
While some claim Jasmine is Arab because the movie opens with a song called Arabian Nights, others believe that the architecture in Agrabah is clearly based on the Taj Mahal, making Jasmine Indian. It's a debate that has fueled speculation that in Hollywood, Indians and Arabs are interchangeable.
Black mermaids are embedded in African diasporic history, Davis said. They originate in African cosmology, thousands of years ago, meant to honor the sacred nature of water. Among those revered is a water goddess known as Mami Wata.
Voice actor Wright's singing style and the compositions by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken for the Sebastian character lean heavily to calypso and reggae influences. Sebastian's back story is that he was born off the coast of Jamaica to Claude and Claudia Sebastian and went to school in Trinidad.
Halle Lynn Bailey (born March 27, 2000) is an American singer and actress. She is best known for portraying Ariel in the 2023 live-action film The Little Mermaid.
Tiana is recognized for being Disney's first African American princess. As the film's writers and directors, Clements and Musker claim that their decision to depict Tiana as an African American young woman came naturally simply as a result of the location in which the story takes place.
