“I remember the first thumbnail sketches,” Benson tells EW of the first iterations of Ariel. “She had blonde hair. She looked like one of the exaggerated faces from [the] Peter Pan era. She looked a little bit glamorous and a little bit mature to me.”

What color was Ariel supposed to be?

Ariel, is a fictional character, with no defined skin color in her original material. She was originally written by a Danish author in the 1800s. She has been portrayed in ballet and movies by Asian, Russian, and mixed-race individuals, her cartoon depictions are typically pale.

What was Ariel originally supposed to look like?

In Andersen's fairy tale, the Little Mermaid is described as follows: "her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea." And if you're wondering if Andersen's Little Mermaid had that signature bright red hair that has become synonymous with mermaids, the answer is unclear.

Was the original Ariel blonde?

According to a video by this creator, the original concept art for Ariel shows her as a blonde. After a simple Google search, she is right. The blonde mermaid looks nothing like the Ariel we know and love today, but it does resemble the mermaid from Splash (played by Daryl Hannah) that came out in 1984.

What was Ariel's original skin color?

Yes, in the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, he describes the mermaid as having a “white skin.” Andersen was a Dane, he lived in a place where anyone who wasn't pasty-white (or the sun-damaged variation of pasty-white) was a rarity.

Ariel Was Supposed To Be Blonde? Facts About The Little Mermaid

Why did Disney make Ariel black?

On the significance of casting a Black actress as Ariel

Sherri Hope Culver: To have a Disney character who is not just a princess but a live-action, real flesh and blood person that children can be inspired by is important. This is because people of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the media.

Was The Little Mermaid supposed to be white?

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.

What ethnicity was Ariel?

In the 1989 movie, Ariel was born in the fictional underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which technically makes her Atlantican, not Danish. As Ariel is half fish, she cannot be categorized by our ethnicities and races.

Did Ariel originally have green skin?

In Anderson's telling and the original Disney film, the mermaid possessed white skin. In Disney's upcoming live action version of the story, Ariel will be portrayed by black actress and singer Halle Bailey.

Was the original Little Mermaid dark?

Summary. The original story of The Little Mermaid is much darker than the Disney version, featuring gruesome elements that wouldn't fit well in a family-friendly film.

Why isn't Ariel's hair red in live-action?

One fan pointed out that her hair looked less vibrantly red because the film is "lit realistically." After seeing this trailer, it's not that the Little Mermaid doesn't have color. It's just all lit realistically.

Did the Little Mermaid 2023 flop?

The reported box office result of The Little Mermaid 2023 remake is about $560 million. On paper, these numbers look good. The film grossed over $298 million domestically and more than $263 million internationally.

Why isn't Snow White White?

The new instalment is coming out next year, with quite an ironic twist: Snow White, who is described as having 'skin as white as snow' in the original Grimm Brothers version, is no longer white at all. Instead, she will be played by actress Rachel Zegler, a Latina of Colombian ancestry.

Why does Ariel have dreads?

Bailey, who wears her hair in locs or “dreads”, said the producers were keen to stay true to her Black heritage through the character.

Why is Ariel's tail green?

The color of Ariel's fin was specially created by Disney.

It's not your average green tone — Ariel's fin is an original hue mixed by the Disney Paint Lab. The sea-green color is now named after her!

Why did they make Scuttle a girl?

Diversity. Ariel had 3 male animal friends, so they needed to make one a girl. Same reason they made Jock a girl (Jacqueline aka Jacque) in the Lady & The Tramp live-action remake.

Did Ariel have black hair?

In the original, Ariel's character has fire-engine red hair. By contrast, in the live-action version, Ariel's hair appears to be a more muted shade of red.

Was Halle Berry in The Little Mermaid?

There were a lot of very confused people a few years ago when it was revealed that Halle Bailey had been cast as the live-action Ariel and people, who did not know Bailey from her music career, believed that Halle Berry had been cast in the role.

Is The Little Mermaid A Grimm fairytale?

The Little Mermaid is a literary fairy tale. The plot is drawn from Hans Christian Andersen's imagination rather than a specific folktale. However, Andersen's writing was influenced by traditional folklore about merfolk and water nymphs.

Do all of Ariel's sisters have the same mom?

Of course, the animated mermaids are the daughters of King Triton and Queen Athena, but that may change in the live-action version with the implication that Ariel's sisters have different mothers.

Is Ariel supposed to be Greek?

Ariel's story really begins in Ancient Greece. According to lore, she is a nereid, one of the dozens of daughters of the sea-god Triton. This isn't the first time that the internet has been set alight over the suggestion that famous figures of antiquity could be anything but white.

Why is Prince Eric's mother 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.

Why is Ariel's sisters different races?

All of king Triton's daughters represent their own seas all over the world and as such they are all different ethnicities in the movie. It is not specified where the movie takes place, i.e. where Ariel lives but it's obvious it's not in Denmark.

Is Little Mermaid in Jamaica?

The Little Mermaid is set in the Caribbean

But while filming took place on the Italian island in the heart of the Mediterranean, the action of the film is meant to take place in the Caribbean.