Today's Black girls are about to see something we could never have imagined even as we clung to our fairy tales: Disney's live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” is hitting theaters this weekend and, for the first time, we will see a Black Ariel, played by Halle Bailey — and she even has locs …
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.
Hairstylist Camille Friend, the head of the film's hair department, revealed the process of making sure Halle's hair as Ariel looked just right, saying that it was a mix of different shades of red rather than the bright red of Ariel in the animated version. This is how much it cost to make it – an estimated US$150,000!
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.
In the original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen the protagonist is described as having skin that 'was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf'. So unless you want Ariel snot green, please stop pretending your 'concerns' are about authorial intent.
The Little Mermaid Full Movie In English Disney | New Hollywood Movie | Review & Facts
Is Ariel's tail green or teal?
The sea-green color of Ariel's mermaid tail was a hue specially mixed by the Disney paint lab; the color was named "Ariel" after the character. The choice of red as Ariel's hair color was the subject of dispute between the filmmakers and studio executives who wanted the character to have blonde hair.
“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.”
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.
The film, which was released in the UK on Friday 26 May, sees Halle take on the titular character of Ariel, a mermaid who's one wish is to see what's beyond the sea. While Halle keeps Ariel's signature red hair for the film, she decided to keep her natural locs for the role but dyed them a copper colour instead.
Obviously, modifications are required anytime you adapt animation to live-action, but Bailey and the beauty department had to reimagine Ariel as a woman of color too. Bailey and the team opted to keep her hair red—that was essential—but opted for copper locs to make it her own.
While Ariel is 16 years old in Disney animated The Little Mermaid film, her love interest is not the same age. The character's voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, was just 16 years old at the time of recording the film, leading to the assumption that the character was intended to be the same age.
Since the animated feature film had a white mermaid as Ariel, some people are angry that Disney has gone with a black actress in the live-action. Some people also believe that Hans Christian Andersen described the Little mermaid as a white mermaid in his book.
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.
The casting is beautifully “colour blind”, with the prince being white and his mother being Black (he is adopted). At the same time, the Little Mermaid's father is white, while her mermaid sisters are of various different races and ethnicities.
The mermaids of Greek and Roman mythology are considerably close to the appearance and character of the European myths we think about today. Many ancient Greek myths equate sirens with mermaids. However, while they share many characteristics, they are now seen as two different entities.
Ariel, in the Disney animated film, The Little Mermaid (1989), based on the classic fairy-tale by Hans Christian Andersen, is not a harmful creature, but a young mermaid who wishes to become human and join our world above water. Sirens, on the other hand, have different intentions.
The movie itself does not explicitly state Ariel's age, but Disney's production notes for the film shared by Yahoo! describe the lead character as a "spirited 18-year-old." The evidence behind Ariel being aged up two years compared to the animated movie can be seen in the live-action remake.
Since Ariel in The Little Mermaid is Triton's daughter, and according to Greek mythology, Triton is the son of Poseidon, this makes Ariel the granddaughter of Poseidon. And who else is on that family tree? None other than Hercules's father Zeus, who is the brother of Poseidon.
That means Frozen's Elsa is singing in Norwegian, Ariel in Danish, Jasmine in Arabic, Mulan in Mandarin Chinese, and Rapunzel in German. In the second video, Belle is singing in French, Snow White in German, Megara in Greek, Anna in Norwegian, and Aurora in French.
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.
While it is known that her mother perished, there is no story attached to the event. However, much later, in 2008, an animated The Little Mermaid prequel revealed that Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship during an altercation between humans and merpeople.
In the animated film, Ursula was a villain who enjoyed messing with people and getting what she wanted. In The Little Mermaid live-action, however, Ursula's backstory gets an adjustment — she is upgraded to Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt, making her revenge and motivations all the more sinister.
