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.
What color is The Little Mermaid in the original book?
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.
“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.”
In the original story, The Little Mermaid is motivated by a fear of death and desires a soul and an afterlife in addition to love. The original Little Mermaid story is much darker and violent than Disney's version, with the sea witch brutally cutting out the mermaid's tongue in exchange for legs.
Real mermaids, died this morning in South Sulawesi Indonesian
Did the original Little Mermaid have red hair?
Ariel is the first Disney Princess to have Red Hair. Back in 1989, red head were very rarely seen. But Ariel made many red headed girls who otherwise didn't see themselves in movies had a red headed princess!
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.
1. 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 did the Little Mermaid look like in the book?
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.
And while creators of The Little Mermaid originally wanted Ariel to have blonde hair to stay in keeping with the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, Splash's massive popularity was still too hot to ignore. So, in a bid to stand out from the crowd, an iconic change was given to the underwater princess.
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose.
Even with the hype from Disney fans, there was some backlash regarding some of the movie's changes, such as casting a woman of color as Ariel, since she does not have pale skin and bright red hair like the animated mermaid.
“[Ariel still] has red hair, because that's a very iconic part of her, but I really did admire the fact that because I'm a Black woman and I have locs, [the producers] wanted to incorporate that into Ariel's look,” Bailey says.
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.
The hair department head of The Little Mermaid has revealed the process and cost of creating the red colour for Halle Bailey's character Ariel. The Little Mermaid 2023 live-action movie version is much talked about.
5. Speaking of ages, our little mermaid is 10 years old when we first meet her, and she ages to 15 after a time jump. The prince, who also goes unnamed, is estimated to be around 16 years old. In the Disney adaptation, Prince Eric is 18 and Ariel is 16.
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.
Things like the walking on knives detail would have been way too dark for the film's target audience of kids. On top of that, the dark ending would have gone against the film's lighthearted tone. Disney's The Little Mermaid changes were also required due to Andersen's story structure.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
