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.

What color was The Little Mermaid in the original story?

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.

What skin was Ariel Little Mermaid originally?

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 the color of the skin of The Little Mermaid in the book?

At last she came. Then the little mermaid, who was very anxious to see whether she was really beautiful, was obliged to acknowledge that she had never seen a more perfect vision of beauty. Her skin was delicately fair, and beneath her long dark eye-lashes her laughing blue eyes shone with truth and purity.

What is Ariel's original ethnicity?

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.

why Ariel's story needs colour | a 1989 vs 2023 analysis

Who was the first black Ariel?

Disney's live-action version of the 1989 animated classic 'The Little Mermaid' hits theaters on Friday. This highly-anticipated film is also marking a moment in Disney history with Halle Bailey as the first Black Ariel.

Is Ariel Greek or Danish?

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.

Did the Little Mermaid originally have green skin?

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.

Was the Little Mermaid White in the original book?

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.

Why did they make Ariel black?

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.

What was Ariel supposed to look like?

Physical appearance

Ariel is a beautiful adolescent mermaid with a curvaceous figure, fair skin, red lips, red hair, and large, aqua blue eyes.

Did Ariel have red hair in the original Little Mermaid?

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 did Ariel look like?

Ariel's most defining feature is her long, flowing, thick, bright red hair. From the waist down, she has a green horizontal fish-like tail with sea-green scales and sea-foam green fins and a matching V-shaped waist-line resembling fish-lips that reveals her midriff and her belly button.

Which Disney Princess is black?

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.

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.

What race is Snow White?

BuzzFeed views Snow White as a German woman, and suggests that a "historically accurate" Snow White would have been raised within the "austere and religious" culture of the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century.

Why was Ariel's hair not red?

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.

Why are 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.

When did The Little Mermaid come out black?

It was released theatrically on May 26, 2023, in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. A sing-along edition of the film was released in theaters on August 25, 2023.

Did they change the color of The Little Mermaid?

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.

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!

What is Ariel's native language?

YouTuber Movie Munchies spliced scenes of some of the most iconic Disney songs so that the princesses would actually be singing in the languages in which each story takes place. That means Frozen's Elsa is singing in Norwegian, Ariel in Danish, Jasmine in Arabic, Mulan in Mandarin Chinese, and Rapunzel in German.

What was Ariel's original name?

5. Ariel wasn't known as Ariel in the original fairy tale. She was simply referred to as the “little mermaid.” Aside from Disney's Ariel, the character has gone by other names as well. For instance, in the Japanese animated series Adventure of the Little Mermaid , she is known as Marina.

What religion is Ariel?

Ariel (Hebrew: אֲרִיאֵל, romanized: ʾÁrīʾēl; Ancient Greek: Άριὴλ, romanized: Ariel) is an angel found primarily in Jewish and Christian mysticism and apocrypha. Ariel, painting from the Sopo Archangels collection.