Entertainment

A definitive rebuttal to every racist 'Little Mermaid' argument

September 19, 2022 11:13 am

The Little Mermaid.

Ever since Disney released the first look for its 2023 live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” the internet has been sodden with wave after wave of racist critics complaining that Ariel, the completely fictional underwater fish woman, shouldn’t be Black. Hashtags like #notmyariel are bouncing around social media, and YouTube hid the dislike counter on the official video after it was bombarded with racist comments and more than 1.5 million “dislikes.”

One group of critics went as far as to share a digitally altered version of the teaser that featured a White woman in place of the movie’s star Halle Bailey, who they called a “woke actress.”

By now, we know it’s not unusual to see racist responses whenever a person of colour is cast in a role considered “traditionally” White. While there are plenty of legitimate reasons to dislike a movie, these critics often hide their discomfort behind other thin arguments, claiming historical or cultural accuracy or, of all things, science.

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Here are some real arguments people have levied to protest the casting choice. The facts prove they just don’t hold water.

More importantly, the remake of one film doesn’t erase the existence of the previous films: 1999’s Mr Darcy and 2005’s Mr.

Darcy lives in harmony with every other character from the roughly 300 “Pride and Prejudice” film remakes.

Pennywise looks different in every “It” iteration, as does Frankenstein’s monster. The story of “Cinderella,” which predates even the famous Brothers Grimm version, seems to have a different remake out every year.

One notable version, 1997’s “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” featured a racially diverse cast that included singer Brandy as the first Black Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother.

It aired on TV as part of the “Wonderful World of Disney.”

While Disney has produced a very famous iteration of “The Little Mermaid,” it isn’t the first, only, or universally definitive work.

No one owns the concept of mermaids or what they look like. A White, red-haired animated teenager is not the only version of “The Little Mermaid” to exist.