What do you think about the decision to make the Little mermaid BLACK?

Question

POLL: Do you think it's insulting to minorities that movie studios need to change the race of popular character to bring about diversity rather than just making an entirely new character and letting it stand on its own merit?

In other news, Jodi Benson (white person) is being mocked on twitter by the left who state her performance as Ariel in 1989 is a little flat compared to Halle Bailey (black person).

Halle gone eat this bc why Ariel a little flat https://t.co/h5j0ppLa3D
— Shein by Shereé (@whxtsnew) September 10, 2022

There was more mocking... including folks posting shots of Halle's Ariel next to the animated Ariel and noting that HB has a ton of Grammys noms, while cartoon Ariel (aka, Jodi) had zero. FWIW, 'The Little Mermaid' did in fact win a handful of Grammys at the time.

Select gender and age to cast your vote:

Updates

+1 y

yep no agenda at all

https://i.redd.it/apmci3sq4z931.jpg

OpenClose · Accepted Answer

I mean I do kinda complain about arbitrary race swapping because it seems lazy. Like you want to look like you care about diversity but don't want to put forward the effort.

It also has to do with the locality of the original story, since I think the original story was from Denmark. But the concept of a mermaid is way bigger. Not to mention it was referring to manitees. So yeah this is NOT one of the cases that bothers me.

Corlys on House of the Dragon confused me, because the Valaryons are supposed to be super related to and almost indistinguishable from Targaryens. But to me it's less "woke" and more "bold". They aren't adding diversity to morally-perfect characters as is often done. They're adding diversity to a group of morally-grey people who are historically inbred imperialistic slave-owners. So much more complexity. The actor for Corlys is really good, too. So I can head-justify it by the fact that they are sea-faring and we're in relative proximity to the summer isles and sothoryos.

But yeah, I would personally rather see more original stories with an all-black cast like Get Out or Black Panther. Or hear stories that are themselves from diverse origins. Like surely Africa is loaded with amazing folklore, and I want to hear it. Or I thought princess and the frog was great. Something that fits it in naturally rather than feeling like weak tokenization.

In the case of Ariel, it doesn't bother me that much if the Danish people are cool with it, and knowing Denmark, they probably are. Scandinavia was cool with Idris Elba playing a guy literally known as "the whitest Asgardian", and that ended up being a great decision because Heimdall was my favorite in those movies.

To me what bothers me is simply people's inconsistency. If a swap one way bothers you, swaps the other way should as well. To me I have little problem so long as it makes sense with the story, and they actor is really good.

OfDeath · Accepted Answer

Having read the original book by Hans Christian Andersen at a young age, I know that the titular character is MEANT to not just be white, but damn close to be being translucency due to inhabited the deep ocean where sunlight hardly reaches!

So what I think of it is what it actually is. Intentional blackwashing to push the woke agenda and I find it laughable. This is the ethnic tolerance equivalent of giving the sibling of a child having their birthday a present too, so they don't cry!

Uproarious.

atiquahbby · Accepted Answer

I don't care as long as they don't care about casting a white person in a black role. Aladdin's Naomi Scott is half indian half white and I don't remember anyone complaining, so why exactly is this even an issue?

I generally however prefer if they cast someone who has similar attributes to the character in the cartoons, whether it be black, white, indian, Asian, or any other race.

So to answer the question, I'm not completely happy about casting a black girl in the little mermaid equally as much as I would not be happy about casting a white girl for Mulan or Princess Jasmine. Just because I want the person to look like their character.

But since no-one has an issue the other way around, people really shouldn't be having an issue with this either.

letuswaltzforthedead · Accepted Answer

Its honestly more stupid the more I think about it, upsettingly stupid. Why not just make a another black princess or superhero instead of pulling a "we have macdonalds at home. Macdonalds at home:" move. Same goes for any minority, or does Disney think so little of every child as to be undeserving of having their own amazing characters?

I'm not against representation in films for the sake of children, I'm against sh-tty woke films. Show male characters being competent and masculine. Show Female characters being feminine and nurturing. I don't care about their race and sexuality, just focus on making them good.

WhiteSteve · Answer

If this doesn’t warm your heart, stop by the hospital for a chest x-ray to make sure you have one…

Soteris · Answer

To start with. The little Mermaid is literally a story about a mermaid changing their entire race into a human. Complaining about the skin color while ignoring the fact that they are literally morphing into a different species is just really really dumb and goes to show how stupid and little racists think about their own beliefs to allow such contradictions and double standards.

But that is besides the point. You could very easily have changed the race of any number of the characters and made the movie better for it. They did not of course, but they could have. It is incredibly ironic that it is the same racist idiots who made this decision and for the same reason as the people who complain about it. AKA a misplaced token gift to the progressive viewers. It is incredibly telling how the higher ups view the customers and if you need a clue just look at the racists responses.

But I digress. There are plenty of ways you could have successfully improved the story of the little mermaid by changing the races of the characters in it but the story must be adapted to support this. Just changing it and pretending nothing is different is worthless.

ManOnFire · Answer

Yes, I find these switches annoying, as a black person myself. They are beginning to trouble me, and even offend me. It's not necessary to have all these traditional movies/characters switched over to black. I don't need - or want - to see a black hobbit. The Lord of the Rings series was penned by J. R. R. Tolkien loosely based on Celtic lore with added fantasy, and it's not necessary to infuse black characters into that, rather it feels ridiculous honestly. And I don't need to see a black Spiderman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Alice in Wonderland or anything else.

What Hollywood is doing with these switches is trying to pander to black communities, when the truth is that a lot of us really don't care about it. Black people will watch these things if they feel like it's entertaining, not because the characters are now black. I'm offended that Hollywood thinks I need these kinds of cheesy color switches in order to feel included or make me watch. The key to good entertainment-of-color is to keep creating original black masterpieces like Black Panther, Hidden Figures, Day Shift, Malcolm & Marie, and others.

I would say the only characters that can be racially interchangeable with no issues would be black Jedis in Star Wars, James Bond, and maybe Superman, since there is a black Kryptonian by the name of Val-Zod in the comics who is basically a version of Superman. Other than that, you can keep the rest of your goofy switch-overs.

MCheetah · Answer

Yes, I think it's patronizing, extremely stupid, and unnecessary, and usually the only people fine with blackwashing or race-swapping are woke idiots and self-loathing minorities (usually black females).

I also am SO SICK of the Hollywood race-trolling and fan-baiting. As well as the counter race-trolling. Although to be honest, she looks much better Photoshopped. I don't even care about her skin color, she just looks less ugly overall.

And regardless of race or anything else, I think Halle Bailey is extremely ugly and can't sing. Shouldn't have been cast at all. But at least I'm not going to blame her for this; she's just an actress. It's the woke assholes at Disney who decided to do this in 2019 who should be fired for burning millions of dollars on woke propaganda.

At the end of the day though, this is just tokenism and fake controversy spread by human pieces of sh*t in order to make money. Don't ever forget that or let this sh*tty movie get you into flame wars about racism and sh*t. It's just a trash remake of a movie and nothing more.

hahahmm · Answer

"Do you think it's insulting to minorities that movie studios need to change the race of popular character to bring about diversity rather than just making an entirely new character and letting it stand on its own merit?"

Depends. For example when it comes to the latest Star Trek TV show that has characters from the original show, I get the sense (only watched 1 episode) that they made McCoy black just as a token. I get that sense not because of the skin tone change but because the character is a retard/passive/lazy/useless from what I saw. His nurse was portrayed as a genius who he needed to ask stuff of like he's a retard. Uhura was still black but seemed less skilled than the original. I thought that of the recent Trek movies too. That's insulting.

If they showed the doctor as just as good as the original character then I wouldn't see it as a bad thing. But it also wouldn't really matter what race he is.

We know these woke studios are creating lots of tokens tho. They just check some boxes instead of finding the best actor/actress OR bothering to write a good story to go with the character. I don't know about the little mermaid because I didn't watch it tho.

D_Bone_Steak · Answer

Race and gender swapping is the new normal as long as you're replacing a white person. They feel like they're fighting racism by being extremely racist as well in the opposite direction. That Vikings show, where they took a well-known Jarl known for fucking people's wives gets turned into a woman... and a black woman. I could just keep naming examples, you get the idea. Notice though they never create anything original. They're only taking established this or established that and changing it. They're not adding to the culture they're simply "deconstructing" it and most of the time the shitty writing makes it unbearable to even sit through.

So the mermaid thing... okay she's black now... love how you make her hair red still. You gotta understand these are legit racists pretending to not be racist, and when you call them out on shitty writing or anything at all they're waiting to just call you the racist and say the only reason you don't like it is that race shit. They use it as a defense for their shitty writing skills and lack of originality.

BCA6010 · Answer

Well if they wanted to be true to the original HCA version, she'd be totally inhuman looking and green, and she'd also fail miserably and die at the end. In fairness, Ariel being a pale redhead was entirely a Disney invention in the first place.

The biggest problem with it is that Disney themselves went out of their way to make her race the central talking point when they first announced the movie a couple years ago, and what's worse is they're now bragging about changing the story to conform to woke narratives. It has a painfully obvious appearance of going out of their way to piss people off and self-victimize, which is a common trend in movies and series that turn out to be poor quality. They do this while also knowing that the international release in at least China is being digitally edited to make Ariel and presumably anyone else in the cast who is dark-skinned look white (r). Disney's silence on this is deafening, but they couldn't wait to take the soapbox where it didn't have to be an issue just to score some worthless political points.

Regarding the singing, Ariel's parts were always overrated; "Under the Sea" was the standout. I know nothing about the guy voicing Sebastian though.

I haven't seen anyone mention Awkwafina voicing Scuttle, but I'm sure that'll be migraine-inducing, and probably the most hated part of the movie once actual reviews come out. I don't even dislike her personally, but the last time Disney shoehorned her into a voice role, it was terrible for everyone involved. Disney has a bad habit of effectively ruining the careers of 90%+ of everyone who commits to major projects with them and turning them into professional shills, and it's no wonder that a lot of the MCU and Star Wars veterans don't want anything to do with them anymore.

Stoner710 · Answer

Ok so let me get this straight, The libs complain about cultural appropriation, It would be cultural appropriation for a white girl to be the women king for example, the story comes from Africa (also there a lot of issue with the premise behind the women king anyway and the story is not correct). The little mermaid comes from my culture or at least a neighbor of my culture I’m Nordic, The Dans came up with the story little mermaid comes from, so if we are going to play the game in Hollywood that white people can’t play a black role then black shouldn’t play a role that is white, it’s really that simple, Since if a white women can’t play Nanisca then a black women can’t play Ariel in the little mermaid.

of course we could come up with out own stories and could stop this woke bullshit but we all know we’re not going to do that, It’s time conservatives turned the democrats logic back on them and say if you can’t do A then you can’t do B especially when it comes to race.

my culture isn’t your movie

DaisyM23 · Answer

I'm a POC and Ariel was my favourite princess growing up. I don't really care what race Ariel is as long as she's got the red hair tbh. It'd be different I think for princesses like Jasmine from the Middle East and Mulan from China and Pocahontas who's a Native American, but Ariel is a MERMAID so I don't care. As long as she's played well and her singing is on point, I don't think anyone else should care either. Jodi Benson played Ariel so fucking well back then and Halle Bailey will hopefully play her just as well now.

Topaz1979 · Answer

I’ll say it again! I have no problem with the fact that she is black which many people claim that the complainers are complaining because she’s black and that’s not true, the issue that I have overall is that the little mermaid was a masterpiece as is I feel there was no reason at all to remake it!. Every kid who watched the little mermaid was not even looking at the race of the characters we were just enjoying the fun music, fun story line and authentically!. It’s like a time capsule and by making this woke modern version they are ruining our time capsule.

strateguy632 · Answer

many problems. once you isolate "looks" you hurt other MINORITY no latina ariel no Asian... (why wear a bra instead of hijab?)

they DID make a NEW princess the one with frog "entirely new character and letting it stand on its own merit", so this mermaid swap is an insult to EVERYBODY,

1, an insult to blacks by pander, 2, insult to other minority as above 3, an insult to white "you not good enuf need to swap" so only divisiveness. which is the woke goal.

MAC1983 · Answer

I think it's insulting thinking auditions are just casual things about what or who you know. They were either the best for the cast, or one of the best that fit their agenda better. I have absolutely no problem with changing races and even genders in roles when they stand out.

If Neil Gaiman did it in his beloved Sandman comic masterpiece turned Netflix series with no second thought, I don't see a company as Disney having any problem doing the same, probably for a lot worse reasons.

In the end, whatever works. Give them a chance and stay as off of social media as much as you can. You seem to be giving far too much importance to chatter.

In the end it's the performance that matters, not the melanin content of the skin...

BlueScorpio · Answer

I don't really care, I loved the original mermaid and if this movie is really good, I will like it too. It's just classic racism, when this stuff was happening to us, people didn't care or bat an eye. They told us we were overreacting, it's a fictional character, anyone can play them, race/skintone don't matter Yada tDs. But now it's pretty clear that race and skin tone do matter when it's white characters being changed. Suddenly people can see the difference and that there's an agenda against them lol

Would I love more original stories with black characters, yeah but I'm not going to act like people wouldn't have problem eith that either. Black panther was, is an original black story a lot of people were calling it woke. So some people are never gonna be happy about it.

MementoMori_ · Answer

Kids wouldn't be so focused on race if they weren't constantly bombarded with political propaganda from the left on social media, from big tech, from Hollywood and from the Democrats that tries to make race the most important part of a human being's identity. They have no good ideas so instead they want to create a race war. They are promoting racial division and creating the false impression that race is what determines your worth as a human being. In other words the purveyors of this propaganda are RACISTS... all they care about is race. EVERYTHING to them is RACE RACE RACE. Their motives are not altruistic and moral, they are EVIL, exploiting race as a tool to gain political power.

They are poisoning childrens' minds with this brainwashing.

JustinTheGreat · Answer

Although I wish they would create more original black characters, I could care less if they change the race of Ariel.
Her race and culture has nothing to do with the plot of the movie so it really doesn’t matter what race she is. It’s crazy because the same people who complain about “why does everything have to be about race? I don’t care if you’re black brown or purple!” Are the ones who are mad about the race of a fictional character. Let’s be real, y’all are grown ass adults, Do you really care about the little mermaid that much? Lol

i think Hallie Bailey is a beautiful girl and she has a beautiful voice. Her voice sounds just like Ariel and that’s all that matters to me. I just wish they gave her the signature bright red hair but other than that, I’m really excited to see her performance. The amount of hate and racism towards her right now is ridiculous

Anonymous · Answer

This is stupid, the little mermaid is white. This is bs.

I once read a comment that said Disney would never make Tarzan black, because they don't have the balls to make a black man act like a monkey, lol. And it's true.

Look at the many companies that now suddenly use a lot of black people for their publicity, is just about the black, which for companies just means money, black empowerment is bs, we're just going to get the same stupid racial issues as before but backwards, now the black people are the cool ones. Just stupid af

Subarugirl · Answer

I think it would be insulting to any minority that has spent a millennia trying to be recognized as humans worthy of the same respect and representation as people who are not subject to discrimination based solely on melanin content when a massive company takes on old story and just changes the skin color of the main character then calls it representation.

The issue isn’t that they changed Ariel’s skin color, the issue is that they couldn’t be bothered to make the effort to create characters of color, with their own history, stories, and personalities instead of ripping off an old white washed film, make the main character darker and then call it representation.

Anonymous · Answer

idgaf. Was never my thing. Hollywood does this all the time and the way it's recieved usually depends on the performance and how many people remember/to what degree they are attached to the previous iteration. There was a lot of hesitancy over heath ledger's representation of the joker until the movie actually came out and we saw how great his performance was. M Night completely shit on all the characters from Avatar the last airbender, even though visually everything was pretty similar. Pretty sure most people remember the 5 million dollar whoopsie from the live action sonic movie (x people had a very specific vision of what sonic was and what was portrayed didn't fit what was in their memory. That being said, if everything else remains the same and they dont try to take any other creative leaps with the character, I think everyone will love it. As long as the writers remain true to the character, it'll probably work out fine

Smashingdoozy · Answer

The only people who are offended by it are fucking adults. I showed my friends daughter the trailer (she's 9 but developmentally delayed) and she didn't bat an eye about her skin tone just got all excited about how beautiful she looks. She word for word said.

"She's so pretty" *squeals* *giggles*

Anonymous · Answer

A big thing is that despite African Americans are a minority, they make up about 50% of the cinema-going population.

If a cinema has 10 screens 8 will be "white adult" movies (this ranges from romcoms to action, superhero, thriller, etc) 1 will be children's, and 1 will be "black".

If you go to LA you can invest all you want into white adult films, they have a low ROI. Children's and Black films, you can't get in on because despite each constituting appx 40% of the cinema-going population traditionally, they each only get 10% of the screens, which means the ROI will be appx 400% of what it would be for any other screen.

I knew a director who knew Denzel Washington who explained this simple reality to him... Despite all of the money he makes in his movies, he's not allowed to invest in them for exactly this reason.

So why is Ariel black? Why are all of these characters now black? Because white folks aren't NEARLY as lucrative.

RolandCuthbert · Answer

One of the most incredible things about racists is that even in their wildest fantasies, where dragons roam the sky, where mermaids live under water, where werewolves prowl the land. . .

the make-believe nonsense that is race must persist.

Pinay_ako · Answer

Ariel is a fairy tale story. They can make her any colour for all I care as long as she’s a mermaid 🧜‍♀️, and stick to the story then I’m all for it.

jshm2 · Answer

You talk like Hollywood hasn't make poor character choices before this.

Also, grow the fuck up, and stop bitching about movies - they are just entertainment.

You sound like the sort of small minded twit who would go onto Pornhub, then complain the Black "plumber" isn't laying the pipes right. Or he's not finished the job safely and worked to IBC/IRC building codes.

If she wins an Oscar, then you'll be up her arse, no doubt.

Belgie · Answer

First I prefer new characters like Mirabelle from Encanto, which is the best Disney movie in years.

Second I've never seen the original little mermaid. Never, not once. I have no dog in this fight.

Last, that's a lot of melanin for a mermaid that evolved away from sunlight...

lightbulb27 · Answer

I'd like to see how she is represented, maybe it's a good thing. But I'd prefer they keep old characgers as they are and invent new ones. It gets confusing. Like... if I saw a chinese batman I'd get confused. But make a new character and all good.

I'd like to see more native americans in the movies and good character.

Sirenboobzilla · Answer

People are really mad about Disney making an adaptation TO THEIR OWN ADAPTATION... This new movie does not take away anything from the 1989 animated version. If you don't like it, just don't watch it. Move on

nomandik · Answer

Actually mermaids are real they're not actually from this planet! But the fact the color of their race is actually a grayish color so if for whatever reason they used a black person they're closer to the color then the real one that people claim to see it on occasion they are actually aliens that live in water and the only way they can appear is on water because they can't survive too long out of it little curious little creatures don't you think

Dazed0N0Confused · Answer

Who gives a flying fuck what race is being portrayed? If she was the best actress for the part, then she should have the damned part

Anonymous · Answer

I think people are overreacting

genericname85 · Answer

just imagine the outrage if one went and made a classical black movie character white... people would lose their shit. it would get canceled in seconds. but taking away white culture characters and replacing them with black ones is totally fine.

loveslongnails · Answer

I don't have kids or young nieces or nephews, so I know very little about kids' movies.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE... that I didn't even know the first Little Mermaid was Caucasian. LOL In other words, all this brouhaha means nothing to me. Look how Disney is getting all this FREE press and advertising!

Anonymous · Answer

I see nothing wrong with it

I'm all for inclusivity for people of colour. Plus I don't see what can be harmful in the younger generation seeing a black princess up on screen. It will encourage more acceptance and tolerance for other races in the future. Honestly we are working our way up.

Anonymous · Answer

So Disney can't make original content people want to watch with their current non-talented politics obsessed writers.
So instead they take better stories written by past generations that actually had skills and revise it to include their ideology.

Anonymous · Answer

Let’s be real if they created another mermaid Disney character that was black, some white people would still have a problem with it being a black mermaid…damn if you do damn if you don’t… asker clearly your offended by the color change…so that says a lot about you.

Anonymous · Answer

All redheads in movies are to be replaced by woke woc.

Jay3344 · Answer

I like having people included in cinema but to change established characters to overtly seem inclusive is not my cup of tea. Why not make a new character instead of taking someone else’s character and changing the color. I mean fans get mad when you change hair colors of beloved characters or even heights, Do what you want though movie studios.

legalboxers · Answer

*looking at all the angered and triggered Trump folks who are destroying their daughters toys because the person is BLACK and not WHITE*

snowboarder720 · Answer

Cool Disney fact: in The Little Mermaid (1991) , Ariel meet an African mermaid from the Ivory Coast. This is because mermaids are fictional and can be black. 🧜🏿‍♀️🧜🏿‍♀️🧜🏿‍♀️

Amy10223 · Answer

I have no opinion on it. A mermaid is a mermaid, no matter what race.

AviatorTom · Answer

Ariel is a fictional character. She could be any color. Maybe we should make her green, like the algae that lives with her "under the sea".

RangerBlue22 · Answer

Bottom line hurts. If you don’t like it then don’t go watch it or pay for your kids to watch it.

Berethor · Answer

Yes and no what? anyway modern disney is ruining everything with their sjw crap.

Anonymous · Answer

It's a tacit implication that black characters cannot be successful unless they ride on the coattails of pre-established white characters. Plus TLM is based off of a European fairy tale, making her black makes no sense.

We know this isn't true because there has been many successful black characters who never needed to do this.

I have a solution, make Ariel Slavic. According to Coalition of Communities of Color, Slavic people are POC.

Anonymous · Answer

She’s a fish, why are people so pressed over the color of a fish… it’s not that deep, they casted the best actress who auditioned. Y’all say you “don’t see color” but then complain over a childrens movie.

TacosRAwesome · Answer

As long as they're keeping the singing and sticking to the story, I'm fine with the color change.

Dargil · Answer

It depends. The ethnicity of the mermaid could just easily be black and not affect the nature of the movie. But if they make James Bond black, I'll never watch another 007 movie again.

Jackblue · Answer

I don't really care who plays who, it is more the agenda they put. With Hamilton I would have been fine had they made all the characters people of color, but they went out of their way to make the opponents of the revolution white.

Cubus · Answer

Imagine all these people that would be triggered if they made Tiana from "Princess and the Frog" white. People do not mind the race of character, but only if it goes one way.

josephinelcajon · Answer

Its wrong to rewrite a classical movie for the purpose of cancelling white again. Disney is doing it to all their movies and parks.

cryscrys1 · Answer

Can they make Mulan black too?  Asking for a friend

AngelOfLight258 · Answer

I don't care and if you have a problem with race switching, Ariel should be played by an Assyrian actress (the first mermaid was the Assyrian moon goddess).

John_Doesnt · Answer

It does not matter and only white people seem to be offended. Time to grow up and admit you're a racist for getting butt hurt over another race in a movie.

Po1989 · Answer

My take is that Disney does this all for the attention that they are getting for it. Like if they had casted a ginger who looked like the cartoon version, none of us would be discussing their movie right now.

Paris13 · Answer

Tannish Look is Nice. Sure. xx

FooBar444 · Answer

I don't care about her race, all the live action remakes are terrible ideas.

humanearth · Answer

I Don't give a rats ass

Kabluie · Answer

OP is probably some jelly white cishet male. She has an awesome voice and fits the role like a glove.

Ms_Facesitter · Answer

I don't mind. I am more curious about the villain. I wonder if they'll ruin her or give an honest tribute.

BeMuse · Answer

They can lose their money how every they like.

TDDMS · Answer

I'm awaiting for the biopic where Malcolm X is portrayed by Chris Evans.

What do you think about the decision to make the Little mermaid BLACK?

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What do you think about the decision to make the Little mermaid BLACK?

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