Ariel is Black, Deal With It

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The Little Mermaid was a movie I watched as a kid. I’m sure as a child, I found it magical, wonderful and hilarious. As an adult, it brings forward all of the sour, bitter ire I have towards Disney princesses and I’m mostly just in it for Poor Unfortunate Souls and some very valid conversations about how horrible humans are. But when it was announced that the latest Disney live-action remake of the eponymous film was going to cast black actress, Halle Bailey, I was mostly just skeptical and numb. Not due to the race of the actress in question but that same sardonic skepticism that comes with the modern swath of Disney films and their desire to push neoliberal ideals onto centuries old stories and feign anti-capitalism, pro-SJW feminism sentiment while still being a company that openly supported Florida’s homophobic bills and still doesn’t fairly pay actresses, cast members and animators. 

But I was happy knowing that this movie wasn’t about me or for me. I was willing to swallow down whatever cynical bile was in me and oh boy was I correct. The reactions of little black girls flooding the internet after seeing the first trailer was enough to warm even my cold dead heart with the bubbling up of black joy. 

However, where there are black people having a good time, there are white people there to ruin it. 

Before the trailer was even released there were hot takes and videos and articles all talking about how Ariel must be white. How when Hans Christian Andersen wrote The Little Mermaid as a thinly veiled metaphor about his gay love for some guy that he had whiteness for the mermaid in mind. That it ruins the childhoods of an entire generation by seeing a mermaid of color. That as a redhead Ariel couldn’t be black as if wigs, hair dye don’t exist but mermaids do and they are bound to the same physics and logic we are when it comes to hair. I almost expected there to be comments on how Ariel maintains relaxed hair while underwater. 

The tone of these opinion pieces were often hostile and most importantly, unneeded and come at the expense of little black girls all over who can look at a movie beloved by millions and finally see themselves. 

When I first came to write this piece, I wanted to put more careful thought into my words. Really speak to the heart of the issue and really try to meet bad faith arguments with good faith arguments but I’m 32, the world’s on fire and I have to do something with this English degree. 

I don’t need biologists saying that actually a mermaid who lived deep in the sea would have dark skin, I don’t need white people telling me that the fictional movie about fictional mermaids is now ruined for them, and I don’t need black people so caught up in white hegemony that they can’t spot the racism they’re perpetuating. 

There are black girls out there that finally feel like their skin is beautiful. There are black girls who have a princess that isn’t just Tianna. There are little black girls who have someone they can look up to and finally have a version of a movie that brought euphoria to so many not just straight white girls but trans men and women, queer people and even POC back in the day. 

Ariel is black now, deal with it. 

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