Live action little mermaid takes the world by storm
The new live-action Little Mermaid movie has the internet in a frenzy. The trailer for it was released on September 9th, 2022. It received both good and not-so-good feedback.
Many were ecstatic to hear that their favorite singer and actress, Halle Bailey, is playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid. In the original movie, Ariel is known as a pale-skinned redhead mermaid who lives under the sea. On the other hand, in the new film, Ariel is being played and depicted by a woman of color.
Plenty of young girls are content with this casting as they can watch their favorite Disney princess who now looks like them. It gives African Americans more representation in Hollywood media. This is a very positive thing, but not everyone sees it that way.
There has also been a negative backlash because the vocal minority is bothered by the change in skin tone. They claim that it is not an accurate representation because underwater gets no sunlight. People argue that Ariel is a made-up fictional character therefore, it should not matter what skin tone she has.
People want to push the narrative that having a black person act for Ariel is problematic. It has even gone as far as someone “fixing” Ariel in the new trailer.
On Twitter, “fixing” a character is taking a character that looks one way and changing their design entirely to make it more to the fixer’s liking. Someone on Twitter took a screenshot of Halle Bailey and Ariel and edited it to be a pale girl with straight hair instead of Locs.
It caused major outrage in the black community because they did not think someone could outright take away a person of color’s melanin with no remorse. When not only is it wrong but very disrespectful.
This is something that there should be no debate about. Yet there is because the internet is a wild range of thoughts and opinions. In the end, the public will see how the movie does once it’s out in theaters.
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