The Little Mermaid
September 16.2022
At home we are fans of good movies and if it's animated in that we will never stop feeling like children. The sagas of children's movies are the favorites, just to mention a few Gru, my favorite villain, The Minions, Pets, Sing! , SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie, The Croods,
How to Train Your Dragon.
In this era where remakes, sequels and free versions in film and television are in sight, we have been able to see many productions where many of our iconic characters from these classic animated sagas come to life as real actors. Among them some, especially those of Disney, although there are several of other companies that I do not mention here. I can say that some versions are faithful, others a bit free, and others completely reinvented.
We hope to be able to enjoy Pinocchio soon. About the latest production, The Little Mermaid, is what I wanted to comment on, it was the one that motivated me to write this article, due to the various opinions that have emerged on social networks, divided criteria, stereotypes, emotions, a great controversy.
On September 10, Walt Disney Studios released the official trailer for the live action of The Little Mermaid, the new version of its classic The Little Mermaid (1989), an adaptation of the Danish fairy tale Hans Christian Andersen, with a release date for September 26 May 2023.
The new black Ariel starring African-American actress and singer Halle Bailey has caused commotion and confrontation on social networks.
The trailer shared last Saturday already has more than 18 million views and 2.3 million dislikes. (I managed to see the dislikes in my browser by installing a plugin called Return YouTube Dislike.)
Critics
The comments on social networks are explicitly racist from those who expected an actress with red hair and white skin. Those who think negatively are outraged because they have not been faithful to the original character. Many allege that the legacy of Disney is destroyed, that if it is a forced inclusion, that they ruined their childhood, and there is talk of loyalty to the first film.
Regarding many of these opinions, I wonder if she is not really loyal to the Disney movie, I start to think what is the characteristic that identifies the mermaid, and I do not call her Ariel because I just found out that Andersen did not name them their characters, and if we're talking about loyalty it doesn't make sense.
I tell you that both Disney adaptations of 1989 and 2023 neither look like the book, as you say they are adaptations for children. When her skin is mentioned in the book, he does not specify that it is white, although an important detail does say that her eyes are blue, but once again I think that for the production a voice that would delight everyone weighed more in the balance than a skin white, red hair and blue eyes. It is called colorblind casting, when the physical
characteristics and stereotype of an actor is not taken into account because it is not key to the role.
-These were six, and all beautiful, although the most beautiful was
the youngest; her skin was light and delicate as a rose petal, and her
eyes were blue as the deepest lake; like all her sisters, she had no feet; her body ended in a fish tail.-
I was really struck by the part of the original story in which the mermaid makes the deal with the witch to be human, and it turns out that for this they have to cut out her tongue, and her goal was to achieve immortality, whose sacrifice the mermaid was willing to make to pay. In addition to the particularities of the love relationship with the prince a little outside of what we know, here you can read the original story
The production thinks
The director of the film, Rob Marshall, assured that the choice of Halle Bailey as the protagonist has nothing to do with her physical appearance, but that she
"embodies the beauty, the passion, the courage, the vulnerability, the joy and the heart of the character. And that's what we were looking for."
I've never listened to Halle Bailey, but they say that when you do, you understand Marshall's selection and you'll be right with him.
I think I prefer to watch the old disney because it makes me feel young.