There was considerable debate in our society caused by the remake of the classic “The Little Mermaid” movie. The new Disney movie stars Halle Bailey as Ariel. As you can tell, Bailey is a beautiful, talented black woman but many people were mad that she was chosen to play Ariel because of her race.
Although the company has been around for decades, there isn’t much diversity when it comes to Disney movies. Casting Bailey was, in my opinion, one of the smartest decisions on Disney’s part. So many young black children were excited to see a character that looked like them on the big screen. It gave them a lot of confidence in who they were. Disney is part of the television companies targeted toward young children as a form of power for how those children see themselves. So movies like The Little Mermaid and Encanto are significant for them.
Supporters of the casting argued that Ariel’s race had nothing to do with her story line and Bailey proved that to everyone in her performance. She brought the character to life, building on Ariel’s curious nature and taking the character to a whole new level. I loved Bailey’s performance and many young children did as well.
The movie itself has a lot of similarities to the classic movie, including the famous song “Under the Sea” sung by Bailey, who has a beautiful voice. There was, however, a new element in the movie that I thought worked amazingly well. It was the twist in the spell that Ursula made for Ariel. Ursula made the spell so Ariel didn’t remember she had to kiss the prince within three days which helped incorporate Sebastian and Scully more. But I do feel like we didn’t see enough of Flounder in this movie.
They also made Ariel’s sisters from all around the world. One thing I didn’t like was that they changed all the sisters’ names. Not all their names start with A anymore. But I will say the best modification of this new movie was getting to see more of Eric’s character. We saw more of his personality, especially by having him get a song in the movie. Prince Eric was also adopted in the new movie by interracial parents, showing children here are more than one family dynamic.
Overall, this was a beautiful movie that young children deserve to see. Disney is doing a great job of becoming more mindful of diversity, and this movie is an excellent start to bigger changes.
