We Need to Talk About Ariel

Three years ago, Disney announced that they were going to release a new version of The Little Mermaid, with young actress Halle Bailey starring as the lead. Director Rob Marshall said that it was “abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance – plus a glorious singing voice – all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic Disney character.”

Fast forward to the 2022 release of the trailer and a #NotMyAriel is being used on social media following the 1.5 million dislikes?the film's trailer received?in its first 48 hours online.

The backlash is unbelievable to me. This is the year when everywhere from Marks and Spencers to LinkedIn has encouraged people to openly declare their gender preferences because we’re apparently now aware and well informed in a political or cultural sense, especially regarding issues surrounding marginalised communities. But a black Disney character is offensive??

There are several layers to this. The first is that this is the Little Mermaid, for crying out loud, is not real. This week I’ve questioned whether the online trolls naysaying a black Ariel are aware that Ariel is not a historical figure. Halle’s casting in this role isn’t re-writing history… for starters, she is?a mermaid. A?mermaid. To focus on the casting of a?mermaid?who has never existed in real life in any colour seems an incredible waste of energy. More than that, it seems like an excuse to manifest racism.?

The second is for the grown adults up in arms over this, the Little Mermaid is a?children’s?movie.?

Children don’t have the emotional and conceptual baggage that we do. When Aladdin was released, there wasn’t a five-year-old in the world who complained that they didn’t want to watch an Arab on the big screen. Neither were they up in arms that the Lion King was set in Africa. Children aren't born racist, they learn racism. So, if the very demographic the movie is intended for doesn’t mind, then what in the world is going on??

The third layer is the one that possibly concerns me the most and that is that this backlash has taken place online. Back in 2017,?Amnesty discovered that out of the thousands of cases of abuse (including rape and death threats) directed to?female MPs on Twitter, over?half?of them were aimed at Britain’s first Black woman MP, Labour politician,?Diane Abbott.

Black women are 84% more likely to be?abused on social media?than Caucasian women, according to a 2018 Amnesty International study. In 2020, further research by U.K. charity?Glitch, found that online abuse against women, disproportionately impacts Black women, non-binary people, and women from minoritised communities. Black women bear the brunt of online trolling.

The truth is that online abuse is a serious part of the larger pandemic of violence against women and that’s a whole topic by itself.?After the #MeToo movement the world vowed to listen to the issues affecting women and after George Floyd’s murder sparked the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the world vowed to stand up against racism. So, what’s gone wrong??

Meanwhile, parents of young Black girls are posting videos of their thrilled children reacting to the trailer for Little Mermaid.??“Mommy!" a little girl says in one?video, "She's brown like me!" This video is among thousands being shared across TikTok and Twitter, with parents using hashtags like #representationmatters to help demonstrate the importance of diverse casting in children’s media. Spanish cartoon “Encanto” featured an all-brown cast and became the first Disney movie to claim a No. 1 album and a No. 1 single. Doesn’t that tell us how badly our children have wanted to see characters who look like them on screen? Why can’t black and brown children be allowed to simply enjoy it? Disney princesses were all white for the first 55 years of its animated film legacy and there were no black princesses for 70 years. Surely one black?mermaid?in a?children’s?movie shouldn’t be this controversial??

Today, Halle showed real class when she spoke out to say she was “so grateful” to play this iconic role, not for herself, but for all the “other little Black and brown boys and girls who will see themselves in me.” Disney put out an impressive statement to those who said that Ariel can’t be black because it’s creator, Hans Christen Anderson, was Danish by saying ‘’Even if Ariel is Danish, Danish mermaids can be black because Danish *people* can be black.” Great response and I just hope that Disney are providing Halle with the mental health support she will most definitely need.?

Social media needs to intervene too. For as long as Black women are targeted more than any other group on social media, the online powers that be are failing. There is never a bad time to stop racist abuse, and a Little Mermaid trailer is as good a time as any. In the real world, hate speech is illegal. The more social media sets real examples so that racists learn that their white supremacy and abuse against black people is unacceptable, the better the world will be for us all. Especially for our children, the next generation who are watching this unfold.?

As onlookers, we can still do our bit. My new hashtag is?#IamAriel, let’s use this hashtag and see if we can wash out #NotMyAriel and restore some faith in humanity. Our children deserve better.?