The Little Mermaid overcomes racist and anti-woke backlash to deliver a modern fairy-tale
Image: Courtesy of Disney
Growing up with Disney’s 1989 animated version of The Little Mermaid, I instantly fell in love with the enchanting world under the sea, the magic of mermaids, and the fairy-tale love story of a couple who fight against the odds to be together.
But as I’ve gotten older, I realised the really poor message this film sends - a teenage girl gives up her voice, family and sense of self for a man she has only seen once, and this is supposed to be her happy ending?
As with many of Disney’s movies, this isn’t an original creation and is based on the 1837 Hans Christian Anderson story. Yet with the new The Little Mermaid, the latest of Disney’s live action remakes hitting our screens, the question was: how are they going to bring Ariel’s story into the modern world?
2023’s The Little Mermaid stars 23-year-old Halle Bailey, American singer and actress and one half of musical duo Chloe x Halle, in the titular role of Ariel. Halle gave a captivating and ethereal performance as Ariel, showcasing her stunning vocal range and awe-inspiring acting skills. She captured the heart and soul of the character perfectly, paying tribute to the original’s Jodi Benson while adding a flair of her own.
Halle wasn’t the only welcome addition to the new version of the film: Ariel’s sisters were portrayed by a diverse group of actors from different ethnicities and cultures, while the white Prince Eric had been adopted by a black Queen who ran the kingdom.
Yet when Halle was announced as Ariel, there was an immediate and persevering outcry of racist backlash for casting a woman of colour in the lead role. Hashtags such as #NotMyAriel gained traction, while IMDb stated that since the film’s release there had been an unusual number of negative reviews by bots trolling the site. Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power received a similar review bombing campaign for its diverse cast. This intense racist backlash has caused both IMDb and Amazon to change the way titles can be reviewed to avoid this occurring in the future.
The film also added much-needed context and backstory to both the underwater and above land worlds, that wasn’t touched upon in the original. We find out that Ariel’s sisters rule different parts of the ocean, and they spend time cleaning up the coral reef after the human’s shipwrecks destroy it.
As in the original, Ariel is fascinated with the human land above, collecting various objects left behind from shipwrecks and trying to find out their meanings from her bird friend Scuttle. Her rebelliousness to obey her father’s orders comes to a head when she saves the dashing Prince Eric from a shipwreck and falls in love with him. But in this fairy-tale, Ariel and Eric get to spend more time getting to know each other and their love story stems from having similar hopes and dreams rather than mere attraction.
In this adaptation, Eric is an explorer whose passion is voyaging to other lands where he gets to learn about other cultures and ensure his own is not left behind. In the same way Ariel is fascinated with land, he is fascinated with other parts of the world and what lives in the uncharted waters. He even has a song about this, which he sings Troy Bolton ‘Bet On It’ style as he dances around the water's edge. Ariel revels in his own collection of objects that he has found, where she finds his statue of a little mermaid (wink, wink).
Although Ariel can’t speak, the pair spend valuable time together where he talks about his adventures, they explore the island, meet the locals, dance and laugh. In this version, not only has Ursula bewitched Ariel to turn into a human for three days in which she has to get a kiss of true love from Eric before sunset on the third day or she will become Ursula’s slave, there is a twist in which she makes Ariel forget about this part of the bargain so that she has no underlying motive other than exploring the island and having fun with him. Even as Ursula transforms into Vanessa and bewitches Eric to propose to her with Ariel’s siren song, he is still asking about Ariel and where she is while at his engagement party, showing that their true connection ran deeper than the mermaid magic ever could.
The film ends with the two working together to defeat Ursula, with Ariel dealing the final fatal blow to secure her fate. Their version of a happy ending is going off on a voyage together to explore the uncharted waters. This way, Ariel still gets to be an adventurer, but she gets to do it with the one she loves, whose goals and values align with hers. Their story is told in parallels - she is a princess who is trapped underwater, while he is a prince stuck on land, both wanting to explore each other’s worlds. Their union brings together the worlds above and below the sea, both fearing the damage and hatred of the other.
In this version, Ariel giving up her voice to the sea witch is seen as more of a power move, as demonstrated when Ariel’s father delivers the line ‘you should never have had to give up your voice in order to be heard’.
These additions to the story give Ariel more agency and a sense of purpose, demonstrating a feminist princess to modern audiences. This is an amazing context in a film which is showing a beautiful black woman as the lead character, providing vital representation for millions of young girls who now look like Ariel.
She is the positive role model in the modern day fairy tale that they deserve.
Written by Ally McLaren
Editor
Hi, I’m Ally, Editor of This Modern Struggle Magazine.
You may have seen my writing in Mouthy Magazine or Darling Magazine. I currently work in Marketing and PR and do freelance copywriting on the side. I also have experience in journalism and feature writing for women’s magazines and national press.
When I’m not writing you can find me eating pizza, stroking my cat and watching true crime documentaries.
I started this magazine for all the fellow strugglers who feel the same way that I do; like everyone else has it all figured out and you just don’t know what you’re doing in life.