cashew | Tuesday, October 4th, 2022

There's apparently been some crazy backlash against the newest Disney live action remake cash-in and some people revealed their racism.

Because of course.

Let's get one thing straight, a black little mermaid is completely doable. It's even a good idea.

What I don't trust is that Disney, with its record of destroying the 90's animation renaissance movies with live action remakes, is capable of making it good.

So, going back to the concept of a black little mermaid: Since mermaids in literature are often used as an allegory for "the other", casting Ariel as black makes a lot of sense, given the othering of black people in the West.

In the original, by which I mean Anderson's original, the little mermaid wanted to become human in pursuit of the immortal soul. The mermaids of Anderson's fairy tale were an allegory for the non-Christians (or the pagans?) and his depiction of the little mermaid's suffering raises some questions about the conversion of non-Christians to the Christian faith. Of course, Anderson, a Christian, seems to deem the suffering worth it, but non-Christians aren't all that convinced.

Given how many non-Christian audiences read The Little Mermaid as a tragedy, I think it's fair to say that for many non-Christians, pursuit of an immortal soul (aka converting to Christianity) doesn't seem to be a very good deal. After all, the story ends with the little mermaid being literally stuck in limbo and not being able to move to heaven unless every single kid on earth is the perfect kid for 300 years.

“After three hundred years, thus shall we float into the kingdom of heaven,” said she. “And we may even get there sooner,” whispered one of her companions. “Unseen we can enter the houses of men, where there are children, and for every day on which we find a good child, who is the joy of his parents and deserves their love, our time of probation is shortened. The child does not know, when we fly through the room, that we smile with joy at his good conduct, for we can count one year less of our three hundred years. But when we see a naughty or a wicked child, we shed tears of sorrow, and for every tear a day is added to our time of trial!” The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson

(Look, the odds are obviously stacked against the little mermaid here, because there are significantly more naughty children than perfectly obedient ones.)

In Disney's animated version, the story focused on empowering young girls (who are also "the other" in a patriarchal society) to pursue their dreams, even if it meant going against the patriarch. One, the little mermaid finally gets a name. Two, Ariel defies her father's expectations and pursues her dreams. Three, she's the pursuer in the romance, not the pursued. Do you realize how rare that was/is? (Good girls don't chase after boys, oh no, they wait for the boys to chase after them. 🤮) Yes, upon looking back with a modern lens, the movie was limited by the politics of its era, but it was still meant as an empowerment story. I mean, Ariel literally married outside of her "race" (the merpeople), but a lot of white audience probably didn't pick up on that because Ariel "looks white".

(I'd like to remind people that "whiteness" is a social construct. There was a period in U.S. history when Irish, Italian, and even German immigrants weren't considered "white". The definition of "white" expanded as a way to unify ethnically disparate groups against the "black" slaves, because, surprise, the "white" immigrants who were discriminated & exploited were starting to identify with the "black" slaves' plight, and that threatened the ruling class' control. Source.)

So, following this logic it makes a lot of narrative sense to make Ariel black.

But somehow I doubt that's the reason Disney decided to cast a black actor as Ariel. Given the clumsy gay-ification of Lefou (literally "The Fool", because what LGBT person wouldn't want to be named that? 😰), the horrible re-framing of (black-coded) hyenas in The Lion King as inherently evil rather than manipulated by their (*cough*white*cough*) lion oppressor, and basically everything about the live action Mulan, I have no reason to believe Disney would handle a black Ariel in a way that's meaningful. Nor do I think Disney is interested in addressing the oppression and othering of black people in Western civilizations with this new cash grab remake.

However, that isn't the reason people are protesting a black Ariel. Because America.

TL;DR — A black The Little Mermaid could've been great, but because it's Disney, I don't have much hope for it.