On the other hand, correcting an injustice in the original film, Flounder will be played by an actual Flounder.
Yeah, but you did get Lando.
Well, now, that was special.
Someone on Facebook was talking about this casting, and a friend of hers mentioned that in Andersen’s story, the mermaid was green.
I politely questioned this, quoting a few lines from a couple of translations to show that her skin color isn’t ever described.
In response I got called a racist dipshit, a terrible teacher, and an idiot.
Some folks need to stop posting drunk.
My initial instinct is exactly the same as you guys here. It’s just people getting upset once again that a character previously depicted as white is now being played by a black person. And, yes, that is a stupid thing to get upset about.
However, I have seen another claim that I cannot so easily dismiss: that redheads/gingers are being replaced lately, either by minorities or just someone with a different color of hair. I don’t watch enough newer movies and shows to know if this is a thing or not. But, if it is, then I can understand being upset about this.
I’ve also seen some people asking “why do they so often replace them with black actors?” They claim that black people are represented in film close to their actual numbers in society, unlike other minorities who you barely see. They aren’t against changing a character’s race so much as saying that other minorities should get higher priority. However, again, I don’t watch a lot of more modern stuff, so I don’t know how much of a problem this actually is.
So while it’s tempting to just lump everyone in with the first argument, which I agree is poor (as long as the character’s race isn’t important to the plot), I do think we should be open to other arguments as well. I would like to know what people think about those two other claims.
Are redheads being replaced in a lot of modern cinema or TV? Are black people overrepresented compared to other minorities? And do either of these have legitimacy in not liking the Ariel casting?
I myself just want her to have the long, flowing hair that Ariel has, as it looks good under water. It would feel cheap if they leave this out. And I think it would look fine if it were red.
See? Even he is giving the new Ariel the side-eye.
Kirsten Dunst dyed her hair red to play Mary Jane Watson in three Spiderman movies. Was there a lot of outrage directed at Columbia Pictures or director Sam Raimi for not using an actual redhead?
How about when Zendaya dyed her her red to play MJ in the most recent Spiderman reboot?
No, there wasn’t.
Are you sure?
“They were six beautiful children; but the youngest was the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea; but, like all the others, she had no feet, and her body ended in a fish’s tail.”
Sounds to me like she’s really, really, really white. Or bright red, depending on the species of rose.
When I heard the little mermaid was going to be black, I thought about it for 5 seconds and then went about my day.
Re: Mulan
gasp! Oh not to me! I love Chinese movies. Wuxia and historical movies are my favorite genres of Chinese movies. When they’re combined, as they often are, I’m like a kid in a candy store. The Mulan trailer gave me goosebumps. I can’t wait until I see it in the theater on a big screen (the trailer, but also the movie, of course). I don’t know how much like the 2009 Chinese movie this version will be, or how wuxia it will be, but at least thank goodness (IMO) there’s no talking dragon or singing. It’s likely to give a whole new generation an appreciation for Chinese historical movies and introduce them to legends such as Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Li Gong and Pei-Pei Cheng. Last but not least, I want it to do well because it’s directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country, McFarland, USA, The Zookeeper’s Wife). I’ve liked those as well as everything else she’s directed.
(On-topic: I’ve never seen the animated Little Mermaid, but I’m looking forward to seeing the live-action version. I bet it will be fantastic!)
The translations that have been quoted say “rose-leaf,” not rose petal. Rose-leaves are green. So she should look like the girl on the right.
On the other hand, this translation says “rose petal,” but says nothing about the color of her skin, only it’s texture.
But other passages indicate she is definitely white, not green:
Given the sensibilities of the day, it’s unlikely that Hans Christian Andersen would have imagined the mermaid as being anything but white.
As far as I’m concerned, all this is irrelevant to the casting of the movie, however. The original story was pretty horrible, with the mermaid feeling horrible pain in her feet whenever she walked, losing the Prince to a rival Princess, and being required to stab the Prince as he slept if she wanted to live. (She refused, and got turned into sea foam instead.) So changing the ethnic background of the mermaid, and presumably the Prince, is trivial compared to the other changes.
So they wound up casting, as Freeform said, the “incredible, sensational, highly-talented, gorgeous Halle Bailey”, who also just happens to be black. What are we crying about, again?
n/m,
Yeah, that’s the line I quoted. If you read carefully, it doesn’t talk about the color of her skin, just the complexion and texture. A black woman could have skin as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf. (That said, I find it a more natural reading that a 19th-century Danish author writing for an audience of Danes who loved descriptive writing would be likely to mention if his protagonist DIDN’T have white skin, and the failure to describe skin color is probably because he didn’t even consider the possibility of non-white skin for her.)
But a post almost exactly like your first paragraph is what got her to blow the fuck up at me and call me a racist. Part of her evidence? The Danish mermaid statue is green. Unpack that one.
Later, when I (very politely) confronted her, she resorted to telling me that she’s a professional writer, and sure enough, she’s credited as a staff writer on shows like Daredevil. Which makes it worse IMO, as a writer ought to be better at reading.
You seem to have skipped my post. That’s not the only reference to skin color in the original story. There are multiple references to the mermaid having white skin in Andersen’s story. (He also refers to the Prince looking like “a marble statue,” and also having blue eyes. The whole cast is pretty Nordic.)
No, she definitely dies, which is why she turns into sea foam. But there’s a whole thing about how mermaids don’t have souls but because she’s special yadda yadda yadda she gets a soul and gets to be an aerial [sic] spirit for 300 years and then go to heaven.
As long as she’s a better singer than Emma Watson (and she is), I’m good.
Or lamps on their foreheads. I’m just saying Disney’s diversity message would ring a lot less hypocritical if the Little Mermaid was half-anglerfish. But nooo, she has to be one of the nice, PC fishes !
That’s the modern world–anyone who doesn’t agree with you precisely is the worst type of person you can imagine.
There is already a source that they can steal from.
I think those complaints come mostly from women of a certain age. I’ve found that the Little Mermaid was a very big movie for girls a little younger than me who were the perfect age for the movie. Brave came along a generation later and is probably not even on their radar unless forced to watch over and over by their children. I can’t help but think it’s considered one of the lesser Disney movies.