Why The Racist Backlash Against ‘The Little Mermaid’ Makes No Sense
The Little Mermaid is back with a live action adaptation set to be released next year, and we could not be more excited. But when the teaser trailer dropped last month, people were angry yet again about the fact that Ariel is being played by actor Halle Bailey, who isn’t white.
Some of the online criticism hinged on the idea that the original fairy tale was written by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen — so his main character was imagined for a white European audience.
Junkee asked a Hans Christian Andersen expert if this argument held up.
“Anderson on the one hand obviously saw himself as a Danish writer. But more so he saw himself as a global writer. He really is part of world literature,” said Professor Karin Sanders, a professor of Danish literature at the University of California.
“I would say that Anderson would embrace any kind of race coming into the figure of the mermaid.”
The mermaid in Anderson’s original story is a pretty tragic figure. She struggles with the idea that she doesn’t really belong to either realm, underwater or on land.
Disney’s Version Isn’t True To The Fairytale Either
Professor Sanders noted that Disney’s Ariel wasn’t quite faithful to the original Danish fairytale either.
“You have the mermaid finding herself in a feisty kind of way, saying I’m gonna stand up for myself, but between two men, between the father on the one hand and the husband to be the love interest on the other hand.”
She continued that Anderson’s version of The Little Mermaid arguably had more agency than the Disney version too.
“She’s the one that decides her own fate, whereas in the Disney version, one could discuss whether or not that’s the case.”
Nostalgia Isn’t The Defence You Think It Is
There is also shared sentiment that the Disney classic is deeply nostalgic for a lot of people — so the way that Ariel’s character is portrayed in the live action movie is important.
Nostalgia itself is a very loaded concept. Many papers explore the idea that nostalgia narratives are used to construct and maintain white racial identity.
In other words, nostalgia tends to be a luxury reserved for those who’ve historically had it pretty good.
Our global dominant culture has historically been very white. Movies and TV were created with this audience in mind — including most of our beloved Disney classics. Remaking them with more diverse representation is a really important step forward for the industry to include all of us in our favourite childhood stories.
Don’t get me wrong — there are stories where the race or culture of the main character is crucial enough to the plot where it wouldn’t make sense to change it. But Andersen’s work aimed to articulate something from the perspective of those who don’t have a place in the existing culture, as Professor Sanders reiterated.
Meaning Andersen’s original tale of The Little Mermaid should be able to be adapted in many ways.