The Ariel Debacle

Hold on to your Dinglehoppers folks cause I never thought I would see the day that I would sit here at my desk discussing the choice of a casting for a Disney character but who knew here we are so let us just dive in head first shall be.

I am going to be honest apart from Mary Poppins my mom will confirm that The Little Mermaid was my absolute favorite film during my first 5 years of life, so deep was my love for the film that I actually broke the tape by watching it over and over to the point that the VHS tape actually stretched and snapped… to this day I still hold a love for the incredibly naive youngest daughter of the King of the sea who loses her heart to the land as well as a man she hardly knew, ah Disney justifying underage marriage and nonsensical romantic choices since 1937 when they gave us Snow White.

So last week when I was browsing through Facebook and happened about a post stating that they were doing a live action remake I was quite excited not overly but it’s definitely something I would like to see, I got to the point of the article where they noted the name and colour of the actress that would be playing the lead role and do you know what I did I finished up the article and went on with my day.

Shock and horror… I did not drop to the floor with upset, I wasn’t angry, I did not feel betrayed, I did not feel like my childhood dreams and ideals had been ripped from my soul.  You want to know why!?

Because my personal opinion when it comes to remakes and real life renditions is that unless the character is verifiably culturally linked to a specific race or culture like Moana or Merida from Brave then it isn’t about the colour or culture of the person playing the role rather how well they play the role, if an exact real life replica of the original character is chosen and they are just terrible and do not do the role any justice that peeves me off but in this case the original character is a mythical creature and can be depicted as far as the imagination will take you.

Do I think Disney strategically chose a woman of colour in order to relate, incorporate and uplift a part of their audience that often doesn’t get any recognition in their films- probably, but why is this a bad thing.

The actress is beautiful and as far as I have read a great singer which was one of the things that made Ariel who she was; her voice, her nativity, her innocence and looking at this actress I think that she definitely has the potential to pull off the role beautifully and uplift the hearts and dreams of young girls and woman of colour all over the world.

I think that the people who have an issue need to catch a wake up- I get that the original character is a red head and that in itself sat apart from most of the generic Disney characters but is that all the character was?

I honestly cannot believe that this is even an issue and that it is the no 1 thing trending on most social media platforms. People argue that woman of colour would not want to see a white Tiana, hell I’m a white girl and I wouldn’t want to see a white Tiana because it wouldn’t ring true for the cultural background and appropriateness that is the character it would grate me to my core but a mermaid….

When did the world get so nonsensical and out of touch about what classifies as racist and what is a justifiable opinion.

At the end of the day are there not enough real issues in today's world that people need to quarrel over the choice of an actress for a Disney film- and in such a rude and petty manner to boot, the only issue here is the fact that there is even an issue and that people are not ashamed of themselves for throwing down some of the most hurtful and unwarranted racist opinions and comments, I for one am looking forward to it and I encourage everyone with a child (whether a girl or buy) to ask them if they care because I can guarantee that they don't and take them to see the film once it hits the cinemas or for those of us who are too broke the home screen =).