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Ariana Baio
Sep 14, 2022
The big impact of The Little Mermaid trailer for young Black girls ...
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People are defending the live action version of The Little Mermaid after people criticized Disney's decision to cast Halle Bailey as Ariel.
The highly anticipated trailer for the film dropped earlier this week to mixed reviews.
While many praised Bailey's voice and the Black representation she brings to traditional Disney films, some weren't too happy.
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On Twitter, outraged people used disparaging and racist language to put down Disney's casting and Bailey. Some even went as far to call on others to boycott the film.
The movie's trailer gained 1.5 million dislikes within the first two days of its release, making it the most disliked trailer of 2022.
People quickly came to the movie's defence and one Twitter user used a meme to perfectly summarize it.
\u201ca lot of yall...\u201d— audrea (@audrea) 1663156603
Twitter user Audsrea posted a grid meme depicting the number of white actors and actresses who portrayed characters of color and did not get much backlash.
Among the examples used one was Johnny Depp's portrayal of Tonto, a Native American character in The Lone Ranger and Tilda Swinton portrayal of the Ancient One, a Tibetan monk, in the 2016 film Doctor Strange.
Many agreed with the Twitter user's point, saying it is especially strange to be angry at Bailey as Ariel given her character's race has little to do with her story.
"White actors have been playing POCs for decades, but when a POC lands a white role, people lose their minds. Oh, and this isn't getting into how films about minorities still put white people in the foreground," Pippa tweeted.
\u201cyall dont seem to get it so let me spell it out for you. changing the race of a character is fine if the race or ethnicity is not apart of their story. characters like ariel have no connection to their race, but wanda and ra's al gul do.\u201d— audrea (@audrea) 1663156603
"Also the color of Ariel’s skin has nothing to do with her story, as she is a fish person," one person wrote.
\u201cPeople are mad that The Little Mermaid is Black? The lady who is also a fish? Who lives under the sea? Whose best friend is a talking crab?\u201d— Lynda Carter (@Lynda Carter) 1663094908
\u201cThe funniest thing about this Little Mermaid conversation is that \u201cscientifically\u201d if mermaids were real they wouldnt look like OG Ariel or Halle. They would be 100x more terrifying.\u201d— Libra\u2019s Groove\u2728\ud83e\udeac (@Libra\u2019s Groove\u2728\ud83e\udeac) 1663127032
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