Singer and actress Halle Bailey has been cast as Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake of the “Little Mermaid.” This decision has sparked rage among some fans who say a white actress should’ve been cast instead of a Black one.
Given that much of the discourse surrounding this issue is happening on blogs, articles and posts on social media, the cohort of the offended in this case are adults who are upset about a movie for children. There may very well be a legion of racist children upset about the casting, but the smart money is on Disney nerds clinging to their childhood.
It’s nice that those concerned took time out of their busy schedule of posting on the “Barney & Friends” subreddit to engage in more relevant social discourse, but their objections are laughable.
Continuity between stories seems to only become a discussion when the characteristic being altered is race. No one bats an eye when a character’s height or eye color changes. Some adaptations even take liberties with the personalities of characters, opting to take the story in a different direction.
Ariel being white is not significant to her character. The movie is fictional; it’s entirely possible that race doesn’t matter in the world of the film. That’s easier to believe in than the existence of mermaids and a patois-speaking crab.
The idea of someone caring at all about a Disney live-action remake is baffling given the company’s poor track record. Live-action remakes are here today and gone tomorrow, and their only cultural relevance comes from them being mocked for their poor quality and for their transparency in being cash grabs. No sane person would look at Disney’s history of remakes and think that the new “Little Mermaid” was going to be “Citizen Kane” before it was ruined by casting an African American.
Certainly, some of the negative reaction is from well-intentioned, over-enthusiastic fans of the original. However, a large number of the people in this movement are racist nerds who are too scared to join the Klan for fear of being beaten up.
The opponents of Bailey’s casting may be immature and/or racist, but they did put in Michael Jordan game six-like performance on their memes.
Operating under the premise that race swapping doesn’t matter, some internet users decided to put white actors in Black roles. The best included Tom Hanks as Malcolm X, Mel Gibson as Martin Luther King and Jim Carey and Will Ferrell replacing Ice Cube and Chris Tucker in “Friday.”
There should be a remake of “Straight Outta Compton,” the movie about rap group N.W.A., but this time it stars all of the white LSU students that have gotten in trouble for saying the n-word in the past few years.
Jokes aside, society would benefit greatly if those boycotting the movie would instead go outside and talk to another person in real life. Anything but getting upset about media made for children 35 years their junior.
Frank Kidd is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Springfield, Virginia.
