Did you know this year marks the 30th anniversary of Little Mermaid? Yup, that’s right, it’s been that long since we first saw this Disney classic for the first time. Since then, it’s been announced in 2016 that they’re planning to do a live-action remake, but no further information was given. We’ve all been anxiously awaiting any news about the cast and finally, Disney decided that the 30th anniversary would be a pretty good time to announce who’s gonna play Ariel in the new remake. Our childhood favorite, Ariel The Little Mermaid will be played by no other than Halle Bailey. Does this align with your expectations?
Director of the movie, Rob Marshall said that “After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance – plus a glorious singing voice – all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role.” Pretty high praise, isn’t it? But we tend to agree, there’s just something very Ariel like about Halle and her singing voice won’t leave you disappointed.
For a while, there were rumours that maybe Zendaya would get the part and some of her fans were really hoping to see that happen, but turns out it was just a rumour. Plus we kind of assume she must be way to busy with Spiderman to take on The Little Mermaid.
Halle herself chose to let her fans know by sharing this illustration of The Little Mermaid on her twitter and captioning it with “dream come true”. We’re pretty sure it’s a huge deal for her and all of her fans, and we can’t wait to see what she does with the role.
However, there’s been quite a big amount of backlash concerning Disney choice of casting Halle. People went as far as to create a hashtag on twitter #NotMyAriel where they complained either about the choice of actress or some went as far as to complain about the race and how this Ariel doesn’t look the same as she does in the 1989 cartoon. Some people went as far as to complain that this will ruin their childhood because that’s not how they imagined Ariel others tried to reason that the story was written by a Danish author and takes place in Europe, therefore, she should be white.
It’s pretty ridiculous that people have so many qualms over a fictional character and what color Ariel’s skin should be. It’s a modern remake, we live in a multicultural world and we think as long as the actress does justice to the part she’s playing that’s all that matters. Halle’s fans seem to agree and are flooding the internet with positive reactions.
Some fans are happy about the fact that they and their kids will see more color on the TV and more inclusivity in mainstream media and big Disney movies.
Others are can’t contain their excitement just imagining how awesome and beautiful Halle will look with pearls and seashells in her hair. But most of all people are praising Halle and letting her know that they’re happy for her and they can’t wait to see the movie.