Disney just announced that it cast Halle Bailey as Ariel in the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. The 19-year-old, a talented R&B singer and a protégé of Beyoncé, should shine in the role.
Of course she’ll make a great Disney princess. This is a sentiment shared by almost all Americans. Even actress Halle Berry signaled her approval on Twitter.
In case you needed a reminder… Halles get it DONE. Congratulations @chloexhalle on this amazing opportunity, we can’t wait to see what you do! #TheLittleMermaid #HalleBailey pic.twitter.com/z0Rik2nxRe
— Halle Berry (@halleberry) July 3, 2019
Instead of focusing on the excellent casting, fans have been distracted by outrage over a racist backlash that barely exists. Even though BuzzFeed and other outlets presented the hashtag #NotMyAriel as evidence of widespread racism in America, it appears to be supported by only a couple hundred people.
Nearly all of the tweets using the hashtag appear to be condemning it, as few fringe crazies are actually upset that the red-headed Ariel will be played by a black woman. Everyone else, it appears, is thrilled.
Bailey, who has plenty of experience for her age but is still young enough to relate to her future fans, is a great choice for Ariel. Half of the group Chloe X Halle, which she shares with her older sister, Bailey has had songs featured on Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time and the Game of Thrones soundtrack.
She has sung at the Superbowl and acted in the TV show Grown-ish. Considering that Emma Watson brought more star power but much less singing talent to Beauty and the Beast, Bailey is a smart choice for the film’s soundtrack.
Plus, it’s important that Disney is casting more nonwhite actors in leading roles. The company has been making too much money off its existing franchises to risk adding many new names just for the sake of diversifying its majority-white collection of princesses. As the company increasingly relies on sequels and remakes (Toy Story 4, Dumbo, and the upcoming The Lion King), its best hope for representing its diverse fan base is to diversify the characters it already has.
It might be more difficult to change the race of, say, Snow White, but Ariel is a great candidate for letting Disney princesses look like more of their young fans. Disney network Freeform responded to Bailey’s casting by posting to Instagram, “Yes. The original author of ‘The Little Mermaid’ was Danish. Ariel…is a mermaid. … But for the sake of argument, let’s say that Ariel, too, is Danish. Danish mermaids can be black because Danish *people* can be black.”
The Freeform post is right, of course, but it’s unclear whether it was all that necessary. Instead of focusing on a controversy that largely doesn’t exist, Disney fans should applaud the choice to cast Bailey and move on to the only question that matters now: Who will play Ursula?
