Disney, as we know, are in the process of remaking some of their much loved animated classics, as live action movies. The latest film to go through the magic remake machine is The Little Mermaid, which was released in all its underwater technicolour glory back in 1989.
The live action version is causing a bit of a stir on the old interweb / Twittersphere because, gasp, the actor cast to play Ariel is Halle Bailey, who shock horror, doesn’t have flaming red hair! Actually what they seem really cross about is that she isn’t white *inserts face palm emoji here. In fact, it didn’t take long before the hashtag #notmyariel started trending on Twitter. People were very cross about it, and we have to ask why? We know that representation matters; you can’t be it if you can’t see it. It’s really that simple. All children need to see themselves reflected in the books they read, and the movies they watch. It shows them that they can take up space in the world; that they are part of it, that they add value to it. All children, of all races, need to see all children, of all races, so they grow up knowing that everyone has an equal place on earth.
So why oh why are people getting so angry about this casting? I even read that people are trying to use science to prove that mermaids can only be white. Seriously, there was a discussion about how little melanin (the pigment that determines the colour of our skin and is responsible for tanning) would be present in a mermaid’s body, given that they live so far under the water, for so much of the time.
Let’s stop and think about that for a minute. Taking time out of a busy day, pushing matters relating to say climate change, a lack of school funding, the damaging effects of toxic masculinity on the 84 men a week who take their own lives, to ponder, mermaid science. So, shall we say it once more, for the people at the back:
mermaids aren’t real!
They are mythical creatures. She’s a girl with a
