A live action version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” will hit theaters in May 2023, and the updated film is already inspiring kids in a major way.
Over the weekend, Disney released the first trailer for “The Little Mermaid”, which stars singer and actress Halle Bailey as the first ever Black Ariel. The stunning preview features a a first glimpse of Bailey in-costume and singing “Part Of Your World.”
The clip immediately went viral and ignited a conversation online about the importance of diversity and representation. Since Bailey was chosen for the part of Ariel in 2019, there has been backlash against her casting. Some have said that since Ariel is portrayed as white in the cartoon version of the story, a Black actress shouldn’t have been cast in the title role for the newest version. Bailey responded to the racist backlash by telling USA Today she doesn’t focus on the negativity and she’s “just grateful” for the role.
The release of the latest teaser reignited some of the ugly comments online, but they’ve been drowned out by something much more powerful: the awe and excitement of children seeing Bailey as Ariel for the first time.
Following the release of the trailer, a Twitter user who goes by Lai created a moving thread of Black kids reacting to the ad. “As I stroll on TikTok, I keep seeing parents video their children reacting to ‘The Little Mermaid’ trailer,” she writes. “So instead of focusing so much on the negative, I thought I’d show a thread of the little Black kids who are excited to see their favorite princess look like them.”
In many of the clips, kids react with surprise and joy as soon as Ariel appears on the screen.
In one video, a little girl audibly gasps as Bailey starts singing. Her parent captioned the video, “When your favorite Disney princess looks like you.”
Clips like these have flooded social media since the trailer’s release. On TikTok, one dad said he woke his two daughters up early in the morning just to show them the video.
“I never realized how white washed things can be before they came into my life,” he writes. “Kids need to see themselves in a world to feel equally a part of it.”
Representation is incredibly important, especially in children’s media. A 2021 report by Common Sense Media shows that the vast majority of parents say the characters and stories their kids see in movies and on TV impact their professional aspirations and teach them important lessons about acceptance and diversity. Despite this, Common Sense Media also notes that white people, who make up only 67% of the population, occupy lead roles in 76% of all streaming and network TV shows.
The reactions to the “The Little Mermaid” trailer show how much power there is in seeing yourself represented on the screen, and for so many kids, it is long overdue.
