Black Kids' Reactions to Halle Bailey's The Little Mermaid Teaser Is the Most Heartwarming Thing You

[demmiblue]

Black Kids’ Reactions to Halle Bailey’s The Little Mermaid Teaser Is the Most Heartwarming Thing You’ll See All Week

On Friday night at D23 Expo 2022, I was one of the lucky 7,500 people who got to see the entire “Part of Your World” sequence from the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. The more Halle Bailey’s Ariel sang about wanting to live on the surface with humans, it became increasingly clear that we were watching a star-making moment. At the end of the video, an enraptured audience of die-hard Disney fans gave the grown-ish actress a standing ovation as she appeared on stage.

As the clip played, I became emotional thinking about how I can’t wait to take my niece to this film, so she can have the experience of seeing a beautiful Black woman play one of her favorite Disney princesses. However, according to the internet, I’m not allowed to have this moment because in the original 1989 Disney movie, Ariel is white.

Guys, we’re talking about a half-woman/half-fish who makes a deal with an evil octopus to give up her voice so she can meet a very boring prince—and her best friends are a yellow tropical fish and a singing crab. So considering how firmly detached from reality all of this is, why are people so threatened that they cast a Black actress to play Ariel?

I know that the backlash will only get worse as the film’s May 26 release gets closer, and we’ll have plenty of time to discuss it in every horrible way. However, today let’s focus on the positive.

https://www.theroot.com/black-kids-reactions-to-halle-bailey-s-the-little-merm-1849529678

Link to tweet

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. This makes me smile

I am looking forward to this movie and the new Ariel

[TDale313]

2. This is so beautiful.

Representation matters. Also, the grown-ass white men complaining about this? Take a seat. Guarantee you never cared about Ariel before this.

[demmiblue]

4. This response:

Can’t believe Ariel discovered a new ocean made entirely of conservative tears

Link to tweet

[tblue37]

10. Ariel is a fictional character. She isn't white--she's whatever color someone wants her to be, and

unlike the Black Panther, her backstory doesn't require her to be one thing or another.

[vercetti2021]

36. Matt Walsh is such a bitch

His hate for trans people like me is so strong I can feed off his hatred for the next century.

[canuckledragger]

5. Somehow I knew it would trigger the MAGAts.

Racist to the core they are...the delicate pouty snowflakes...

[LakeArenal]

3. Beautiful girls and women. All.

[demmiblue]

6. 'She's like me!' -- These reactions to the recently released 'The Little Mermaid' teaser featuring...

Link to tweet

[malaise]

11. Beautiful

Thanks

[tblue37]

7. OK, now, those little girls' reactions gave me goosebumps. How wonderful!

[Moostache]

8. Wow...that raw emotion is amazing...

On the one hand to see little girls who otherwise are told they can't be this or that or being marginalized, actually getting to see representation on screen...

On the other to know that there are people out there - waaaaay too many people - that see that clip and get triggered because they are racist to their core and cannot imagine the feelings for those very same black girls at all.

One day we may get there, but the distance to the promised land seems like a ever enlongating hallway from a nightmare...as fast as we run, he end seems to move away faster at times.

[demmiblue]

9. This dude gets it:

Link to tweet

[Demsrule86]

12. That is so heartwarming...Fuck the internet trolls. I am tearing up.

We need to leave lots of good reviews to make up for the racist POS types.

[demmiblue]

13. Fab.u.lous:

Link to tweet

(I just followed him on Twitter)

[In It to Win It]

15. I went from shedding a tear because of the OP to crying laughing

[markie]

14. about time

Jesus was black... and let's throw in Santa Claus for good measure

[Hekate]

17. I know this is a thing some like to say -- but when did Middle Eastern Jewish become black?

[EmmaLee E]

30. And when did he become European with light skin and light brown hair?

[Hekate]

32. When Europe was converted. I have no problem with people seeing their deities as...

… a mirror of themselves. Statues and pictures everywhere tell us that. Greek Madonnas are dark. Northern European Madonnas are fair. The Virgin of Guadalupe is brown. Statues of the Buddha reflect the country they were carved in.

But to categorically state that Jesus, whose origin story was Palestine/Israel, was ethnically “black” is going too far in the other direction.

YMMV

[MuseRider]

16. This is wonderful!

My kids, boys, were young enough to enjoy this one, the first version, but they were close to the end of the Disney cartoon years.

I LOVED it. I think I will go to the theater and see this more than once. I bet my youngest will take his daughter to it and I may too. Those precious little girls.

[MLAA]

18. The clips of the children make my heart swell and I say, it's about time and yes,

it is a big effing deal!

[Lucinda]

26. ❤️ ✿❧🌿❧✿ ❤️

[Susan Calvin]

19. Oh never mind. I read Halle Berry. Can you tell I don't keep up with movies? nt

[ShazzieB]

31. I did the same thing! 😂

I thought, "Isn't she a little old to play Ariel?" Then I realized the last name was Bailey, not Berry.

Thanks for letting me know I wasn't the only one!

[MLAA]

33. I guess 3s a crowd! 💗

[Warpy]

20. Here is the statue in Copenhagen harbor

?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1

It seems a black mermaid is right in character and right wing bigots can stuff it.

[nattyice]

21. I've seen that in person!

[niyad]

22. Okay, let me get this correct. Disney is doing a new version of "The Little

Mermaid" , with a Black Ariel, and people are losing their minds? WTAF?????

[haele]

23. Yes, the haters are losing their minds over the color of a character who is not human.

Because the "color" that individual was in a cartoon.
This version takes place in the Caribbean instead of in the North Atlantic. A pale red-haired mermaid doesn't necessarily track.

I've seen representations of "The Little Mermaid" where she was blue as a mermaid, and dark haired as a human when her species was changed.
Who cares? I want the best singer/actor for the part to have the part. Black, White, or any other color.

Haele

[niyad]

24. Proof positive that some people have wayyyyy too much time on their hands.

[LymphocyteLover]

27. and way too much bigotry in their mean little hearts

[niyad]

28. Sadly true.

[Lucinda]

25. ❤️ ✿❧🌿❧✿ ❤️

[SunSeeker]

29. Damn

[TigressDem]

34. Darn happy tears.

So lovely that they can be excited by something that really doesn't take anything away from anyone else.

[Dorian Gray]

35. For the first week of

the headlines about unhappy "fans" upset with the casting, I kept reading the star's name as Halle Berry. lol. (I mean, she was cat woman so why not the Little Mermaid? Can she even sing? I don't know.)

I love making my pre-teen go to kids movies. (She thinks she's too old and cool for many Disney movies, but she secretly loves them all! And I love having a kid as my cover, as I love Disney movies and want to see them all!)