Photo by: Matt Stroshane/ABC via Getty Images
#Representationmatters, and we love to see it!
Parents of young Black girls are sharing videos on social media of their kids’ responses to seeing Halle Bailey as Ariel in the teaser trailer for the live-action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
“Mommy!” a little girl says in a now-viral TikTok video.
The little girl continues.
“She’s brown like me!”
Her video is one of several being posted on TikTok and Twitter by parents who are emphasizing the value of diverse casting in children’s media by using hashtags like #representationmatters.
Another parent recorded her young daughter’s reaction to the trailer as well.
“It’s a new Ariel!” the mother revealed to her daughter.
“That is Ariel?” she asked. “Are you sure that’s the real her?”
Responding to the overwhelming amount of positive feedback and excitement from the trailer, Bailey took to Twitter to share how moved she was by the excited reactions to the trailer.
“k i just sobbed watching this thanks 😭💕she’s so sweet ❣️,” the 22-year-old singer tweeted.
Over the weekend at D23, Disney revealed a teaser trailer for the movie, and it has gained approximately 104 million views.
Source: Image Group LA / Getty
However, the film’s premiere sparked new online racist criticism from those who said Disney was “too woke” for casting Bailey as the movie’s title character.
This criticism originally appeared in 2019 after news of Bailey’s casting using the hashtag #notmyAriel.
The fictional mermaid Ariel is portrayed as a Caucasian woman with red hair in the 1989 original animated picture.
After many fans of the film openly rejected it due to Bailey being a Black woman, TikTok user @ jendayis682 explained the importance of minority children should see characters that look like them.
“Do you understand how it feels for our babies to see themselves in the fairy tales that the world said wasn’t made for them,” jendayis682 wrote.
She continued.
“Say what you want and complain all you want … I hear nothing over the joy and excitement that this little girl has over seeing a person that represent[s] her.”
The planned live-action version of the 1989 animation classic, The Little Mermaid, starring Jonah Hauer-King, portrays the tale of Ariel falling in love with human Prince Eric.
The evil Ursula will be played by Melissa McCarthy, King Triton will be played by Javier Bardem. Sebastian will be played by Daveed Diggs, Flounder, played by Jacob Tremblay, and Scuttle will be played by Awkwafina.
The live-action remake of the Little Mermaid will hit theaters May 2023.
Are you excited to see Halle Bailey as Ariel? We definitely are!
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