Black Ariel Makes Box Office Splash In Disney’s Live-Action 'Little Mermaid’

Racists worldwide weep.

The live-action remake of The Little Mermaid   hooked audiences to the tune of around $120 million for the Memorial Day weekend. This is the single best opening ever for a movie with a Black woman lead. (OK, technically,  Black Panther: Wakanda Forever  performed better with $181 million, but that was billed as an ensemble effort. Regardless, I’m happy for both Disney princesses.)

Sad baby racists have complained about this movie since actor/singer Halle Bailey ( not  Berry) was announced as the lead in 2019. Not even a pandemic made them get over their issue with Black mermaids.

  Despite the years of racist whining, The Little Mermaid opened to mostly rave reviews from normal people, and Bailey’s performance was singled out for praise. The movie boasts an A rating from Cinemascore and a 95 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is better than the original’s.

Critics have been less generous. The Rotten Tomatoes critics score is currently 67 percent compared to the 1989 animated film’s 92 percent. 

Not all the criticism directed at the film is racist, of course. Some of it is just silly, joyless online nitpicking from people who are incapable of heeding the Dr. Frank-N-Furter Principle:  “I didn’t make [this] for you!” I don’t think Doug Walker's complaint that Ariel’s sisters are different ethnicities is racist so much as a frustrating literal-mindedness that poses as critical thought. Stop trying to race science mermaids!

PREVIOUSLY:

 OH SH*T Y'ALL, IT'S BLACK ARIEL! 

 Internet Racists Think The Black Little Mermaid Is White Genocide 

 Wonkette Movie Chat: Where Have All The White Mermaids Gone? 

 Matt Walsh Into Little Mermaids So White You Can See Their Skulls, What's Your Kink? 

The film is floundering in China, which is consistent with the cold shoulder  Wakanda Forever received. Chinese state media has specifically attacked Bailey’s casting (with no regard for her actual performance). The Global Times   wrote, "The controversy surrounding Disney’s forced inclusion of minorities in classic films is not about racism, but its lazy and irresponsible storytelling strategy .. If the company truly wants to represent marginalized groups, why not create original stories that reflect their experiences instead of turning classic tales into ‘sacrificial lambs’ for political correctness?”

It's no surprise that Chinese state media’s reaction to a Black Ariel would so closely mirror right-wing American criticism. Here’s a predictable take from The   National Review ’s Armond White — a Black, gay, conservative film critic who regularly annoyed me decades ago when he was at The New York Press:  

Everything is social engineering in the new live-action version of The Little Mermaid . It changes Hans Christian Andersen’s Danish fairy tale — a touchstone of Western culture — and revokes its preeminence, reworking its amphibious Scandinavian heroine’s image to resemble that of a biracial American teenager (Ariel, played by pop singer Halle Bailey) that suits contemporary, racialized politics.

White regurgitates the absurd argument that Disney’s The Little Mermaid was some authentic adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale. Not only is the ending (and dare I say the entire point of the story) changed, but Disney’s Ariel is overtly American not Scandinavian or even slightly European. Ariel is written and performed like the mermaid next door from landlocked Iowa. That is arguably why right-wingers are so pissed — Bailey is claiming a distinctly American role in a distinctly American classic. And she’s damn good. Representation absolutely matters, but that’s almost beside the point when you hear the sister sing.

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She’s hitting these notes live, without auto tune or studio sea witch magic. This isn’t about “racialized politics” or “woke” Disney gone wild. It’s not like when they cast Catherine Zeta Jones (not Bebe Neuwirth) and Renée Zellweger (definitely not Ann Reinking) in my belovedChicago. Bailey is perfect for this role. She’s more than qualified to play a singing mermaid who enters into questionable legal contracts. 

I'm pleased that Halle Bailey and everyone involved with this film are having a good weekend. Sure, I have my quibbles with the original Disney film’s story and some of the remake’s choices, but I also understand the Dr. Frank-N-Furter Principle: This wasn’t made for me.

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