Little Mermaid is Black?

Disney's Ariel, a Girl Who Is Willing to Give Up Her Voice to Get With a Rich Guy:

Little Mermaid is a beautiful fairy tale. I am not talking about the vulgar obscenity that Disney drew up in their studios. The original story, written by Hans Christian Anderson, is one that involves deception, greed, teenage lust, and adolescent stupidity and ends with Ariel dying.

She loses her voice for good, her feet (after she loses her tail) constantly feel like they are being stabbed by knives (part of the trade agreement with the witch), she almost kills the Prince and in the end, turns into sea foam and vapourises into thin air.

Forget skin color, they got the whole story wrong.

The original was written at a time when parents were not afraid to expose the tragedies of life to their kids. Stories like these prepared the children for life. But Disney turned this story into a soft musical, with peppy songs, and a happy ending, not to retell a great story, but to make a movie that sells.

The story that Disney's version has told us instead is that there is a teenager who has fallen in love, betrays her father, and gives up her voice so that she could get with a male of a different species. She deals with a few dramatic obstacles posed by a queer sea witch, overcomes them like a boss, and ends up getting the best of both worlds.

Americans were nutured by such tales; now, do you still wonder why they feel so entitled?

From 2010 onwards Disney has desperately tried to use nostalgia to put people into their cinema seats. And they are doing this by reviving old animation movies and turning them into live-action ones.

They went all out marketing for The Lion King, but the new version was surprisingly bad. They came out with Aladin, casting Will Smith. The world felt that the girl that played Princess Jasmine was not brown enough. The Jungle Book, Pinocchio, Mulan, Lady and the Tramp, Dumbo, the list of live-action remakes go on.

Many feel that Disney should have left those movies alone, that there did not have to be these remakes, and that they have somehow spoilt the originals. Hate to break it to those of you who feel this way: the old movies are still available to watch. They were not harmed in the making of these new ones.

That is not to say that the new movies were not bad, they were horrible. Well, it's Disney and to them, it doesn't matter if a movie is good or bad. The production team does their best (a Disney movie is great on one's resume) and makes the film, no doubt, but Disney doesn't care. All it's worried about here is profit. For this, a movie has to tick a few superficial boxes; the soul of a story never seems to make this checklist. Interestingly, most works of art that have a strong presence of soul never sells.

Now, how can they make a movie that shows a teenage girl making silly decisions to get with a boy (of a different species) interesting and acceptable to an ultra-sensitive time and society? That is right, controversy and polarization. The politicians use these tricks, YouTubers do it, TikTokers do it, and it works brilliantly. Now Disney is doing it.

If we are naive enough to think that Disney did this purely for the sake of representation, well we simply deserve what the future holds for us. If we think that the "liberal-neo-Marxist-left" pushed Disney to make this change, well we are giving a bunch of clowns too much credit.

Having said that, the trailer seems to have received 1.5 million dislikes. Needless to say, a majority of these dislikes are from conservatives and those leaning right. The thing with these conservatives and people of the right is that they love to vote, and when presented with the opportunity, they will vote. They did not like a black actress playing the role, mostly because they are afraid of change, and they used YouTube's dislike button to let us all know that.

Now that the two sides are at it, namely: the ones who are offended by the fictional character's skin color, and those who are offended because the other side is offended, not to forget the others (like myself) who refuse to take sides but still feel entitled to voice out our opinions about Black Ariel, the Disney marketing team is having a ball of a time. Anyone and everyone engaging in this debate is a part of the dream that Disney (a legal fiction) has realized. We are marketing their movie for free.

To the ones that are offended that the mermaid is played by a black girl, well Mahathma Gandhi was played by a white man. It's all good. Don't worry about it.

If there is anything that Disney has spoilt with The Little Mermaid, for all you "purists", is the original story that they have initially butchered and softened.

Skin color is the least of your problems. They have disgraced the story, the plot, and the message, they have made it a colorful joy ride that has literally raised a generation of softies, and this is not the only story they have done this with. Cinderella, Hunch Back of Notre Dame, Pocahontas, and most disappointingly Star Wars are a few more examples of fiction that originally, with morals, messages and metaphors, prepared their audiences of young ones for the difficulties of life. They were not mere distractions disguised as entertainment.

To those who are offended by white people angered by a black Ariel, are you really going to spend money to watch another Disney blunder? Think about it, the movie is going to be horrible. And if you're not going to watch it anyway, then relax. There is no reason for you to get offended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp4yfmOOv6Q

Well, I must admit, it is cute to see little black kids excited about having a Disney princess to relate with, but do you really want the little ones to learn that it is okay to be willing to give up your voice to have fun with some rich white dude?

Kahan J Sudev