The ridiculous controversy with Halle Bailey in “The Little Mermaid”
by Ashley Griffin, Guest Editorial
Twitter: @ashleyjgriffin
Instagram: @ashleygriffinofficial
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ashleygriffinofficial
Recently a new trailer dropped for Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” - the first to feature Halle Bailey as Ariel.
Cue the hate and vitriol.
The backlash from this trailer is not due to dramaturgical issues with the film itself (believe me, the failure of Disney’s live-action remakes due to poor writing and directing is depressing in the extreme and warrants an intervention at this point…)
No, the anger towards “The Little Mermaid” is due one hundred percent to the fact that a Black actress was cast as Ariel. The hate has reached such extremes that today I came across the Facebook group: Christians against the Little Mermaid (boycott Halle Bailey.)
(NOTE: There are some who say that this group is fake and was invented to stir up controversy…in this day and age I don’t ever want to misspeak and claim something is true when there is any potential doubt, however in doing my due diligence for this article I came upon what seems to be proof that this group was in fact real (the group was originally created on July 9th, 2017 under the name “Love, compassion, & understanding,” the name was changed to “Christian’s Against the Little Mermaid (Boycott Halle Bailey) on July 4th, 2019, then to “Muhammad Ali Memorial” on June 5th, 2019, then to “Boycott Super Bowl LIII” on January 24th, 2019 )
Many who object to the casting of Ms. Bailey have wrapped what can only be dubbed blatant racism in the guise of concern for the Danish people who are “having their story ripped from them and invalidated,” saying that casting a Black woman as the Little Mermaid is offensive to Danes because, after all, “The Little Mermaid” is a Danish fairy tale.
This is one of the few, if only, times in my life that my identity gives me 100% authority to talk about a given subject. I am a Christian, a Dane (a cis, white, female one at that,) a huge fan of “The Little Mermaid” and an expert on the history, mythology, and interpretation of fairy tales. I am the peak demographic that these groups are trying to “protect” by boycotting the film. So, let me start by saying that I completely support the casting of Halle Bailey and am the furthest thing from being offended.
And because I am “the theatrical Hermione Granger” we are about to do a deep dive into why, exactly that is.
Oh yes, I’m going there…
“The Little Mermaid” was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen in 1836 and published in 1837. Andersen is one of the famous triune of fairy tale authors including The Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. But what sets Andersen apart is that he created his fairy tales from scratch…they were all original, whereas those transcribed by the Grimms and Perrault were based on, and preservations of German and French folk tales (yes, with a bit of editing, in different ways and for vastly different reasons but that’s a deep dive for another day.)
Andersen was an odd duck (pun intended,) indeed; he was so socially awkward that people would cross the street to avoid him. His father died at an early age, and his mother was committed to a mental institution, leaving Andersen to fend for himself. He traveled to Copenhagen with dreams of writing stories for the Opera, but was mocked for his “fairy stories” and couldn’t catch a break until one of the members of the Opera board became his patron and supported his writing.
He hit at the zeitgeist of fairy tale popularity and became incredibly famous for his stories. His personal life, however, was far from a fairy tale. He had an infamous unrequited love for the great Opera star Jenny Lind (nothing like her portrayal in “The Greatest Showman”) and is even responsible for her nickname “The Swedish Nightingale,” having written his fairy tale “The Nightingale” for her. He was devastated when she didn’t return his affection.
But what is most important with regards to “The Little Mermaid” is Andersen’s relationship with Edvard Collin – the son of Andersen’s patron. Andersen was desperately in love with Collin and it’s pretty clear that Andersen was either a closeted gay man, or closeted bisexual man (in one of his letters to Collin he flat out says: “My sentiments for you are those of a woman.”)
It’s unclear how exactly Collin felt about Andersen’s feelings…all we do know is that in 1836 Collin announced his engagement to a woman, and Anderson began writing “The Little Mermaid” as a metaphoric expression of his heartbreak – with Andersen represented by the Mermaid, Collin as the Prince, and his fiancé as the Princess. In its beginnings, “The Little Mermaid” was the story of a man who couldn’t be with someone because his love didn’t conform to the world he found himself in.
Cut to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” which was selected by the great Howard Ashman as his first project for Disney. Ashman was himself a gay man who kept his HIV status a secret even from his close collaborator Alan Menken for fear that if it got out, he would lose his job.
Ashman felt a close kinship with the Little Mermaid, and is responsible not only for the lyrics to the Disney film, but with much of the script, the entire concept and, let’s just say it, the Disney renaissance as a whole. He passed away from AIDS shortly before the release of “Beauty and the Beast,” and won Oscars for both “The Little Mermaid” and, posthumously, for “Beauty and the Beast.”
Many in devout religious communities have said “The Little Mermaid” is especially meaningful to them when viewed as a metaphor for religious conversion in order to marry the one you love.
Trans people say the story is meaningful to them as a metaphor for, well, being trans. The Little Mermaid literally feels that she’s been born in the wrong body. As the lyrics to “The World Above” (a new song added for the Broadway musical, another deep dive…) say:
It’s like my life was wrong
And somehow, now, at last I’m in
My own skin
Up here in the world above”
The Little Mermaid is so beloved because she is a metaphor for everyone who has ever felt “wrong,” or like they didn’t belong. That includes gay people. It includes trans people. It includes people of the “wrong” religion to marry the person they love, or a marginalized religion and, yes, it includes Black people and any human being on earth who is “othered” whether in the world at large, or even just in their own family.
Now, let’s break down the criticism of the upcoming 2023 live-action remake.
This is how the Little Mermaid is physically described in the original story:
“Her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea…”
So let’s get some things out of the way:
- All those who are saying the character was originally written as “white” – no. She wasn’t. The word “white” is never used, not even the word “pale.” She is described as having blue eyes, but I don’t see anyone up in arms that they didn’t give Halle Bailey contacts… (Disclaimer – her legs are described as “white” after she becomes a human, but that word never describes her as a mermaid which is the focus of this article. Besides, who knows what the Sea Witch’s potion did during the transformation process, or why, and besides, it doesn’t matter in the first place for all the reasons coming…)
- The animated movie gave the Little Mermaid red hair which, though not canonically contradictory to the Mermaid’s description in the original story, is not a primary physical characteristic automatically associated with Danish people. I didn’t hear anyone up in arms that Disney’s Little Mermaid was “Irish.”
- Guess what? Black people have existed all over the world for a very, very long time. There are Black Danes. Yup. It’s a thing. And for anyone saying that a Danish prince in the 1800s would never have married a Black person…first of all, in the original story he DOESN’T marry her, plus I think the fact that she had no parents, tongue or LAST NAME would have been more of a problem for the royal court. Also, married or not, white Princes can fall in love with Black people…(again, the fact that she’s PART FISH might have proved the bigger obstacle…)
- This is not a story where ethnicity is important. The Danish culture has nothing to do with this story. This isn’t a case of taking “Mulan” and whitewashing it…if you take location and culture out of “The Little Mermaid” it changes nothing. There are actually some very interesting Russian and Eastern European film adaptations of the story – I don’t see anyone up in arms that the Little Mermaid is suddenly Russian…there only seems to be a problem when the character is no longer white…which seems to be a trend across the board. I’ve heard a lot of criticism that Ms. Bailey “doesn’t look like the animated character.”
Ok, I get a flash of nostalgia when you see a live-action adaptation of a story you love, but at the end of the day, who really cares? If you want to see the animated movie, you can go see the animated movie – that’s the great thing about streaming services and DVD’s. But I would like to point out that this “but they don’t look like the character in the movie/book/etc.” exists with a lot of other casting decisions that people aren't nearly so up in arms about.
In “Harry Potter” Daniel Radcliff’s eyes weren’t green, like his book counterpart (a fact which is actually a huge plot point,) yet no one was upset at the change in eye color. Emma Watson didn’t have buck teeth as Hermione Granger (also a significant plot point,) but no one cared. This is longstanding trend, should I go on?
- Mermaids are a part of all cultures and countries. Africa has mermaid mythology just as much as western Europe does. Andersen was pulling from mermaid and siren mythology when he wrote “The Little Mermaid.” What was actually most dramatic about the Mermaid’s character when the story came out was in how she was different from the rest of her family who conformed more to traditional sirens (you know, those pretty girls who lure sailors to their death with their beautiful singing?)
The fact that the Mermaid SAVED a sailor was a big deal. You know who else likes to kill people? The Mondao in Zimbabwe – mermaids of African origin who have sharp teeth and pull people into deep water. (If you’d like more information on non-European mermaid mythology this is a great article to start with. And guess what else? Disney’s “Little Mermaid” is actually set in the Caribbean (which not only has a lot of African descendants, but a very long history with Mermaid mythology.)
- Regardless of all that, The Little Mermaid is a mythical creature who can look like anything and anyone! You’re telling me it’s easier to believe that a character has a fish tale than that she’s Black?
- As a final mic drop to those who think “Black mermaids aren’t canonical” I give you Gabriella - a principal character (and close friend of Ariel) in Disney’s animated “Little Mermaid” T.V. series who was not only a Black mermaid but was also deaf.
Here’s what gets me most: the original “Little Mermaid” is not a happy fairy tale. Go and read it. It happens to be my absolute favorite story.
In the original, part of the Mermaid’s “deal” is that she will stay human until the Prince marries someone else. The morning after she does, she will turn to seafoam and cease to exist. In the original story, the Mermaid doesn’t want to be human because of the Prince; she wants to be human because human beings have immortal souls, and Merpeople don’t.
Merpeople will live for three hundred years, then cease to exist. The only way for a Mermaid to get an immortal soul is if a human falls in love with them and “two become one.” The Prince does indeed marry someone else, and the Mermaid is about to die when she is given an “out.”
Her sisters have traded their hair to the Sea Witch in exchange for a knife. If the Mermaid kills the Prince and his blood splashes on her legs, she can go back to being a Mermaid and rejoin her family. She comes very close to going through with it. But ultimately, she chooses to sacrifice herself so that the Prince can live, and through her act of love doesn’t die, but instead is given a way to earn an immortal soul.
The WHOLE POINT of “The Little Mermaid” is love. Sacrificial love. Putting someone else above yourself. I want every single “Christian” who is so adamantly against a Black woman playing the Little Mermaid to watch this video and then tell me why on earth they would want to deny this experience to these glorious children of God.
Let’s choose love and inclusion.
Since time immemorial Black people have had to imagine themselves into white roles, women into male roles, gay people into straight roles, trans people into cis roles. It’s time each of those groups had representation of their own. And, guess what? We can imagine ourselves into roles different from ourselves – as in the examples above, people have been doing it for a long time. If a gay man can see himself in a straight woman, why can’t a white person see themselves in a Black character?
Maybe that’s what we should really be taking a look at.
And let’s offer our support to Halle Bailey – a very brave young woman shouldering an immense burden to bring this story to those who have wanted for a long time to feel a part of this world.
About Ashley
Ashley Griffin is the first person in history to be nominated for a major award for both playing and directing HAMLET. As a writer Ashley is most well known as the creator of the pop culture phenomenon FOREVER DEADWARD (New World Stages,) praised by MTV, E!, EW and others, and the hit off-Broadway play TRIAL directed by Lori Petty. Her work has been developed at Broadway’s Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons and La MaMa (among others.) Ashley is currently in development with a new network series, and is artist in residence at The Access Theater Company.
As an actress, Ashley has performed on and off Broadway as well as in L.A. and London. This past year she appeared in HOMELAND, THE DEUCE, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN (starring Hugh Jackman,) and in the off-Broadway play THE NEUROLOGY OF THE SOUL at A.R.T. originating the starring role of Amy. She has a BFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts (where she has subsequently taught,) and has studied at R.A.D.A., The Boston Conservatory and the Hamilton Academy of Music.