On May 26, 2023, the new The Little Mermaid live-action movie from Disney will be released, directed by Rob Marshall. This will be a retelling of the original 1989 movie.

Haile Bailey, a 23-year-old American songwriter and actress was cast to play the main protagonist, Ariel, a mermaid from Atlantica.  When the news was released that she would play this character, Disney and Bailey got backlash because she didn’t resemble the character due to her race.

Not only were there people judging Haile for why she accepted this role, but people made fun of her appearance and made racist comments against her.

Many fans recognize Ariel as a character with pale skin, red flowy straight hair, and blue eyes, the new live-action includes Bailey with her natural eye color and dark red hair.

According to some sources Ariel’s nationality is Atlantican which is an ancient continent now located in West Africa and eastern South America. Others say she is Danish because of the story taking place in Denmark.

In the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that inspired this animated movie version, she is described as having white skin. Although she is currently being played by a black actress, ethnicity has no importance to her as a character unlike other princesses such as Moana, Tiana, and Mulan, where race plays a huge role in their story.

Junior Belinda Lopez states that although she grew up watching the animated movie, for her “…it is not a big deal as long as they don’t change her as a character…like her personality traits.” She believes that as long as she stays true to the story she doesn’t have a problem with watching the Live Action.

Currently, Disney has been releasing numerous live-action remakes of their classic animated movies and the casting of some characters doesn’t always resemble the exact appearance of the animated character.

There have also been many claims of Disney forcing representation in their new films to make up for having low representation in their past ones.

Senior Briseida Lopez claims that her casting is “Not like the original, but I don’t hate it or dislike it,” and when asked her opinion about the representation in this film she stated, “Honestly I never really thought of it as a forced representation I thought of it as a positive step, a good representation for all people of all races and ethnicities.” Lopez currently doesn’t plan to watch the film.

Sophomore Yuridia Hernandez, a big Little Mermaid fan, states that she has no problem with the Ariel casting but thinks that “Eric was badly cast because he looks so much older than the actual character,” and “It makes the character look like he’s in his late 20’s.”

Prince Eric is said to be 18, but the actor playing him, Jonah Hauer-King is 27. Besides this factor, Hernandez is planning to watch it the day it releases.

Another critique of the film itself is how dull the movie looks. The original 1989 film included vibrant and saturated colors, and when compared, people state that the live-action looks “sad and depressing.”

There are a lot of CGI effects that are appealing but some fans have a problem with how the side characters Sebastian and Flounder look. Disney has made animals realistic in their live-action movies but some fans still expect the characters to have more cartoon character designs. 

Junior Jazmin Lopez supports the decision of how the movie and characters look since “it’s a live-action movie for a reason.” After she saw the trailer for the movie, she said it looks great and is excited to watch it. 

Overall some critiques for the films are okay like the visual effects but making fun of the actress for something like this is unreasonable, Disney decided to cast her since it was their vision for Ariel, moreover, Bailey does not deserve the backlash she’s getting.