"The Little Mermaid": Parents Film Their Daughters' Reaction

The world is such a diverse place, and that affects us humans as well, but the film and television business is still very one-sided to this day, and diversity is often lacking. The fact that Disney wants to change this circumstance is something we can experience again and again. For example, with "Encanto" there was a Disney children's movie that was mainly characterized by Latin American culture, both the music and the characters and even the food in the film. Even then, a wave went through the Internet that many children enthusiastically recognized themselves in the role of little Antonio and reacted very emotionally to it. Disney is now going one step further: "Ariel the Mermaid" is played by Halle Bailey, a young black woman, in the live-action adaptation. You may know her from the series “grown-ish“ and her music career. She's one half of the musical duo Chloe x Halle, Chlöe is her sister! The reaction of many daughters to the new Ariel is worth its weight in gold and has been filmed by parents worldwide:

The First Official Trailer

Disney released the first trailer of “The Little Mermaid”! We get to see the beautiful underwater world and even the creepy wreck, which we already know from the first scenes of the animated version. And then finally her voice! Her singing alone is so beautiful and awakens a lot of nostalgic feelings in us. Finally you see the tail fin and – wow – that is one shimmering tail fin. At the end of the teaser trailer, we finally see Halle Bailey as Ariel! That's the moment a lot of kids – and to be quite honest, adults too – have been waiting for:

"That's Ariel?"

Full of amazement and with shining children's eyes, the little girl asks her mom if that's the new Ariel and if that's "the real Ariel?" Such a smile is probably also one of the reasons why the creators decided on an Ariel who is not white. If you thought, all well and good that a little girl is happy, wait for the next reactions: 

A Young Woman Defends Herself Against Criticism 

In some media reports, the new Ariel is criticized because she doesn't look like the original Ariel precisely because of the color of her skin. The young woman on TikTok emphasizes that Ariel, however, is just a fictional children's story and it is absurd to criticize this fact. She collects reactions from girls of different ages who react to the trailer. The first teenage girl alone, almost stunned, freely shouts out her excitement that the new Ariel is black. The third girl also enthusiastically notes that the little mermaid now has the same skin color as herself, and the girls after that joyfully grab their own hair, which is also braided into little braids like the hair of the new Ariel. 

The young girl who collected the reactions concludes, "If you don't like that the new Ariel is black, then the new Ariel isn't for you, it's for her," referring to the girls who are so excited to be represented in a Disney movie.