On Saturday 10 September, Disney released a trailer for their upcoming film, The Little Mermaid, which will debut in 2023. Of course, any new Disney release is exciting, but this one is particularly so, as the live-action remake of the original animated film with the same title will star Halle Bailey, a Black woman, as Ariel.
First released in 1989, the teaser trailer sadly sparked a backlash from people - who call themselves traditionalists, though we can think of a better name for them - who rejected the idea of a Black Ariel, but videos surfacing online showing children reacting to the first footage from the movie show just how crucial representation is, and prove that out-of-touch critics have no idea how important Disney's casting choice is.
Several clips of Black children reacting to a Disney princess that looks like them have gone viral on both TikTok and Instagram, as people are encouraged, touched and just plain excited by the excitement young Disney fans have over their favourite character's race.
Once such video, shared by TikTok user @preciousavery has been viewed almost five million times, amassing over 1.5 million likes and 24,000 comments. Titled “when your favourite Disney princess looks like you,” the clip shows the three-year-old watching the new Little Mermaid trailer for the first time.
“I think she’s Brown!” the little girl exclaims, sitting up excitedly when Ariel appears on the screen. “Brown Ariel!” she continues to say, transfixed by the screen.
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“I AMMMM CRYINGGG,” YouTuber Patrick Starr has commented under the video, while Gabrielle Williams wrote: “You have no idea how happy this just made me. Ugh!! 🥺😩😍 REPRESENTATION MATTERS!!”
Another video also doing the rounds, shows the children of user @cellidelli00 reacting to the trailer. “She’s pretty,” her son says as Ariel appears on the screen. “And she’s Black!” her daughter adds excitedly.
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And in a now-viral post on Instagram, Saint Hoax, a popular culture account with 3.2 million followers, shared a carousel of photos related to reactions to the Black Disney princess. Although the photos show various reactions to Bailey as Ariel - including a screenshot of a Tweet suggesting that Disney should create new characters and films specifically around Black and ethnic minority princesses, rather than changing the race of an existing princess - slide seven shows a compilation of clips of children's blind reaction to seeing the trailer.
The reactions flit between totally transfixed, mouths open in excitement and, in one heartbreaking clip, a little girl asking in debrief: “Are you sure that's Ariel?” as she marvels at what she's seeing on the screen.
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The videos are shown beside a Tweet that reads: “As I stroll on TikTok, I keep seeing parents video their children reacting to The Little Mermaid trailer. So instead of focusing so much on the negative, I thought I'd show a thread of the little Black kids who are excited to see their favourite princess look like them."
“The little girls watching for the first time 😭🥲😭,” one follower commented, another adding: “the reaction vids got me bawling my eyes😭😭.”
You can view the full video from TikTok user @callmedarii, who has been sharing various clips of children reacting to the trailer, below:
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Other TikTok users expressed their love for the trailer and the representation of a Black Disney princess. “All these videos of these beautiful little girls seeing representation has me an absolute blubbering mess. I never want these videos to stop,” one user wrote under one of the videos. “Oh my gosh SO beautiful!! I’m crying! THIS is why representation matters so incredibly much,” another commented.
“I cannot come and kill myself, but also, I’m Black.”
Sadly though, not all the feedback on Bailey's casting has been positive. In August, the actor spoke out about some of the negative reactions she received after her role was announced, one which sparked the #NotMyAriel hashtag to trend. She discussed how her grandparents had helped her to navigate the backlash: “It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you,’” she told Variety at the time.
She also shared her own feelings on what she hopes her casting will mean in terms of positive representation: “I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special, and that they should be a princess in every single way.”
Going on to consider how impactful it would have been to see the animated version of Ariel as a person of colour when she was a child. “What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything,” Bailey said. “Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”
In recent years, Disney has released numerous children’s films that portray a wide array of different cultures and represent various identities. Coco celebrates Mexican culture and holidays such as the Day of the Dead, Moana depicts Polynesian traditions, and Encanto depicts life in a Colombian household.
But diverse and accurate representation in films is about more than just the entertainment industry, it helps to promote - and normalise - inclusivity. As Bailey herself said, the small things are really the big things.
The Little Mermaid is expected to reach cinemas on 26 May 2023.
