To address the elephant, or rather the whale, in the room: Yes, the little mermaid is now black and has rastas. So what? And it’s really a good thing.
Hardly any other film has received as much criticism months before the premiere as “Arielle”. When it was announced that Disney was casting Halle Bailey, a 23-year-old black actress and successful R
From May 25th, the Ariel of the 21st century will be wagging across screens around the world. And while many female fans continue to dream of being a princess and of the trend sport “Mermaiding”, swimming with a monofin, the heroine just wants out, skin color doesn’t matter. Out of the waves, out of the too familiar home in the deep sea. Instead, it is better to enter the world of these strange two-legged creatures and into the heart of a shipwrecked man, who then turns out to be a prince looking for a bride.
This will all sound very familiar to fans of the 1989 animation. And otherwise the current version adheres almost slavishly to the template. There’s the strict dad (Javier Bardem) and the scheming aunt (Melissa McCarthy) with her octopus abdomen and the two moray eels, as well as the animal friend trio of crab, gannet and cichlid. Even the way Ariel sprawls on her rock or shakes her mane in the backlight when she emerges was taken exactly from the animation.
The whole cosmos of Arielle also remains as dazzling and kitschy as in the original, so real marine biologists should quickly get migraine attacks from the production design. It still serves its purpose as a setting for a romantic revival story. And in the end, a whole armada of mermaids and mermaids, mermaid grandparents and mermaid children will ensure that the merchandise is replenished.
“Arielle” is not only a fairy tale, but also a musical. Directed by Rob Marshall (“Chicago”). The well-known songs continue to sound, but there are also two newcomers. A rap song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton”) and a dedicated contribution for the prince played by newcomer Jonah Hauer-King.
The biggest discovery remains Bailey. Underwater, her face appears strangely distorted, her hair seems to have a life of its own. Apparently it takes a James Cameron to stage such scenes credibly. But as soon as she sings and has to assert herself as a mute stranger on land, she enchants with her charm and her naturalness. In addition, their ethnicity never seems imposed or forced “woke” because the film takes place in the setting of a Caribbean island. The mother of the white, cis-normative prince is also black, the other daughters of the sea gods seem like a UN General Assembly from Asian to Scandinavian. Greetings from “Bridgerton”.
