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Let’s put this in the ground. The Hans Christian original text: the ONLY description of the Little Mermaid is that she has blue eyes. Not white, not red haired, just blue-eyed and fishtailed. So very truly, if you’re bitching about a fish girl being black, *You Are Racist.*
updated 1 year ago 2 Members · 1
Reply “Clear and delicate as a rose-leaf”
Kinda sounds like she was meant to be green, tbh. I mean, I get that it’s a simile, but the imagery certainly does not evoke whiteness in anyway, and if anything, it suggests a darkish green, which would be lovely with deep blue eyes.
I just don’t get why folks get so unhinged about things like this. Does it matter what color the character’s skin is? Does her race make her more or less a “good” mermaid?
Besides, with skin like a rose leaf I think she might be a witch. s/
The rest of the story is very different than the movie version so let’s just call it what it is: Racist bullshit. No one is freaking out about Ariel not turning into sea foam in the end, curiously. Just her ethnicity. Same with LOTR, and all the times when white people freak the fuck out when a non white charecter appears in a fantasy. Hunger Games, LOTR, Star Wars, Marvel, so on and so forth. May they all rot in their bitter unhappiness and may their internet break.
No, the story does describe her as having white skin later on. I don’t remember any description of her hair color, though. Just blue eyes, hair voluminous enough that could wrap around her body, and white legs and white arms. (Red was clearly her favorite color, though). The original story, she doesn’t even have a name.
Look, skin color does NOT matter in these stories. At all. You know, you can’t recast Mulan as non-Chinese unless you completely change a lot of other historical settings in the film, same with changing race in Pocahontas or Moana – but you COULD do it; change the setting/history a bit, and the message remains the same. But most Disney’s fictional arsenal has no relevance to real life and the stories do not involve race, so it honestly doesn’t matter. Hermione being black also didn’t matter to the story, either, the same as lot of POC casting.
But when you argue with blatantly false statements, you give fodder to the racists. Now, they don’t care, because they’re going to argue about it regardless if an author put race in the original story, etc. But why not take the time to read the story instead of posting an argument that’s false? It’s really not that long to read.
You can read the whole thing [here](http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html).
And if you read it from the perspective that Hans Christian Anderson was likely a closeted homosexual, I think the story, particularly the ending, takes on a very new meaning.
Plus, even if it DID say she was white… so what? Pretty sure Hans Christian won’t be digging himself out of his grave to beat someone up.
The one that got me the most was the post I saw where someone was breaking down how mermaids can’t be black, because they wouldn’t get enough light at the bottom of the ocean, so it’s just SCIENCE.
Like… if you ever find yourself trying to back up your (racist) opinion with mermaid science, please take a long hard look at your life.
EDIT: dear Lord, someone used AI to make a version where she’s white and there are literally people requesting they do the whole film that way 😒 Someone tried to make it a thing about “redhead representation” because God knows only white people have red hair, and they’re the REAL victims in society /s
My only reservation about it is it’s another instance of the black community having their hero’s come from inherently white stories ‘repurposed’ to appeal to them instead of them being given true, genuine representation. But I’d rather this than nothing.
People are saying a roseleaf is green, but I looked up the original text (I’m Danish), and he definitely meant a rose petal (rosenblad). Also, I don’t necessarily agree with the use of delicate, the original word Skjær is no longer used in Danish, but looking at the Norwegian equivalent, it seems to mean light or transparent.
I watched a beautiful video montage of little black girls’ reactions to seeing a black Ariel and I cried like a baby. As a little white girl I never thought anything about seeing white protagonists in Disney movies or tv shows. It was whatever. But these little girls were THRILLED to see a black Ariel. And if anyone can watch that video and still complain about this casting choice, not only are they a racist POS, but they’re beyond help.
… and why do we want little girls to think that giving up your voice to be used and discarded by a man is a good thing?
The only consistent thing we need about mermaids is that they’re half sexy part, half lady. /j
The Little Mermaid, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, so many fairy tales that people ONLY know from Disney’s animated movies, and they think are the definitive source.
Also, rose leaf’s are green, so Ariel should be green.
I love the new actress for the Little Mermaid.
Only reason I’m not pumped is how Disney is only using Live action remakes to cashgrab nostalgic characters. I wish they would use their live action budgets for new stories but I’m hoping this movie will actually be good.
I read the skin being clear as her literally being translucent for some reason.
To be fair, Black people typically do not have blue eyes. Only in cases such as a Caucasian person in their ancestry. You would usually only see a Black person with blue eyes if they are mixed.
Not that I care what color the little mermaid is, just thought this was interesting. I wish they would just create new stories with Black leads instead of rehashing old ones. New content and stories are always good, and offer a chance to explore other cultures and ideas. Remaking the little mermaid and slapping a black character in there seems kind of like a disservice to black folks.
Also these people in general aren’t protesting all the art and films that portray Jesus as a white man when he is clearly middle eastern in the source material.
