The fact that Disney “changed the color” of Ariel in the live-action version is a story that has made the online community controversial all the time.
Accordingly, R&B singer Halle Bailey, born in 2000, takes on the role of a mermaid. She caught the eye of the producer at the beginning of the selection and was considered by director Marshall as “a rare combination of enthusiasm, spirit, youth, innocence and singing ability. great”.
In the trailer for The Little Mermaid released on September 10, Halle Bailey appeared with a high-pitched voice, brown skin and typical dreadlocks braided hairstyle of African girls. After nearly a week, the ad reached 1.2 million likes but more than 2.5 million “dislikes”.
Across social networks, film forums, debates erupted about Disney deliberately distorting the original, breaking the classic image that the successful Mouse family built in the childhood of many people. In addition, there are arguments that argue that Andersen is a Danish writer, but mermaid can be of any race, because he does not describe it in detail in the original.
So really, what did Hans Christian Andersen write?
Hans Christian Andersen’s original depiction of mermaids
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid, first published in 1837, is much darker than Disney’s later animated children’s film. Through his pen, he repeated the phrases “white feet”, “white hands”, “deep blue eyes” to describe the little mermaid girl.
Andersen describes a mermaid with fair skin. Photo: Amazon.
An excerpt from Andersen’s original: “Her fish’s tail was gone, and that she had as pretty a pair of white legs and tiny feet as any little maiden could have; but she had no clothes, so she wrapped herself in her long, thick hair. The prince asked her who she was, and where she came from, and she looked at him mildly and sorrowfully with her deep blue eyes; but she could not speak”. (Translation: She looked down and saw that the fishtail had disappeared, replaced by white legs like a girl’s. Seeing her naked body, she quickly wrapped her long hair around her. The prince asked her. whoever she was, where she came from, she looked at him with deep blue eyes, tender but sad, unable to speak.)
The animated version made by Disney in 1989, the image of a white, blue-eyed mermaid kept the original, but the red hair was modified because of the original, the Danish writer only mentioned “long waving hair”. (long wavy hair) but does not specifically describe the hair color.
Mermaid Ariel is an unchangeable identified individual
It wouldn’t have been a big deal if Disney hadn’t given the description that the film was based on its 1989 animated work. Disney can completely take a different name Ariel, develop a storyline that is associated with black culture. But no, they chose to erase the audience’s childhood image. The majority commented that The Little Mermaid distorts the original, towards racial equality to win the prize or for some other “noble” purpose.
Many viewers pointed out that expressing dissatisfaction with Halle Bailey was not related to ethnic issues but because the actor was not suitable. “Little girls growing up with The Little Mermaid deserve a real mermaid,” one netizen wrote.
“Like Doraemon, blue skin, missing ears, loves to eat donuts. He’s not a mechanical cat, you can’t make a different shape than the other description because it’s not Doraemon anymore! That’s why because we can’t accept this new look of Ariel, because it’s not Ariel”, one viewer commented.
Dragon Ball Evolution is a prime example of the “catastrophe” of live-action movies that do not respect the original when the European-born male lead Justin Chatwin plays Goku. The “bleaching” of Goku’s character, turning them into mediocre high school teenagers, plus the discrete storyline completely destroyed the image of the characters that were so familiar to Dragon Ball fans for many years.
The producer of Dragonball Evolution really made the mistake of choosing the male lead of European origin, Justin Chatwin, in the most classic anime series in Asia.
As a result, the film became a box office hit in the summer of 2009, scoring only 2.5 points on IMDB and grossing over $50 million.