"Ariel"
A mermaid seeks emancipation
Online since today, 12:40
Paula Pfoser
A mermaid played by an actress of color - that caused a stir on the web last year. The live-action adaptation of the Disney classic turned out to be a nice family adventure in the spirit of diversity. The somewhat dusty story tries to be balanced with an empowered title heroine. And a prince who is also allowed to show emotions himself.
"Why do you have to be so strong-willed?" asks King Triton (Javier Bardem), merman with a ruffled beard, of his daughter Arielle when he catches her swimming to the surface of the sea, which is forbidden. The mermaid with glistening skin, red dreadlocks and imposing pastel rainbow-colored tail fin clearly has nonsense on her mind, because humans are evil, destroy the sea and even have Arielle's mother on their conscience. But the warnings of the rather meek patriarch can't stop Arielle's fascination: behind her innocent look of wonder lies a healthy stubbornness.
How does one deal with a story that is ultimately about a woman giving up even her own voice in order to be close to the one she loves? It was only a matter of time before Disney extended its lucrative business of live-action adaptations of older animated films to Arielle. The film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale in 1989 had proved to be a real goldmine for the entertainment company. In the new "Arielle, die Meerjungfrau," a number of adjustments have now been made in the direction of the present - the biggest of which is probably the casting of 23-year-old African-American actress and musical performer Halle Bailey as Arielle.
Racist shitstorm
In the meantime, there have been 20 live action remakes, and Disney's casting decisions have already upset a generation that grew up with the cartoon heroes and that the company explicitly wants to appeal to as a target audience. In "The Lion King," for example, people mocked the lack of a black mane on the evil Scar, and in "Aladdin," Will Smith's portrayal of the Genie was too blue for many.
But none of this compares when the "beautiful white world" seems endangered: with Bailey's announcement, a vehement shitstorm started, under the hashtags "#notmyarielle" and "#makeariellewhiteagain" white users even felt obliged to argue "scientifically" that the lack of sunlight in the sea would make it quite impossible for Arielle to have darker skin. Mind you, this is a fantasy figure with a fish tail, whose best friends are a talking fish and a crab with a now Jamaican accent.
The Disney group, on the other hand, which in recent years had increasingly pointed in the direction of diversity, relied on appeasement instead of positioning. Musical director Bob Marshall ("Chicago") told the U.S. magazine "Variety" that the only decisive factor was Bailey's rare combination of "spirit, heart, youth, innocence and substance," coupled with a "wonderful singing voice.
The Disney group, on the other hand, which in recent years had increasingly pointed in the direction of diversity, relied on appeasement instead of positioning. Musical director Bob Marshall ("Chicago") told the U.S. magazine "Variety" that the only decisive factor was Bailey's rare combination of "spirit, heart, youth, innocence and substance," coupled with a "wonderful singing voice.
Colorful togetherness
Dark, by the way, means really dark in the film, so that after the trailer was released, the BBC asked why Arielle was so poorly lit - similar, by the way, to what happened previously with "Peter Pan & Wendy". The answer provided: because technology can now do that - and Disney is letting it be known with the "naturalistic lighting situation" that they are telling "a serious and mature story," even if it is about a singing crab, according to the BCC. But things are not always quite serious and dark - and friends of the fantastically colorful underwater world also get their money's worth. The song "Unten im Meer" ("Down in the Sea"), in which Arielle rides on an animated giant squid and lets herself fall into a huge swarm of cloud-soft jellyfish as if into a four-poster bed, is definitely one of the nostalgia-inducing highlights.
Although Disney couldn't bring itself to explicitly acknowledge the black identification figure, the entire film unmistakably conveys the message of an equally represented togetherness: Arielle's sisters, the seven daughters of Triton, come from seven different parts of the world according to name and appearance. On land, on the other hand, a black queen reigns; analogous to the hit series "Bridgerton," the people were cast as "colorblind.
There is still the matter of the voice: With a mermaid, who is both wide-eyed naive and spirited, Disney tries to turn the emancipatory tide. Arielle steers the prince's carriage at a wild gallop and confidently leads the way instead of hanging on Eric's coat-tails. The future lovers seem to get along well at all and are given some space in the diffusely liberal courtly society. Through the muteness, however, there is little to shake the basic dynamic. Even the "updated" Eric finds his happy listening audience and is allowed to please himself when he explains his cosmopolitanism to Arielle.
Wit with nice companion animals
The nice family entertainment, which Arielle has become one way or another, focuses on a message for the parents' generation, namely not to bend the children to one's own ideas. Last but not least, Arielle's likeable companion animals provide the proven Disney wit.
Sebastian the crab's feet clack nicely when he crawls over the stones, and the clever seagull Scuttle throws herself into the mix as Arielle's supporter. Only Arielle's fish friend Fabius remains a bit pale, analogous to the new look: There was a lot of trouble on the Internet because Fabius' bright yellow chubby cheeks were exchanged for a stinkin' normal fish stature.
Casting debates for "Lilo and Stitch
By the way, the next Disney casting discussion is already underway: In the planned live-action adaptation of "Lilo & Stitch," the choice of actress Sydney Agudong as Lilo's sister Nani caused trouble. Agudong is of Hawaiian descent, but much lighter-skinned than in the original film.
In any case, what some dismiss as "woke hair-splitting" has much better arguments than the racist agitation. Besides the long, inglorious history of "whitewashing," that is, casting ethnically diverse roles with white people, the marker "skin color" actually plays a role here, as the Hawaiian family in the original film faces racism on the job and from authorities. And there is always a need for more heroines of color: proof of this is not least the YouTube videos of little black girls who can hardly believe it when they see Bailey's Arielle wagging her tail for the first time: "She looks just like me!"
Paula Pfoser (text, design), ORF Topos, Sarah Goldschmidt (editing)
S | A
Paula Pfoser
A mermaid played by an actress of color - that caused a stir on the web last year. The live-action adaptation of the Disney classic turned out to be a nice family adventure in the spirit of diversity. The somewhat dusty story tries to be balanced with an empowered title heroine. And a prince who is also allowed to show emotions himself.
"Why do you have to be so strong-willed?" asks King Triton (Javier Bardem), merman with a ruffled beard, of his daughter Arielle when he catches her swimming to the surface of the sea, which is forbidden. The mermaid with glistening skin, red dreadlocks and imposing pastel rainbow-colored tail fin clearly has nonsense on her mind, because humans are evil, destroy the sea and even have Arielle's mother on their conscience. But the warnings of the rather meek patriarch can't stop Arielle's fascination: behind her innocent look of wonder lies a healthy stubbornness.
How does one deal with a story that is ultimately about a woman giving up even her own voice in order to be close to the one she loves? It was only a matter of time before Disney extended its lucrative business of live-action adaptations of older animated films to Arielle. The film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale in 1989 had proved to be a real goldmine for the entertainment company. In the new "Arielle, die Meerjungfrau," a number of adjustments have now been made in the direction of the present - the biggest of which is probably the casting of 23-year-old African-American actress and musical performer Halle Bailey as Arielle.
Racist shitstorm
In the meantime, there have been 20 live action remakes, and Disney's casting decisions have already upset a generation that grew up with the cartoon heroes and that the company explicitly wants to appeal to as a target audience. In "The Lion King," for example, people mocked the lack of a black mane on the evil Scar, and in "Aladdin," Will Smith's portrayal of the Genie was too blue for many.
But none of this compares when the "beautiful white world" seems endangered: with Bailey's announcement, a vehement shitstorm started, under the hashtags "#notmyarielle" and "#makeariellewhiteagain" white users even felt obliged to argue "scientifically" that the lack of sunlight in the sea would make it quite impossible for Arielle to have darker skin. Mind you, this is a fantasy figure with a fish tail, whose best friends are a talking fish and a crab with a now Jamaican accent.
The Disney group, on the other hand, which in recent years had increasingly pointed in the direction of diversity, relied on appeasement instead of positioning. Musical director Bob Marshall ("Chicago") told the U.S. magazine "Variety" that the only decisive factor was Bailey's rare combination of "spirit, heart, youth, innocence and substance," coupled with a "wonderful singing voice.
The Disney group, on the other hand, which in recent years had increasingly pointed in the direction of diversity, relied on appeasement instead of positioning. Musical director Bob Marshall ("Chicago") told the U.S. magazine "Variety" that the only decisive factor was Bailey's rare combination of "spirit, heart, youth, innocence and substance," coupled with a "wonderful singing voice.
Colorful togetherness
Dark, by the way, means really dark in the film, so that after the trailer was released, the BBC asked why Arielle was so poorly lit - similar, by the way, to what happened previously with "Peter Pan & Wendy". The answer provided: because technology can now do that - and Disney is letting it be known with the "naturalistic lighting situation" that they are telling "a serious and mature story," even if it is about a singing crab, according to the BCC. But things are not always quite serious and dark - and friends of the fantastically colorful underwater world also get their money's worth. The song "Unten im Meer" ("Down in the Sea"), in which Arielle rides on an animated giant squid and lets herself fall into a huge swarm of cloud-soft jellyfish as if into a four-poster bed, is definitely one of the nostalgia-inducing highlights.
Although Disney couldn't bring itself to explicitly acknowledge the black identification figure, the entire film unmistakably conveys the message of an equally represented togetherness: Arielle's sisters, the seven daughters of Triton, come from seven different parts of the world according to name and appearance. On land, on the other hand, a black queen reigns; analogous to the hit series "Bridgerton," the people were cast as "colorblind.
There is still the matter of the voice: With a mermaid, who is both wide-eyed naive and spirited, Disney tries to turn the emancipatory tide. Arielle steers the prince's carriage at a wild gallop and confidently leads the way instead of hanging on Eric's coat-tails. The future lovers seem to get along well at all and are given some space in the diffusely liberal courtly society. Through the muteness, however, there is little to shake the basic dynamic. Even the "updated" Eric finds his happy listening audience and is allowed to please himself when he explains his cosmopolitanism to Arielle.
Wit with nice companion animals
The nice family entertainment, which Arielle has become one way or another, focuses on a message for the parents' generation, namely not to bend the children to one's own ideas. Last but not least, Arielle's likeable companion animals provide the proven Disney wit.
Sebastian the crab's feet clack nicely when he crawls over the stones, and the clever seagull Scuttle throws herself into the mix as Arielle's supporter. Only Arielle's fish friend Fabius remains a bit pale, analogous to the new look: There was a lot of trouble on the Internet because Fabius' bright yellow chubby cheeks were exchanged for a stinkin' normal fish stature.
Casting debates for "Lilo and Stitch
By the way, the next Disney casting discussion is already underway: In the planned live-action adaptation of "Lilo & Stitch," the choice of actress Sydney Agudong as Lilo's sister Nani caused trouble. Agudong is of Hawaiian descent, but much lighter-skinned than in the original film.
In any case, what some dismiss as "woke hair-splitting" has much better arguments than the racist agitation. Besides the long, inglorious history of "whitewashing," that is, casting ethnically diverse roles with white people, the marker "skin color" actually plays a role here, as the Hawaiian family in the original film faces racism on the job and from authorities. And there is always a need for more heroines of color: proof of this is not least the YouTube videos of little black girls who can hardly believe it when they see Bailey's Arielle wagging her tail for the first time: "She looks just like me!"
Paula Pfoser (text, design), ORF Topos, Sarah Goldschmidt (editing)
S | A
