The Little Mermaid and 14 Other Movies That Changed Source Material
The usual suspects were deeply traumatized by the latest Disney movie trailer (as if we had nothing else to worry about). In the upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid , a black woman, Halle Bailey, will play Ariel, who was white in the cartoon (it took Disney another two decades to create the Black Princess). These purists are apparently upset that the titular sea creature is portrayed as a beautiful young woman with a magnificent singing voice rather than a terrifying siren deeply intent on luring sailors to their doom. (It must be because there is no reason to be angry at the race of a fairy tale character whose skin color is irrelevant to the plot .)
It’s hard to judge from the trailer alone, but the remake at least looks good. The studio string of live-action remakes has been a mixed bag, but hope remains that one of them could be a masterpiece on par with the original, even though it alters elements of the original that feel dated. It’s probably going too far at this point to imagine that the remastered The Little Mermaid will improve on the original, but anyone who’s watched those viral videos of young black girls reacting to the trailer can tell you that this version already has Halle Bailey to recommend her.
And The Little Mermaid is unlikely to be the first movie or TV show to deviate and/or make improvements to its respective source material. This doesn’t mean you should throw away your copy of the original books or DVDs – there are just elements that work better a second (or third) time.