There was also the first reveal of the trailer for the live action version of the 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid.
I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about the reactions that people have had to the casting of Halle Bailey in the title role. This trailer got 1.5 million dislikes in it’s first two days and people have been pretty vocal online. For me the big movies that year were Road House, Twister, Say Anything, and Major League. I wasn’t watching a cartoon about a mermaid so I have no deep feelings about the character of Ariel and what she should look like.
Also released in 1989 was a movie who’s title character I do feel very strongly about – Batman. It was a pre-Internet age but the outrage of many about the casting of Michael Keaton was something that is still one of the first things that gets mentioned when discussing the film. I was just excited to see one of my favorite super heroes in a big budget Hollywood movie and all these years later I still feel that way, whether it’s Ben Affleck’s older, angrier Dark Knight or Robert Pattinson’s young detective. If a few years from now there was another reboot with Michael B Jordon or Idris Elba you can just take my money now. I’ll be there.
More than likely we will skip this Little Mermaid movie though. We were in the theaters for The Beauty and The Beast and both really liked the live action Mulan but I have no interest in this and I’m honestly not sure whether or not my daughter has actually seen the original. I remember her liking the Barbie mermaid movies when she was younger but I think she’s going to be content waiting for Aquaman 2.
I also have other problems with The Little Mermaid, no matter what she looks like. It’s yet another movie where the daughter refuses to listen to her father and gets in all kinds of trouble because of it. Instead of a reasonable excuse like Merida fleeing an arranged marriage or Moana running off to save the word Ariel…..has a crush. Not just any crush, she has a crush on a human, the people that pollute her home and eat a lot of crabs and flounder, her two best friends. She then makes a terrible deal with a sea witch with the intention of completely changing who she is to win over the boy. Luckily for everyone he does, even though she can’t talk and he knows nothing about who she really is.
I’m aware that’s a lot of over analyzing of an animated film marketed to young girls but that’s also a lot of bad messages to be giving those girls. Like a lot of older Disney cartoons it just doesn’t hold up all that well and I’m glad they’ve moved away from contrived romance fantasies in recent years.
I get it, this mermaid doesn’t look like the one that you grew up with. Her dad is being played by Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Ursula is being played by Mellissa McCarthy. Maybe they will change her appearance for the film but last I knew she wasn’t purple. I don’t think the crab and flounder are played by an actual crab or flounder. All of these live action re-makes are making tons of money by capitalizing on the nostalgia for the originals and trying to expand the audience beyond just young kids but they are still being made as entertainment for young kids.
You know who isn’t going to give a shit about what color Ariel is?
Young kids.
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Previously Published on thirstydaddy.com and is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: Flickr
