A live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, was announced in 2019 and released in 2023. The announcement and the main casting for the movie sparked the entire internet’s interest and started a debate on Hollywood’s recent investment in taking originally white characters and making them into a person of color for an adaption. Two different perspectives in this argument can be seen through the articles, “‘I Don’t Want a Black Ariel.’ — Why We Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Race Switching” from Medium and “The white nostalgia fueling the ‘Little Mermaid’ backlash” from the Washington Post.

“‘I Don’t Want a Black Ariel.’ — Why We Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Race Switching” from Medium written by The Final Cutback is an op-ed writing piece that argues Ariel should not have been race-swapped for the live action as it tries to give half-baked representation to black people instead of creating actual characters of color who can properly represent their background like Miles Morales as Spiderman. To add on, he also expresses that if they did not intend to create new characters they can still focus on black characters that already exist instead of turning a well-known and loved white character black. For example, instead of making Superman black the studio can focus and expand on the stories of Calvin Ellis or John Henry Irons who have always been black supermans. 

On the other hand, “The white nostalgia fueling the ‘Little Mermaid’ backlash” from the Washington Post written by Brooke Newman offers a slightly different perspective. This op-ed article claims that Ariel’s race being swapped should not be a big deal as representation is important in films especially for little kids. For decades, Disney has made most of their princesses white and provided representation for white kids while ignoring the kids of color who never saw themselves be represented. Nowadays, times have changed and representation in media for kids of color should be looked upon fondly as its reaching a new demographic and the original animated Ariel didn’t go anywhere. Newman also touches on how many (white) people are clouded by their nostalgia and can’t seem to accept the changing landscape of both film and America in terms of diversity.

Both Newman and The Final Cutback, who also goes by Peekay, are in support of more representation and diversity but are talking to different audiences from different lenses. Peekay is a possible British black man who has experienced first hand how Hollywood uses representation and diversity to fulfill their own agendas of greed instead of putting meaningful stories out there. The audience he’s trying to address are other black people who are excited for Ariel being black or don’t see the big deal with it. He’s also addressing Hollywood executives and directors who are trying to make some quick money by making a movie with half-baked diversity instead of giving original authentic stories that actually speak to black or people of color. In his article Peekay also uses Ethos and Logos to make himself more credible. He brings up other series that did representation right on a beloved character and how Hollywood is just using diversity to sell unoriginal tales. 

On the other side, Professor Brooke Newman is a white woman who has heavily researched slavery and the abolition movement and speaks about it with great interest. She writes for the Washington Post which is left-leaning and you can see it in her writing. Her article is essentially a response towards the #NotMyAriel movement that happened on twitter where a lot of people, including a lot of racists, called for Disney to change the actress for Ariel or shared their frustration about her casting. Her article is aimed at both those twitter users and other people who dislike Halle Bailey’s casting and is trying to make them see that this is good for the children of today. Her article primarily relies on Logos as she brings up logical reasonings for why it’s important for representation to be present for kids in this generation. Newman also provides counterarguments to prove her point like, “By revising the ending of the Little Mermaid and transforming it into a happily-ever-after princess tale, did Disney’s retelling fail to respect Andersen’s original story and its main character?”. This makes people question whether they do have a bias towards the live action and if their frustration really is unneeded. Both of these authors use many different strategies to get their point across.