It's time to let racially diverse casting be part of your world

Walt Disney Pictures has been coming under fire for the past three years, and it's recently been getting worse. When the studio announced in 2019 that they were creating a live-action remake of a Disney classic, “The Little Mermaid,” all was well until the announcement of the primary cast.

In 2019, director Rob Marshall announced that singer and actress Halle Bailey, one half of the Grammy-nominated R&B duo Chloe x Halle, would be playing Ariel. Almost immediately, criticism began to fly at Disney, Marshall and Bailey.

For the past three years, people have been criticizing the casting choices that have been made, calling for a complete recast of the movie’s primary roles. Then, the hatred seemed to fade for a little while. But after the recent release of the film’s first teaser trailer with the first official look at Bailey, all of the criticisms have returned — and they’re even more aggressive this time around.

Let’s take a look back at the history of the film, the hatred and criticism rooted in blatant racism and Disney's reaction to it all.

In 2019, the film was announced and casting began. People online were talking about who they thought should be cast, and excitement began to build. There was even a rumor going around online that Harry Styles would be playing Prince Eric, and fans went into a frenzy.

Eventually, it was announced that Bailey would be playing the famous mermaid, and the backlash immediately began. People were completely outraged that Bailey had been cast as Ariel — solely because she's Black.

I remember following the controversy as it was happening, and I was completely taken aback. Maybe I’m biased because I am an avid Chloe x Halle fan, but the hatred truly made no sense to me.

People online tried to argue that she wasn’t worthy of playing Ariel because she didn’t have fair skin, blue eyes and fluorescent red hair. To me, this argument is completely absurd because, at the end of the day, Ariel is a fictional mermaid who lives in the ocean.

As the hatred toward Bailey continued to grow more prevalent, multiple people came to Bailey’s defense.

Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel in the 1989 animated film, praised Bailey on her Instagram story after the most recent trailer was released. “Halle, you were absolutely amazing,” Benson wrote. “I'm SO proud of you and your beautiful performance as Ariel!”

If a golden stamp of approval from the original Ariel isn’t enough, I don’t know what is.

Multiple other people came forward to praise Bailey for her performance, defending her casting and supporting her in the role of Ariel.

I have personally kept up to date with the production of this film, and I have been nothing but impressed. Bailey is such a phenomenal talent and her aura, personality and voice ooze with the talent to play such an iconic and beautiful role. I have felt that her casting was more than deserved since the day it was announced.

The other aspect of this controversy that has bothered me immensely is the fact that Bailey is the only woman so far to experience this level of hatred for being cast in a Disney classic remake.

For example, Disney’s past live-action remakes have never faced backlash like this, at least for their casting decisions.

Disney’s 2017 live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” faced backlash from audiences, but it was in relation to Josh Gad’s character LeFou being gay. Backlash surrounding LGBTQ+ characters is also extremely absurd to me as it has absolutely no effect on the plot of the film.

When it came to the casting of Emma Watson as Belle in the remake, Watson did not face any backlash for her casting, although it is a singing-heavy role, and Watson is not a singer. Watson is known for being a phenomenal actress, and while I loved this live-action film, I was confused as to why she was cast when she is not known for being a singer.

People seemed to approve of Watson’s casting because she ‘looks like the cartoon’ but there are so many more qualifications to playing a character than just looking like them. Although Watson has never been a singer, no one seemed to bat an eye at her casting as the lead role in a musical movie.

Rachel Zegler, star of Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation of “West Side Story,” was recently cast as Snow White in the upcoming live-action remake of the classic Disney film, and she also received mixed reviews about her casting.

While many supported the casting decision, noting her cartoon-esque features, phenomenal acting skills and operatic voice, many were upset with the casting decision solely because she is of mixed Polish and Colombian descent.

It seems to be a running theme that people tend to hate on a casting decision solely due to the race or ethnicity of the actress casted. I personally find this to be absurd and repulsive as these women are being cast due to their talents and skills, not their skin color or ethnicity.

This seems to be a way for people to continue to put down and discredit women — and more often, people of color — from representing our favorite classic characters on the big screen.

Behaviors like these are so absurd to me. They're obviously rooted in blatant racism. I will never be able to comprehend why people don’t want there to be representation of different types of people on the big screen.

One amazing thing that has come out of Bailey’s casting as Ariel is the multitude of videos being posted to social media platforms such as TikTok, showing little Black girls realizing that the new Ariel is also Black. It's been so heartwarming and made both myself and hundreds of thousands of others genuinely excited to see these little girls' reactions to being represented in the movies they love.

At the end of the day, representation matters. Giving children the opportunity to experience a film they love while seeing a character that represents them is one of the greatest experiences for them to have. Allowing for greater representation and diversity creates a space for inclusion and equality for all, which is how the entertainment industry, and more generally the world, should be.