Maybe She Should Be Green

I think she's supposed to be green.

At least according to the original Hans Christian Anderson tale The Little Mermaid is based on.

From a post by Branson Lester, found on the always accurate Facebook:

Friendly reminder that The Little Mermaid is based on a book by Hans Christian Anderson published in 1837 where "Ariel" has her tongue ripped out in exchange for feet (feet that bleed the entire time she's on land, btw). She comes on land to try to win the prince's love to steal part of his soul (mermaids apparently don't have souls, but live for 300 years, so I guess you win some, ya lose some). She fails, and the prince marries someone else. She contemplates murdering him in his bed, but can't bring herself to do it, so she dies/melts into seafoam.

By the way, her skin is green.

Fairy tales often start out as culturally specific but then are adapted to other cultures as well.  There are hundreds of versions of Santa, with different versions and traditions for different countries and ethnic groups.

The core of our great stories that live on from generation to generation never stays static in their telling.  They're always adapted to appeal to a new group or generation.

We recently saw a couple of plays in Stratford, Ontario, which is the largest Shakespearean theatre in North America.  We saw one play, set in the 1550s, concerning the reign of Queen Mary I of England, where the language was modern, including references to Jell-O.  We also saw the Shakespeare play, Othello, where the language was the same, but the dress was modern.  There was also a play being performed, Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, that was set at a beauty shop in Queens.

Great stories are always revised and updated to connect to new audiences.  Disney's cartoon of  The Little Mermaid was not as brutal as the original story.  Ariel was silenced, but not by ripping out her tongue.

Disney has been big for decades, but it has only been recently that it has discovered the true power of the international market.  Appealing only to little girls of European descent is no longer a sufficient marketing model for the type of audience their expensive productions need.  It is in their interest to diversify and appeal to people around the world.  That means a much richer set of role models and cast.  And I think that is a good thing.

Disney is mega-corporation with a lot of flaws (as is true of virtually all megacorporations).  But I don't think casting from a more diverse pool is one of them.  I don't know the acting abilities of the person they have chosen, but from what I have seen, she more than fits the part.

I probably should add that I have not seen any of the Disney "live action" animation remakes, and none are high on my list to see.  I wish Disney would spend more energy making new animations, bringing in fresh, new stories.

Nevertheless, whether my cup of tea or not, remakes and reimaginings are what keep the great stories alive.

Of course, if they really want to be accurate as to what a mermaid (or merman) might look like, they may want to consider the fellow I have a picture of below.  Slap a coconut bra on it, and fuse the legs, and waalaa, instant mermaid!