There's been a ton of Disney live-action remakes in recent years and it's only the beginning. I've only seen one so far, the remake of Aladdin, and I appreciated how it changed a few things from the original version, such as making Princess Jasmine have more autonomy over her choices for herself and her kingdom, and modifying the lyrics to the original version of "Arabian Nights." Yet, it still was very true to the story and quite enjoyable to watch. Other Disney remakes haven't had as much charm so I've heard (Beauty and the Beast fell a bit short for example). But another aspect that Disney is trying to integrate into its remakes is more diversity and inclusivity. A lot of live-action remakes have suffered from the issue of white-washing characters who aren't white in their original versions. This has been the main issue I've had with live action anime remakes. Ghost in the Shell starred Scarlet Johanson when the lead is Japanese and Death Note also had a dramatically different racial cast than the Japanese original.

We're in a better time now where the demographics of producers, writers, and directors are changing, thus making the stories of people of color more visible and less difficult to access. This is also extended to the casting of said stories, remakes included. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the most recent live-action remake news, that Halle Bailey from the singing duo ChloexHalle is going to be the star of the new Little Mermaid. And I can honestly see it. Not only is Bailey's character on the Black-ish spinoff "Grown-ish" my absolute favorite with her sassy one-liners and common sense, but her voice is phenomenal and I think it's time for the younger Bailey sister to spread her horizons, come into her own and this lead role is the perfect opportunity for her.

Most of the feedback I've heard was positive, then again with the kind of people and pages I follow and social media I see on my feed, that was to be expected. Searching the news on google and looking through the unfiltered search results as I scrolled down, I saw some rather irritated and displeased reactions to the casting. Some claimed it was another attempt of the "Social Justice agenda to insert diversity into everything it can." And honestly, is this a bad thing? Like can you blame us after decades of seeing only white faces on screen, that we would want to see ourselves? There has only been ONE black princess in the entire Disney pantheon of princesses, and she was great and I'm happy she got her own film, but her creation was centered on Disney finally listening to a good percentage of its consumers and realizing "oh wait there really isn't a dark-skinned princess," in all the years Disney has existed. Then, it was 2009 and we had the country's first black president, so a black princess was to be expected and long overdue. Now, 10 years later, we're still on the same number... one. I would have liked to see more, but I appreciate how Disney is doing things to bring at least a wider range of people and backgrounds into its content. Halle Bailey not only deserves to be Ariel because she happens to be a black girl who fits the role, but she has talent, soooo much underrated talent and has worked hard to get to where she is with her sister. Her being black is not the only qualification BUT we can't ignore that we are finally going to get another black princess on screen.

Many people opposed to the casting probably feel like this is a completely different Ariel. The 1989 film portrays her as a porcelain white, red-haired, very slim, girl like a younger Jessica Rabbit being honest. At the time, there was nothing wrong with her being like this; it was to be expected in the 1980s, when the amount of diversity in the live-action Hollywood wasn't that high let alone in animation. There really wasn't much thought to even allow anyone who wasn't white to be the lead in an animated film. But today, since we know better we do better. Ariel never really is limited to the way she was portrayed in the original film. The reason she was white in the film is because those in positions of power at the time never thought she could be any other race or ethnicity. She was a reflection of the beauty standard at the time: slim, white and long-haired, hence, a princess. But the standards of beauty have changed. It's no longer monolithic and one-dimensional. Beauty is in diversity and that is what this casting has proven.

As Halle said on her Instagram post announcement of the news, it is "a dream come true." Again, I believe she got the role not only because she is black but because she clearly has the talent to play Ariel. It's just even better that she is black and now little black and brown girls and boys can see someone on screen who is shown as royal, dark and beautiful.