Earlier last week Disney announced that Ariel would be played by Halle Berry in their live-action remake of the fairy tale classic, The Little Mermaid. Originally the character was based on Hans Anderson's story so the Disney princess was portrayed as a caucasian mermaid with fire-red hair. Since it's 2019, Disney decided to switch things up a bit and diversify the character.
Disney announcement Disney twitter account
The majority of people on Twitter were as freaking jazzed about this as I am about another Disney princess of color (especially a mermaid), rejoicing in more representation. A lot of fans were so excited, they made incredible art pieces representing the new and improved Disney princess.
Ariel art 1Denzel on Twitter
Ariel art 2https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackAriel?src=hash
black Ariel arthttps://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackAriel?src=hash
While other fans were TRIGGERED. Some bitter fans of the OG animated movie hated the idea of a black woman playing the new role. It brought out a lot of "I'm not racist, but..." fans using the #notmyariel hashtag.
Opinions pt 2tuanrunrun on Twitter
notmyariel@woo_ahhh on Twitter
And, as some people have pointed out, the animated character wasn't 100% realistic, to begin with.
RealityAnjaal Tweet
Moreover, as one user pointed out, Hans Christian Anderson wrote a grossly horrific nightmare of a mermaid to drown his gay sorrows out.
Little Mermaid honestyAbby Elizabeth Beck on Facebook
As my friends pointed out she a mythical creature in a made-up kingdom, who gives a rat's ass if she's dark-skinned?
The most important thing to remember is that Netflix already had a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid with a light-skinned lead and it sucked.
Other movie@xlJaylx on Twitter
At least there's always memes... and Jason Mamoa.
Thread@itsthattbitch on Twitter
Jason Mamoa Memehttps://twitter.com/search?q=not%20my%20ariel&src=tyah