“Arielle”: This is how children react to Halle Berry as a mermaid

Remake of “Arielle”
“She’s like me”: How black children react to Halle Berry as a mermaid

In 1989, Disney created an immortal fairy tale classic with “The Little Mermaid”. The cartoon based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story was so successful at the time that the company brought it back to the cinemas in 1997.

Now Walt Disney Studios is preparing to film the material again – this time with real people. Oscar winner Halle Berry is set to star. Since, in contrast to the cartoon character, she has a darker complexion, the project aroused violent reactions in advance. Racists in particular did not want to accept that the sea creature should now look different than in the cartoon, where Arielle had fiery red hair and fair skin.

“Arielle”: Children see the trailer

A few days ago, Disney released the first trailer – triggering a lot of emotions. This time, however, mainly in a positive way. Countless videos are circulating on the social network TikTok in which parents can be seen showing the trailer to their black children and filming their reactions. A girl then throws herself on the carpet and cheers: “She is brown like me!”

In other short films, too, children express joy about this new Ariel. “She’s black?” asks a girl, as if she can’t believe what she’s seeing, and cheers loudly “Yay!”.

A user by the name of Lai posted a selection of these TikTok videos on Twitter. They form a counterpoint to the racist postings that have come together under the hashtag #AriellsNotBlack. They show how important it is for black children that one of their childhood heroes has the same skin color as them. “Halle Berry you are about to impact the lives of so many little black children,” Lai wrote on Twitter. “I hope you know how inspiring and amazing you are. God bless you!”

Source used: Twitter