A few days ago, Disney released the first teaser for “The Little Mermaid”, a live-action remake of the classic fairy tale that premiered in 1989. This time, the protagonist of the film will be the African-American actress Halle Bailey. As expected, the networks have been filled with waves of all kinds of reactions, and they are increasing. However, the debate -with a strong racist connotation- has recently been directed towards “Princess and the Frog”.
“The princess and the frog” marked a great moment for the fans because it introduced Tiana, an Afro princess who lives in Louisiana. Based on this, we have thousands of comments that try to justify the attacks on “The little Mermaid” with the question: what if Tiana was white?
A reason with history as an answer
Let’s remember that Arielin the animated film Disney, is a young redhead and white. With this in mind, as explained by the influencer Afro-powerful, her skin and hair color is not relevant to the story. In fact, Prince Erick falls in love with Triton’s daughter because of her melodious voice (a talent that Bailey has shown in the preview).
In that sense, if the mermaid princess had been black or of another ethnicity from the beginning, the plot would not have been affected at all. In contrast, this could not be applied in the case of “Princess and the Frog”.
“Her (Tiana’s) skin color is a must for this movie, because it is the struggle of an entire ethnic group. It can’t be any other color,” says Afropoderosa.
Also, we must bear in mind that the story of “The princess and the frog” is inspired by the real life of Leah Chase, a woman of African descent born in Louisiana. She dreamed of being a famous cook, and she did so after overcoming various obstacles in a racist and macho society.
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