The touching responses came after a slew of backlash directed at Bailey and Disney for casting a Black lead.
Parents of young Black girls are posting videos of their thrilled children reacting to the trailer for Disney’s coming live-action “Little Mermaid,” which stars Halle Bailey as Ariel.
“Mommy!” a little girl says in a video posted by TikTok user nickyknackpaddywack. “She’s brown like me!”
Her video is among the many being shared across TikTok and Twitter, with parents using hashtags like #representationmatters to help demonstrate the importance of diverse casting in children’s media.
Disney debuted a teaser trailer of the film at D23 over the weekend. The trailer has amassed almost 11 million views on YouTube.
But its release reignited racist backlash online, which first surfaced in 2019 following news of Bailey’s casting, from some people who said they think Disney is “too woke” for making the film’s title character Black.
In the original animated film, released in 1989, Ariel, a fictional mermaid, is depicted as a white, red-haired woman.
In one of the reaction videos, posted by TikTok user Precious Avery, a toddler named Emery lounges on the couch but sits up when she Bailey appears on screen.
“I think she’s brown!” a beaming Emery says in the video. “Brown Ariel is cute.”
TikTok user callmedarii posted a similar video of her daughters’ delighted reactions to seeing Ariel.
“That’s why representation matters! We can’t wait to watch this,” she captioned the video.
“Is Ariel actually Black?” a young girl says in a video posted by TikTok user jendayis682.
“In this ‘Little Mermaid’ she will be,” the person recording the video responds.
You guys! It’s finally time! After three long years (not to mention the thirty years before that) It’s finally time to see Ariel in all her “live-action” digitized glory. Will she look good? Will the movie look good? Will Halle Bailey ABSOLUTELY DEMOLISH IT? Will our blood feud with Rob Marshall extend
