The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey has just revealed how much of an emotional impact witnessing her young fans' reaction to the brand-new teaser trailer has had on her, leaving her feeling eternally grateful to be their chosen princess. Rob Marshall's The Little Mermaid has actually been underway since 2016, when the upcoming project made it into development.
Although The Little Mermaid isn’t supposed to be released until May 2023, Disney did drop the first official teaser trailer for the musical remake at this year’s D23 Expo. Even though it has only been available to the public for less than a week, the video has already received over 104 million views globally as of this writing.
The new The Little Mermaid teaser revealed a sneak peek of Bailey's rendition of the famous “Part of Your World.” Soon after the trailer dropped, fans across the globe were eager to share their first reactions, which in turn made Bailey emotional as well, finding herself crying along with them. One fan reaction in particular caught Bailey's attention and tugged at her heartstrings relentlessly, quickly making it become viral. A mother had recorded her young daughter being brought to tears after seeing Bailey's Ariel on screen in front of her. Bailey shared her reaction to Twitter and claimed she sobbed immediately after watching the fan reaction as well.
As soon as Bailey was confirmed to be playing the role of Ariel, she was met with a mixed bag of ridiculous criticism and hate as well as an outpour of love from others. Bailey happens to be Disney's first ever Black princess, meaning that a lot of racist have come forward claiming that she shouldn’t have received the role because she doesn’t ‘look like the original animated version of Ariel, in other words, a white girl with red hair. However, despite the hate mongering comments trolling her, she has without a doubt also experienced an overwhelming amount of emotional outpour from her younger fans. Bailey seems to be focusing all of her attention on the love, knowing intuitively that she finds herself in a super rare, special position - a role model that so many little girls around the world have never had the miracle of witnessing prior.
If anything, the fan reactions have further proved just how much representation matters and always will. The fact that young Black girls everywhere are just now seeing themselves reflected as a princess, while young white girls have become accustomed to always seeing themselves on screen, makes it clear just how much Disney is behind when it comes to matters of representation. Although it's incredibly exciting and relieving to see Disney finally taking a big first step and making Bailey their first ever live-action Black princess, this should have been done decades ago. Regardless, thanks to Bailey's Ariel, little Black girls and their daughter's daughters will finally be given the representation they deserve.
The Little Mermaid is scheduled to be released in theaters on May 26, 2023.
Source: Halle Bailey/Twitter