Disney's Little Mermaid Trailer Has Little Black Girls Excited For Black ArielReporting To YouSign In

Parents Are Filming Their Black Daughters Excitedly Reacting To The Little Mermaid Trailer And Realizing Halle Bailey Is Ariel

"When your favorite Disney princess looks like you."By by Ikran DahirBuzzFeed News Reporter and by Anna BettsBuzzFeed News ReporterUpdated on September 12, 2022, 11:04 pmPosted on September 12, 2022, 8:31 pmTwitterFacebookLink Disney / Via youtube.com Parents have been capturing joyous footage of their young Black daughters watching the new trailer of The Little Mermaid and excitedly seeing Halle Bailey emerge as the first Black Ariel. Over the weekend, Disney held its biennial expo where it revealed what is coming next to their die-hard fans and showed a teaser of the much-anticipated live-action Little Mermaid movie.

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youtube.com The first look of the film includes Ariel played by Bailey, who is known for being one half of the popular musical duo Chloe x Halle, singing “Part of Your World.” A video from inside the expo, which has since been deleted, showed the crowd cheering when the preview finished playing. At the event, Bailey revealed that it took three days to film that song alone. The snippet wasn’t just well received at the event, but people also loved it online. Social media posts and videos show how it especially struck a chord with young Black girls who finally saw themselves represented as one of the all-time classic Disney princesses. Lai @normanination4 As I stroll on TikTok, I keep seeing parents video their children reacting to The Little Mermaid trailer. So instead of focusing so much on the negative, I thought I’d show a thread of the little black kids who are excited to see their favorite princess look like them. 10:31 PM - 11 Sep 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @normanination4 One video posted on TikTok, captioned “when your favorite Disney princess looks like you,” shows a little 3-year-old girl sitting up once she sees Ariel onscreen. @preciousavery I love this for my 3 years old ? #littlemermaid #toddlersoftiktok #hallebailey #girlpower original sound - Precious Avery “I think she’s brown,” she says in the video, her face beaming. “Brown Ariel is cute.” Another video of two sisters, one wearing a dress featuring Tiana (Disney’s first Black princess, from the 2009 film The Princess and the Frog), shows their mouths drop open with shocked smiles when they notice Bailey. @callmedarii That’s why representation matters! We can’t wait to watch this #fyp #littlemermaid #disney original sound - Dari Bailey tweeted another one of the videos, where the little girl is seen grinning and asking, "That is Ariel?" Halle @HalleBailey k i just sobbed watching this thanks she’s so sweet ? https://t.co/jKKdHkOvDe 08:30 PM - 11 Sep 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @HalleBailey In one video, three sisters, Ke'iona, Lai'anna, and Ea'iona Shanks, who are 7, 6, and 2 can be seen watching the trailer with excitement. “She’s Black? Yay!” Ke'iona says joyfully. "I saw the trailer drop the night before," Sterling Shanks, the father of the three girls, told BuzzFeed News. "I just knew that they would be super excited about it." "I think representation matters," he added. "There's a quote I wrote on my phone when I watched Viola Davis on TV one time, and she said that representation is important because you need to see physical manifestations of your dreams. If you don't see it, it's harder to think it's realized." Since watching the trailer, Shanks said that the girls have not stopped talking about their excitement for the film. "Hours after the video, we were driving, and Lai'anna said, 'Even her hair looked like us. Did you see she had braids?'" he said. "And that night, they were pretending to be mermaids." @thedfwdad Never thought a movie trailer could make me cry but then I saw @halle and knew how it would make my kids feel. Thanks @disney for making my kids feel seen. Can’t wait to be at Disney World in 12 days! #disney #interacialadoption #representationmatters #littlemermaid #thelittlemermaidtrailer #partofyourworld #blackgirlmagic #girldad #d23 #disneyadult The Little Mermaid (Marimba Remix) - Harry Goes Boom! "Mama, she's Black," another girl screams excitedly while her mother films. @workingmama My daughter’s reaction to the little mermaid trailer. #littlemermaidtrailer #representationmatters original sound - Workingmama The casting of Bailey, first announced back in 2019, came with a lot of racist backlash as people claimed that the fictitious mermaid was white. Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the original 1989 animated film, has consistently shown her support for Bailey ever since she was announced. Although there was plenty of praise for the trailer, there were some people claiming that Bailey didn’t look like she was underwater. Heat (1994) 4K Enjoyer @firagawalkwthme Bothers me how this doesn’t look underwater at all 02:20 AM - 10 Sep 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @firagawalkwthme Which other people saw as another unfair complaint against Bailey in the role. Carla Rene #BLM @ItsCarlaRene @firagawalkwthme Same scene, dark background, floating hair, glistening face. No bubbles or spongebobs floating around in the back. What's the problem? 04:00 PM - 11 Sep 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @ItsCarlaRene So people turned it into a meme. hugeasmammoth.films @hugeasmammoth_ fixed it https://t.co/IydOMY3zSC 02:29 AM - 12 Sep 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @hugeasmammoth_ nævis @naevis_caIling Is this realistic enough? https://t.co/uGmyewYjPC 08:26 PM - 11 Sep 2022 Reply Retweet Favorite Twitter: @naevis_caIling The Little Mermaid will be released in theaters in the US on May 26, 2023.

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Internet CulturePop cultureviral moments Ikran DahirBuzzFeed News Reporter Ikran Dahir is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in London. Contact Ikran Dahir at [email protected]. Got a confidential tip? Submit it here Anna BettsBuzzFeed News Reporter Anna Betts is a reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York. Contact Anna Betts at [email protected].