Geeks logo

Why the Live-Action ‘Mulan’ Needs to Distance Itself From ‘The Little Mermaid’ Controversy

#LeaveAsianPeopleAlone

By Jonathan SimPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
1

Today, the new teaser trailer was released for Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of their animated classic, Mulan. If you haven’t watched it yet, you can check it out right here.

Now, I haven’t been onboard with Disney’s never-ending slew of live-action remakes as they have already remade films such as Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Aladdin, and The Jungle Book, and their “live-action” remake of The Lion King is hitting theaters this month.

But I was pretty happy to see this live-action adaptation of Mulan, because as an Asian-American growing up in New York City, my entertainment has mainly been populated with white actors and actresses. I rarely ever see people who look like me in films (unless they’re nerds or kung fu masters).

But Mulan was pretty special to me. I loved how Mulan wasn’t your traditional Disney princess who needed to be saved by true love’s kiss. She was a badass warrior, who didn’t need to be saved by some handsome prince, and instead works with the male-populated Chinese army to rescue China from the Hun army.

Knowing that I’ll be able to watch Mulan onscreen in live-action, kicking ass, and taking names is something that I can’t wait to see.

However, the release of the teaser trailer came right off the heels of another announcement regarding a live-action Disney adaptation, which wasn’t received so well by fans.

Recently, it was announced that Disney had cast Halle Bailey, a black actress, to portray the role of Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

This announcement was really controversial, and has sparked debate all over social media, with some saying this is a perfect casting choice, because Bailey is beautiful and has a great singing voice, but others are accusing Disney of “blackwashing” the role.

Now, I’m not gonna weigh into that too much in this article, because I understand both sides of the argument. Today, I’m gonna write about how people seem to be taking out their anger over the casting choice on the live-action Mulan, and why it needs to stop.

As you can see above, people all over the internet are making snarky remarks such as, “If they made Ariel black, why aren’t they making Mulan black?” And this is simply an incredibly ignorant response to this trailer, and I genuinely believe people need to distance their anger over the Ariel casting from the Mulan trailer.

Because casting a black actress to play Mulan is INSANELY different from casting a black actress to play Ariel. If you don’t understand why, let me put it this way: BESIDES Mulan, who is your favorite Asian Disney princess?

Exactly. Mulan is the ONLY Disney princess of Asian descent, and Mulan is the character that young Asian girls would watch and be inspired by. Mulan provided Asians with the opportunity to truly identify with a strong female character in the form of family entertainment.

Now, besides Ariel, who’s your favorite white Disney princess? I mean, there’s Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, Merida, Rapunzel, and Snow White.

As you can see, white people have seen much more representation in Disney films than Asians have. In fact, let’s take “princess” out of the equation. List out all the Asian Disney characters you know, and then list out all the white Disney characters you know. There are way more white characters.

Now, I’m not saying that “blackwashing” is okay. I’m saying that it would have been much more unjustifiable to cast a non-Asian actress as Mulan, the Chinese warrior fighting in the Chinese army in the Chinese story, than to cast a non-white actress as Ariel.

Because the only major Asian Disney characters to exist up to this point are Mulan, Russell from Up, and Hiro from Big Hero 6. White people have many more characters of their descent, and we also have the fact that Ariel isn’t a “white girl.” She’s a mermaid.

Mermaids don’t have a “race,” whereas a person in ancient China during the Han dynasty is obviously going to be Asian. Now, if people are still upset that live-action Ariel will look different from her animated counterpart, I can understand that. I’m just saying that Asians should be left out of this discussion.

And I’ve never understood why people care so much about the race of the actress playing Ariel, of all characters. All Ariel did was fall in love with a man on first sight, save him, give up her voice to be with him, bat her eyelashes to woo him with her looks, and then doomed her entire world because she didn’t read the fine print of her contract, and then required men to save her.

She is not a strong female character, and there are much stronger white characters across so many Disney films for young white children to look up to.

Now, if you’re thinking that children CAN identify with characters that don’t share the same race (i.e. Asians identifying with Cinderella), then that just further shows how white children CAN look up to a black Ariel.

I want to wrap this up with my main argument: it’s fine to think Bailey’s casting was racist, and it’s fine to think that it’s not racist. Arguments can definitely be made for both, but I just don’t want the idea of casting a black actress as Ariel to be equated with casting a black actress as Mulan.

Asians have only been represented with the character of Mulan, and white people have been represented with far more than a dreamy mermaid. And if you don’t want to watch a black Ariel, then just don’t watch the movie.

Complaining about Bailey’s casting will get you nowhere. Disney will not recast the role. If you want to see a white Ariel, stick to the animated version. But this is how it is. And what’s done is done.

movie
1

About the Creator

Jonathan Sim

Film critic. Lover of Pixar, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Back to the Future, and Lord of the Rings.

For business inquiries: [email protected]

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.