Talk:The Little Mermaid (live-action film)/@comment-38350502-20190706213403/@comment-1672596-20190707121015

@GrandWebster: Fully agreed with you, on all fronts. If they REALLY needed to make a black character, they should have just created one from scratch, not change a pre-established character's ethnicity as a clear attempt at pandering and tokenism. Halle Bailey was better off playing Tiana. Heck, changing Ariel's race makes even LESS sense since logically, due to spending a lot of time underwater, she can't even get enough sun to tan (and if Scuttle being changed into a diving bird is of any indication, she's most likely going to surface even LESS than in the original). And quite frankly, knowing how Lin Manuel Miranda, one of the guys responsible for the movie, previously barred whites from acting in Hamilton, I'd say it's even worse than outright pandering. And let's face it, who really wants a hand me down?

@Betep Stone: Also agree for the most part regarding the mistake with Halle Bailey's casting, though technically, Ariel was implied in the movie, TV series, and Return to the Sea to be living near Scandinavia based on Eric's Flowerhaven remark regarding a failed political marriage (not to mention her saving Hans Christian Andersen and being responsible for the story being written, and Morgana's map clearly pinning Atlantica near Greenland), so even with her being a mermaid, chances are she would have been more likely to be white (not to mention in the original story the Disney film was based on, her skin was specifically stated to be "as clear and pure as a rose petal"). As far as Emma Watson and Belle, she certainly resembles Belle far more than Halle Bailey does Ariel, that much I can say. Even if she wears a red haired wig, she's more likely to play a Gerudo in a Zelda movie than she is able to plausibly play Ariel.