I did as Ms. Baptiste suggested, and googled "decorated mermaid cookies." The images were just as you described, so I thought to google "Black mermaid cookies" and that, to my surprise, delivered... sigh... only white mermaids.
So then I looked for images of "Black+mermaids" and found a few, but I'm quite sure none of them are as wondrous as I imagine your cookies to be.
Please, please: post photos of your cookies online so this omission can be corrected, and to satisfy the curiousity of those, like myself, who want to see your creations.
3
This article is extremely informative.
It’s beyond time for Westerners to learn the truth about Blacks in the diaspora and Africa. Soon, 25 percent of the world’s population will be AFRICAN, but the Western media and educational system do a shamefully poor job of covering that continent. How will you, your children, or grandchildren be able to deal with this new world; one that does not operate according to stereotypes?
For example, how many people knew about these stories?. The first one is about African female high school students who won a WORLDWIDE robotics competition.
All-Girls Robotic Team From Ghana Wins World Robofest Championship
By Christina Santi on May 28, 2019
https://www.ebony.com/news/race-culture/girls-robotic-team-ghana-wins-world-robofest-championship/
Kenya’s Strathmore University beats Harvard in WTO competition
By CGTN Africa June 12, 2019
https://africa.cgtn.com/2019/06/12/kenyas-strathmore-university-beats-harvard-in-wto-competition/
African Trade Pact Starts Operations With 54 Signatories
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-07/african-union-landmark-trade-pact-grows-as-benin-nigeria-join
How Africa's Tech Generation Is Changing the Continent
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/12/africa-technology-revolution
4
Sorry but mermaids have never actually existed. They are not real. For that reason, you can make up any story you want about mermaids and cast any person you want in the lead role. Heck, you can even have mermen. It really doesn't matter because they are not real either.
8
What a silly article! It is almost as if the NYT is trying to promote dissension among racial groups.
Anyone familiar with history and anthropology knows that virtually all cultures that have or had anything to do with the sea have “mythical” part-human/part-sea creatures as part of their lore.
Accordingly, no single culture or ethnic group can possibly have exclusive claim on the concept of “mermaid.”
Now if an author or screenwriter has described a mer-creature as being black or white or green or golden in color, then one must ask if the author’s idea and presentation are being honored or violated if the author’s description is not being followed. If the author is dead or unknown then it will be very difficult to know if the author would be offended.
15
What a preposterous article! It is almost as if the NYT is trying to promote dissension among racial groups over what color an imaginary creature is!
Anyone familiar with history and anthropology knows that virtually all cultures that have or had anything to do with the sea have “mythical” part-human/part-sea creatures as part of their lore.
Accordingly, no single culture or ethnic group can possibly have exclusive claim on the concept of “mermaid.”
Now if an author or screenwriter has described a mer-creature as being black or white or green or golden in color, then one must ask if the author’s idea and presentation are being honored or violated if the author’s description is not being followed. If the author is dead or unknown then it will be very difficult to know if the author would be offended.
7
So when is Disney going to cast a white woman as Harriet Tubman?
9
Quite possibly the most racist opinion piece I have ever read in the New York Times. The mermaid dates back to the Goddess Atargatis in Assyria some 3,000 - 4,000 years ago. She was half women half fish. The fact that Disney puts in a black, white, Asian or any other race as the mermaid is perfectly fine and the diversity should be encouraged, especially if it helps particular children identify. But let's not have another example of incorrect political correctness flourish and true history be falsified.
15
First, most slaves from West Africa were captured and sold into slavery by black Africans. They were not kidnapped on the coast by whites.
Second, almost every culture that has lived near the water has had some kind of mermaid or merpeople legends and myths. They were not invented in Africa or the black Caribbean.
Third, to suggest that Anderson stole the story from Africa is racist by assuming that Danes and white people could not imagine a story about mermaids on their own. The author’s anti-white racism is showing.
Fourth, blacks are already overrepresented in Hollywood entertainment as compared to their percentage of the population. Disney should make their new mermaid South Asian in the tradition of the naga. South Asians comprise 30% of the world’s population and have had zero Disney representation.
15
Everyone knows that mermaids were invented by horny sailors. They had been at sea for so long that they even found manatees attractive.
This was long long ago in a galax - sea far far away.
8
Warsaw has as its emblem a mermaid, a white gal with green tail, and holding at the ready a sword and shield, to defend the city on the Vistula(Wisla) river.
You go girl!
4
Mermaids are green. Get a life!
5
The mermaid-goddess Mami Wata/Yemanjá/Mãe da Água/Yemayá/Madre del Água is celebrated and revered for throughout the West African diaspora, as she has been for centuries. Thank you to the author for reminding us.
6
Doesn't matter what color the mermaid is, but why are they casting a woman over 50 (no matter how well preserved) to play Ariel? Isn't she supposed to be a little girl? Errr...mergirl?
5
Protests? #NotMyMermaid? Seriously?
Wow I guess these people don't have much to worry about in life.
9
People tend to overlook that pigmentation is just skin deep - who cares if the mermaid is dark or pale - we are all human beings - this kind of tribalism is so infuriatingly shameful
2
Mermaids are fictitious. They can be any color since they are not real.
5
Were the roles reversed, this would be ‘cultural misappropriation’. But it is not because that only applies to white people.
MAGA, we need you.
8
Let me see... a Danish story, written by a Danish man about Danish people.... those who are upset are upset for the same reason people were upset when Scarlett Johansson was cast as an asian.
6
But everyone knows "the little mermaid" is referring to the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
5
The internet trolls are always in an uproar over something. Maybe they don't always deserve a response.
4
This essay made total sense until it started insisting that Anderson took the mermaid tales from Africans. Why would Africans be the only ones? Also, would he have taken it from Greek Mythology?
8
It’s so confusing:
- black people portrayed by white actors = racism;
- white people portrayed by black actors = progress;
- traditional black, Hispanic, Korean, or Asian food, clothing, speech or dance provided by white folks = cultural appropriation;
- traditional white food, clothing, speech or dance provided by black, Hispanic, Korean, or Asian folks = wonderful assimilation.
10
What is a mermaid anyway? I always thought a woman fish creature contrived by lonely sailors after months at sea...
1
Fairy stories always have a referrent to the culture creating them. Prior to significant contact with civilised culture the only referrent for west africa was black; hence black mermaids. The Caribs probably had brown 'mermaids, that were supplanted with black when African labour was imported to the region.
The Little Mermaid fairy tale was Scandinavian in origin, therefore the proper cultural referrent is blonde. Any departure is purely a sop to ethnic angst and kowtowing to 'political' "correctness".
5
This uproar is over cinematic representation and the relative lack of roles for individuals of racialized subcultures in Hollywood.
Mermaids can be imagined in any shape or color because they are fantastical creatures that do not actually exist. The closest thing to actual mermaids are the haenyu--the diving women--of Cheju Island, South Korea. They are light brown, prematurely wrinkled and do not like their photographs taken.
The protagonist of Hans Christensen Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" is a beautiful young white girl. Imagine the hue and cry if Scarlett Johansson or Jennifer Lawrence were cast as Pocahontas or Fa Mulan.
Is this revisionist literary and cinematic history or creative adaptation?
It probably will not matter if the production is good and it sells tickets.
3
Do people really care that an actress with dark skin got the role of the Little Mermaid? That's really pathetic. Of course, when I saw the headline that mermaids have always been black the first thing that came to mind was Megan Kelly's unfortunate comment that Santa has always been white.
People... Mermaids or Santa, they're make believe. Not real actual people. Just don't depict a woman as Thor. That's way over the line.
5
Lets flip the script... I seem to remember a movie with Scarlett Johanson that people were outraged that she played an asian. I have heard the phrase white wash with respect to characters traditionally played by POCs cast with white actors. I might simply suggest that this is a Danish story written by a Danish man, of a story about Danish people... so is this black washing? Or is it only when white people replace colored characters, implying a total double standard excused by the oppression olympics.
5
Disney should also hire Ms Baptiste to write the screenplay.
This column is reason why there is outrage about casting a black woman as the Disney Mermaid. If, as the author documents and asserts, mermaids have always been black, then remedial work needs to be done to ensure that lily white mermaids are included, to correct for the historically unbalanced racial ratio.
7
Hear, hear, Ms Baptiste! Let's be glad that Disney is acknowledging the worldwide appeal of the mythic image of the mermaid. What I've always thought so terribly sad about that particular Disney concoction, but it's there in the original fairy tale as well, is the Little Mermaid's longing to be something she's not and to give up who she is to "be part of your world" as that beautiful but dreadfully misguided song goes. The whole story ought to be less celebrated and handled with just an edge of caution.
while many mermaids have been black, not all have been. be more careful. hyperbole is the same as fact i have no issue with Ms. Baptiste besides the inflation of the title. I hope it wasn't her who penned it.
So have been many angels...
1
Mermaids have always been black?! I thought they were all colors but always gay.
I'll be waiting for the recast of Mulan recast with black people... ohhh... wait they did not do that? How about Pocahontas recast with Asians.... not that one either..? Oh... it is only historically white cast films that can be black washed. The Little Mermaid is a film about Danish people. But really who cares... whites are not fragile enough to take umbrage with this sort of veiled racist dogwhistles, it takes a media to gin up that sort of controversy.
6
There's something fishy going on in the movie industry. Why just last year Warner Brothers released a live action Aquaman movie, and Aquaman, whom we all know from reading the comic books and watching Super Friends on Saturday mornings has short blond hair, was played by Jason Momoa who has long dreadlocks and darker hair and skin than the Aryan Aquaman we all know and love.
And now Disney is making Ariel black!!! It's a liberal conspiracy!!! Why hasn't Trump called them out on this? Next thing you know Captain America will be black and fighting white supremacists rather than Nazis.
Oh, wait...
2
I think mermaids are mythical creatures associated with every culture that has access to the sea. If you are black then your mermaids are black. If you are white your mermaids are white. If you are Chinese then your mermaids are Chinese. If you are from Mars your mermaids are Martian (assuming they had water lol). I dont think it's that complex or that its racism. I mean, what do you want? Do you want white people to have black mythical creatures? Is that going to solve anything in the real world?
As for Disney having a black mermaid...who cares? The minuscule amount of people who care are idiots. Caring about this is asinine. Sure, wanting a white mermaid all the time is probably an expression of racism, but really how many people really care? A couple of idiots on Reddit and Twitter? 4chan fools? Why even read what they write?
7
Skin color is such a bore.
4
I can't really find the "flood of white people's tears". Even when I click into the supporting articles I just get a "smattering" of trolls. I would like to see some data, otherwise it's just a couple Russian 'bots whipping us into racial baiting, as per usual... NYT? A little data on the 'flood' vs. 'smattering' and perhaps some quantification, since neither flood nor smattering is precise?
4
“Mermaids Have Always Been Black”, is a misleading title, surely cast intentionally to capture reader’s attention. Alternatively “Caribbean Mermaids Have Always Been Black” is true enough and appropriate. The inferred “All Mermaids Have Always Been Black” is an easily researched falsehood. Further the “...always been black”, when tied to the original author, Hans Christian Anderson and his story of mermaids, is an object lesson in promoting the narrative through revisionist history. Come on NYT propagating falsehoods doesn’t help your credibility nor the cause. Your Readers Comment section had many entries that far excelled in comparison to both the NYT fact finding and its effectiveness in expressing the good will of our nation.
6
If the role is desirable, the NY Times will always defend replacing a white person (or fictional character) with a black one. Mermaids haven't always been black, but it seems that NY Times authors will always be racist.
6
Why not? Sounds ok by me.
Well actually historically most cultures have their own versions of Mer folklore. The image form your article is of Mami Wata and yes she is black and has her own distinct history doesn’t mean that All mermaids were black. There’s the Nymphs of Greek mythology, the apsaras who are water spirits of Hindu mythology, Selkies of Irish and Scottish mythology and many other variations. While it’s your opinion, please educate yourself on other cultures and stop trying to justify this tokenism.
5
There is an uproar? I’m guessing the have always been women too. It is possible in places like Japan they are also Japanese. My point, can’t they just be Mermaids?
2
This “issue” is beyond trivial.
If you want to do something meaningful, have all your students draw a scientist. No other prompting. Now, those results should really concern you.
Mermaids have "always" been lots of things, in different shapes and colors.
The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria c. 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal and unintentionally killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake and took the form of a fish. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid—human above the waist, fish below—although the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as a fish with a human head and arm, similar to the Babylonian god Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo.
Atargatis and Derketo, though, were certainly not black.
3
I think the “uproar” over the casting decision is ridiculous but why the author had to imply that HC Andersen was racist and stole from African mythology is a bit much. Denmark is essentially all coastal since it is made up of many islands. I would think that if there was any cultural appropriation it was more likely from the Faroese or Greenlanders rather than Africa. If anything this is more of an American-centric outrage....over a Disney cartoon.
7
With these supposed 'big brains' we human beings possess, one wonders when that glorious day will come where we realize that differences are what makes us all exciting, amazing, and unique individuals, and we celebrate these myriad differences (preferably with food and laughter and yes, even love in all its incarnations).
We ought just turn our backs on hate, on divisiveness, on group-think and gangs, on political parties that stand for nothing but hatred of the other side(s), and same for religions that preach love and grace along with hatred and fear.
Just stop. Change your world, your backyard, and make it something good.
And for god's/buddha's/your grannie's sake, vote.
1
The myths surrounding sea nymphs are as old as Greek mythology. And I first met “Ariel” as Ondine of the French story written early 1800’s. Well preceded Hans Christian Anderson. So stop already!!
3
I will watch Halle Berry in anything. She is a beautiful, talented actress. By the way, her mother is of European descent.
1
many native (us) nations and tribes have sea/water spirits and legends as do a majority of other cultures based somewhere near water and they include both female, male and animal form.
1
I get the point, and it's a good one. I am glad I was able to get beyond my initial irritation at thinking that even mythological creatures are now being racialized or "claimed" by an identity group as their own. It's like saying that leprechauns are "really" Irish, when zillions of cultures have their own version of magical little trickster people. But hey: at least no one mentioned DT in any of the comments that I saw.
2
The first stories of mermaids appeared in ancient Assyria, in which the goddess Atargatis transformed herself into a mermaid out of shame for accidentally killing her human lover.
That being said, I'm a Danish native, and don't give a lick about Halle Bailey, nor Disney, they can cast whatever they want, in fact this kind of publicity is exactly any marketing exec's dream.
But Tracey Baptiste, you're reaching far too much in this article, almost every coastal line has a mention of Mermaids - and my country Denmark is no different, we're an island nation with a collective coastal line of 8,750 combined kilometers. Which in turn comes with a long history of Vikings, fishermen, and seafares and you guessed it - folklore, so your assumption that HCA would draw from stories of your specific childhood region is very far-fetched. But that's the beauty of mermaids, every port has one - and as such we can all insert our own mermaid folklore into the frame of HCA's tale.
Disney adapted a Danish fairytale, and now said adaption is being adapted - again. Which polarizes people. I do not recall any outrage happening when Disney launched the princess and the frog. I cannot help but wonder why Disney with their creative reserves can't create a franchise on African folklore, does Disney not have faith in the marketability of African stories? Or is this a ploy to get more eyeballs to watch their repetitive, subpar, live action adaptations. HMM.
8
There’s no denying that mermaids are overwhelmingly depicted as ‘white’ or Caucasian, despite the diverse ethnic makeup of the US (going by the Disney example), but that’s not to say that one culture or race has a monopoly over mermaids or its folklore.
Just like mermaids appear to be a big part of the African culture and its diaspora (as the author points out), every culture on the face of the Earth has had its own version of mermaids, be it European, Middle Eastern, East Asian, or the Pacific Islander cultures.
And much like the storytellers, their depictions, especially the physical traits vary from region to region and wouldn’t necessarily be considered ‘expropriation’ of one culture by another, in this case.
As for the ‘brouhaha’, whether it’s Halle Bailey or Hailey Baldwin, Ariel’s race is and should be a moot point in 2019, for crying out loud, in the US of A, of all places.
1
Lovely piece of writing. Thank you.
1
Reminds me of that brilliant British parody video after the uproar over an all-women Ghostbusters movie:
"I do believe only men can bust ghosts."
My wife and I still say this to each other occasionally.
3
Most Christmases (sp?)) I confront the mermaid problem. I make these elaborate cookies to give as gifts, highly decorated, very complicated shapes. One of them is a bare-breasted mermaid in a provocative pose, with long hair. I live in a conservative, rural part of the midwest. I realized "Uh oh, I'd better look this up." So I googled decorated mermaid cookies and was stunned. Every single image, no matter how far I scrolled down, was of a white or rosy pink mermaid wearing a bra. Sometimes they wore t-shirts and sometimes their fish tails came right up to their armpits. So I was wondering "Where do these ladies buy their bras? At Walmart's Under The Sea?" The boobs stayed, nipples intact. Then I wondered "Won't they get sunburned, sitting out there on a rock in the middle of the ocean? But, if I make them shades of brown - light, dark, golden - will people be offended?" It became a sort-of existential problem: Should I forget about mermaid cookies altogether? In the end, I threw doubt out the window. These are MY cookies. If parents don't like it, they can hide them from their children. And I had such fun. Some I modeled after Nicky Minaj, with pink or purple hair. I even made senior mermaids, with white and silver hair. decorated with shells and pearls and looking as sexy as can be. Anyway, that's how I resolved the mermaid problem. It makes sense to me. Go ahead and google decorated mermaid cookies. You'll see what I mean.
51
Saying that they've always been black is just as wrong as claiming they can only be white. Every culture near the sea has invented them, and of course always wrote them using their own skin color.
This type of over-reactive nonsense discredits the valid argument that there's no reason why Ariel should be white, any more than that she should be black, or of both African and European heritage (like Halle Berry), or Pacific Islander....
Might as well try to discredit someone claiming white men should be promoted first by saying that they're wrong, black women should be promoted first. Let's work with reality instead of going to an extreme that mirrors the racists.
64
@SusanStoHelit , "Black mermaids have always existed" is not synonymous with "There can be no mermaids of any other race." The author was merely responding to the immense backlash which the very talented Halle Bailey has faced, by pointing out that mermaids have been a part of Black mythologies for centuries (if not millennia). Nowhere does she discredit the idea of Danish or Greek mermaids — she just points out that there are Black mermaids, too.
By the way, the earliest depictions of mermaids are from Mesopotamia, so there are also Middle Eastern merfolk!
25
@SusanStoHelit Saying mermaids have always been black is not the same thing as saying mermaids have only been black.
I'm of Irish descent and I've always known that Selkies (people who live as seals) have always been Irish. But guess what, Selkies have also always been Scottish. And if someone from another culture living with seals such as Norway or the Inuit told me that seal-people have always been a part of their culture, I'd believe it too.
By the way, if you want to learn more about Selkies, watch the wonderful and lovely movie "The Secret of Roan Inish."
12
@Meena Halle Bailey discredit the idea of the Danish version of the story. Andersen gave them the story writing of his culture, his country mythology featuring his country royalty and traditions. Danish royalty, Danish Prince, Danish marriage ceremony, Danish clothing.
You want to complain about how "Gods of Egypt" white-wash the gods of the egyptian? Don't be a hypocrite, there are white deities, too, the argument that "the mermaid" is always black just because in some tradition of African you can find half people half fish no more valid than the argument that the gods are always white just because you can find "gods" in European mythology.
I suggest don't be a hypocrite.
4
When Michelangelo during the Middle Ages, in his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, included a black Cherub in his depiction of Adam receiving the devine spark from God's finger tips the painting, it's subject matter and the presence of this little Black Cherub was considered so heretical by many that it in fact it took the intercession of Michelangelo's patron, Pope Julius II, to save his painting from desecration and Michelangelo from public disgrace (and possibly even from intercession by the Inquisitors of the Catholic Church).
500 years after Michelangelo and the end the Inquisition, how is it that we seem to be having this same type of argument; this time however over whether Disney has any right to depict one of its much beloved (but always here-to-for lily White) characters as being Black?
So, correct me if I'am wrong, but it seems to me that in whatever age we happen to inhabit-at least here in the West- to some people whether it is an angel, mermaid (or even a President ) it truly doesn't seem to matter-As long as they are White.
37
@Birddog
Don't forget Jesus! White as the driven snow.
6
Always? Try 20th Century American media.
Mermaids are part of the seven seas an therefore can be Aluete, Peruvian, European, Ceylonese, or from the Seychelles.
3
Mermaids don’t actually exist.
4
@Dom
And really who cares? Hallie Berry?
Given that mermaids have long been a part of African folklore, the "scales of justice" are definitely tipped in favor of having a black actress play the role of the Little Mermaid.
2
Growing up in Ghana we thought mermaids( which we use to call Maame water) was a devilish creature; it’s only after coming to live in the West for several years have I come to believe that mermaids are actually not real.
1
I believe. Mermaids are black. And brown, and golden, and white and whatever we want them to be.
Thanks for the enchanting article.
4
But doesn't every culture have mermaids? Don't we also believe that the myth of mermaids could have stemmed from dugongs (think manatees with triangular tails)? Why do mermaids have to be black or white or brown or based on race at all? Disney shouldn't have to cast people and paint them blue in order to not cause a race-uproar over their casting decisions.
~Mermaids are myths. The movie is fiction. It shouldn't matter anyways~
2
There is zero uproar. This is all (social) media manufactured. Nobody, not a single person cares. But it's in the media's interest to keep this going.
7
Mermaids take on the color of the people who are inventing them, a bit like octopuses and cuttlefish, which, while real, also change color to suit their environment.
5
What a beautiful tribute to the aunties and ma’meres who raised us all and gave us that sense of wonder that Ms. Baptiste captures so well.
7
As an older white man I very much look forward to taking my granddaughter to the movie when it opens May a thousand flowers bloom!
7
I find it strange that anyone would care to comment on the race of the lead actor cast in the role of a mythical character. Creative license lies with the creator - has anyone seen Hamilton? The only real question worth discussing is why can't film studios create new content instead of spoon feeding us the same old stories?
8
I know. Remakes of remakes. Doesn't anybody have imagination anymore? The fact that Japanese anime succeeds with original stories show that the medium has tremendous possibilities. Disney is limiting and hamstringing itself by going over and over the same ground.
9
@Christina A: "Hamilton" has ensured that generations of school children will grow up now believing that Alexander Hamilton was a hispanic guy from Puerto Rico with long black hair, and that King George was a black dude.
When in fact, they are both whiter than white white guys.
It's bad history.
In fiction, you can do what you want -- black mermaids from Denmark, go for it -- BUT NOT WITH HISTORY.
Anything but the truth is a LIE.
I love what Disney is doing. But the author shouldn't get upset that the oral traditions of the world had a different outcome than traditions that were eventually mechanically reproduced in book form via the printing press. It doesn't mean that one tradition is more valuable than another, its just what happened.
3
@mo I don't actually think there's anything wrong with pointing out how Western Europeans have appropriated and whitewashed quite a bit of African and other cultures. It's easy to decide it doesn't matter when it isn't your culture being messed with
2
Beautiful, bravo, swim on all free people!
2
At the end of the day this is just a movie, so I hardly consider this to be a particularly important issue one way or the other, but I think most people who denounce the criticism against Halle Bailey's casting as racism are missing the point. For many people the issue is more so that of authenticity rather than race. The particular Disney version of The Little Mermaid was based on the work of Hans Christian Andersen and portrayed Ariel as a white redhead. So that's the image of Ariel that many people grew up with. The natural expectation might've been that for a live action version of the movie Disney would maintain that portrayal as a nod to authenticity.
After all every remake of a beloved classic is inevitably compared against its original, be it a movie or a video game, and differences are scrutinized. It's why for instance we expected that the live action version of Aladdin would feature classic songs such as A Whole New World or why the initial trailer and news suggesting that Mulan would in fact not sing the songs from the original Disney film caused some fans consternation. You can argue that all of this is trivial and silly and it is to a large extent, but don't underestimate the extent to which people cherish beloved classics of yore.
7
Where's the supposed "uproar" against this? I can't find any negative comments anywhere - possible there are some but it's certainly not an "uproar".
This seems more like a staged claim to give publicity for the movie. The bad part is that it gives the perception that there's more racism in our society than there actually is.
16
A perusal of tweets on the topic and the anger expressed in them would lead you to a different conclusion.
5
Not only in Africa have mermaids been black. Erik Wade has tweeted a series of medieval EUROPEAN images of black mermaids (and blue ones and grey ones) from the margins of medieval manuscripts.
9
Thank you!
1
I think fish green might be more appropriate, or multicolored like the Humuhumunukunukuapua. A sea creature, after all.
3
Anansi has an African name but Mami Wata in West Africa is clearly derived from an English based Creole or Pidgin language. I understand your annoyance about stupid people getting upset about black mermaids, but you are going a bit overboard here in trying to accuse Andersen of 'stealing' from African culture. In the picture from the temple, the mermaid actually looks rather European. Could the image not be inspired by the mermaids on the front of European boats?
13
Actually there's some evidence that mermaids were inspired by actual animals: dugongs. In fact, the Indonesian word for mermaid IS dugong.
Thank you for writing this Ms. Baptiste.
I run an elementary school library for students in grades 3-5. Eighty percent of the student population are children of color. Four years ago when I started the job, the vast majority of the books on the shelves were by and about white people. I was shocked. The school had been majority white but not for at least 15 years. How had this library been allowed to continue to present only white stories to what was a now mostly brown and black population?
We need diverse books for all our children.
In the last few years, I've done a complete overhaul of the collection. I've done this by writing grants for the books because there is very little budget from the school district. The classics are still there. But there are now so many more stories as well: ones where the black and brown children might see themselves and their families and cultures and the white children can see a window into cultures that are not their own as well.
I've got Tracey Baptiste's Jumbies books on the library's shelves and look forward to the third installment.
164
I guess I missed this particular "uproar." If there was one, there should not have been. I almost said " Get a life, " but that sounds a bit harsh and disproportionate. After all, I'm all in favor of articles that are as light-hearted as this one, once in a while.
11
I assume that white people are getting worked up about this because they see it as another attempt to 'steal' something they see as a part of their own cultural identity. Disney and Disney cartoons are an important part of American white culture. They will never read articles like this one and it is fruitless to imagine they would be persuaded by it if they did. They are not persuaded by arguments made by members of 'intellectual elites' that they think start with the notion that they are racists. This makes them support Donald Trump even more and will get him reelected. This is simply a fact, a sorry one. We all need to be aware that Russia will be doing everything it can to fan the flames of division and ethnic strife until the next election, including issues like this one. Russia is heavily involved in promoting the Christian right, too. Russia considers the USA to be its number one enemy and has had enormous success in bringing us down so far. Things like the race of Disney characters may seem trivial to us but they aren't to white Trump supporters, who get all their news from FOX.
11
@Bob A.
So... we should walk on eggshells around the Trump base?
We should dumb down America to placate the Trump base?
Trump only won last time by less than 8O,OOO votes across three states.
He lost the popular vote by 3 million.
This was before anyone in America actually understood the reality as to who he truly is.
But we should kowtow to and appease the ugly bigotry of Trump's 35% base for fear they might vote for him again?
That is the absolute last thing this American will ever do.
1
@Bob A. Do you know anyone who is “worked up”? No one cares about this. And sorry to tell you but no one thinks of cartoons as culture.
While we're questioning the ethnicity of made up Disney cartoon characters, where are the complaints about Disney portraying Aladdin as white? The original Aladdin story was set in China and Aladdin was of Chinese ancestry! Even allowing for transposition of the story to the Middle East, Alladin should at least have been an Arab! But let's be real. Cartoons are things that one draws, not things from which any kind of deep message is to be drawn. Lighten up everyone.
7
@Jay Orchard
Disney does not portray Aladdin as "white" but as a brown-skinned handsome Arab-looking man.
1
"The story likely started during chattel slavery, when people were kidnapped from the west coast of Africa and brought to the Caribbean and the Americas."
JL: I guess the author isn't aware of "They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America," by Ivan Van Sertima
1
Great article.
Just a quick note that South Asian culture has the nagas, serpent-people who live underwater. In Mahayana Buddhist lore they guarded the important prajnaparanlmitra sutras, and one of the major Buddhist philosophers a millenium or so ago was Nagarjuna, which pretty much means “naga man”.
Mer-beings are pretty much universal. How could they not be?
66
@Judy Roitman Wonderful comment... but perhaps I am biased: What a surprise to see your name here, Judy, reading my hometown paper ; )
It's been decades (PZC).
1
@Judy Roitman The jalpari or sea-fairy also makes an appearance in South Asian and Persian seafaring cultures, just to add to the diversity of merfolk mythologies across global cultures
4
@Judy Roitman
Maybe South Asian culture stole that idea from the Caribbean as well?
2
I don't care what color Ariel is (although, honestly, I did love her red hair in the animated version, which is my favorite animated movie of all time.) The most important thing, though, is that she must be an awesome singer.
46
@Sophie So what is the big deal of Gods of Egypt than? The gods need to be egyptians or they need to be fighters, warriors?
The hypocritical attitude is over the line. Either you can criticize any kind of racial discrimination against every race, including white, or you can be hypocrite.
How about a Chinese Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King is about being an activist, human rights supporter, not just a black person, is that right?
Like I said, don't be a hypocrite.
@Sophie you do know that she can still have red hair in the live version and that black people can have natural red hair, right?
3
It's an old fairy tale turned into a Disney princess story - there's no reason a mermaid would have any particular skin color - white or black - or that a part black part white mermaid couldn't have the impossibly red hair that only comes from a dye bottle in real life.
Such a silly debate.
9
But this Mermaid was Danish as in Hans Christian Anderson..
The term I recently read was “Blackwashing”..
7
Having a black mermaid is fine with me. But-- I see a theory on line that since Anderson was perhaps gay, the Little Mermaid is a love letter to his male lover? And here is a theory that Anderson based his ideas on African folk tales of water sprites? I don't know. What I wonder is, is this cultural appropriation, and why is that a good thing, when it is European culture that is being appropriated but not otherwise....appropriate away, but then you need to give others that right as well.
1
I applaud Disney for adding diversity to its characters. All children should feel included in the myths and fantasies of their culture. I just wonder how much real consternation and opposition existed. I would like to believe most people just accepted this.
3
Who even knew? Or cared? Why would anyone care?
I'm baffled by the uproar. Disney has usually been blessedly diverse in casting its live-action films. When my kids were little, their favorite was the Brandy version of Cinderella. They were never bothered that the white king (Victor Garber) and his African-American queen (Whoopi Goldberg) had a Filipino son who was in love with a black peasant girl. All that mattered was that they were all wonderfully talented actors who sang beautifully. I must admit, though, that I discouraged them from watching The Little Mermaid. I always found that one rather misogynistic!
52
@Brenda Sullivan Why has this become such a big deal? At the end of the day it's just a cartoon character isn't it? I think what we're seeing is a reaction to the perceived double standard that is widening our cultural divide. For example, we live in a time when so-called progressives feel no embarrassment in taking cheap shots at "white males" which carries a disclaimer that prejudice against white males is not racist or sexist since it is not directed at the oppressed. Really? How often has VP Biden been attacked for being an "old white male" in these very pages....sometimes on a daily basis? What would be the reaction if a writer for this paper called a politician an "old black male"? Twitter would go to DEFCON 25 & melt down completely. When did racist misandry... a person who dislikes white men become acceptable? When did the various white man-hating stabs, jibes, insults & expectations become part of our culture? Why do our cultural norms protect & celebrate this kind of behavior as “hip” or “sassy”? Isn't this hypocritical? This new racism is widespread in progressive propaganda - but largely ignored. It's everywhere, culturally acceptable, even normative, largely invisible, taught directly & indirectly by men and women, very damaging & dangerous to both in different ways and de-humanizing. Historians will look at back at this time as an example of the revolting sanctimony of the left & how it set back progressive causes with pettiness & self-congratulatory rectitude.
3
I don’t think the consternation about the casting of the Disney movie is because of racism or any assumption that all mermaids are white. I think it is because Disney’s Princess Ariel was originally a red haired white mermaid, that is how she appears at Disneyland and in all the spinoff books, cartoons and toys. It is confusing for children to suddenly have her look entirely different. I don’t think anyone would have a problem with a story about a different young mermaid who happened to be black but Ariel was born a red headed Caucasian (Danish) mermaid. The article was a very interesting look at the widespread folklore of mermaids though. I do think that rather than reprising the same material over and over again it would be nice if Disney came up with an original heroine and story. Just this past year we have had remakes of Aladdin, Lion King and Little Mermaid. Frozen was fresh and new which may explain its huge popularity.
13
I have often read that the mermaid myth originated when early Western explorers of the Florida coast encountered manatees. Although not nearly as attractive as the current Disney incarnation, they certainly were not Europeans with green tails.
3
Are there other made up figures that have always been black that we are not aware of? How about Frosty the Snowman? Snow White?
18
The white anxiety crowd didn't get the memo that Disney live action remakes usually do quite well, and are then immediately forgotten in the culture.
Who even speaks anymore of reboots for Jungle Book, Beauty and the Best, or Cinderella?
2
I was lucky to have a chance to live in Benin for just over two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. I loved learning about the animist religions and traditions, and Mami Wata was a favorite of mine. I was told she was the patron of love and laughter, often depicted as a beautiful woman. Thank you for sharing these traditions with Times readers, and dare I hope that some Mami Wata mythology be woven into the new Little Mermaid?
4
I always thought they were green...
4
@John Hill Based on what?
Thanks for this excellent memoir and history lesson. I am (was) a blonde hair and blue eyed guy who grew up along with mostly others of my sort at the California beaches which were the center of our social life. My mermaids were, of course, blonde. When Aquaman was in the theaters, I joked that my culture was being appropriated by the movie star who looked nothing like the blond comic book super hero of my childhood. I was kidding. What sane person could possibly worry about such things? I suspect and hope that the anti Arielists are the loud mouthed minority that get way too much attention on social media. If their stupidity led to this lovely piece, it was worth it.
5
What's important here is box office bucks. Whatever makes that happen. Disney has always had its eye on turning myth and fantasy into the bottom line. Done deal.
5
It’s fascinating to learn about African and Caribbean cultures’ versions of mermaids, but I don’t think the conjecture that mermaids reached European folklore via colonialism stands up to basic fact checking, which I’m surprised the Times didn’t do. There are English depictions of mermaids 1000 years old and the term mermaid itself goes back to old English merwif according to the OED. It seems like it’s a mythical creature that belongs to a lot of culture all over the world. That diversity alone is worth celebrating.
33
@David Wait - are you suggesting that African culture is less than 1,000 years old? Seriously, that isn't even a blip on the screen of African civilization.
6
@Jessie not what he said. He said it wasn't taken from the colonial period, due to that time frame. In terms of whether mermaids originated in one area and diffused other places, or maybe each culture came up with these creations on there own, I do not know.
7
It is also possible that the European colonists introduced mermaids to the Caribbean. But I think it more likely that the idea of met people has arisen independently in many far flung human cultures.
7
Did anyone claiming this is about racism ever consider that it might really just be about the fact that some people remember the original movie fondly and were disappointed b/c they wanted to see an approximation of the character they fell in love with and therefore it has nothing to do with racism? No? I didn't think so.
22
@sedanchair
You are so right! What could I have been thinking?
@sedanchair No. It's not "Stupid". It is "Stupid' to assume that only motivation for an objection to "diversity" casting would be deep-rooted white supremacist beliefs.
I would have a problem with Angela Basset's being cast as Elizabeth, just as I surely as I would with Kathy Bates's being hired to play Harriet Tubman.
I have absolutely no "problem" with Ariel's being cast as a young black girl......no more than I would, back in the day, have any problem with Kathleen Battle's playing Juliet in an opera.
I must be getting old. I have no idea why folks pitch such fusses over such issues, regarding FICTIONAL characters in made-up worlds.......
@James No, that's silly. When white Americans take offense at greater diversity it would be foolish to assume a motive other than deep-seated white supremacist beliefs.
3
As a fantasy creature, the mermaid will appear as imagined. Mermaids will differ. Why should there be only one fantasy?
9
My Irish grandmother told me the mermaid tales of her mother and her grandmother. She was from the Irish coast. Her mermaid tales had been repeated for hundreds of years. Her grandmother knitted the mermaid tale, among other narratives and symbols, into her father's wool sweater so that he could be identified should he be lost at sea.
9
@DMS Lest you forget, African has been populated for quite a while longer than Ireland, no matter how you look at it. Hence, the African folk-tales are far, far older than your Irish grandmother's.
2
@Jessie
The mermaid tales across cultures go back thousands of years. Any country with a coast had seafarers who "saw" mermaids. It was never a myth requiring importation. Mermaid myths are not indigenous to any one coast. Lest you forget, early man at the center of any continent did not have a coast. Those who did have passed on their own mermaid myths. That's my point.
8
@Jessie "Hence, the African folk-tales are far, far older than your Irish grandmother's." No need to be diminishingly snide about folks' Irish grandmothers. you might do well to make a distinction.......and do recall that the African folk-tales you know are the ones that have managed to survive and be transmitted....and like all folktales and sagas, changed. I suppose that my point here is that there's no competition.......and I do wish an editor had made a simply change to the headline of an otherwise charming, personal essay........
1
I greatly enjoyed this article, and discussion of Afro-Caribbean folklore related to Mermaids. I do question Baptiste's conjecture that Andersen may have stolen the mermaid idea from such folklore. The Irish Selkie and other ancient folk tales indicate people from Northern Europe, especially the Irish Celts, had Mermaid traditions of their own. Artwork from the renaissance depicts Mermaids--see Rubens. We can have European or African Mermaids, and Black Ariel is great!
18
@Jasmine Armstrong Again, I have to reiterate - no matter how ancient your northern European tales are, those of Africa predate them by a very long time. Africa was inhabited long before northern Europe.
5
Mermaids show up as symbols of vanity in medieval churches. Old Norse mythology has sea-maidens as does Ancient Greek mythology although not necessarily with fish tails. There are ancient Assyrian and Phoenrcian depictions of mermen. It is just as likely that the mermaid came originally from the Mediterranean and spread both north through Europe and South through Africa, arriving in the Caribbean from both black and white folk traditions.
6
@Jessie, let's be clear: which of the extant (and/or extinct?) African cultures do you suggest are the progenitors of mermaid stories? Since you've set the time period for this discussion as before the time at which modern H. sapiens began to inhabit norther Europe, please share with us, based on your research or that of other learned folklorists specializing in mermaid stories, (and since there is not now, nor has there ever been a monolithic African culture or society), which of the many different African cultures do you hypothesize are the source of these stories?
Let's stipulate to your implication that, based on how much longer H. sapiens inhabited Africa (the whole continent, or just west Africa and Mali, which Ms. Baptiste cites in the article?) rather than Europe, (which?) African culture created this myth?
Ms. Baptiste has offered a specified cultures in Africa that existed during the pre-industrial and modern era that had such stories, but then cites unspecified cultures in Africa who have told stories about mermaids "for milleniums." Can you help us identify, when she does not, which of those cultures have "for millenniums" told these stories?
In your comment, you've set the bar for sourcing this myth as prior to H. sapiens arrival in northern Europe (as a discussion point, how many millennia ago was that?); which cultures from that era of human development should we think of in this respect?
10
And yet Disney is still casting an oriental woman as Mulan in that movie. Why not substitute an African American female there as well?
14
Because Mulan is an Asian character. By your logic, they should have cast an actual mermaid as Ariel. I guess they were all already booked on other gigs.
8
@Brooklyn Dog Geek
So it's ok if Lin-Manuel Miranda plays Hamilton but the actress playing Mulan has to be Aslan? Doesn't make any sense.
I’m sorry, but what uproar? Can someone please point to one major blue check Twitter user who was up in arms about this?
10
@Jeff W
There is a closed Facebook group called "Christians against the Little Mermaid (Boycott Halle Bailey) that has over 14,000 members basically dedicated to posting racist memes. When I first heard about the group three days ago, it had 9,000 members. Maybe not a blue check mark, but also not two twitter users with 4 combined followers.
1
To those who take offense at a dark-skinned Ariel: what’s hanging on the wall of your house or church or museum? Jesus, Mary and Joseph were probably not blue-eyed or flaxen haired. In all likelihood, they looked like the olive-skinned, dark-featured Semitic Jews living in Israel—which they were. But they have been depicted for millennia to look like Europeans! Go figure. Cultural appropriation!
15
The whole argument that is being made against Ariel not to be portrayed as black is not so much racist as it is another example of a form of narcissism that I think plagues a lot of white minds in America.
7
@Teresa: I would disagree. I've seen much more narcissism in gender and racial identity politics. The whole idea of celebrating your ethnicity or sexual preference is quite narcissistic. The extent of white narcissism and supremacy has been exaggerated.
1
I was four-years-old when Disney's "The Little Mermaid" came out. I can't wait to show the new version to my own daughter, who will be four-years-old in 2020. I'm honestly, delighted with the casting choice. When I first saw Halle Bailey's singing clips, my breath was taken away. What a beautiful young woman with a powerful singing voice!
A lot of fairytale themes are shared throughout world culture. So why not The Little Mermaid?
7
A mermaid is not a human being, they are not limited to a few colors or a race or a faith. Not being limited like us human beings, they do not have the completely bizarre notion of making color a reason to hate, and an excuse to deny respect and dignity to others. A mermaid is any and all colors.
7
@angel98
The response from "those Whites" is what happens when a dominant group (Whites) only depicts mythical creatures as looking like them....over and over and over.
It's little wonder why there has yet to be an Aquaman/ Superman/Wonder Woman/etc. of Color.
SMH.
Last time I looked, Poseiden was a Greek god. Wonder what they do in the new flick. I have no problem with casting a person of color in the role, just accept the reversal casting in say an historical tale from a non-caucasian land, don't cry cultural approbation.
10
@Fools Gulch
Cultural appropriation doesn't refer to borrowing from another's culture or even adopting it as your own. It refers to borrowing something for your own material benefit without acknowledging or without awareness of how that indigenous culture was made to pay for what you take for advantage. It's a very particular circumstance. The expression, "everything but the blues", for example, refers to white artists, like Elvis, Madonna, Eminem and others who have benefited from the music and culture of black people. These artists (Clapton, Beatles, Stones etc etc) are celebrated for something that the indigenous creators of that art were demeaned, marginalized and punished for. That's what cultural appropriation is. Can we stop playing games?
5
@Fools Gulch I am okay with all of Disney's casting choices as long as they can act. I was okay with Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One and even would be fine if the Black Panther was some white guy who suddenly ends up in that situation. These kinds of things happen in Marvel/Disney usually the other way (dominant is replaced by minority, like Captain America) but in the case where the minority in the US is dominant elsewhere (like Wakanda), then it sometimes makes sense to do the reverse from a story telling perspective or just to shake things up.
But you do have to consider that also wrt to your reversal casting: majority/minority status. It's not really cultural appropriation that people are worried about. It's about the power/strength of the dominant group. Dominant groups enjoy the strength of dominance but will always be judged to a higher standard than the minority group. I think there's some fairness to that but considering all aspects is important.
1
I suppose the Greeks can make their gods look like anything but in terms of realism, if gods look like the first men created then god-culture worldwide is African. That's an evolutionary fact based on science.
This piece for me resonated until it descended into mystical nonsense in the last two paragraphs.
Miss Bailey will be fine as Ariel assuming she can sing. I think that "white people's tears" are over-estimated, something that the Twittersphere tends to do; the vast majority outside will remain uninterested or unmoved.
Multi-racial Disney casts are fine, and while we'd like to believe the reason for casting is wokedness, the real reason is certainly financial.
But please leave Snow White alone.
13
And to think I always thought mermaids were green.
12
Without diversity, what happens to creativity? Homogeneity can lead to cognitive corrosion. Diversity can drive dynamism -- ask a successful CEO. That said, the mermaid is nice, but the author's thinking portends trouble.
Mightn't diversity make it more urgent to integrate rather than segregate? As George Will writes, "It's a non sequitur to say that because America is diverse, university curricula must be balkanized. Actually, America's diversity increases the importance of universities as transmitters of the cultural legacy that defines and preserves national unity. ... Multiculturalism attacks individualism by defining people as manifestations of groups rather than as self-defining participants in a free society."
Is it good that universities are being reduced to "therapeutic institutions working to heal victimized groups"? The focus on slavery is absurd, in so far as the real wonder of the Founding period is how clear, for the first time, its evil was becoming. The world's best economy was built partly by slaves. But without enslavers, slaves wouldn't have access to it. To grant such access is just; to do more, necessary. But what activists seek is impossible.
"The proper legacy of Western thought is a mind capable of comprehending and valuing other cultures while avoiding the nihilism that says all cultures are of equal merit. Education is too serious to become a ritual of pretending that enduring works of the humanities are evenly distributed throughout the [world]."
3
@David L, Jr., you shouldn't use "mightn't," it went out of literary acceptance with "usen't" and "nary."
I’m glad I took the time to read this column of vital importance. Not only did I not know that anyone cared about the ethnicity or race of the actor playing Ariel, but, as a white, cis-gender, cis-species male, I was ignorant about the intersectionality of African and Carribean peoples and semi-piscine Americans.
19
@CA Meyer, "semi-piscine Americans;" if ever there was a label in dire need of a meme...
This uproar over a casting decision is a perfect example of white fragility.
As a 50-something white dude, my mouth hangs agape over the intensity of the backlash. When supposed strong white western civilization folks are afraid of a mythical creature, it really begs the supposed superiority argument some folks try to make.
18
@historyRepeated wrote ",,,,white fragility"
We have "white fear", "white privilege", white guilt" and now you posit "white fragility". It seems to me that people, including some whites, get a kick out of unfairly disrespecting white people. If the tables were turned these sentiments would be considered quite racist.
2
Is there no topic whatsoever that doesn't merit a racial grievance?
28
Sailors thought manatees were mermaids. Just sayin'...
14
Don't argue against the trolls claiming Ms Bailey is not "their" Ariel. Let them stew in their self-made discontent.
5
Fine article with well made points, except.....suggesting that Hans Christian Andersen stole the idea of mermaids from African stories is at the very least baseless and at worst a significant gash in the quality of this piece. No evidence is presented to support this and the author fails in her attempt to subtly suggest otherwise by citing that the story was written during the height of the colonial period. In point of fact, a quick google search will show you that mermaids are not somehow "indigenous" to Africa, but rather have been part of oral history among many sea going peoples dating back thousands of years from Ireland to Asia and everywhere in between. Honestly, I don't care who is cast to play Ariel and my guess is that most people don't care either. Unfortunately we pay too much credence to the loudest among us, who often spew hate and intolerance. I guess I get the need for this article, I just wish the author didn't diminish her point by making unfounded accusations.
72
@John
And in some mythologies they were dangerous, deceptive creatures who lured sailors to their death! How about Disney try that angle?
7
@John
I'm so tired of hearing how person or group X stole ideas/art from Y. Years ago a book called Black Athena claimed everything the ancient Greeks accomplished was stolen from Africa. In fact, the ancients were usually generous in attributing their discoveries elsewhere to those from whom they borrowed. If every example of cross-cultural fertilization is regarded as theft, no one is left worthy of respect.
7
Uproar? Haven’t heard any uproar. Eye rolling by white people maybe. She had to be black. In this day in age Disney had no choice. This is nothing to celebrate - although I have zero problem whatsoever with a black Ariel, who cares...- this is yet another example of skin color mattering way more these days than I ever remember. And I’m old.
22
@JC Old enough to remember Little Rock? Because I don't think anyone is calling out the national guard.
2
@JC: Yes, fake victimization and blaming all white people is definitely on the rise.
1
C’mom, people. Fiction is art and art can be expressed in many ways. Thankfully opera companies cast the best singer/actor for their roles making the issue of a singer’s race irrelevant. Hamilton is cast with people of color for the roles of our very “white” founding fathers. Both opera and Hamilton ask of viewers an open mind and an ability to appreciate art, beauty and creativity w/o labels and boundaries. The stories are universal—about power, love, injustice, jealousy, cruelty....human beings and life.
8
@GR And how does this apply to claims of cultural appropriation, which is the basic point of this article.
Mermaids do exist – I’ve seen some personally...up close. Skin color is a moot point because they look remarkably like (and, in fact, are) manatees.
Ancient sightings of manatees and similar creatures are most likely where the legends originated.
8
@Matt Well, that leaves European mermaids out of the picture completely. There are no manatees, or dugongs, or sea cows, in Europe.
@Jessie, maybe modern humans brought stories about mermaids/manatees with them to Europe from Africa. Also, what's the paleontogoical research upon which you're drawing when you write that (apparently) there were no (since as you write, "There are no" in the present tense) species of "manatees, or dugongs, or sea cows, in Europe" upon which cultures in Europe could have autonomously based legends about mermaids?
1
For every white family who complains that the little mermaid is being cast as a black young woman, because their daughters won't see their own image in her, they should recognize that for black girls, that feeling of not getting to identify with the leading character is all too common, in contrast to this single example.
23
@common sense advocate
Boo-hoo, I was devastated when Ariel (with the masculine Hebrew name) showed up with red hair. She is supposed to be be blond, like me.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be white. What is wrong with us as we get all bent out of shape over a black mermaid or a black santa? Do people not realize these are not actually living human beings?
How about Jesus? Why do white people think a middle eastern man was white? He probably looked a lot more like Osama bin Laden than Jim Caviezel.
As my Asian daughter tells me: she is not yellow, Native Americans are not red, and the master race is not white.
Maybe purple...
19
Beige as my three and five year old son and daughter insisted as they took out the white crayon and the beige crayon from their 48 colors box!
2
@Rosemary wrote: "Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be white." Your feeling is quite common nowadays. It's the goal of the liberal media.
1
The same white idiots who are complaining about the decision of Disney to cast a black actress in the role of Little Mermaid probably also complained about the decision to have a black man play the role of God in "Bruce Almighty." It has nothing to do with whether mermaids are a creation of white culture or black culture. It's just selfish or racist or both.
11
First, I'm white and have absolutely no problem whatsoever with the new Little Mermaid being black. In fact, I think it's a fine idea.
Second, I'm curious to know why the author seems so certain that the modern Carribean notion of mermaids traces back to African folklore, rather than European folklore. Both sources seem equally plausible. For instance, I happen to know that the widespread Carribean belief in the resurrection of a demigod named Jesus comes from European folklore.
31
@Dave
" For instance, I happen to know that the widespread Carribean belief in the resurrection of a demigod named Jesus comes from European folklore."
Actually it comes from Middle Eastern folklore.
2
@Dave
The Yoruba orisha Yemanja is the Goddess of the Sea and the Mother of humanity.
2
My favorite mermaid story is the SNL skit where a horrified sailor finds out too late that the mermaid of his dreams has the reproductive organs of a fish, and then desperately plots his escape. Now that’s a movie remake I could get behind, no matter what color people’s skin was.
10
@Jim Iliza Schlesinger has her own twisted take on mermaids also.
The funniest argument on this topic is the weak “Danish people can be black! It’s just a nationality!” I would laugh hysterically at people’s jaws dropping open if the same argument were used to cast a black actress as Mulan. Hey, Chinese is just a nationality! Or better yet, cast an Italian actress whose backstory could be tied to the Marco Polo expedition. Either way, I want to thank Disney for the laughs, as their cultural trolling simultaneously causes conservative heads to explode and liberal mouths to erupt nonsensical justifications. Ah, America; Land of the unintentionally funny.
21
I don’t care whether Disney’s new Ariel is white, black, red, brown, yellow, striped, or plaid. All I care about is whether the actress is competent.
4
The mermaid myth originated in ancient Mesopotamia. Not sure what color their skin was, but does it matter?
9
@Matt Fisher Obviously it does.
3
Another article or news story that needs to be "penned" because the 90% of America that could not care less about the race of fictional being is forced to hear the shallow, outrage cries of the 10% fringe of people who want to tear down our cultural along racial and gender lines.
The debate about the casting of a fictional movie would be a non-debate except social media outlets like Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, etc., have given too loud of a voice to certain people who are solely focused on spreading hate. And then the NY Times, WaPo, Fox are ready to ponce on meaningless stories like this, as well, because it will get clicks and views (sadly mine, too, because I remember seeing the original animated movie as a child, but wouldn't care if they cast a robot in this role).
Can the 90% of us who don't care for these meaningless debates stop amplifying the social media voices of the fringes? The news should be focused on 2 things: fact based reporting about politics and finance and updates on NBA free agency and the arts. Let's put the "opinion" writers to bed for while.
66
@Phillip J. Amen
13
@Phillip J.
Identity writing like the NYT piece will help give us four more years of Trump. Thanks a lot!
1
I’m quite surprised that this editorial was published when a quick review of its claims shows that none of them is supported by any evidence.
First, the mermaid on the Starbucks cup is Melusine who was most famously mentioned in d’Arras’ “Tale of Melusine” published in 1394 however the Counts of Luxembourg had been claiming descent from Melusine since the 900s! This was centuries before Europeans had contact with West Africa and so the claim that she’s been appropriated from Africa is ludicrous.
Secondly, there have been legends of mermaids in Europe since the Greco-Roman era and Pliny the Elder mentions mermaids as living off the coast of Gaul. The first legends of mermaids originated in ancient Assyria circa 1000 bc.
Thirdly, there is strong evidence that the African depictions of Mami Wati were influenced by European depictions of mermaids on their trading ships. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the first mention of mami wati was in 1740 centuries after Europeans had first started trading with West Afrca. There are no existing depictions of the goddess previous to 1887 when a German etching of a Samoan girl was exhibited in Nigeria which were co-opted by the local peoples in their worship.
This is revisionist history of the tallest order and I encourage all the readers to check out the 2005 paper “Mami Wata: Three centuries of Creolization of a Water Spirit in West Africa, Suriname, and Europe” by Alex Van Stipriaan for more information.
98
Where do you think North Western Africa for thousands of years got its copper from? Wales. The Sudan empire of a several thousands of years ago stretched from the Atlantic coast of Morocco to southern Sweden to western China. The Tuaregs of the Sahara have the same percentage of blue and green eyes and blond and red hair as the Irish and Scots. Not a few of the thousands of years ago Irish sites have the same construction as those of Mali.
Europe and Africa have traded and raided for at least five thousand years and more.
9
@Ramon.Reiser
Can you provide references to this Sudan Empire of several thousand years ago. I've done several internet searches using different search terms based on your description, and nothing comes up but a single book by Rudolph Windsor published in Chicago.
8
Weren't the major copper mines in Cornwall?
Just to appear contrary, I suppose?.....the fact remains that, quite aside from the headline, mermaids have definitively not "always been black". That's just an incorrect statement.
The Hingyo of Japan, the Qalupalik of the Inuit, and the Alarrhid (many alternate spellings) of the Welsh and Cornish were/are, I'm pretty sure, not black or even remotely connected with anything from Africa.
It remains that it's beyond foolish for anyone to object to a black Ariel character.....in a movie that, as I recall (having had to sit through it too many times with my niece, when she was five or so) was set in the Caribbean, featured pseudo "Calypso" music, etcetera.
It remains that the headline (not necessarily the article, itself) is just incorrect. I somehow doubt that Inuits, Japanese, and pre-modern Welshmen thought that mermaids (by whatever name a culture might call them) were black.
Advisedly yours as ever,
David Terry
37
The color of the Little Mermaid sculpture in Copenhagen is a very attractive somewhat dark bronze-brown.
The blond, blue-eyed Danes have always liked that. It just seems right and natural.
9
Mermaid lore has been a part of practically every people group that was exposed to a large body of water since the dawn of humanity, with the earliest known references dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, so they certainly don't belong to any particular culture.
Ms. Baptiste implied that Hans Christian Andersen appropriated the concept of mermaids African slaves, but this is doubtful, as mermaids have been a significant part of the culture of the British Isles since at least the 11th century, well before the era of colonialism.
With regards to the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel, I have little opinion upon the matter. Unlike many who read The Times, I have no concern with regards to the color or ethnicity of the person playing the role. The only characteristic of an actor or actress that I (and most people) care about is their talent... nothing else.
39
No matter what color she is, she will still have to swim, sing and breathe under the sea.
3
Hey, for some of us who grew up at a particular time in history, all mermaids looked like Ann Blyth. If this has no meaning to you, you are obviously too young to be reading the Times!
8
Right, because clearly mythical, half-fish, half-human women have to be white, otherwise it would be unrealistic.
22
Even black Americans are fighting this basically explicating Atlantica is a real place near Africa (this is where Disney's Ariel is supposedly from) and Sebastian (her crab guardian) is Caribbean. It makes sense that Disney would fix this given that they have a whole movie titled Atlantis (the hidden, undersea city) that is made up of brown people that are exploited by a team of British voyageurs. Everyone knows that the folklore's of mermaids and the ancient city of Atlantis go together.
15
Except that many historians think that the story of Atlantis may have originated in the great volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Thera.
5
@_Clarke_Kent: I think Disney tries to forget the Atlantis movie. It was terrible in so many ways.
1
I think a story or film about a Caribbean black mermaid would be fantastic.
Please go write (or film) one!
But it's not THIS story, which is Danish and from the pen of Hans Christian Anderson.
Turning white cultural icons into black ones is no more fair than doing a story about Harriet Tubman and making her a white woman.
33
@Concerned Citizen Harriet Tubman is a real, historical figure who lived and struggled as a black woman in a turbulent time. Of course, casting a white person would not make a lot of sense, or would change the story. Arial is a fictional character from a story, turned into a cartoon. What does it matter if she is played by this lovely young woman?
27
@Kathy - Alexander Hamilton is also a factual historical person. Either it is or it isn’t ok to have artistic license with historical figures. Oh and for the record,
Abraham Lincoln was not a vampire hunter...
20
@Jim
I think you and Concerned Citizen are kind of missing the point here. First of all, this isn't an either/or proposition. It isn't that black and white -- pun kind of intended. As with just about everything except math, context matters. The most important context being the under-representation of characters of color in entertainment here in the States and the west in general. So maybe you have a musical where the founding fathers are not white, because the story isn't about their whiteness in this case, but more about a set of ideals that belong to all of us.
The story of Harriet Tubman, on the other hand, is very much about her blackness, is the prime motivator behind it, in fact. Having her played by white person wouldn't make any sense, and would add another white face in a medium where there has never been a shortage of white faces.
Ariel is not a white icon. She is a beloved character who has traditionally been portrayed as white. Her color is irrelevant -- she's a mermaid, not a Dutch girl. Having her played, one time, by a young lady of color is not going to cost white folks anything.
6
"Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including the Near East, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The first stories appeared in ancient Assyria"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid
Mermaids aren't exclusively black. The Greek sirens are typically cited as the first recorded example of mermaid-type creatures.
This article is partisan ignorant navel-gazing, willfully ignoring readily-available context.
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@asdfj
The author never said "exclusively". She just said there have always been Black Mermaids.
How many variety of Santas are there world wide?
6
@asdfj I don't see the author claiming anywhere that mermaids are *exclusively* black. The quote that you yourself extracted states "many cultures . . . including . . . Europe"
7
Excuse my initial misreading, I see the quote you extracted is from the wikipedia article you linked to, not the initial article. But my first sentence stands, I still don't see the author claiming "exclusively".
4
Ha! Extensive DNA testing of living and deceased mermaids convincingly trace mermaids to the waters around Italy. Make of that what you may.
10
@Len Maniace - Don’t forget the 3% Neanderthal mermaid DNA.
12
@Len Maniace
I take it that you're jesting about the essentialist piffle of this assertion in the essay:
" The idea of this [mermaids] is whispered into our DNA."
What's with this ubiquitous fad of contemporary essayists degrading the imaginal realm and the info-continuum with pseudoscientific materialist claims, a la "because DNA"? Cultural transmissions are accomplished by teachings and learning. As far as I know, there's no evidence whatsoever that the process can be facilitated by CRISPR.
I was sort of sympathetic to your writing, given a plus because you were from T&T...
Up until you insinuated that Anderson stole the idea of mermaids from Africa because, um, colonialism? Woooo! Everything's gotta be about colonialism! And not like nymphs and oceanids have existed in written western literature since the Bronze Age Collapse, are pretty distinctly similar to Anderson's mermaids, with callbacks to Greek lore, during a period defined by an artistic movement that was literally recapturing classical art for inspiration (Romanticism and Sturm und Drang).
So, you're not WRONG on your article as a whole, about black mermaids existing... but on this part, you really would've been wiser to omit your thoughts entirely. You didn't have to try and take some cheap shots at the existing literature.
And you really don't want to play the age card, because I doubt you'll find anything older than the Mediterranean Basin accounts.
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@JB
African Egyptian civilization preceded the Mediterranean basin aka Greek accounts.
And the Minoans and Mycenaeans preceded them as well.
3
@Blackmamba
Egyptians, Minoans and Mycenaean Greeks are all Mediterranean basin civs. Arguably, the Hittites as well. Were you directly west of Mesopotamia? Did you get smashed by the Bronze Age Collapse? Chances are you're a Med-basin civ.
2
So Tracey, basically what you're claiming is that by initially depicting the Little Mermaid as white, Disney in effect has engaged in improper appropriation of black culture.
8
Who cares? Color is immaterial. Just give me a good story, well told, for which we must wait. The rest is decoration. We shall see how well that goes.
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@Joseph
I am glad you are such an optomist.
As a previous poster said people don't like change,
especially with their fairy tales.
Lol. "A lifeguard had just warned me that there were baby sharks about. Was I concerned? Honey, please. This was my natural state." As a marine mammal, I suppose.
7
And the whispered folk-lore,
voiced, written, and graphically created, in ranges of interacting colors,
textures, hues, contrasts and
vibrancies, with its many functions, existed amongst diverse people who, exploited, could and did exploit
created, selected, "others."
Choosing to do so.
In real life.
Not in stories.
BECAUSE they could.
THEN. Now; look around. Tomorrow?
Who, enslaved,
because...
did enslave targeted THEMs.
For a range of reasons.
Look around.
Closer to home then the
water's-land's horizon(s).
Are "colored" mermaids allowed to swim in G'd's waters of diverse shades?
What color is G'd?
On what day was COLOR created?
BIG-banged?
Should it matter?
For whom?
On what day was QUESTION created?
Answer created? Closure created?
In a WE-THEY world, enabled and fostered by diverse complacent and
complicit Peoples, where do mermaids,
of whatever "palleted"-reality fit IN?
Appears that the author has failed to watch Siren also a Disney product on their new streaming service- The mermaids in it are multi racial- so be it. Mermaids like us....
2
As a 62 year old white male it is amazing there is little progress on race equality in this "great" country.
6
Always is a very very long time, and therefore this claim is difficult to substantiate - especially if one looks to the pre-history tales of the Celtic cultures. If inclusiveness was to be an intended outcome of this diatribe, perhaps"Mermaids Have Sometimes Also Been Black" would better achieve that.
17
How lovely! Just what we need on these hot steamy days - a trip back to the sea with some new - and old - companions. And lest anyone forget the wide spread of these remarkable creatures, even the ancient Near East had "fish-ladies" with numinous water powers.
7
Some years ago, I turned my basement into my "beach house" and created a mermaid bathroom filled with maritime objects and books and mermen (pictures of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte) as well as folk art of mermaids.
Mermaids have been around for a long time. According to the ancient Greeks, they were the sisters of Alexander the Great, and they would not allow sailors to pass unless they answered the question, "Where, oh, where, is the king of the world and me?"
The correct answer is "Alexander lives and reigns." -- thegamesmenplay.com
9
Yes, its a Danish fairy tale, but people have been telling stories of people in the sea for as long as there have people living near the water. Get over it, people
12
Thank you for essay.
One has to wonder about the people tweeting opposition about a mythical, fictional character than the factual treatment of POC in the entertainment business and the world outside of it:
* "In 2016 Leslie Jones weathered racist and sexist online attacks after the release of the all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot. Jones had to take a break from Twitters after the movie hit theaters because of the vitriol."
* "Last year, Kelly Marie Tran, the first Asian American actress to have a leading role in a “Star Wars” movie, deleted all her Instagram posts after facing a relentless online bullying campaign following her appearance in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”" (both from WaPo)
Some of the disappointed Twitterati might not be racists, both TOO MANY of the Twitterati *are*.
15
I would point out that the Khoisan/San may live in the desert now but they once spanned 1/3-1/2 the African continent so its not odd they have tales of mermaids.
6
Movies are commercial enterprises built to generate audiences. period. They are not social statements. Santa Claus is based more of Thomas Nast's poem and Coca Cola advertising not St Nicholas. Superman may very well have been rooted in the minds/traditions of Jewish immigrants but not the movies. James Bond was the creation of a former british intelligence officer. If there is ample commercial reason to make Bond Asian, Santa Claus a Saudi, and Superman a transgender black man, I'm sure it will happen. In the meantime, I will simply continue to look to movies for entertainment as it's simply too tiring to bring identity politics into all facets of my life - A bi-racial, 1st generation, CIS presenting male
6
@Chris
Back in 1938 there was outrage that British Actress Vivien Leigh was cast as the most Southern of Belles,
Scarlett O'Hara.
My, how the times have not changed.
7
Better than a Yankee actress, though!
As one who knows almost nothing of African and Caribbean folklore, this piece was a breath of fresh air. Thanks.
10
Disney has veered so far from the Andersen original (especially in their ending) that the hue & cry over the white mermaid in many folks' imaginations, and in their memories of the animated film, seems strange to me. Also, Disney is no stranger to casting actresses of color as mermaids - in the live Broadway staging of the The Little Mermaid, a number of Ariel's sisters were non-white, as was Triton himself.
6
@Xiaodan
Haven't seen the movie version, but given my opinion of the original work (expressed in another comment hereabouts), I strongly suspect that this is a case where the story will be markedly improved by "Disneyfication." I certainly hope so. If I had my way, I'd rewrite the tale from beginning to end.
This is fantastic. Thanks.
It would have been nice if the producers included this info in their defense of their choice of Ms. Bailey, though their public statement was excellent - they chose Ms. Bailey because she was the best person for the role.
But your info was great. And was something that I didn't know.
13
Thank you for this wonderful piece. I thoroughly enjoyed learning of the African and Caribbean spirts and how she sees them in her family.
When I was young all my tales of Earth’s spirts were Euro-centric with a heavy lean to the Celtic side. These were my people after all. The tales of the Silkie are a personal favorite.
I have grown to see that all the world’s tribes have wonderful tales of water spirts. Who could not celebrate the power of life giving water? Who would not recognize the danger of wild water? I revel in them all.
Of course the movie world can have a black mermaid. So very selfish of anyone to say otherwise. How can anyone claim to own the ‘color’ of mermaids? They cannot. They tempt their fate when next they dip their toes in the river or swim in the sea. The Mother and her children are to be honored not owned.
23
@West of Here: Thus, I look forward to a white Moanna and a white Tiana from Princess and the Frog.
And a white woman cast as Harriet Tubman in a story of that great lady's life and work.
I mean....you just said nobody "owns" a color...right?
11
@Concerned Citizen
No, what was stated was that no one can claim to own the color of mermaids, which are mythological creatures represented in stories and folklore from pretty much all parts and cultures of the world. That anyone can seriously be so profoundly agitated about a black woman playing a fictional character in a movie that was never very faithful to the original story in the first place is utterly ridiculous.
6
@Concerned Citizen You must have been livid when Michelle Obama was first lady.
2
Mermaids doubtless come in a rainbow of shades from all over the world, but the real ones I’ve seen are busy catching shellfish along the coast of Jeju, South Korea.
30
And along the SW tip of S America with babies astride their shoulders and holding onto their hair as they dive down 30’ to get the mussels and clams.
1
Fun, correct, and needed. And, as elementary school librarian J. noted below, needed across the library. To raise us all.
Thanks, teachers!
7
Surely every culture that has tales about mermaids imagines mermaids that resemble the indigenous people of that culture, whether they're African, European, Asian, or Polynesian. That's not cultural appropriation; it's folklore. Stories are passed down through oral tradition, spread from one land to another, and it's rare to be able to verify a single origin for any story, since they're always adapted by the tellers to fit the world of their own experience.
There's no reason to doubt that the people of Africa or the Caribbean imagined mermaids that looked like them, but there's also no reason to deny the validity of centuries-old European mermaid traditions, or claim that Starbucks' Melusine was "co-opted" from another culture. If you could prove a European origin for Melusine, would we say she was "co-opted" from Europe? It doesn't really matter, unless we really want to start never-ending fights over the cultural origins of every story or symbol, and who's allowed to use them. I know that sounds like a popular idea right now, but it's a pointless battle that benefits no-one.
Nobody should be offended if Disney's Ariel is portrayed by a Black actress, or an Asian one, or a European. Unless a story explicitly states that a character has to look a certain way—which isn't the case here—any portrayal is equally valid. Mermaids don't belong to one race or culture, but are part of the cultural heritage of the entire world.
238
@Paul: therefore, Disney should have cast a white woman in the new live action movie "Mulan".
After all, Mulan is not a real person and it doesn't matter what race the actress is, as long she is "the best one for the part" -- right???
21
@Concerned Citizen Mulan is Chinese. Moana is from Oceana.
But a mermaid can look like anyone! The seas are all connected! Duh.
34
@Paul
People can and should be offended by how other people choose to identify them as lesser than because of color aka race aka ethnicity aka national origin aka faith aka gender.
Daryl Hannah didn't look like Halle Berry when she played a mermaid.
Halle Berry looks like this wooden sculpture based upon her bare birthday suit Academy Award winning actress performance.
The Yoruba orisha Yemanja is the Goddess of the Sea and the mother of humanity.
Trump won West Virginia in a 2016 landslide of kissing and mating and marrying and procreating and fighting cousins.
3
To children Mermaids, like people, appear in different colors. As the authors childhood experience so wonderfully details.
Disney should be commended for being diverse in its casting.
36
White people regularly write black people out of history. Sometimes this is deliberate and malicious. What in some ways is more frightening is that it also frequently reflects a casual assumption by uninformed white people that black people must not have been or done this or that, because history is for white people, and anything that they want to monopolize is for white people. Both forms of rewriting are reflected in the way that black soldiers have fought effectively in America's wars, but until after integration of the armed services, each time a new major war came along, white authorities would insist that black people were incapable of being soldiers. It's hardly a surprise that a similar process would happen with mermaids.
77
@Stephen Merritt
UNESCO is doing some fantastic projects to right this wrong. They have a huge archive dating back to the neolithic and are unearthing history in Africa that colonists tried to bury and hide because they did not want people thinking that black society was on a par with other ancient technologically and culturally advanced civilizations, because it would thwart the colonist aims to "other" them, enslave them and steal their resources.
8
@Stephen Merritt... that’s a mighty broad brush you’ve painted “white people” with
5
This is a lovely essay. I'm a redheaded whitegirl who grew up perpetually sunburned in Southern California. I had my first skin cancer removed at age 16 and have put countless dermatologists' children through college with my biannual "barnacle scrapings." I've never seen a mermaid, personally, but I'm positive they don't look like me.
90
@Jennifer Drayton White skin and red hair? Sounds mighty Celtic. The seal-folk of Scotland and Ireland, variously called selchies, selkies, silkies, or roanes, have a habit of swimming out of the mists of Faery and landing on the shores of popular culture.
Unlike other merfolk, selchies can shed their seal-skins on the land and pass for humans, usually with tragic consequences. Here's an amazing film to see: John Sayles's film The Secret of Roan Inish.
26
@nysf999: thanks and a second recommendation here for that great film "The Secret of Roan Inish".
Oh and also: "The Song of the Sea" (an animated film from Ireland that puts most Disney animated films to shame).
6
@Jennifer Drayton We merfolk don't romp in the sun. We're folk of the sea! No sunburn for us 🤗
3
I heard once that one reason the Irish have historically been known for their vivid imaginations could be in part because of the gulf stream and the tropical birds that sometimes find themselves flown all the way to Ireland from the Caribbean. Before the internet, before airplanes, before television, Ireland was connected to the Caribbean by colorful, tropical birds that had gone astray.
I don't know if it is factual. But I like to believe it could be true.
We are all connected by water. We are all connected by nature. We are all connected by our imaginations.
46
Its not about race. Its about expectation. People wanted to see a live action recreation of the animated story.
Disney wants to go in a different direction. Thats fine. But those that are unhappy about the casting have a reason to be upset. If the movie is a success, no one will care,.
20
@Matthew
You make an excellent point about expectations, that is most certainly a factor for many people, and it's unfair to label them racist. But I would be surprised if it wasn't about racism for at least some of the most vocal protesters.
20
Great article. Love the casting decision and the stories here. The trailer for the live action Mulan will knock your socks off — and I hope this adaptation is just as good.
I hope Trevor Noah reads this article.
7
Nicely written. Loved the personal and cultural context. Gracias.
14
How about a compromise and make all mermaids Green.
7
@KR Your comment is not unlike the many comments in the NYTimes by its readers during the recent Harriett Tubman $20 bill controversy. Many suggested that we remove all likenesses of people from our currency and replace them with scenes of nature or some other image. Interesting how this idea became popular only after it was proposed to put a black woman on one of our bills. Same here; now that Disney has cast an African American actress, suddenly the proposition is made that we should compromise and make all mermaids green.
4
If ever a piece of literature deserved to be bounced from the "canon" of classics, it's "The Little Mermaid", by Hans Christian Andersen. If it isn't the single most dreary, dismal, disempowering, depressing story I've ever read, it's right up there at the top of the list.
Worse, it's a story intended for an audience of young children. Thematically, it's like someone out to kneecap their psyches with a lead pipe. They'd be better off being taught The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus, for crying out loud. (I don't like Camus or the Existentialists, either. But even Sartre's No Exit is an improvement on Andersen's Stygian-Calvinist fusion.)
Bring on the alternative mermaid tales. I can't imagine how any of them wouldn't be an improvement.
(I would like to request that my opinion on this not be exploited by opportunists as an opening to take cheap shots at Dutch people, Europeans, or European culture in general. Those categorical labels are entirely too vast to serve as pigeonholes. Even Andersen has a story or two that I like, actually. Although most of them seem a little twisted to me.)
16
@DC Reade
(oops, forgot that H. C. Andersen was a Dane, not Dutch. For what that's worth. A trivial detail imo, but factual accuracy is a top priority for me.)
9
@DC Reade,
noted and in agreement ;)
1
True. Never liked the story. Giving up the sea, not to mention your tail, for some guy? No way. “The Shape of Water” is so much better!
3
Great article, I learned a lot that I didn't know! One point I will refute is the vague implication that Anderson appropriated mermaids when he wrote his classic tale. While I can't prove its out of the question, mermaids had existed in European folklore for centuries and can be found in artwork throughout the middle ages and even in the greco-roman period, which if I had to guess, is how the idea of a mermaid came to Anderson. Still, I think this article does a great job of explaining the history and precedent of having a black little mermaid.
102
@Michael My thoughts exactly!
5
@Michael
All of European folklore has water beings living in all bodies of water: all lakes, rivers, streams, bogs, and the seas. Anderson used a mermaid because he grew up with the stories, just like he grew up with stories of witches, trolls, fairies, etc.
24
Africans predate the Greco-Roman Empire.
6
The only real argument against a black mermaid would be that of cultural appropriation, since this was originally a Danish fairy tale, but Disney has taken so many other liberties with the original story that it would be disingenuous to object to this one change. The cartoon Ariel certainly didn't seem Danish either.
27
@R.L.Irwin You completely missed the point of this article. The article states that the concept of mermaids existed long before Hans Christian Andersen and that if any appropriation took place, it was by white Western Europeans coopting the stories of Africans.
7
@Andrew Wohl
You're right, I was only addressing the specific case of Disney's Little Mermaid remake, which is based on a cartoon, which was based on an European fairy tale. Others here have addressed the cultural origins of mermaids better than I could.
1
@Andrew Wohl
I should have clarified in my response, that I have yet to see any compelling evidence that the concept of mermaids or mermaid-like creatures are unique to any one culture or race. The only commonality is probably that they arise in coastal or sea-faring societies. Like gods, spirits, and other supernatural creatures, people create mermaids in their own image. Pale skinned mermaids are no more or less valid than brown skinned ones.
22
I had no idea, thanks so much for educating me!
7
Hmm. On account of the large ocean, and a lot of Asians, I think mermaids are Asians.
35
@Kalidan, Mongolian mermaids should look fabulous, and command compassion for all the world's landlocked nations.
That's odd. Every mermaid I have ever hooked and reeled in has been Samoan.
73