In 1978, my uncle Patrick took me to the cinema one Saturday afternoon to see Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. I’ll never forget the colorful, vivid animation, the dreamy soundtrack and more importantly the DEVASTATING effect the story had on me. If anyone considers the following a spoiler, I feel sorry for you. THE LITTLE MERMAID DIES IN THE END!! Being 6 years old at the time, this was probably my first clear understanding of life’s lessons of anguish.

When the Disney version was released in the 1989, I felt personally insulted that a mockery was made of the classic fable. Marina’s name had been changed to Ariel, which made no sense whatsoever and she now had red hair instead of the long blonde flowing locks I had always known her to have.

Ariel looked like what could have been the result if Wilma Flinstone fucked Flipper! The Sea Witch, whom I had always known as the menacing Devil Ray with glowing pink eyes had now taken the form of an overweight, diabetic-looking octopus in drag who ends up being killed, naturally leaving Ariel and her Prince to “live happily ever after”…BARF!

Although a representation of my simple mind at the time, one of the elements I remember the most from the 1975 version is how beautiful Marina and her sisters all were. They each had a particular hairstyle and color and even as animated characters, their makeup was flawless!

I also had a very rich exposure to many of Christensen’s fables in elementary school and if i’m not mistaken, they were all very tragic. Although the 1975 animated film’s story was for the most part true to Christensen’s original there are a few key elements in the classic story I feel should be highlighted that seem to have important relevance today with all of the live-action casting controversies. I can’t help but laugh at those complaining that “Ariel” shouldn’t be a person of color when the original little mermaid’s skin was described as “translucent”. I think it’s fitting that it didn’t actually have a color. I can’t even get past the fact that Disney convinced their audience that “Ariel” made more sense than “Marina”. The Little Mermaid did not have an actual name, she was simply referred to as “The Little Mermaid”.

Over the last few days, social media has been whipped into a frenzy regarding the casting of Halle Bailey (yes, I too gasped when I first registered this casting as Halle Berry). I still haven’t seen nor do I give a shit about the Disney version and although I approve of a “black Ariel” in the upcoming live-action film the only way I’ll truly be interest is if Lizzo wins her campaign for the role of Ursula. What I would love to see is a well-done film based on Christensen’s classic fable and inspired by the original illustrations by artist Vilhelm Pedersen.

I highly recommend watching the hour-long 1975 version and you might even be fascinated as I was to know the same animators later brought us Sailor Moon!

As for the original fairy tale, you can read it here:

http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html