The Big Mermaid

I think one of the funniest, most pathetic, yet most expected story in the Republican Party's angst-ridden, racist effort to fight a "Culture War" is the empty "outrage" about a black actress playing not only a fictional character in a movie, but playing a fictional character that's mythical.

It should be noted that this empty "outrage" is pretty much limited to the GOP extreme right since The Little Mermaid movie has so far grossed $320 million around the world.  (And more than half of that, $184 million, is in the non-GOP racist extreme right part of the good ol' USA.)

This "outrage" is not just, of course, racist, but also idiotically stupid.  And yes, I know that "idiotically stupid" is pretty much redundant, but something this idiotically stupid deserves redundancy.

The good news is that I think I've actually come up with a definitive resolution to the controversy.  (Yes, really.)  More on that in a bit.  But first, this insanity has to be put in proper perspective.

For starters, for a political party that has long been trying to cry weeping crocodile tears about supposed "Cancel Culture," the GOP has been doing an impressive job of trying to cancel the parts of culture their intolerant base can't handle -- whether it's criminalizing the frilly clothes that some men may wear when putting on a stage show, or Bud Light using a spokesperson who is out of the mainstream, or an M&M piece of candy being the wrong color and gender or, here, an actress whose skin is not their approved color playing a mythical sea being.

(Additionally, for a political party that tries to claim it's supposedly good for business, a lot of this is incredibly anti-business.  Including slamming Mr. Potato Head for selling its Mr. and Mrs. characters in the same box.  And outraged that the Dr. Seuss estate wanted to pull some books out of circulation.  And claims to want to get government out of ours lives.  And is supposedly for personal choice.  And...well, you get the point.)

But also, there are three reasons that make the extreme right GOP racist reaction for The Little Mermaid is all the more pathetic.  Especially the third of those reasons.  Which is my definitive resolution.  We'll get there in a moment.  But first --

First is the aforementioned point that a mermaid is mythical.  And to complain about the skin-color of a mermaid is just weird.  And yes, I know that this Disney movie is based on a cartoon where the mythical character was white, but that was a…cartoon.  So, who is to say the cartoon didn't get it wrong?  That perhaps in real, fictional mythology, an under-water creature like a mermaid, among the various sea beings like whales, sharks, dolphins, otters and all manner of fish, isn't necessarily white.  Moreover, the Disney cartoon isn't even the source material, but instead is based on a fairy tale, one written by Hans Christian Andersen.  So, to summarize:  we're dealing with fairy tales, cartoons, and mythical characters here.  And this is what the Republican Party base -- so concerned with "Cancel Culture" - is upset about.  And want to cancel.

Second, if someone in the audience is so tied-in-knots racist that they can't handle a mythical mermaid -- That Does Not Exist in Real Life -- in the movie being black, there's a really easy way they can placate their racist angst and makes this okay.  They can just twist themselves further into believing that although the actress playing the role is black, she's simply playing a character who is white mermaid.  After all, Sir. Laurence Olivier was white, but played the black king 'Othello' in the movie version of Shakespeare's play (as have countless actors over the centuries on stage).  And the Catholic Al Pacino recently played a Jewish rabbi in the Amazon Prime series Hunters, and has played the Jewish 'Shylock' in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.  Oscar and Tony-winning actress Glenda Jackson famously starred as King Lear on the London stage and Broadway. And last year, a revival of the musical 1776 featured an all-female cast playing the Founding Fathers. (Speaking of Shakespeare, in his day, all women's roles -- black and white -- were played by men.)  That said, yes, of course, the character of 'The Little Mermaid' in the live-action movie version is, actually, black.  But if someone truly can't handle that fact without exploding, then I think to make their tormented existence just a touch easier (and easier for the rest of humanity in the sane world), it's reasonable to point out to them that since they're contorted enough already, they should just keep twisting their warped thinking a little bit more,

But third, and most of all, we have finally reached the definitive explanation.  As I said, "The Little Mermaid" is not a Disney story.  It's based on a fairy tale that was written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.  And while Andersen's original story does say that his Little Mermaid has white hands, it also says she has five sisters, but wait -- Disney's 'Ariel' has six.  And Andersen's mermaid is not named Ariel. And he describes his Little Mermaid as having skin like a "rose-leaf," which is red.  But then, there are also black roses.  (And for that matter, yellow, orange and even green and blue roses. And actually multi-colored ones.) So, oh, my God, hold on, what is going on??  Is Hans Christian Andersen saying his Little Mermaid is like a rainbow?!  After all, it's specifically her hands that are described as white, not her face or torso.  (And how hellish would that be to the extreme right?!)  Is this even the same Little Mermaid?  Something is off here!  So many changes, so much confusion. 

​​Indeed, as far as we know, one thing that's off is that in this metamorphosis from the page, maybe Disney got it completely wrong in the cartoon.  How in the world are we to know??  How?!!

​Oh.  Wait.  There is a way to know!  (Well...sort of.)  Because I remembered from a family trip I took as a kid, there is a definitive source that I believe can settle the issue.

Hans Christian Andersen's original story is, of course, legendary.  But it is especially legendary in Denmark, where it was published in 1837.

And it is so much a legend in Denmark that to honor the tale and the Little Mermaid herself, Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen donated a gift to the city of Copenhagen in 1913.  That's when he had commissioned Edvard Eriksen to make a sculpture of The Little Mermaid.  And ever since that day, The Little Mermaid sits on a rock by the waterside at Langelinie Pier, where it has been one of the city's most popular tourist attractions for 110 years.

For 110 years, people around the world have come to Copenhagen, the home of The Little Mermaid, to celebrate, honor and appreciate that beloved character.   

I remembered because I saw the sculpture on that family trip.  Resting there, for all to see the Little Mermaid.  Indeed, there on her rock, as much as any physical manifestation of Hans Christian Anderson's mythical Little Mermaid could be.  Made of bronze and granite, to last through history.  For the past 110 years.  

Here she is --

Is this what Hans Christian Andersen intended?  Is she like a rose-leaf?  And what color rose?  Is she a rainbow? Does she have five sisters?  Is she even 'Ariel' at all?  Alas, he's not around to ask.  All we have to go on for her physical representation is what the city of Copenhagen, home and protector of the legend and mythical The Little Mermaid for the past 110 years, has chosen to give to the world.

Is a statue made decades after the story was written irrelevant? I would suggest it is far more relevant, sitting there under the official tribute of Copenhagen for over a century, than the "outrage" by the extreme right for a mythical, fictional character.

And according to Copenhagen, and what the world has seen and accepted for the past 110 years, The Little Mermaid sitting on her rock is black.