When I was 10 years old I wanted to be Blossom Russo. I don’t know if you remember that wonderful series, one of many that we already told you that marked the millennial generation, in which the protagonist was a teenager who was played by Mayim Bialik. She was dark and fair skinned like me, with straight hair like mine, and everything I aspired to be. She was a role model and a character that I looked up to and with whom, without a doubt, I felt identified.
I have been fortunate to belong to the normative group. to the middle to the standard. The most represented by society in advertisements, series and movies represented me. It could have been Elena in The Vampire Diariesvalley in Companions or even Sarah in Inside of the labyrinth (one of our 80’s movies favourites).
That’s why when I saw the reaction of these girls with the trailer of the new live-action movie from The little Mermaid, with a wonderful black Ariel, I couldn’t help but think about what many of the women of my generation (and of previous generations and, unfortunately, also later ones) did not have: role models. Characters that resemble them and with whom they feel identified. “She’s like me”, they saidand I got a lump in my throat that didn’t even let me swallow saliva.
It has not been until this moment that I have realized how immensely lucky I was as a child. I managed to fit in without making an effort, and easily find my place because it was just like the vast majority. A sheep in the flock that camouflages itself. A thin, straight, white, European girl who didn’t look any different. One of many, a clone represented on TV in a thousand different ways but always the same. But not for all girls it has been like this.
The controversy of the “black Ariel” and the misfortune that it is not the first time
Lizzo said it at the Emmy Awards in her acceptance speech: “As a child I just wanted to see someone fat like me, black like me, beautiful like me on TV”. And the singer gave voice to many women and girls. From my point of view it is what the Ariel played by Halle Bailey has done.
The decision to replace a 100% fictional character (remember this, which is not the same controversy as with the HBO’s Anne Boleyn) for a physically different one gave a lot to talk about at the time. Now that the first trailer is out, a wave of racism has arisen as Sauron’s orcs emerged from the depths of Middle Earth.
And yes, it is a wave of racism because condemning an invented character because now he is represented by a person of another race, it is racism no matter where you look at it. There are those who accuse Disney of “forced inclusion”, but unfortunately, this is not the only time this has happened. Returning to Middle-earth we have the example of the black elves from the new series of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
There are those who affirmed that “there were no black elves”, to which the simplest answer is “of course, Manolo. Not white, not blond, not dark-haired, not albino, not red-haired, because they don’t really exist.” If even so we talk about adapting a book and in the book it is not mentioned that there were not other skin tones in the different races, they are still stories written many years ago and luckily (although little seen), we have seen something advanced.
Honestly, does the fact that Ismael Cruz Córdova plays the man who, to date, is the most handsome elf in Middle-earth change the plot substantially? In fact, if Legolas had followed the books closely, he would have seemed more like an orc than an elf and Orlando Bloom would not have been chosen to play him. And if you don’t believe me, take a look at these images.
Dear @HalleBailey 🙂 congratulations 💖🥹… the rest? Have a great time in her caves 😘 https://t.co/9uuPeqY33r
– Ismael Cruz Cordova (@IsmaelC_C) September 13, 2022
Let’s imagine a child who says he wants to be an elf. He tells his parents and they tell him of course, that everything is possible, and that if he dreams very hard, maybe he can one day be one, even if he is playing a character in a series. Now let’s imagine that this boy is black, and what he actually hears around him is that “You can’t be an elf. There are no black elves.” I only see people clipping a child’s wings because, in their eyes, you can’t change to evolve.
‘Once I had a dream: the dream of being an elf. This elven dream of mine seemed impossible, as they laughed at me and said, “You can’t be an elf. There are no black elves.” So here I am. Black, Latino, Puerto Rican, proud and elvish.’
Ishmael Cruz Cordova pic.twitter.com/3cgauarllo
— Tolkienverse ᚠ – #TheRingsOfPower (@ToIkienverse) September 13, 2022
Is it wrong to use a good story and modify the appearance of its characters to suit the new times? Of course yes, even more so is inspired by an unreal being that has never existed in reality.
When as a society we only like what represents more people
Talking about Ariel with my friend Patricia and the emotion that has invaded all of us, without exception, seeing the reactions of the girls, she told me that when she was a child she had an obsession with straightening her hair. No one on TV had his curly hair.
My niece Gabriela is not yet five years old and she already hates her curly hair. She wants to have it straight like all the characters she sees on TV. for her there is no curly method worth it, I would rather think of a Brazilian straightening because there is only the desire to fit in at all costs, even if you have to change something about yourself because you are differentlike in this clip from the new Netflix series you are not special.
It is now when characters like Mérida in brave or Mirabel’s in Charm They are beginning to represent other sectors as well. of the population, as will this new Ariel full of strength.
Of course I don’t see myself with the courage to tell my niece that she will never see herself reflected on TV in one of the characters that I love because they weren’t like that in the original story. “I’m sorry, little one, but you’re weird and weird isn’t cool.” I like the idea of seeing a smile on her face when she finds herself equal to one of the protagonists, as I did with Blossom and as thousands of black girls will do when they see Ariel on the big screen in May 2023.
One last thought: the first film of The little Mermaid It came out in 1983. 40 fucking years before the new one comes out. If we have not changed anything in all this time, we have to review ourselves well as a society.
Photos | The Little Mermaid, The Lord of the Rings
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