#jaiyeorie
Growing childhood, Halle Bailey had an obsession with
"The Little Mermaid." She often watched the 1989 Disney animated classic
on her family's VHS tape and pretended to be Ariel whenever she went
swimming.
Bailey explains, "Her feeling of yearning, her search for herself, was something that I could relate with.
She was determined to get where she was going and wasn't going to let anyone stop her.
Bailey
will now be responsible for bringing Ariel's journey for independence
and true love to life on screen for a new generation of moviegoers at
the age of 22.
Bailey, who is best known as part of the
Grammy-nominated combo Chloe x Halle, got the lead role in the
live-action version of the legendary movie four years ago.
Bailey is aware of the significance of breaking down barriers by donning Ariel's fins because prior to her casting, only one other Black performer has been named a Disney princess (Anika Noni Rose as the voice of Tiana in "The Princess and the Frog").
“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special, and that they should be a princess in every single way,” Bailey says. “There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.”
Most fans were thrilled at the news that Bailey would play Ariel, but the trolls were just as vocal, decrying the prospect of a Black mermaid princess with the hashtag #NotMyAriel. The criticism stung. Chloe Bailey, the actor’s sister, says their tight-knit family banded together against the backlash. “It’s important,” Chloe says, “to have a strong support system around you. It’s hard to carry the weight of the world on your own.”
Bailey also got important perspective from her grandparents, who shared memories of the racism and discrimination that they had endured in their lifetimes.
“It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you,’” Bailey recalls.
And she started to think about how her y
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