On July 13, 2019, Halle Bailey 
was announced as Ariel in the 
live-action retelling of “The Little 
Mermaid”. For many, this was 
cause for celebration. Black Twit-
ter met the announcement with a 
sea of unbridled support. Fans of 
the alternative sister duo, Chloe 
x Halle, rejoiced. For we know, 
Halle has a voice that a certain sea 
witch couldn’t help but be envious 
of. Wide-eyed Black girls uttering 
“Mommy, she looks just like me” 
starred in an adorable array of 
viral clips.
Unfortunately, not all of the 
reception was positive. Angry 
groups of dissenters have taken to 
critiquing every aspect of the cast-
ing from complaints surrounding 
the brightness of Halle’s hair to 
her darker skin tone. My personal 
favorite baseless critique is that 

“scientifically” a Black mermaid 
wouldn’t make any sense. Alleg-
edly, mermaids would have no 
access to sunlight and couldn’t 
develop melanin … Analyzing the 
scientific realism of a being that’s 
half human, half fish, and capable 
of breathing underwater is a job 
that not even Bill Nye is qualified 
for. Everyone has appointed them-
selves a jaded film critic and made 
a 23-year-old Black woman their 
sole target. Recently, the film’s 
second trailer garnered over three 
million dislikes on YouTube in 
the span of a few weeks. A #Not-
MyAriel campaign also surfaced 
on Twitter. Under this hashtag, 
you can find Halle being the tar-
get of racial slurs and countless 
insults regarding her physical 
appearance. Some users are even 
going as far as to edit white skin 
and blue eyes onto images of Halle 
as Ariel. While all critiques aren’t 
this drastic, a common complaint 
circulating has to do with Holly-

wood making a habit of “Black-
washing” white characters. 
Those who oppose a “Black 
Ariel” claim that the white char-
acters they grew up with are being 
erased. A small, but vocal, pond of 
gingers are even upset that their 
redhead representation has been 
stolen, coining this phenomenon: 
“gingercide.” 
Be astronomically for real.
The idea that representation is 
being taken from white audiences 
is ridiculous. If white people are 
seeking to see themselves in the 
form of a Disney Princess, they 
still have an array of porcelain 
sopranos to choose from. Look 
no further than Snow White, Cin-
derella or modern figures such as 
Rapunzel and Anna (oh look red-
heads, you got another one!). Bet-
ter yet, if you want your original 
white and fiery-haired Ariel, she 
is available to you at any point in 
time via Disney+ for only $7.99 per 
month.
Another common complaint 
is that whitewashing is never 
acceptable in the reverse. “Why 
can’t white actors play charac-
ters of color?” Well, they already 
have … There is large historical 
precedent in support of white-
washing. White creatives have 
cast white performers in “racially 
diverse” roles and perpetrated 
harm through caricatures of eth-
nic experiences for over a century.
Minstrel shows were the first 
uniquely American live theater 
productions. In the early 19th 
century, white actors donning 
black face, exaggerated red lips 
and coarse wigs performed stage 
plays riddled with various rac-

ist stereotypes. Decades later, 
actor Mickey Rooney played Mr. 
Yunioshi in “Breakfast at Tif-
fany’s”. Mr. Yunioshi is an Asian 
man with artificial slanted eyes 
and an exaggerated accent. Mick-
ey Rooney is a blue-eyed white 
man. More modern examples 
of this American staple include 
Gerard Butler (a white man) play-
ing an Egyptian deity in “Gods of 
Egypt”, and Scarlett Johansson 
(a white woman) cosplaying as 
Asian for “Ghost in the Shell’s” 
two-hour run-time.
Whitewashing is a cancer that 
has pervaded performance arts 
for years. Not only does this rob 
minorities of the chance to see 
themselves on screen, it steals 
agency from performers of Color, 
bars them from telling their own 
stories and refuses them access 
to an inequitable film industry. 
If anything, with casting choices 
like Halle Bailey, Hollywood is 
only beginning to make up for 
lost time. These shifts in casting 
are only a small step in healing 
decade-old wounds and adding 
diversity to projects created in 
less progressive eras. Whitewash-
ing has the exact opposite impact 
and only works to strip away the 
representation 
marginalized 
demographics have had to fight 
tooth and nail for.
Whitewashing also tends to 
interfere with the believability 
of narratives. Typically, the eth-
nicities of characters of Color are 
essential to their storylines. The 
Louisiana Bayou backdrop, cen-
tral voodoo elements, and soulful 
blues music in “The Princess and 
the Frog” don’t work with a white 

protagonist. A white man being 
the king of Wakanda, an uncolo-
nized African nation, wouldn’t 
make sense in any context. Con-
trarily, “The Little Mermaid” is a 
relatively untethered coming-of-
age story, focusing on a fictional 
creature with zero mention of 
race. There is no vocal demo-
graphic of mermaids that will be 
audibly offended if they are “inac-
curately” represented. Ariel is a 
blank slate. Rebelling against your 
parents or wanting to explore 
the world are not uniquely white 
experiences. If white children 
and white gingers could see them-
selves in a mermaid, they should 
have no problem relating to a 
black woman.
The beauty of an adaptation is 
the opportunity to retell a clas-
sic story with a modern audience 
in mind. On paper, Black Ariel 
just makes sense. For starters, 
the original film’s soundtrack 
has 
very 
obvious 
Caribbean 
influences. The musical number, 
“Under the Sea” was composed 
with a blend of calypso Trinida-
dian music and reggae sonics. 
“Kiss the Girl” even goes as far 
as sampling Harry Belafonte’s 
song “Jamaica Farewell.” The 
story itself also becomes more 
nuanced with the addition of a 
Black protagonist. Ariel feels like 
an outsider in her world and longs 
to be part of a larger society that 
refuses to accept people like her — 
this clearly parallels the reality of 
many Black Americans navigating 
this country. There is always an 
underlying feeling of discomfort 
or invalidity associated with hold-
ing marginalized identities. It is 

difficult to truly feel a part of a 
world that was built through your 
oppression. Narratively, a Black 
woman begging to be seen in a 
land that ignores her existence 
is infinitely more powerful than 
a girl who merely wants to travel 
and trade her fins for legs. A Black 
child getting her voice stolen by a 
villainess white woman also takes 
on a deeper meaning with this 
reimagining. It’s no secret that 
Black music, style and aesthetics 
are frequently colonized by white 
people, and appropriated for their 
benefit. Am I reading too deeply 
into a story containing a magical 
belting octopus and a six-packed 
sea god? Possibly, but I’m not 
claiming these were intentional 
choices, just that they’re interest-
ing to analyze and have the poten-
tial to bring new life into an old 
project. 
There is no better fit for bring-
ing Ariel to life than Halle Bailey, 
the exceptionally talented singer, 
actress and Black woman. Halle 
Bailey does not deserve internet 
trolls and heated controversy. 
Halle Bailey deserves a relentless 
wave of “thank you”s. Thank you 
for ushering a lead Black heroine 
into the living rooms of count-
less Black children. Thank you for 
acting as a symbol for youth that 
are constantly forced to question 
their beauty and value. Thank 
you for letting the Black kids with 
starter locs or plaits reaching 
down their backs know that they 
too can be royalty. Thank you to 
#OurAriel for telling every Black 
girl in America that she can be 
anything she wants to be, even a 
princess and a mermaid.

Michigan in Color
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

In defense of “Black Ariel”

JAMES SCARBOROUGH
MiC Columnist

Design by Haylee Bohn

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 — 9

What she knows

Content warning: mentions of 
violence and sexual themes.

I don’t believe in fickle things 
like gold
or fate
But my mother taught me how to 
listen
when the universe hums a soft 
siren song

How strange is it
I found you
and time seemed to stop 
the same day I lost my favorite 
watch

I liked dancing alone
But you never gave me a choice
Calloused fingers yanked me into 
your waltz
so fast I lost count

One, two, three
One, two, three

We floated delicately around each 

other
breaths bated
not quite touching
I twirled on my toes
it was dizzying
A thousand jittery butterflies
enveloped me in their sweet 
embrace

I cursed when the clouds darkened
You didn’t mind much (you wel-
comed the cool wind)
I minded too much (I missed the 
way the sun made your hair glow)
The real tragedy
was when the sky unleashed her 
pouring wrath 
Do you remember how quickly
we tumbled down that yellow cob-
blestone street? 
My right foot slipped on wet stone
You grabbed my hand without 
looking
as if your instincts were wired to 
catch me
when I inevitably fall before you

I flicked damp hair off your cheek
Your palm found home on the nape 
of my neck
and when our lips met

you laughed into my mouth 
It was funny 
How the rain stopped soon after
Almost as if its only purpose
was to urge your hand to grab 
mine

My touch was static
charged volts with violent desires
I drew back
to contain the sparks
You cried out
and placed my hand on your heart
You thought the electricity
would bring you back to life

But you never blinked
when I failed to thread the needle
every stitch incomplete 
The water spills past the dam, still
Did you want me to drown?
 
When our legs were entangled
and my curls splayed across your 
pillowcase
my battle scars disguised them-
selves
as marks of your affection
Purple and blue and yellow
On my neck
chest

stomach
in between my thighs
I didn’t know
I was a masochist 

I would bite your skin 
aching to show you
I, too, could play your games
The white handkerchief taunted 

me
I used it
to wipe the blood
trickling down my chin
I would let myself burn 
if that’s what you wanted
Rub me into your wounds
My ashes could be your salve

But if we were so vicious 
together 
Why does the wind scream in my 
ears
and push my body backward
so I stumble into your arms
once again?
What does mother earth know
that I don’t? 

DHEEKSHA KRISHNAN
MiC Columnist

Michigan in Color host bi-annual Art Expo

This past weekend, over 100 
community members on and off 
campus had the opportunity to 
attend Michigan in Color’s sec-
ond exhibit of static and perfor-
mance art –– a tradition that is 
becoming a highlight for artists 
and art lovers on campus. While 
named differently than last se-
mester’s “Open MiC Night,” 
this year’s show –– donned the 
“MiC Arts Expo” –– once again 
brought artists of Color together 
in a space meant for anyone and 
everyone to enjoy.
As attendees started gather-
ing in the event space at Cahoots 
Cafe, they were given the oppor-
tunity to see stunning static art 
including tapestries, prints, fash-
ion pieces and MiC’s very own 
Black Hair Series. After days of 
gloomy weather, the sun radiated 
through the skylights and the 
excitement of spring reverber-
ated through the audience. The 
seats filled up quickly and within 
minutes of the show starting the 
room was filled to the brim.
As everyone started to settle 
in, School of Information soph-
omore and MiC photographer 
Akash Dewan and former MiC 
Managing Editor Eliya Imtiaz 
opened up the show. Imtiaz said 
she was grateful for having this 
space again, as she and Dewan 
had the original idea of founding 
Open MiC Night in the fall. 

The show started off with a 
classical Indian music perfor-
mance by Sikander Choudhary, 
an LSA freshman and queer Desi 
musician trained in Hindustani 
classical music. The opening per-
formance was followed by vari-
ous other musical performances, 
each one carrying its own cul-
tural and unique purpose. After 
a series of vocal performances, 
“Karis Clark and Co.” refreshed 
the audience with a fusion of im-
prov, comedy and rap. 
As 
the 
intermission 
came 
around, the audience was once 
again given the opportunity to 
view the static art and grab cof-
fee from the cafe. Art and Design 
sophomore Sonia Xiang, one of 
the static artists, expressed being 
grateful for a space to talk about 
her own art while also hearing 
from other artists.
“I really enjoyed the event and 
liked that I could have conver-
sations and meet so many new 
people in this space,” Xiang said.
Among the three pieces, Xiang 
displayed a fashion garment on a 
mannequin titled “Interwoven, 
2023”. In the description of the 
piece, Xiang wrote, “This is an 
ongoing piece that I created in an 
exploration of collection, memo-
ry and identity by taking objects 
and scraps that were once im-
portant in my past and using it to 
create something unrecognizably 
new from foundations of past 
memories.” Static artists accom-
panied their pieces with vivid de-
scriptions of their goals as artists 

and often discussed how their 
identities were at the forefront of 
their art..
After the intermission, the 
show resumed with Pluot, a Jap-
anese rock band from Ann Arbor. 
Band singer Echo Bennett, an 
Engineering sophomore, intro-
duced the band and remarked on 
how their band has a reputation 
for “blowing things up.” Their 
performance was an exciting 
change of pace for the audience 
and an enjoyable musical experi-
ence. In an interview with band 
leader and guitarist Takahito 
Mori, an LSA junior, Mori said 
he was appreciative of the oppor-
tunity to play in a more intimate 
setting.
“This wasn’t our usual thing 
since we’re usually somewhere 
where we make a bunch of noise 
but it felt very supportive and the 
cheers were really great. I could 
tell that everyone was here just 

to enjoy art and for no other pur-
pose,” Mori said.
Toward the end of the show 
Business junior Roman Rhone, 
who performed last semester, 
came for another performance 
on the steel drums. At the end of 
his performance, Rhone said he 
was surprised that so many peo-
ple came out to support the arts, 
which was followed by audience 
laughter.
“This turnout is really great — 
I’m surprised these many people 
enjoy art,” Rhone said.
The show ended with Dewan 
giving his final remarks speaking 
about his own experience.
“Being in creator spheres I 
long for communities like this, 
for rooms packed full of people 
that appreciate art and artists of 
Color,” Dewan said. “It genuinely 
feels like a safe space, while that 
word is thrown around a lot this 
is the first time I have actually 

felt it.”
The MiC Art Expo is a distinc-
tive campus event for artists of 
Color to have a space of appre-
ciation and for the public to see 
a dynamic gathering of students 
and Ann Arbor residents. We 
were thrilled to continue provid-

ing a space that we created last 
semester and we hope to keep 
doing so every semester moving 
forward. We would like to thank 
all the artists, attendees and per-
formers that took the time to be 
in this space and we look forward 
to seeing you again!

Renee Thomas/MiC

Nolan Lopez/MiC

SHANIA BAWEJA
MiC Assistant Editor

Akash Dewan/MiC

