Not just The Little Mermaid: 6 mermaids of colour across history – Halle Bailey got racist trolling for playing Ariel in Disney’s live-action remake, but black water beings feature in many myths …
- #NotMyAriel trended on social media when Bailey’s casting was announced and the backlash resurfaced when Disney dropped the film’s teaser trailer in September
- Ariel was fair-skinned in the 1989 animated film and the fairy tale was written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, but mermaids feature in myths throughout Africa and the Caribbean too
When Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, she was confronted with racist backlash.
The #NotMyAriel hashtag gained traction when her casting was first announced. Some people felt that the role should have gone to a white actress, since the heroine in Disney’s 1989 animated film had fair skin, and the original fairy tale was written by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author.
The backlash re-emerged when Disney released its teaser trailer in September.
But Bailey actually follows a long lineage of mermaids from different cultures with centuries-old histories.
“The idea of aquatic spirits and mermaids is not one that Hans Christian Andersen came up with. He popularised this particular story, but the concept predates his story,” said Khytie Brown, assistant professor of African diaspora religions at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s just one iteration of the story, which points to the overall historical problem of European representations becoming the dominant representation.”
From alluring sirens to grotesque sea creatures, here are the mermaids prevalent in six different cultures.
1. Mami Wata, West Africa
Mami Wata, or “Mother Water”, has been celebrated throughout much of Africa for centuries. Depictions of the goddess have been influenced by representations of indigenous African water spirits, European mermaids, Hindu gods and Christian and Muslim saints. The water spirit is often portrayed as a beautiful woman with a fish tail and curly black hair, a large snake – a symbol of divinity – wrapped around her body.
At once seductive and dangerous, Mami Wata can shape-shift, disguising herself as human to wander busy markets or bars, according to African lore. She is also ascribed powers of both illness and healing, lust and fertility.
People from various coastal African regions, including Benin, Ghana and Togo, worship Mami Wata as the most prominent water deity. A formal priesthood dedicated to the goddess officiates ceremonies, maintains shrines, and conducts healing rituals.