In a world full stress and tribulations, people look for ways to escape the harsh realities of life….if only for a little while. Entertainment is usually one of the simplest, yet most compelling ways that folks of all ages can allow themselves to be absorbed in, especially films. Nothing transports us as quickly, or as overwhelmingly, as a compelling story, engaging characters and scenery that can broaden our perspectives and collectively beguile us.

But when films want to present ideas that differ from the norm or, to pardon the pun, flip the script on what society’s come to expect, the reactions can be visceral, such as the heated debates and discussions caused by Disney’s recent decision to cast African-American actress and singer, Halle Bailey, one-half of the singing sister duo, Chloe and Halle, as Ariel in their upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. Did I say ‘heated’? Many in social media lost. Their. Minds. In fact, an unfortunate hashtag, #NotMyAriel, expresses horror at the prospect of Bailey’s melanated contrast to the pale-skinned, blue-eyed version in the animated 1989 movie and practically insists that she can’t possibly portray a mermaid. You read that correctly….according to the naysayers. a young woman talented enough to get signed to a recording contract via Beyonce’s entertainment company, harmonize on multiple film soundtracks and appear in ABC’s Blackish spinoff, Grownish, can’t portray a fictional creature of the sea?

If that’s not abhorrent enough, #NotMyAriel dissenters had threatened to boycott the film and circulated memes full of (gasp!) white actors playing black people, such as Ryan Gosling as Martin Luther King Jr., Taylor Swift recast in Imitation of Life and Ryan Reynolds channeling King T’Challa from 2018’s Oscar-winning film, Black Panther (Hmmm—-I guess they forgot that the creator of the comic book series, the late Stan Lee, was also white). That might would have been more impactful, perhaps, if they weren’t already championing previously whitewashed portrayals of factual and fictional minorities. In other words, you can’t effectively threaten to hire white actors to portray Asians, Latinos, Native Americans and Blacks if you’ve already done it.

Remember Angelina Jolie portraying the biracial protagonist in A Mighty Heart? Ben Affleck cast as Hispanic in Argo? Tom Cruise portraying an Asian in The Last Samurai? Yul Brenner and Elizabeth Taylor cast as Egyptians in The Ten Commandments and Cleopatra, respectively? And how about films like Mississippi Burning, Detroit and The Help, that relegate the Black narratives and characters as interlopers and whites in the central plot? How is that acceptable film making, yet casting more minorities is not? #OscarsSoWhite didn’t occur in a vacucum: directors and movie studios are acknowledging the obvious—-whites are not the only group of individuals who pay at the box office and not every story needs to focus, or should, on whites. It’s naïve and downright insulting to expect non-whites to continue supporting an art form that mutes and marginalizes their talents, perspectives and creativity. If these #NotMyAriel folks were honest with themselves, they would acknowledge that just with Disney alone, dozens of movies and animated features were produced framing the ‘white gaze’ and that African-American film viewers, with spending power in the billions, deserve the opportunity to have their uniqueness affirmed. Other points of view exist and non-whites can just as compellingly, and profitably, portray characters, fictional or otherwise.

As the mother of two beautiful and capable daughters, I will continue to champion filmmakers that support, rather than shun, diversity. We cannot wait to enjoy the updated Mermaid remake with through their eyes, glad that they have more and more dimensions in which to view themselves on the big screen and beyond. Halle’s earned her opportunity, and erasure of our experiences and images will no longer be tolerated. Like KeKe Palmer recently stated, as the first Black actress to portray Cinderella on Broadway, “Since the beginning of the entertainment industry, the most roles for black women were that of the maid. So it’s about damn time we get to play the mermaid.”