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The dark-skinned mermaid is well-grounded in the science of marine biology, says Karen Osborne, an expert in the field and curator at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

The latest production from the "Disney" catalog - a remake of the classic animation "The Little Mermaid" has thrilled millions of people around the world, while angering quite a few of them.

The reason for the division was the casting, as the main role was entrusted to the dark-skinned actress Hallie Bailey, writes "Slaveykov Square".

The first trailer for the upcoming feature film, uploaded on September 10, has already been viewed nearly 18 million times, but has 2.2 million dislikes on the YouTube platform.

The cast also includes Melissa McCarthy as the wicked witch Ursula and Javier Bardem as Triton, the mermaid's father.

However, none of this caught the attention of viewers as much as the choice of an actress in the lead role.

The first trailer for "The Little Mermaid" gave rise to dozens of theories as to why the mermaid should not have dark skin, most of them resorting to the argument that the author of the story, Hans Christian Andersen, is Danish and therefore Ariel must have Danish roots or at least Greek on his father Triton's side.

The negative reactions are summarized by the hashtag #NotMyAriel (This is not my Ariel).

From a scientific point of view, however, the dark-skinned mermaid is well-founded, says Karen Osborne in an interview with BuzzFeed, and points out that fish and sea creatures "reflect the world around them":

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“Moving along the vertical of water bodies, at the very beginning, near the surface, most creatures are blue because they need to blend in with the sky above them and avoid the risk of being eaten by predators lurking below.

There are also so-called "mirror animals", almost transparent, which reflect what is near them, good camouflage for shallower waters.

Going down to the bottom, the animals become more pigmented, the deep red appears - in the depths there can be no red light, so to be red is actually to be black.

Further down, numerous brown and black fish are seen, some ultra black.'

When asked what a mermaid's ideal camouflage would be, Osborne reasoned that judging by the description, these fictional creatures would be transparent to fit well in the habitat of the deep, but also in the shallows, where they would likely hunt.

"If they were transparent, they would fit the setting best, but that would have been quite difficult to shoot - where are they going to find a transparent actress?

Therefore, it would make the most sense for them to be dark red or black," adds the biologist, and specifies that the depths would probably be a preferred place for mermaids, since there they would be far from human influence.

The Little Mermaid premieres on the big screen on May 26, 2023.

Everyone is a fool in the mermaid color debate

However, others believe that the controversy over the appearance of the mermaid is absolutely pointless - not only because it brings out racist reasoning, but because this film is so unoriginal that it does not deserve such attention and everyone involved in the controversy is a fool on the losing side. Stuart Heritage, commenting in the Guardian.

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"The worst thing about the culture wars is that they require the formulation of an opinion about things that absolutely do not deserve it.

Case in point: the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.

This is not one of those films that deserves to occupy a large place in our minds - the story is old, told using technology that will become obsolete much faster than traditional animation, and in any other scenario it would have remained four weeks on the big screen before we completely forget about it.”

It's no longer possible to remain neutral in the argument, Heritage believes: you're either on the side of those who don't see how a mermaid could be any color other than white, or you're on the side of the people who will look at it simply to not the racists win.

All this hype means that the film certainly won't be judged on its artistic merits.

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"And this is The Little Mermaid, don't let him see it!"

If past Disney feature adaptations are any indicator, then this film is unlikely to qualify as such, Heritage further explains.

– It will be a mechanically callous exercise in recalling existing intellectual property and will come nowhere close to the original.

When was the last time you got excited about Guy Ritchie's Aladdin remake?

Or from Tim Burton's Dumbo?

A new live-action adaptation of Pinocchio came out on Disney+ recently, and I have yet to meet a single person who could find an atom of energy to watch it.

There are dozens of valid reasons for not wanting to see The Little Mermaid, fixating on the casting seems like a terrible waste of energy."