Can "The Little Mermaid" be remade with people of color

[anansi]

They really don’t need to , I prefer if they make a story of Mami Wata , yes African and African descendant folks have our own water spirits and Mermaids to draw from.

Mermaids in African & Caribbean Mythology

By Michelle

The myth of the mermaid is a universal cultural staple. They feature in fairytales, fantasies, adventures, and the like. The concept of mysterious beings who live in the sea and other bodies of water has captivated the minds of those who live on land for milenia. The myth of the mermaid is layered, diverse, and dynamic. This can be attributed to the fact that the myth varies from culture to culture, and even by region on the same continent. Like other mainstream mythological creatures, mermaids have roots in many cultures around the world, from China to Russia to Senegal – several cultures across the world have legends of these aquatic beings. In this blog, we will be exploring the long-standing mermaid mythology of Africa and the Caribbean.

Although they may be referred to by different names, plenty of what we would call mermaids around the world have the same, or at least similar, physical traits. Many of them feature a being with the upper body of a woman and the elongated bottom half of a fish, with a tail and fins replacing legs. In West and Central-West Africa, mermaids are generally referred to as Mami Wata, a name which has unclear origins. This blanket name refers to mermaids, and the deity which resembles a mermaid.

Since the myth of the mermaid is one that features in so many cultures across the world, it is no surprise that the appearances of mermaids vary. Despite the popularised image of mermaids being white, Black people have always had their mermaid myths and legends albeit without the involvement of tridents, princes and ‘happily-ever-afters’. Black countries in Africa and the Caribbean in particular have a unique relationship with the myth of the mermaid. Generally, in these areas, those who live near bodies of water (rivers, lakes, seas) are aware of her existence. Reactions on mentioning Mami Wata could range from wariness to indifference, the sort of indifference that comes from talking about something that is a known fact or a part of life.

Interestingly, it is also generally agreed upon that mermaids are inherently supernatural, with equally supernatural abilities such as hypnosis. In West and Central West Africa, Mami Wata is not only the blanket name for mermaids – it is also a deity, meaning that there are people who worship her. She has a multitude of abilities, including healing the sick, increasing female fertility by ‘blessing’ women with baby girls, as well as providing wealth and other material rewards. As a goddess, she is described as jealous with a potentially fatal wrath when angered. She can also cause sickness, and bad luck which ranges from failure in important aspects of life, to the more drastic – death. There is a certain unpredictability associated with mermaids and Mami Wata, who is said to be hostile and dangerous at times and welcoming at other times. There are some aspects of her lore which involve luring men to their graves – similar to European mermaid myth. However, unlike the European mermaid myth, African and Caribbean mermaid mythology can be argued as being more complex as mermaids in these places are believed to have supernatural abilities, are worshipped, and are associated with curses and blessings.

blamuk.org/2022/10/21/mami-wata-la-sirene-mama-dlo/

Zoumana Sane (dates unknown, Senegal)
Mami Wata, circa 1987
Pigment, glass
Collection of Herbert M. and Shelley Cole
Photo by Don Cole

John Goba (b. 1944, Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone)
Headdress, 1980s (?)
Wood, pigment, fabric, netting, beads, metal fiber
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Cole

Dona Fish
Ovimbundu peoples, Angola
Circa 1950s-1960s
Wood, pigment, metal, mixed media
Private Collection
Photo by Don Cole

Yaure peoples, C�te d'Ivoire
Circa 1970s
Wood, paint, rubber

Photo by Don Cole

Abdal 22 (active 1980s-early 1990s, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Mami Wata, 1989
Acrylic on canvas
Private Collection

Roudy Azor (b. 1980, Port-au-Prince, Haiti)
Lasirene-marassas trois (Lasirèn-Twins [and the One Who Follows the Twins Making Three]), 2006
Satin, beads, sequins
Private Collection
Photo by Don Cole.

Moyo Ogundipe (b. 1948, Ijesha-Ishu, Nigeria; active Denver, Colorado)
Mami Wata, 1999
Acrylic on canvas
Collection of Chike Obianwu
africa.si.edu/exhibits/mamiwata/intro.html

From the Yoruba religion, Yemaya was brought over to the New World by enslaved Africans as early as the 16th century.
www.teenvogue.com/story/the-history-of-yemaya-goddess-mermaid

fineartamerica.com/featured/yemoja-orisa-ocean-water-marie-jean-baptiste.html?product=puzzle&puzzleType=puzzle-18-24


generationexorcist.tumblr.com/post/186142459655/mami-wata-the-most-celebrated-mermaid-like-deity

[archaeologist]

Joseph Kendy is an artist from Haiti who has made picture stories of various local legends and tales, including some about mermaids.

Here is a mermaid tale told in pictures. This mermaid can shift in form, from looking like an ordinary human to a more typical mermaid

Se the full picture story here:

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

Oct 25, 2024 6:49:45 GMT -5 anansi said:

They really don’t need to , I prefer if they make a story of Mami Wata , yes African and African descendant folks have our own water spirits and Mermaids to draw from.

That would require Disney under Bob Iger to make something that doesn't already milk one of their established IPs, which is all they really care about nowadays.

To be sure, I don't have a problem with Ariel in the remake being Black (even if the remake was another one of Disney's recent soulless and half-assed cash-grabs). There's no rule saying mermaids have to be of a specific ethnicity since they are mythical creatures.

[archaeologist]

Maybe still they could show some fidelity to the culture that a certain mermaid story was told in. H C Andersen probably imagined a Danish looking Mermaid, just as for example Joseph Kendy imagined a dark skinned Haitian mermaid. It would perhaps have been odd if Kendy drew a light skinned blonde or red headed mermaid.


Disney is lazy, there are mermaid stories from the whole world, could they not pick some other story than one they already filmed?

[djehuti]

To Anansi, if I recall Mami Wata is a goddess but mermaids in West African lore were more demonic figures who caused shipwrecks and drown men. Frankly I would rather see a Nollywood movie about that than any pig sh*t that Disney produces, which brings me to the main point...

Why the hell is Disney black-painting or dark-painting in general all these fairytales as in European folktales?? Has anyone bothered to tell them that there are more folktales in one small area of Nigeria than all the German territories of the Holy Roman Empire the Grimms Brothers collected their tales?? I remember reading African folktales back in grades school and read of warrior princesses like the one who slew a lake monster after pretending to bathe or Yennenga the Brave. Does anybody find it insulting to black people that Disney is giving European stories with black faces like used hand-me-downs?? I mean it's gotten to the point where even Asians are laughing at the people in Disney doing this mess. They already ruined Mulan who technically was not a princess but a noblewoman. Even Tiana, the "first black princess" was not a real princess because she was not royalty. I mean it's become obvious these folks are denigrating black people.

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

I remember once seeing an animated adaptation of the Frog Prince with Black characters that predated the Disney adaptation. I think it may have been part of a series that took popular fairy tales and set them in non-Western environs. Of course, a fair argument could be made that adapting actual non-Western folk tales would be better than simply taking a famous Western fairytale and portraying its characters as non-Western people of color, but I do think that, from a strictly aesthetic perspective, it can be interesting to see something familiar in a new cultural light.

Weren't mermaids often malevolent in European traditions too, BTW?

[archaeologist]

There are so much African lore one can make films from. And such films would find an audience, also among "white" people. When the French director Michel Ocelot made the animated film Kirikou and the sorceress based on African lore it became very well received. They even made two sequels and a music theatre with Malian singer and actress Fatoumata Diawara as the the sorceress Karaba. Here in Sweden it was first shown in cinemas, then on TV, and it was even shown in some schools.


Oddly enough it got some problems in USA because of some nudity.



See this thread about Kirikou

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

BTW, I remember Morpheus from the old ES once telling me that the reason Ariel in the recent Disney remake is Black has to do with one of his online debates over whether ancient Egyptians were Black. His opponent, a White supremacist, argued that Ramses II would have been a redhead, and Morpheus countered, "Black people can have red hair too." This White supremacist then claimed to have media connections and was going to see to it that Disney would cast a Black woman as Ariel in the remake in order to mock Morpheus, since Ariel in the original Disney animation has bright red hair. I don't know how likely this is to be true (Morpheus has shared with me some very far-fetched anecdotes he claims to have experienced), but if it is, there could actually be a malign intent behind Black Ariel in the remake.

[archaeologist]

Oct 26, 2024 3:55:02 GMT -5 Brandon S. Pilcher said:

I remember once seeing an animated adaptation of the Frog Prince with Black characters that predated the Disney adaptation. I think it may have been part of a series that took popular fairy tales and set them in non-Western environs. Of course, a fair argument could be made that adapting actual non-Western folk tales would be better than simply taking a famous Western fairytale and portraying its characters as non-Western people of color, but I do think that, from a strictly aesthetic perspective, it can be interesting to see something familiar in a new cultural light.

Weren't mermaids often malevolent in European traditions too, BTW?

They have among other things been associated with sirens whose song could lure ships and sailors to their death, as seen in The Odyssey.

The Western concept of mermaids as beautiful, seductive singers may have been influenced by the sirens of Greek mythology, which were originally half-birdlike, but came to be pictured as half-fishlike in the Christian era.

Mermaid

[archaeologist]

Here is an original illustration from Andersens fairy tale from 1837


The Little Mermaid by Vilhelm Pedersen. Original illustration of 
H. C. Andersen's fairy tale with the same title, 1837.

The Little Mermaid also inspired one of Denmark´s most famous statues "Den lille havfrue" made by Danish artist Edvard Eriksen in 1913.

The Little Mermaid (statue)




The Little mermaid has even been a ballet, here with ballerina Ellen Price, Royal Danish Ballet, 1909.

[anansi]

Oct 26, 2024 3:23:43 GMT -5 djehuti said:

To Anansi, if I recall Mami Wata is a goddess but mermaids in West African lore were more demonic figures who caused shipwrecks and drown men. Frankly I would rather see a Nollywood movie about that than any pig sh*t that Disney produces, which brings me to the main point...

Why the hell is Disney black-painting or dark-painting in general all these fairytales as in European folktales?? Has anyone bothered to tell them that there are more folktales in one small area of Nigeria than all the German territories of the Holy Roman Empire the Grimms Brothers collected their tales?? I remember reading African folktales back in grades school and read of warrior princesses like the one who slew a lake monster after pretending to bathe or Yennenga the Brave. Does anybody find it insulting to black people that Disney is giving European stories with black faces like used hand-me-downs?? I mean it's gotten to the point where even Asians are laughing at the people in Disney doing this mess. They already ruined Mulan who technically was not a princess but a noblewoman. Even Tiana, the "first black princess" was not a real princess because she was not royalty. I mean it's become obvious these folks are denigrating black people.

They want the rizz as the kids say, of Black folks without telling Black folks stories.