Ethics in Hollywood Casting

Asad Zamayar

January 2021

Since its rise back in the early 20th century, Hollywood has been criticized for various reasons, often for its lack of diversity and its ethical issues. However, casting and certain actors playing roles have more recently become a hot topic on social media.

Back in 2019, Disney announced that they were resuming the live-action remake for The Little Mermaid. Additionally, Disney reported a select few of the cast members. They said that actors and actresses such as Jacob Tremblay, Melissa McCarthy, and others would participate. However, when Halle Bailey, a Grammy-nominated singer part of the duo Chloe x Halle with her sister, was announced to be playing the leading role of Ariel, many fans were upset.

Fans criticized Disney for casting a black actress when in the movies, Ariel appeared to be white. Many upset fans took to Twitter, starting the hashtag #NotMyAriel. Some fans stated that Halle "isn't the right person," and some went as far as saying that her casting "ruined the entire movie."

The main argument against Halle’s casting was that her physical appearance wasn't accurate to the original movie, as in the film, Ariel was a Danish redhead. However, this specific argument is flawed.

Firstly, Hollywood is notorious for casting individuals who aren't similar to the character's original reference. There are countless examples of Hollywoods' whitewashing. For example, Liam Neeson portraying Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins when in the comics the character was of Arab descent. This also includes when Scarlett Johansson led the role of Ghost in the Shell, when in the original manga, the main character was Japanese.

However, even if it was plausible to entertain the previous argument, there's still one central hole: mermaids aren't real. Mermaids are mythical creatures that are present in European, Asian, and African mythology.

Hollywood is notorious for completely wiping a character's background by casting a white actor. There is no major uproar when white actors play non-white characters specified as non-white in their original character design. However, as soon as a black actor is cast as a mythological creature, they receive hateful backlash.