The Little Mermaid (movie)
The song, Poor Unfortunate Souls is rated admissible because it contains no racially problematic message or lyrics. It originates from Disney’s 1989 animated movie, The Little Mermaid, a film often criticized for problematic themes and representation, including the depiction of racial stereotypes (especially with the characters Sebastian and Ursula). [1] (Please see the Additional Questions to Consider section for information about problematic gender portrayals.)
In an article published in the Alphaville Journal of Film and Screen Media, Niall Richardson notes:
Under the Sea reinforces tropes of race often found within film musicals given that many of the fish are represented through racial stereotypes. Sebastian not only speaks with an exaggerated Jamaican accent but has grossly caricatured lips while the Fluke is identified as “the Duke of Soul” and has the iconography often associated in popular culture with Black, heroin-addicted jazz musicians. Another fish, with her exaggerated, colourful head attire, is a reference to Carmen Miranda—especially her iconic role as the Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat in The Gang’s All Here (Busby Berkeley, 1943). Although Miranda was Portuguese, she was coded in her film roles as a sexy Brazilian whose performances can be read as supporting racist tropes of primitivism and Latina hypersexuality. Finally, one of the fish is simply called “The Black Fish” and has facial features reminiscent of blackface minstrelsy—the entertainment spectacle (developed in the nineteenth century) in which white actors wore blackface makeup to caricature the iconography and racial stereotypes of Black Americans.” [2]
Richardson further discusses the depiction of Ursula, the sea witch character that performs Poor Unfortunate Souls, as coded Black and queer:
[S]he’s got purple skin which frequently blends into an inky black background (the use of purple is a weak attempt to pretend that she’s not modeled off of black people), she’s plus-sized (in 2021, Black adults had the highest obesity rates of any race or ethnicity in the United States…a…) and she’s very aggressive and violent (which are both part of harmful stereotypes about Black women). In fact, Disney has revealed that her character was heavily based on the famous drag queen Divine — and American drag originated with William Dorsey, an African American man and the first drag queen of the country.
Although the fish may be coded as a multiethnic community, all the Merpeople—such as King Triton and his daughters—are white. By contrast, Ursula is the only Merperson depicted with a dark epidermal hue. Most importantly, when Ursula first appears in the film she is lounging in her cave, gazing into her magic mirror (arguably, a metaphor for TV) while eating literal fast food in the form of some very lively grubs. This image references the 1980s media stereotype of the welfare queen who was depicted as a fat, lazy, woman of colour who spent her days watching TV, stuffing her face with fast food while claiming welfare benefits.… It could even be argued that Ursula’s cottage industry of body transforming spells is a metaphor for drug dealing. [2]
In Racial Stereotypes in The Little Mermaid, Elly Lap notes:
Arguably one of the most popular songs in the film, Under the Sea, is sung by the character Sebastian, a crab with a Jamaican accent. Along with other sea creatures, Sebastian sings about how life is better in the sea because you don’t have to get a job or do work. He sings, ‘Up on the shore they work all day/ Out in the sun they slave away/ While we devotin’/ Full time to floatin’…’ It is clear that because of Sebastian’s accent he is alluding to the idea that Jamaicans are lazy and do not want jobs or to do work. [1]
Richardson adds:
Ariel—in the classic motif of rebirth via emerging from sea water—escapes the horror of this debauched aquatic society … [and] has managed to flee this unruly culture that is filled with promiscuous, ethnic fish and magic-dealing welfare queens—a world which, as summarised by Sebastian in the final line of Under the Sea, is literally “down in the muck.” Now, Ariel has ascended to the superior, clean land of sexual chasteness and propriety which, most importantly, is exclusively white. [2]
In an article published in The Journal of Negro Education, Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess, Dorothy Hurley finds that:
Disney perpetuates a strong association between whiteness and virtue—portraying white characters as good, beautiful, and happy—while characters of color are largely absent or marginalized. This absence cultivates internalized racism even among young children of color, as they begin to identify beauty, goodness, and success with being white.
She cites studies, such as Yeoman’s classroom experiment, where children of various ethnicities drew traditionally “white” versions of Black characters despite being told the characters were African or African American. She writes:
It is clear that children, if they are to develop a positive self-image, need to “see” themselves or their images in texts. Books, therefore can serve to reinforce or counter negative notions of self-image in children of color. For example, Sims (1983) noted in follow-up research to Larrick’s (1995) landmark study, The All-White World of Children’s Books, that children of color were still underrepresented in books, and that where they were represented, stereotypical and pejorative images of children of color still prevailed. [3]
Canada’s Centre for Digital Media Literacy has listed an overview of Representation of Diversity in Media on their website, noting that non-white characters are largely absent from positions of power or narrative importance and are often relegated to comic relief or background roles that echo racialized stereotypes of lower class and exoticism. [4]
Notably, the 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid has been discussed for its efforts to revise these tropes, particularly through color-conscious casting (Ariel is played by a Black actor, Halle Bailey), updating some of the song lyrics, and narrative changes. [5] Sherri Hope Culver, an expert in children’s media, associate professor in media studies and production and director of the Center for Media and Information Literacy states:
To have a Disney character [Ariel] who is not just a princess but a live-action, real flesh and blood person that children can be inspired by is important. This is because people of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the media. They are one of the underrepresented groups in Hollywood. Parents of children of color in particular have said how difficult it is for them to find media role models for their children given this lack of representation in Hollywood. Young girls have strong parasocial relationships—which are one-sided attachments often with a celebrity or fictional character—and this is particularly apparent with Disney princesses. So to have a popular Disney character as a person of color leaves a strong, positive mark on their minds, especially when they see that character change from white to Black. If Disney can do it, everybody can do it. [6]
GENERAL NOTE RE: Innocuous Songs from Problematic Movies/Musicals or Source Material/Author.
[1] The Little Mermaid Controversy
[2] Part of Whose World: How The Little Mermaid (2023) Attempts to Revise the Racist Tropes of the 1989…
[3] Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess. The Journal of Negro Education,…
[4] Representation of Diversity in Media
[5] The Little Mermaid Soundtrack: Inside the Changes to the Original
[6] The Importance of representation: What Disney’s Black Little Mermaid means for the film industry
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SONGS WITH THIS NOTE:
Reevaluation: October 17, 2025: change from YES to YES: Note
Reevaluation: October 17, 2025: change from YES to YES: Note