Walt Disney Studios

Halle Bailey stars in Disney’s 2023 live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.”

Disney is set to release a live-action version of “The Little Mermaid” in 2023. The movie will star Halle Bailey as Ariel.

Cynthia Sodari

Desiree W. Cueto

Bailey is Black, and after the trailer was released, several parents of Black girls posted on social media about their daughters’ excited reactions.

But, the casting has its critics as well, who argue Disney’s original mermaid in the 1989 animated film — who was white — more accurately represented the character in Hans Christian Andersen’s story.

There are a lot of folklore tales about Black mermaids, though, and that mythology dates back hundreds of years.

Desiree Cueto is an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona who studies children’s literature, specifically literature from the African diaspora. She joined The Show to talk about Black mermaids in stories from around the world.

More stories from KJZZ

• 'Crying in the Bathroom': How a Mexican girl found herself in Lisa Simpson and Edgar Allan Poe
• This researcher found that Disney Princesses give kids more progressive views on gender