Jodi Benson is the voice actress behind the character of Ariel in, the 1989 animated classic,
The Little Mermaid. This iconic tale is set to be adapted into a live-action remake by Disney. Recently, it was announced that Halle Bailey will be playing the titular role in the upcoming film.
This casting sparked a bit of controversy as Halle Bailey evidently isn't sporting the same colour skin that Ariel is typically portrayed as having. The colour of the Ariel's skin is obviously not a crucial component of the character but some people still seem to think that the change is an issue.
The star of the original
The Little Mermaid film recently spoke at Florida SuperCon (via
Comicbook.com) about why Bailey being chosen to play Ariel isn't a problem whatsoever. Benson's statement can basically be boiled down to: as long as the spirit of the character remains intact and therefore the story is able to be told, the character's exterior appearance is trivial.
“The most important thing is to tell the story. And we have, as a family, we have raised our children, and for ourselves, that we don’t see anything that’s different on the outside," Benson explained before elaborating further.
I think that the spirit of a character is what really matters. What you bring to the table in a character as far as their heart, and their spirit, is what really counts. And the outside package — cause let’s face it, I’m really, really old — and so when I’m singing ‘Part of Your World,’ if you were to judge me on the way that I look on the outside, it might change the way that you interpret the song. But if you close your eyes, you can still hear the spirit of Ariel.
We need to be storytellers. And no matter what we look like on the outside, no matter our race, our nation, the color of our skin, our dialect, whether I’m tall or thin, whether I’m overweight or underweight, or my hair is whatever color, we really need to tell the story. And that’s what we want to do, we want to make a connection to the audience. So I know for Disney that they have the heart of storytelling, that’s really what they’re trying to do. They want to communicate with all of us in the audience so that we can fall in love with the film again.