Paloma Faith has called out the messaging in Disney’s remake of The Little Mermaid.
The new fantasy film, which sees American singer-songwriter and actor Halle Bailey star as Ariel, has been subject to praise and criticism after it was released in the UK on 26 May.
In an Instagram story seen by Metro.co.uk, “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” singer Faith reflected on watching the new film, noting that she doesn’t want her daughters to think it’s okay to "give up" their voice for a man.
Faith wrote: “As a mother of girls I don’t want my kids to think it’s ok to give up your entire voice and your powers to love a man.”
“Wtf is this s***. Not what I want to be teaching next gen women at all,” the St. Trinian’s and Pennyworth actor added.
The story of The Little Mermaid follows a mermaid – Ariel – who wishes to live on land. After falling in love with Prince Eric, she makes a deal with the evil sea witch Ursula to give her legs, but in an irreversible exchange, she has to give up her voice.
Faith did praise Bailey, 23, for her “good performance” in the film and said that it had “great casting”, but worried about the ideas about love and gender that it portrayed.
Reacting to the “Upside Down” singer’s criticism, fans have pointed out that the remake of The Little Mermaid follows an identical storyline to the original 1989 animated film. In the original, Ariel is fascinated by life on land and wants to be free from her controlling father, King Triton.
Others added that Ariel is “misunderstood” and often seen as risking it all for Prince Eric, but she also wanted to explore life above the sea for herself.
In a two-star review of the film, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote that Bailey “digs deeper into Ariel than anyone has before”.
“We’ve spent the past three decades bullying poor Ariel for risking it all for a guy whose only green flags are that he likes dogs and sea shanties,” Loughrey wrote. “But Bailey offers up the best defence possible – there’s such a luminous quality to her desires, and an intensity to her desperation, that she digs down deeper into Ariel than anyone ever has before.”
