The views on Ariel’s race change brought about by casting a black woman instead of a red-headed white woman sparked controversy when the news was released. ”’I Don’t Want a Black Ariel.’ — Why We Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With Race Switching” (The Final Cutback) is an article published in June 2020, almost a year after the announcement was made. The article focuses on why the black Ariel was a bad move that didn’t show diversity in a good way by telling a new story with a character of color but in a poor way by keeping the story but with a race change. Another article, “The white nostalgia fueling the ‘Little Mermaid’ backlash” (Brooke Newman). This article, released in July 2019, which was around the time the announcement of a black Ariel was made, argues for the race change as it doesn’t affect the character’s traits or story but still showcases a woman of color in a fairy tale story. Newman brings up how the backlash surrounding the announcement comes from a certain nostalgia held by fans, especially white audiences, who feel the race change disturbs the version of Ariel they grew up with (pathos). This nostalgia can often blind people to the value of new representations, making them resistant to change. The article by The Final Cutback is the opinion of a black man, and it’s relevant to the article because it shows credibility (ethos) since it’s a black man who feels like representation of his skin color should be in a new story, not a retelling but with a different color. He sees it as an opportunity missed to create a strong, original black character for young black girls to look up to and identify with. The article by Brooke Newman is by a white woman who feels that the race change is a good move has all to do with politics because of how it was mentioned in the elections and that those who oppose this change are part of one side of a political party.
The Final Cutback tries to reach out to an audience who thinks the race swap is a good idea to showcase diversity and tries to add a solution instead of agreeing with the idea that nothing should be done and Ariel should be changed back to her original Disney interpretation. He wants to add the idea of a new story with an original black character and not a retelling with a raceswap. The article pushes for this purpose and showcases an example like Miles Morale’s Spider-Man to show that this idea works out much better and has a better audience reach than just making Peter Parker a black man. Brooke Newman on the other hand, views the race swap as a great idea and tries to reach out to an audience of democratic voters, as she mentions in her article about how white people and Donald Trump used Black Ariel to show that white people are being marginalized and used that to win the election. Newman highlights that the backlash from conservative groups comes not only from the race swap but from a deeper fear that their cultural dominance is slipping away. The Final Cutback adds to the conversation of Black Ariel about better representation in an original story since he feels it shows how people of color have their own great stories. Brooke Newman uses the conversation of Black Ariel to showcase that race change has political implications, had a strong impact in the 2020 election, and was used by Trump to spread the idea of white people being erased in the media. The purpose for the Final Cutback can be seen to be more focused on showing proper representation in his article, while Brooke Newman uses her article to showcase the political impact the race swap had and why those who are against are doing it for the wrong reason.

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