{"id":24726,"date":"2023-04-17T14:49:18","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T18:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=24726"},"modified":"2023-04-17T14:49:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T18:49:18","slug":"disney-reveals-some-lyrics-in-live-action-the-little-mermaid-have-been-changed-to-include-consent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/04\/disney-reveals-some-lyrics-in-live-action-the-little-mermaid-have-been-changed-to-include-consent.html","title":{"rendered":"Disney Reveals Some Lyrics in Live-Action &#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; Have Been Changed to &#8216;Include Consent&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_24732\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24732\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/04\/little-mermaid_credit-disney-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24732\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/04\/little-mermaid_credit-disney-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24732\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Disney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Social media and news outlets have been abuzz since it was <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thestreet.com\/entertainment\/disney-is-making-some-controversial-changes-to-the-little-mermaid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">revealed<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0in an article in\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Vanity Fair<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0that some of the lyrics from popular songs in the live-action remake of Disney\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Little Mermaid<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0had been updated. The changes were made to the movie\u2019s songs \u201cKiss the Girl\u201d and \u201cPoor Unfortunate Souls.\u201d Composer Alan Menken, who was also one of the original composers of the 1989 film, shared that the changes were made because people have become \u201csensitive\u201d to certain implications in the songs. \u201cThere are some lyric changes in \u2018Kiss the Girl\u2019 because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel],\u201d he said. \u201cKiss the Girl\u201d will make changes to include encouraging consent. Addressing changes to \u201cPoor Unfortunate Souls,\u201d Menken said the original song included \u201clines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn\u2019t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The news of changes to a classic film was met by a number of detractors. One Twitter <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chriswatson806\/status\/1645389867164024834\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">user<\/a> stated,\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cWhy are they rewriting the lyrics that made Disney? Why do they hate their past.\u201d Another\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rhiannon_clare_\/status\/1645352644662181890\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">user<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0claimed that Ariel is the one going after Prince Eric in the film, writing, \u201cAriel is the one wanting to go stalk a dude on the land\u2026 now she the victim. I\u2019m gonna go out my way to stalk the prince to make him fall in love with me&#8230; but if his mate tells him to kiss me&#8230; well, that\u2019s never [right].\u201d Other users claimed it was a \u201cwoke\u201d change to an originally loved classic. Other changes to the film will include\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/movies\/the-little-mermaid-halle-bailey-melissa-mccarthy-cover-story\/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_ew%20&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_content=%20link&amp;utm_term=20230404\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">an expanded back story<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0to the film\u2019s villain, Ursula (played by Melissa McCarthy), who will be Ariel\u2019s aunt, estranged from her father, King Triton. The connection was never portrayed in the original film but was included in a musical as well as the 2016 book\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Poor Unfortunate Soul<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. McCarthy also acknowledged her past experience as a\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/screenrant.com\/little-mermaid-ursula-melissa-mccarthy-drag-inspiration\/#:~:text=Melissa%20McCarthy%20reveals%20how%20her,in%20Disney's%20The%20Little%20Mermaid.&amp;text=In%20an%20interview%20with%20Entertainment,past%20as%20a%20drag%20queen.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">drag queen<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for inspiring her rendition of Ursula, a role that some in the LGBTQ+ community wanted to go to an actual drag queen due to the original character\u2019s look supposedly being inspired by drag queen Divine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Lyric changes are not the first controversial change to the original either. Some fans of the film accused the remake of \u201crace swapping\u201d after it was announced that black actress Halle Bailey would be playing the role of Ariel, who is white and red-headed in the animated film. The film\u2019s director, Rob Marshall, claimed there was \u201c<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/2022\/12\/22\/disneys-the-little-mermaid-live-action-remake-director-rob-marshall-claims-we-saw-everybody-and-every-ethnicity-before-casting-race-swapped-ariel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">no agenda<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201d in selecting Bailey. \u201cWe just were looking for the best actor for the role, period. The end,\u201d he said. Bailey has called her casting a \u201cwin\u201d for representation. \u201c\u2026the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they\u2019re special and that they should be a princess in every single way,\u201d she\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/2022\/08\/11\/disneys-live-action-the-little-mermaid-star-halle-bailey-responds-to-race-swap-criticisms-the-reassurance-that-little-girls-just-like-me-should-be-princesses-was-something-i-needed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">said<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. This is not the first instance of a Disney live-action film being accused of \u201crace-swapping,\u201d with Disney\u2019s upcoming\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.disneydining.com\/rachel-zegler-responds-to-backlash-over-disney-casting-latina-bb1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Snow White<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0live-action film announcing it will have a Latina actress portray the traditionally light-skinned titular character.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Usually, fans who decry \u201crace swapping\u201d or even \u201cgender-swapping\u201d what they consider to be \u201cestablished characters\u201d are accused of\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/culture\/23357114\/the-little-mermaid-racist-backlash-lotr-rings-of-power-diversity-controversy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">racism<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0or sexism. \u201cTaking the detractors at face value, however, you have a pantheon of geeks who just want to see their beloved tales left alone. These fans now face repeated battles as they watch one franchise after another fall into the clutches of progressive directors and writers who insist on \u2014 gasp \u2014 casting women in the lead roles or \u2014 gasp \u2014 casting actors of color in roles long reserved for white people,\u201d wrote Vox\u2019s Aja Romano. Stuart Heritage, writing for\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2022\/sep\/15\/little-mermaid-disney-trailer-culture-war-ariel-black-white\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Guardian<\/span><\/em><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, wrote that the \u201cwoke vs. racist\u201d argument misses the overall problem. \u201cIf the previous live-action Disney remakes are any indication, then it will barely even qualify as a film. It\u2019ll be a rote, loveless exercise in maintaining an existing IP, which won\u2019t hold a candle to the original. When was the last time you felt excited about seeing Guy Richie\u2019s Aladdin remake? Or Tim Burton\u2019s Dumbo? A new live-action Pinocchio just dropped on Disney+, and I\u2019ve yet to meet a single person able to summon even an atom of energy to watch it. There are plenty of legitimate reasons not to want to watch The Little Mermaid; to focus on the casting of the mermaid herself seems an incredible waste of energy,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media and news outlets have been abuzz since it was revealed\u00a0in an article in\u00a0Vanity Fair\u00a0that some of the lyrics from popular songs in the live-action remake of Disney\u2019s\u00a0The Little Mermaid\u00a0had been updated. The changes were made to the movie\u2019s songs \u201cKiss the Girl\u201d and \u201cPoor Unfortunate Souls.\u201d Composer Alan Menken, who was also one&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":24732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Disney Reveals Some Lyrics in Live-Action &quot;The Little Mermaid&quot; Have Been Changed to &#039;Include Consent&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Social media has been abuzz after Disney announces that &quot;The Little Mermaid&quot; live-action remake will have lyrics changed to include consent.\" \/>\n<meta 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