By now most of us have been under the sea already to witness the greatness that is the ‘Little Mermaid Live Action’ Disney remake of the animated classic released in 1989, from the Disney Renaissance Era. The movie stars the talented Halle Bailey as Ariel, a role that was predominately portrayed by a white actress which causes a lot of racist controversy online, and exposed how hidden racism still exist in our country, and the World. I could never understand why there was so much hate, for a talented black girl so beautiful like ‘Halle Bailey’ whose voice, and performance gave me chills in the theater. On my second visit to the ‘Fathoms Below’ where “the Seaweed is always greener,” I left feeling empowered to be black, and Queer, and was also reminded of the importance of black mythology in African American Culture. I got to hang out with a very talented local artist in Tulsa, and new friend named Branjae who is taking Tulsa by Storm and inspiring me. Let’s talk about it!

‘The Little Mermaid Live Action’ in my opinion is the best Disney remake thus far. Full of colorful vibrant visuals under the sea, and sea creatures galore, and a magical underwater Kingdom known as Atlantis where King Triton, and his daughters who rule the seven seas, are also multi racial giving the movie a brand new fresh diverse take from the original animated classic. The actors who play Sebastian the talking crab, flounder the fish, and Scuttle a Sea Gull, also give the characters a new breath of air, but Nostalgic familiarity to the original. Halle’s vocals for ‘Part Of World’ are chilling, and gave me goosebumps. I felt the Disney magic through the screen. Songs like ‘Fathoms Below’ really made me feel nostalgic, and where a surprising enjoyment. I also loved how diverse the cast was and it reminded me of the Cinderella live action movie in the 90’s that stared Brandy and Whitney Houston. I loved that Prince Eric’s parents were multiracial, and Mellisa McCarthy did an excellent job as Ursula, so much that I felt she was actually scary in some scenes.

The first time I went to see the movie I went to my favorite movie theater in Oklahoma which is the Regal Warren Broken Arrow that has a 21+ auditorium for alcoholic beverages, and food that feels almost like VIP. I went to the early premiere, where I also saw Black Panther for the first time in its early release in theaters. Both films remind me of the importance of Black Mythology in not only Hollywood, so that children, and even grown adults can see themselves in their favorite super hero, or fantasy character, but also I feel their is a lack of black mythology, and black lead actors in Hollywood which I am a fan of such as franchises like ‘Harry Potter’ or genres such as sci-fi, and horror. Jordan Peele is a filmmaker who I’m very inspired by who has been pushing the boundaries of these narratives with films like ‘Get Out,’ US, N.O.P.E, and casting black lead actors in Horror, Sci-Fi, and fantasy roles where we have been left out of the genre. ‘Lovecraft Country’ is also another one of my favorites which is a HBO TV series produced by Misha Green, inspired by the original novel by white author Matt Ruff. This is why I think that ‘The Little Mermaid’ live action was so captivating to watch, and I enjoyed every minute of it, and want to be Siren now!

The second time I went to see ‘The Little Mermaid’ I wanted to do some cosplay as a black Mermaid King, and I purchased a light up Triton toy that I brought to the movie which really made me feel all the Disney Nostalgia, and magic. I met up with a new friend named Branjae, a rising r&b/soul singer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. With us both being local artist, and vocalist, we both left the theater inspired, and star struck at the stellar performances from the actors, and are jaws dropped from the CGI, and underwater animation. Some movie critics were not happy with flounders character design, and others Ariel’s skin complexion. But honestly Halle Bailey truly captured the perfect spirit of Ariel in my opinion. And the music was truly Disney classics such as ‘Under The Sea’ and some new songs that I enjoyed in the soundtrack like ‘The Scuttlebutt’ and ‘For The First Time.’ This live action is destined to go down a classic, and I have fallen in love with Disney again, since being a fan since a little kid in the 90’s. Which reminds me of my song ‘Life In The 90’s’ from my debut mixtape ‘Days In The Midwest.’

So let’s talk about the fashion in the movie. It was definitely giving a Caribbean, and Island theme vibe with lots of linen fabrics, and bright colors, as well as lots of fedora’s, and brim hats. I decided to channel the style of this movie with this look I purchased from Banana Republic which gives me Summer Prince Eric vibes.

Top: Short Sleeve Linen Button Up (Banana Republic)

Pants: Horse Riding Pants (Banana Republic)

Here are a couple of other deeper messages I pulled from the movie! First lets talk about the fact that Halle rocked her natural BLACK hair, dreads and all! Which I think sends a big message of representation to the Black Community. Her hair progressively started with less dreads, to fully dreaded hair in the very last scene when Ariel, and Prince Eric get married which I thought was very powerful. Even more powerful was the tool used to style Ariel’s hair which was a fork, although ‘Scuttle’ called it a ‘Dingle Hopper’ and said humans use it for their hair.

But even more deeper, the ‘Dingle Hopper’ looks almost identical to not only the three pronged ‘Triton’ but also to a ‘crochet needle’ for hair uses in the Black Community.

An Easter egg that a lot of people might have catched, or didn’t catch was the original actress ‘Jodie Benson’ who played animated original Ariel, giving the live action Ariel a fork, aka ‘Dingle Hopper’, aka a ‘crochet needle’ which she used throughout the film to dread her hair. I’ve been growing my hair out for about three years now, and I feel special that my hair is at the length it’s at just in time for the cultural impact, and reset of this movie. Notice how everyone is taking about the Ocean right now: Frank Ocean, Ocean Gate, USO’s, Avatar, Black Panther, sea creatures washing up, and now ‘The Little Mermaid’ live action but only conscious people will connect the dots. I’ll save that for another blog post.

The ‘On A Journey’🐫 mixtape will be officially released Saturday August 26th 2023 on Soundcloud, Youtube, Datpiff, LiveMixtapes and various other mixtape websites.