Halle bailey
Halle Bailey is leading a new wave as Disney’s second-ever Black princess. The Little Mermaid star sits down with two young fans to talk empowerment and finding her voice
Halle Bailey is crying. Seventeen-year-old Shannon is looking teary. Thirty-year-old Ebinehita is sobbing. I’m an emotional mess. It’s a lot of feelings for a Monday afternoon, but Disney’s newest heroine has been given a copy of , an anthology of essays about the experience of Black girlhood, by its authors and it unlocked something deep. “Like in when Ariel’s voice was taken away, this book is our voice being given back to us,” says Faith, one of those authors. “We want to share it with you.” But let’s rewind and explain why we’re all here swimming in our feelings. In September 2022, the trailer for the live-action version of (adapted from the beloved 1989 film) was released and lit up social media. Of course, there were detractors questioning), so this moment really matters. A 2021 study into the importance of media representation found that white people occupy 76% of lead roles on TV shows, while people of colour in shows most watched by children aged two to 13 are more likely to be depicted as violent. At the same time, only 24% of four to 18-year-olds in the UK believe they see people that look like them on TV. We know that the media we consume has a huge impact on how we see both ourselves and others – so to see a luminous Bailey, the true definition of main character energy, swimming, soaring and singing her heart out in this charming reimagination is a huge moment.
