Disney’s Black mermaid is no breakthrough – just look at the literary subgenre of Black mermaid fiction

Jessica Pressman · 20 Dec 2022

Jessica Pressman did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
The controversy over a nonwhite mermaid comes from 150 years of whitewashing a figure with African origins.

Their wordsThe fact that Disney’s portrayal of a nonwhite mermaid is controversial is due to 150 years of whitewashing.
Our reading
Disney casting a Black mermaid is not a breakthrough, given the existing tradition of Black mermaid fiction.

Their wordsI also hope to put to rest the idea that Disney’s decision to feature a Black mermaid represents some sort of modern breakthrough.
Our reading
Rivers Solomon's The Deep opens new ways of thinking about the legacy of slavery.

Their wordsThis novella is marketed as fantasy, but it does the very real and important work of opening up new ways to think about the legacy of slavery.
Our reading
Contemporary mermaid stories are a warning about humanity's increasingly oceanic future.

Their wordsMermaids serve as signals, in both senses of the word – as an emergency alert and as a medium for transmitting a message about humanity’s increasingly oceanic planetary future.
Our reading
Racial justice and environmental activism are inseparable.

Their wordsRacial justice and environmental activism are aligned – and, as many Black mermaid novels teach readers, inseparable.

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