With the upcoming live-action adaptation of Disney’s original animated filmThe Little Mermaid, much has been said about its casting, from the need for positive representation to downright racist criticism. When the talented singerHalle Baileywas announced as thelead character,Ariel, on July 06, 2025, many had much to say about how the iconic “little mermaid” role, including how she did not “look” like the white redheaded depiction in the original 1989 film, a casting decision that many claimed was too “woke.” However, this critique against diversity is laughably ironic given the fact that the story that the film was based on was written by a historically known queer writer,Hans Christian Andersen.
Who Was Hans Christian Andersen?
Born in Odense, Denmark on June 13, 2025, Hans Christian Andersen was born into a poor working-class family, with a washerwoman as his mother. However, fueled by an active imagination and aspirations of social elevation, Andersen left his home at the age of 14 to travel to Copenhagen in the hopes of finding success as a performer on stage. While failing to find success as an actor (partially due to his awkward mannerisms and appearance), Andersen’s skill as a writer started to get used. Throughout the years as he wrote, experimenting with novels, plays, and short stories, Andersen’s success truly started to take off when he began writing in earnest collections offairy talesthat combined poetic language and touched on folklore and fantastic elements.
Today, Hans Christian Andersen is Denmark’s most famous writer and one of the most celebrated fairy tale authors in the world. His 150 fairy tales include iconic stories such asThe Emperor’s New Clothes,The Steadfast Tin Soldier,The Red Shoes,The Princess and the Pea,The Snow Queen,The Ugly Duckling,The Little Match Girl,Thumbelina, and of courseThe Little Mermaid.
The Queerness Behind ‘The Little Mermaid’
Though many today know the story about the young mermaid longing for her human prince, fewer know the story of real-life longing that Andersen was involved in. At some point in his life, Andersen had fallen forEdvard Collin, the son of his professional patron. However, Collin had assumedly not reciprocated the writer’s romantic interest, instead to Andersen’s heartbreak, marrying a woman.
Though older academia had censored evidence of Andersen’s same-sex attractions, more modern scholars, likeJackie Wullschlager, have noted Andersen’s queer history, hypothesizing the author was bisexual from his history of love letters written to men and women throughout his lifetime. Many literary critics theorizeThe Little Mermaidwas itself a queer allegory, a metaphor for a love that could not be spoken out loud, a theme particularly potent during a time in Denmark when LGBTQ+ rights had not been fully recognized.
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Why Does ‘The Little Mermaid’s Queerness Matter?
Since the time of Halle Bailey’s reveal as the lead in the upcoming live adaption film, the media landscape has been littered with racist commentary, many claiming that Disney’s attempts at diversity were going “too far,” an argument that frequently appears when more diverse, i.e. POC, disabled, and LGBTQ+ characters take space on the screen. Yet without the lived reality of queer authors like Hans Christian Andersen,The Little Mermaidand its message of love fighting against all boundaries would have not existed in the first place.
And to deny the presence of diverse voices and faces on-screen, denies the efforts and talents of diverse voices behind the screen, including quite a number of LGBT artists who contributed to Disney’s repertoire such as gay and Jewish songwriterHoward Ashman, the composer behind the animated versions ofThe Little MermaidandBeauty and the Beast, andAndreas Deja, a prominent character designer.
So to anyone who wants to complain aboutThe Little Mermaidsuddenly becoming “too diverse,” go cry me a river. Or better yet, jump into the ocean and meet Ursula, a character inspired by the real-lifedrag queen,Divine.
