The discourse surrounding The Little Mermaid has always been questionable to say the least, but things took what has to be deemed as the strangest turn yet when both sides of the political divide opted to weigh in on a review blasting the live-action Disney remake for its lack of “kink.”
Of course, there are two ways to look at the specific verbiage chosen by The New Yorker, but the internet was always going to focus on one. While you’d certainly hope beyond a shadow of a doubt that the analysis was referring to “a quirk of character or behavior” – which would be fair enough when complex figures aren’t the movie’s strongest suit – there are no prizes for guessing how social media interpreted it.
Just when you thought countless aggregation sites and news outlets trying to stem the tide of review-bombing wasn’t bad enough, along comes The Little Mermaid to associate itself with terminology literally defined by the dictionary as “a person’s unusual sexual preference,” which obviously did nothing to aid Disney’s case in its never-ending battle against those leaning to the right.
For a family-friendly do-over of a widely-beloved and undisputed animated classic that’s held dear in the hearts of multiple generations, The Little Mermaid inexplicably finds itself at the center of a racism and sexuality storm, something that would have sounded equal parts ludicrous and unfathomable when it was first announced to be in active development.
Alas, this is the world we live in now, so everybody should just get used to it if they haven’t already.