![]() ![]() Had I seen a Black Ariel then, it might have changed what I saw as possible in my life.” Even though there are more options for heroines now, I would have loved to see more fairy tale and fantasy characters that looked like me when I was a child. ![]() I loved Disney growing up, I loved princesses, I loved fairy tales. It matters for the kids, it matters for little Black girls who can see themselves on the screen. “Representation is not everything, but it does matter. ![]() Having a leading Black character in “The Little Mermaid” is a step in the right direction, she said. “The intersection of merfolk and the Middle Passage provides a way to continue bearing witness to this history while also experiencing some healing.” At UCR she has spent many hours using the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy to research this topic. “Many people believe there is too much trauma, too much painful history in the representation of Black people in popular culture,” said Davis, whose upcoming book analyzes the appearances of mermaids, water spirits, and other aquatic beings in African diasporic literature, art, and popular culture. Jalondra Davis, assistant professor of English, is a scholar in Africana/Black literary and cultural studies, women and gender studies, and contemporary genre fictions and popular culture, which includes Black mermaids in literature and film. ![]()
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