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Too black to be The Little Mermaid ? Backlash against Disney’s 2023 The Little Mermaid – continuity of racism, white skin preference and hate content in Vietnam

Bibliographic Data

ID7154374
AuthorsThi Gammon (0000-0001-8897-3218, King's College London, corresponding author), A N Q Phan (0000-0001-9979-1321, University of Kent)
Year2025
Volume25
Issue7
Pages1752-1758
Publication date2025-10-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2024.2344102
OpenAlexW4394931078
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited11

When it was released globally and in Vietnam in May 2023, the live-action Disney movie The Little Mermaid was met with strong backlash online and boycotting in the Southeast Asian country.Negative reactions against the movie due to the casting of Halle Bailey, a Black actress for the titular role, a mermaid and princess of the ocean named Ariel, showed concerning signs of racism and sexism that stem from a preference for white skin and an emphasis on the importance of looks in women.This article seeks to understand such reactions through its discussion of cultural factors such as the issues of racism and white supremacy and how they intersect with a tendency to resist inclusive movements, the growing trend of hate content and sexist conception of beauty in Vietnam.The article suggests an intersectional approach and considers the concept "misogynoir" to explain the backlash against Halle Bailey's starring in the movie

Backlash · Biology · Criminology · Preference · Racism · Sociology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Engineering · Gender Studies · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology

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    Anna S Caruso, Thalia R Goldstein•Philosophical Psychology•2025

  • The Larme incident

    Open Access•Megan Catherine Rose, Patrick W Galbraith•Feminist Media Studies•2025

  • Foreign but familiar

    Open Access•Thi Gammon•Journal of Cultural Geography•2024

  • Hate content and gendered shaming in Vietnamese social media

    Open Access•Thi Gammon, A N Q Phan•Celebrity Studies•2025

  • Misogynoir Transformed

    Moya Bailey•Misogynoir Transformed•2021

  • Dealing in Desire

    K K Hoang•Dealing in Desire•2015

  • The abnormalisation of social justice

    Open Access•Bart Cammaerts•Discourse & Society•2022

  • Profit and prejudice

    Dominic Hewson•British Journal of Sociology of…•2018

  • Your Bodies are Our Future

    Thi Gammon•Asian Studies Review•2022

  • Freedom to hate

    May Lim•Bulletin of Concerned Asian…•2017

  • On misogynoir

    Moya Bailey•Feminist Media Studies•2018

  • Womans body as a color measuring text

    Open Access•Hakim Arif•Semiotica•2004

  • Urban Middle-Class Japanese Women and Their White Faces

    Open Access•Mikiko Ashikari•Ethos•2003

  • The Evolution of Human Skin and Skin Color

    Nina G Jablonski, Nina Jablonski•Annual Review of Anthropology•2004

Unique citing works5
Citations per year2,5
Citation span2024 - 2025 (2)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 5

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