The Interviews

In this section I present an analysis (particularly in relation to these criticisms of the films) of fourteen interviews with James and eight with Bailey, where they discuss the films that they star in. The interviews contrast in important ways between films, suggesting possible differences in the reactions (of both Disney and the media) to the criticisms that the films have received. It seems likely that, in least in part, this is because in today’s social context it’s acceptable (or even encouraged) to question and be opposed to the unrealistic beauty ideals that Cinderella’s body presented but it’s not acceptable to be opposed to the realistic, and diverse representation of skin colour as presented in The Little Mermaid. As such, the media have felt more able to directly address the online criticisms of Cinderella than Ariel and, anticipating this, Disney appear to have approached the interviews differently, for Cinderella, trying to ‘contain’ bad publicity, but not needing to for The Little Mermaid.

For example, in James’ interviews she appeared to be somewhat protected by rarely being interviewed alone, typically having her ‘Prince charming’ co-star Richard Madden, or other crewmembers (co-stars, producers, directors and costume designers) alongside her during interviews. In contrast, all except one of the interviews with Bailey have been unaccompanied, whether on a red carpet or in a set up interview space, perhaps suggesting there is less fear that she will need support to deal with difficult questions.

Fitting with this idea, there are striking differences in whether the criticism is addressed in the interviews. With James, on multiple occasions the size of her waist was discussed, including whether the image represented an attainable reality. In one of the few unaccompanied interviews, with Peter Travers, James discusses accidentally tightening one of the stepsisters’ corsets while filming. Travers remarked “People said that about yours too…people say is that your waist?!” to which James replied “Yeah, lucky mine was not that tight”. Travers continued to probe, “But let’s make sure we admit that’s you, they didn’t do any photoshopping?” to which James had to respond “No. It’s also the silhouette of the dress” before discussing her liquid diet, required so she could fit into the corset (“Lily James, Right Fit for the Classic Fairy Tale”).

Another significant interview when a question came up about her waist size was an open panel interview, containing James, where the audience could ask questions. When the matter of her waist was raised, many of the panel members tried to mitigate the criticism. Firstly, the costume designer (Sandy Powell) said “I don’t understand what the concerns are actually” and “Lily’s dress in particular is an optical illusion I must say”. A producer (Allison Shearmur) added that her waist size had got too much attention and that people weren’t paying attention to the right things, before James questioned, “Why on earth are we focusing on something so irrelevant, you know there’s so much…” before being curtailed mid-sentence by a person off-camera who said, “Let’s move onto the next question!” (“Cinderella's Lily James & Cast React to Waist Size Concerns”). It is not clear whether this censoring of James was designed to change topic to keep the show engaging, to specifically divert the conversation away from the criticisms or to ensure that James herself, and thus the image of Cinderella, was not associated with potentially damaging and controversial comments.

As The Little Mermaid hasn’t premiered yet, the nature of the eight analysed interviews with Bailey are primarily to build-up press for the film’s release. This means there are many red-carpet interviews where the questions are unable to be pre-approved by Disney beforehand. It is therefore particularly interesting that the criticisms about a black woman being cast as Ariel have not been raised at all, indicating that the media are not engaging with this criticism. On the contrary, the interview questions have afforded an opportunity to celebrate the implications of this casting for equality and diversity. Over half of the analysed interviews with Bailey include her talking about what it means to be a black woman playing this role. For example an interviewer for Hollywood Reporter asked, “What’s been the most magical part of making this film?” to which Bailey replied, “Never thinking that somebody like me would be doing this is beautiful, and the fact that I get to kind of represent all of these little young black and brown boys and girls is really special to me because I know that if I had that when I was younger it would have changed my whole perspective on life” (“Halle Bailey Talks About Putting Her Own Spin On Ariel For Live-Action ‘‘Little Mermaid’’ | D23 Expo”). Of note, none of the analysed interviews specifically addressed concerns of her looking different to the animated Ariel character, nor asked her to comment on this online criticism.

As discussed earlier, significant social changes in attitudes towards equality and diversity, including associated with the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, appear to be represented in these interviews. The #MeToo movement changed the way we talk about gender issues in society, including sexism. Although acknowledgement of the need for fair and equal, non-sexualised gender representation of women has existed for decades (e.g. The Sex Discrimination Act, 1975), this is no longer considered a contentious or minority opinion in the Western world but rather there is open discussion, with active steps taken to try and work towards this. The online backlash associated with the Cinderella film appears to reflect these accepted opinions. The media therefore felt justified in raising these matters for discussion, with those involved in the film, which required some measures being in place to limit the damage this could cause (to the Disney brand and to the success of the film).

Similarly, the Black Lives Matter movement completely radicalized the way in which we discuss race and highlighted that there is room for improvement with respect to racial representation. However, the online criticisms levelled at the casting of The Little Mermaid do not represent this accepted social position and thus have not been prominent in mainstream media publicity surrounding the film. The fact that the first new live-action Princess film to be released since the Black Lives Matter movement ignited in 2020, will star a black woman as the lead role demonstrates Disney’s continued attempts to respond to social change. That this is the first time Disney have changed the skin color of a previously existing character is also significant; in the past Disney have kept the appearance of actors very close to the original cartoon characters, just as they do in the casting of Disney theme parks’ actors.

These recent attempts to adapt to social change may appear accelerated compared to the other changes seen in Disney films over the last 100 years, and indeed between 2015 and 2023 when these two films were released. But perhaps they simply reflect the accelerated wider social change which has taken place over the last few years. Of course, it is not known if Disney’s awareness of the need for change stems from idealistic reasons; an alternative explanation is that they want to avoid again facing any difficulties, such as with the live-action Cinderella, associated with not fully embracing the accepted social position in a world which is increasingly willing to be openly critical of any failure to do so.