After reading both articles about The Little Mermaid I found that both of these articles are similar in one aspect. They both address the topic of representation in the media through the use of pathos. Both authors express their opinions/ arguments by using emotion explaining how they feel about this topic. As well as, color-blind casting and race-switching. Color blind casting is the practice of casting roles without regard to the actor’s ethnicity or race. Race switching refers to the same characters that have been reimagined with a different race. Although some of the points were slightly similar, for the most part, they both had different arguments regarding characters being switched. One of the similarities between these articles was their arguments. They both argued that representation matters and that the media should highlight diversity. 

In the article “ I don’t want a Black Ariel-Why we shouldn’t be satisfied with race switching” written by Peekay, the author argued that representation matters but there are better ways to go about it. The author was responding to the new Ariel movie that came out starring Halle Bailey. Instead of recreating the movie with a completely different plot and set of characters, they just switched the main character to a person of color. The article states “ Give us that new original content!” (Peekay). The author wants the representation in the media to be original. To him, this version of the Little Mermaid was not intended to fulfill the standards of proper media representation. Many people were upset with this outcome. The author’s intended audience was the people who opposed his opinion. However, the extended audience was everyone else and the people who were in favor of this race switch. His purpose was to state his opinion and give his alternate perspective on this controversial topic. 

On the contrary, in the article “ The White Nostalgia Fueling the ‘Little Mermaid’ Backlash” by Brooke Newman, she was responding to the new version of The Little Mermaid that premiered. Brooke Newman is a professor of history and humanities.  She argues that representation matters and that people are overreacting to this race switch in The Little Mermaid. Many people both white and black felt a way when the movie premiered. They felt like the main character shouldn’t have been switched. Newman believes that people are using this as an opportunity to be racist. “To celebrate Halle Bailey’s starring role as Ariel, perhaps we should start a new hashtag: #NotMyWhiteNostalgia” (Newman). She argues that this new character switch should be embraced and appreciated instead of critiqued. However, there is a possibility that she can be responding to her white guilt or she’s acting like a white savior. Her purpose was to inform people of their ignorance regarding this topic. While also persuading them to be more open-minded when it comes to representation in the media. Newman’s intended audience was the people who felt some kind of way about this switch in the movie. Her extended audience can be anyone interested in this controversial topic.  

After reading both articles, I believe they both make pretty good points. One article argues that some people had a problem with the race switch in Ariel simply because they wanted to be racist but for their racism to be “justified”. People pick and choose what they want to have a problem with. The other text argues that they should’ve had more diversity with new and different stories instead of changing the main characters to a story that had been the same for many years. I agree that some stories will just not be the same if you switch something up. Both texts argue explicitly that how the characters and how stuff are presented to the media are important and how they impact the audience. I agree with the idea of creating new stories with new characters and more diversity. I agree with this idea because I feel like it gives more representation and it allows for the audience to feel more connected with the shows. Recreating a show, movie, or stories and changing the characters will not be the same as the original, which can lead to a lot of controversy hence this specific controversy. The creators of the show may have wanted everyone to feel included but as said in the article by Peekay, there are definitely more ways to go about it and better ways to go about it. I also think that this didn’t have to be about race, the media makes things into what they don’t have to be. Thoughts could’ve been express in different manners and they could’ve given more suggestions on how to go about this if they want to give more diverse media representation.