Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel from Disney’s 1989 Little Mermaid, is in support of the decision to change some lyrics in the live-action remake starring Halle Bailey to reflect new considerations around consent.
Here’s What Jodi Benson Has to Say About Lyric Updates in New Live-Action Little Mermaid
“It’s 2023, so we have to grow, we have to learn, we have to be aware of our surroundings,” Benson told Entertainment Weekly.
“We’ve got to be aware of our growth as humans and what’s important now and what maybe isn’t as important,” she added.
“Things change. We’ve got to roll with that… But you’ve got to have growth. It’s very important to stay relevant with where we are, what’s going on around us. We need to be aware. So the adjustments and the fine-tuning that they needed to do, it was a must, but it was done in a beautiful way, and I’m very, very thrilled with it.”
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In the new Little Mermaid that is about to hit theaters, director Rob Marshall and his team, including original composer Alan Menken and new collaborator Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In The Heights), changed some lyrics in “Kiss The Girl” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”
“There are some lyric changes in ‘Kiss the Girl’ because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel],” Menken told Vanity Fair in April. “We have some revisions in ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”
Plus, the new movie has a slightly different love story between Ariel and Prince Eric so as not to make it seem like Ariel would give up her voice just for some dude.
The Little Mermaid arrives in theaters on May 26.
Main Image: Halle Bailey as Ariel in The Little Mermaid (2023) Credit: Disney