A Queer Feminist Response to the Racist Reception of Halle Bailey’s The Little Mermaid: Misogynoir and Anti-Fan Facebook Users in Vietnam

This essay examines the ways anti-Blackness is manifested in Vietnam through Facebook anti-fans’ reactions to Disney’s The Little Mermaid (2023) starring Halle Bailey, a Black American actress, in the role of Ariel. Analyzing the racist and colorist remarks within Facebook users’ comments and posts about the movie and utilizing misogynoir as the main concept of critique, the author demonstrates the phenomenon of anti-Black misogyny in Vietnam and focuses on the “I’m not racist, but…” trope. Uncovering the queer history of Hans Christian Andersen’s work, this essay adopts a queer feminist lens to defend the filmmakers’ choice to depict Ariel as a queer and Black mermaid. It contributes to analyses of anti-Blackness worldwide, with a focus on transnational Asia contexts, specifically Vietnamese reception of an American film. To challenge the status quo, the author closes with a reflection on Sara Ahmed’s concept of the “feminist killjoy” and a call for more research and discussions around race and gender in Asia to counter global consequences of colonialism and White supremacy.