system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: It does not matter that Ariel is black.

Disney recently cast Ariel a black actor and I don't think it matters.

Ariel is a fictional cartoon character who has no ethnic/racial ties to a specific group of people with a certain skin color. Additionally, race is not a key element of her character (i.e. you could replace all the characters in the original film including Arial (and those related to her) with darker colored actors and it wouldn't change the film a bit (other than slightly visually).

Sure it might be pandering, but if you don't like it don't see it. Disney is free to cast who they want in their films and the mere fact that a cartoon character happened to be white in a film 30 years ago does mean that the character needs to be white today. 

I also think it's disrespectful to simply assume that the black actor is unqualified/worse than other potential white actors (simply because they are black and happened to get the role-but that is a different point).

To further clarify, I don't particularly think she should be black. I just don't care what her complexion is and don't think it's important/relevant to the story/plot.
gpt
The original Hans Christian Andersen story describes her skin as "fine and transparent" and "clear and delicate like a rose petal", her legs as "white", and her arms as "white". The Little Mermaid is a national icon of Denmark and an important cultural symbol. It would be appropriate for Disney to be as respectful of the Danish version as possible since they are profiting off of the stories of another culture.