Little Zendaya?

T internet has been divided by specific rumours about Zendaya. Will she be starring in the next Hollywood live action remake as red haired, Ariel in The Little Mermaid?
 Different publications have been reporting that the role might be going to Zendaya or what some would say is an equal heavyweight for the role - Ariana Grande. The argument here is that Ariana has the vocal prowess for the role of the singing mermaid. Though if you want my opinion, Ariana has enunciation issues. I never know what she's actually singing.
       Fans have been having many debates on this online and initially I didn't particularly care. Why? Well why should a grown man care about such things anyway . . . That's a whole other column. Anyway, I initially didn't care because of all the animated films by Disney, The Little Mermaid is by far the worse one.
       Think about it. A sixteen-year-old girl sees a prince in a boat and without having even one conversation with him is convinced she's in love. After saving his life (without him realising it) she vows that they will be together. Sounds a bit psychotic. Her father, king of the seven seas, tells her that she can never go up to the surface. Well, it's pretty much an order - which I don't blame him for at all. Humans kill fish and technically Ariel is a fish. Can you blame a father for trying to protect his daughter? King Neptune probably knew his daughter was an idealistic psycho and so forbade her from pursuing a guy from a different species who hasn't even showed a hint of interest towards her.
        Despite this, Ariel goes to the sea witch, makes a ridiculous bargain and literally changes herself in every way possible to meet the Prince in exchange for her voice. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after a massive fight, her father sacrifices himself for Ariel and the prince (almost by pure accident) kills the sea witch. And to turn this into a happy ending, King Neptune changes his daughter into a human where she is more than happy to leave her family and friends and everything she is, to be a wife. Even as a child I thought the story was stupid.
      So for me it didn't matter who playes Ariel in The Little Mermaid because the film would probably be a live version of all the same clichés and outdated, unrealistic ideas about love and happily ever afters. Then I watched a few random interview clips of Zendaya and changed my mind. She should definitely play Ariel.
     This isn't an argument about more diversity in Hollywood and Disney. Zendaya is well read, opinionated, down to earth and for a twenty-two-year-old is (and I hate to use such a modern and over used colloquial term here) "woke".
       It's hard to believe that an actress who has been selective about the types of films she's been in and has been consistent in her beliefs about how women should be portrayed in the media would choose to be in a film with a flat and clichéd plot. I'd pick her over Ariana who, despite being a brilliant singer, seems to be living a rather clichéd Hollywood life.