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| “Screw everyone, girl’s got needs!” |
Oh, Ariel.
The traditional tale: Mermaid goes to sea witch and swaps amazing voice for really painful legs, mad dancing skills and a chance at eternal life. She tries to win the prince. She fails. Her sisters convince said witch to make a knife – if she kills the prince she gets to be a mermaid again. She refuses, dies, then gets eternal life anyways because she chose not to do the wrong thing.
Moral of the story:
– Don’t take stupid chances
– Rely on yourself to achieve your goals
– You can’t force love
The Disney version (The Little Mermaid, 1989): Mermaid goes to sea witch and swaps amazing voice for legs, and a chance at living as a voiceless human for the rest of her life, if she gets the prince to give her “the kiss of true love”. She fails because the man she loves only loves good singers. The sea witch turns out to have been gunning for control of the whole ocean and imprisons the mermaid’s dad, but the prince saves the day. Dad feels sorry for her and gives her legs, and she gets to be with the voice-coveting prince forever and yay!
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| Every scene with Prince Eric just makes me think of this video. |
Moral of the story:
– Sign contracts unthinkingly?
– Make deals with the devil because they totally work?
– Follow your dreams, even if it’s unrealistic and risks everything, including the people who love you?
Thanks, Disney, for instilling good values and a respect for sensible decision-making skills into The Children!
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| This iconic still is of her crazy stalker face, btw. |
I have no real love for this film, and I feel kind of bad for this because I know a lot of people do – even as a 7 year old, I wondered how Ariel could be so foolish, and that ruined any enjoyment I could have of the film. Ursula’s a pretty badass villain though, the Ariel-Triton switcheroo/domination scenario is a far more sensible motivation than the usual Disney villain jealousy.
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| Also, blackfish! |
(In my research for this week, I came across some pretty wicked fanart, including a surprisingly amount of Ariel-Ursula femslash, which I guess is only to be expected when the internet takes on a character with tentacles. Google at your own risk.)
Your Disney synopsis always crack me up. I guess I just never saw the movie for anymore than some fun songs and a happy ending. Look how much I missed! Love that glitter!
Thanks Malinda! 🙂
I missed out on the whole barge of Disney princess thing. There was Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty when I grew up – and I never had kids so I never kept up with where Disney went or watched all the movies…I grew up close enough to go to Disneyland monthly and grannie got discount tickets through her work so we went there about once a month – I was so Disney everything burt out from that I hardly cared to keep up on Disney anything after going to Grad night there. … in fact I only went back to Disneyland 1 time since HS Grad night when given free passes while I was in Anaheim for a convention. So I totally get your anti- Disney princess thing. Despite all that, you have come up with some good manis out of this ick challenge. Love following your comments on it all! I think I will skip Googling Ariel!
I’m so glad you enjoyed my rants! I think to develop the nostalgia you have to really get into it when you’re at a certain age.
What a great idea – sorry I missed the others – I’ll have to go back and read them. I teach high school English and have done a unit on ‘Disneyfication’. We looked at gender roles, and how many mothers died in the making of them, plus the changes to the stories. When I grew up – the little mermaid actually dies as she throws herself into the ocean and gets turned into sea foam.
That sounds like a really interesting unit! I loved doing critical analysis in English class… now I just have to sneak it in on this blog haha.
i do love this movie, even though its full of flaws. it was really fun seeing in on broadway too! that glitter is so pretty!
The songs are super catchy!
I enjoyed your take on the movie; I agree, the values aren’t great, but I guess I haven’t seen it recently enough to notice the themes from a rational adult perspective. I think things are a little better in the sequel moral-wise, although Ariel is an irrational and controlling hoverparent…
I love the Ariel accent nail! It’s simple but you get the meaning; I’ll have to try it out. The glittery nails are great too.
Thanks! It kind of sucks watching children’s movies from an adult perspective, so many are disappointing now… but Totoro always delivers 😉
Oh Michelle, you are just too funny! I was (am) a huge disney fan but reading your beautiful commentary makes me see them in a whole new light! 🙂 I just love them all. Oh, and of course all your nails are absolutely fabulous as well! xx