Princess Kae-Leah
09-28-2016, 04:05 AM
It seems that among mermaid fans, Disney's The Little Mermaid is a very divisive film. Some love it, and some absolutely hate it. Ariel's character especially is often criticized for being a poor role model who gave everything up for a guy she didn't even know. I think there's validity to some of the criticism that the film is not a very faithful adaptation to the original Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, as yes the original story is beautiful and more bittersweet than the Disney movie, but in spite of that, Disney's version of TLM still remains my favorite mermaid movie of all time, and my second favorite movie period(I give Disney's 1951 animated adaptation of Alice in Wonderland a slight edge). I'll share some of the reasons why I still love it so much:
(1) No mer-world in fantasy media ever seemed more enticing to me than Disney's Atlantica, and it will always influence how I think of merfolk. In Atlantica, merfolk live in harmony alongside most sea creatures and can speak to them, with a few notable exceptions such as the shark that chased after Ariel and Flounder. While it's not exactly stated outright that the merfolk are vegetarians, King Triton hates the humans for being "fish-eaters", and in the excellent but unfortunately somewhat obscure nowadays prequel animated TV series, it's clearly shown that merfolk eat a diet composed of seaweed salads, seaweed donuts, etc. As a vegetarian and animal lover, that's a very attractive fantasy world for me indeed! For me, part of why I love the fantasy of merfolk so much is the imagined ability to talk to animals as an equal in a way mere mortals certainly cannot. On the other hand, I can't watch the famous lobster scene in Splash without cringing, and was absolutely shocked and horrified the first time I saw it. That scene was so upsetting to me that for many years I would always say I hated that movie, though as I matured I have learned to appreciate it to some degree in spite of that(yes, I know in real life Daryl Hannah's a fellow vegetarian, so at least it wasn't real, but I still hate the idea of the scene). There are other mer-media that portray merfolk that are vegetarians or can communicate with sea creatures, but very few of a quality even close to Disney's The Little Mermaid.
(2) Ariel's one of those fictional characters where there's more to her than what it might seem on the surface, no pun intended. Yes, she's impulsive and naive, she's also an insatiably curious explorer who yearns to see other worlds. Remember, she sang about wanting to learn more about the human world and stubbornly and passionately insisted to her father than humans "are not barbarians" BEFORE she rescued Eric.
(3) The first time I ever saw a "mermaid" in person was meeting the Ariel face character at Disneyland. Seeing her sit there in her sparkly fabric tail, acting completely in character, and flipping it in parades, was part of what inspired me to get a tail of my own.
(1) No mer-world in fantasy media ever seemed more enticing to me than Disney's Atlantica, and it will always influence how I think of merfolk. In Atlantica, merfolk live in harmony alongside most sea creatures and can speak to them, with a few notable exceptions such as the shark that chased after Ariel and Flounder. While it's not exactly stated outright that the merfolk are vegetarians, King Triton hates the humans for being "fish-eaters", and in the excellent but unfortunately somewhat obscure nowadays prequel animated TV series, it's clearly shown that merfolk eat a diet composed of seaweed salads, seaweed donuts, etc. As a vegetarian and animal lover, that's a very attractive fantasy world for me indeed! For me, part of why I love the fantasy of merfolk so much is the imagined ability to talk to animals as an equal in a way mere mortals certainly cannot. On the other hand, I can't watch the famous lobster scene in Splash without cringing, and was absolutely shocked and horrified the first time I saw it. That scene was so upsetting to me that for many years I would always say I hated that movie, though as I matured I have learned to appreciate it to some degree in spite of that(yes, I know in real life Daryl Hannah's a fellow vegetarian, so at least it wasn't real, but I still hate the idea of the scene). There are other mer-media that portray merfolk that are vegetarians or can communicate with sea creatures, but very few of a quality even close to Disney's The Little Mermaid.
(2) Ariel's one of those fictional characters where there's more to her than what it might seem on the surface, no pun intended. Yes, she's impulsive and naive, she's also an insatiably curious explorer who yearns to see other worlds. Remember, she sang about wanting to learn more about the human world and stubbornly and passionately insisted to her father than humans "are not barbarians" BEFORE she rescued Eric.
(3) The first time I ever saw a "mermaid" in person was meeting the Ariel face character at Disneyland. Seeing her sit there in her sparkly fabric tail, acting completely in character, and flipping it in parades, was part of what inspired me to get a tail of my own.