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Please do the Rumplestiltskin and Belle, Regina and Robin, Emma and Bealfire, Emma and Hook, Charming and Snow, and Zelena and Hades Once Upon A Time Relationships!
A remake where instead of three days it was one year and exactly as you say Ariel and Eric learn sign language and connect that way, and see how she's a genuinely good person etc that would be much more interesting.
Can you also review and make a movie therapy the original story of "Hans Christian Anderson" littlie mermaid." We have Russian, Czech or Japanese Animated version. It has a good story to and it has message.
You could probably do a whole thesis on Ariel's voice - when it's celebrated and when she's silenced. Something to consider might be how Ariel's singing voice is prized by everyone, but not what she says or does or wants - her value is in her voice, but only in specific, controlled circumstances. If Ariel's been measured by two things her entire life - her voice and her fins before Ursula gives her an opportunity to not only pursue her crush, but also to strip away the two external factors holding up her identity and to explore who she is without them.
(This is long, sorry) Agree in all parts. for the last one though where you point out that those two traits of hers were stripped from her to let her explore herself: I'd say she never did a whole lot of self exploration, or rather, the story itself didn't focus on that aspect of her sadly and mainly focused on her exploration related to being with her crush. I can definitely see so many times in the movie where she was definitely learning new things about her new world and new self, and I imagine she did a whole lot of that by the time she had her daughter Melody and became queen, but we don't see her experience in that and more like the "befores" and "afters" of her experience. It would've really fascinating to have more focus on her own thoughts and how she processed stuff in the movie and less on the love interest. frankly tho, that's just my opinion after some years of getting more insight on the importance of self exploration as an adult compared when I was a kid enjoying the story and sseeing colorful dancing fish 😅
Let’s also keep in mind that Triton’s parenting and the not letting his daughters go to the surface thing is also a result of his possible PTSD because of how tragically his wife died (shown in the little mermaid prequel)
@Chance Will It is very likely that the writers of the first movie hadn't thought about Ariel's mother's death being why Triton acted like he did. But you can't help thinking about it after you learn about it and feel more sympathy for Triton.
I mean I was a child when I watched little mermaid and I thought he was the worst. I didn't see the prequel until later so I guess I thought she magically spawned because I had no idea there was a mom. He was extremely mean to her all the time and I'm not sure the mother's death can be the reason because he was just like "Ariel, Ariel, Ariel" never "Ariel I'm just trying to keep you safe" and hated everything she loved for no apparent reason
@Emily Bixler To be fair to Triton though, it is clear that he feels remorse after he has destroyed Ariel's collection. Yes, he was truly wrong to do that, but in the end, he thought he had to do it to protect Ariel, until he could see that it only made things worse.
I don't think you can claim that since that was a prequel that came out like 20 years after the original. They surely didn't have that plot point in mind when they initially wrote this movie, and if they did, it isn't in the text.
I like how Eric had no idea what was going on but was still willing to help arial out. As if he was saying "I don't understand but at the same time I don't need to,"
OK, so I had this thought as you guys were going through the end of the film. I think this may, in a very subversive way, be kind of inspiring. Think about Ariel's relationship with her friends and family under the sea-they all hyper fixate on her singing ability and her voice. "The most wonderous voice, the most beautiful voice"-- they never bring up any of her other attributes because they don't care. Then her voice is taken away when she gets up to the surface and she's trying to woo Prince Eric without the one thing that she has been told her whole life that she's good for. And Eric, to his credit, takes her seriously and appreciates her, goes out into town with her, watches for her reactions to make sure she's having a good time, and is very possibly falling in love with her and it's *not because of her voice.* But then, when she finds out that he is marrying Ursula in disguise, and I think if I remember correctly she does notice that it's her voice by this point, she comes to the conclusion that she wasn't good enough after all. That she isn't enough without her voice. But the ultimate point is that she is! That Eric was falling in love with her for who she is even without this magical perfect voice that everyone has always told her she has. She was so good that Ursula had to steal that voice and craft it into a spell to keep Eric away from her. By taking away her voice, it gave Eric a chance to not fawn over her voice (the way he was initially), and also gave Ariel a chance to see that she really is more than just what her family praised her for. Just a thought!
@AnakhaSilver Yes, they talk about her voice in a song _they're_ singing in a _concert,_ what else are they supposed to talk about? It's a _concert;_ are they supposed to about her skill at embroidery? And you even said it yourself: "in her musical _debut,"_ which means _no one else_ has heard her sing- so she's not _known_ for her voice. And, yes, they're making a big deal, _because she is a princess._ And really? Triton irritatedly, questioningly saying "Ariel?" is what you'd consider "PISSED!!!!"? (No, later when he's destroying giant marble statues is "PISSED!!!!") When he's scolding her, he doesn't even get off his throne until the surface is mentioned. He's disappointed and annoyed - you're supposed to be able to tell the difference, since he has such an explosive temper every time humans are mentioned. I get that you feel like _the movie_ focuses on her voice, but _none_ of the characters are _obsessed_ with it (like I said, it's just the only thing Eric remembers).
@DD Ariel is literally introduced in song-form by her voice and age. "And then there is the youngest in her musical debut A seventh little sister, we're presenting her to you To sing a song Sebastian wrote, her voice is like a bell She's our sister Ari- (all gasp)" Literally the only ways she's described IN HER INTRODUCTION is her voice and how she's the youngest. Yes, people make a big deal about her voice, it's just not as blatant as you'd like! Also, Triton was FURIOUS she wasn't at the musical! He literally gets PISSED!!!! He's calmed down a lot by the time she comes back, just being Moody, and then finding out where she went pisses him off MORE. But he was, indeed, mad!
@F CV Actually, Ariel's _lack_ of a voice is the focal point of the story. The only reason her voice is important is because she _doesn't have it._ Eric is only "fixated" on her voice, because that's all he can remember. If he could remember her eyes or her left ankle, he'd have fixated on that. And Ursula used straight up _magic_ on Eric- she didn't _manipulate_ him, she put a literal spell on him. Triton's daughters aren't _expected_ to be singers - they just are. Triton scolds her a little (but mostly it's Sebastian bitching, because he's egotistical and a drama queen), but he doesn't actually get angry until he finds out she went to the surface. Ariel is _not_ known for having a "prized voice" - her singing _debut_ was the concert _she didn't go to._ Yeah, mermaids sing, but _all_ mermaids can sing; Ariel's only special in Atlantica because she's a princess and she's special to the audience because she's the protagonist. FFS, Ariel has _one_ song in the entire movie. Sebastian's voice gets more screen time than hers.
@DD Ariel's voice is a focal point of the story. How can you say no one is fixated with Ariel's voice when Eric fell in love firstly through her singing? Ursula even used it to manipulate him. And Eric doesn't truly understand Ariel is the girl he fell in love with until he hears her sing again. Also, the mythology of mermaids having beautiful voices is tied to greek sirens, who used to lure sailors with their beautiful singings. That's why all of Triton's daughters are expected to be singers, and why Ariel not attending the concert was a big deal. For mermaids, singing is a big deal.And Ariel has a prized voice, it's another reason why Ursula took it as a price (as well as to hinder Ariel). It's very clear throughout the movie that Ariel's voice is a key factor to her identity and value, both at face-value and symbolically. You don't need an unsubtle dialogue or narrator to show us what the theme of the movie and the protagonist are.
Don't forget the whole point of her so-called beautiful voice was that she's basically a siren her voice is magical it's possible he never was even in love with her voice it just the voice is self made him believe that he doesn't love that he was in a spell and Transfixed which is why he did not remember her face but he remembered her voice
My own dad was always similar to Triton. He, to this date, was always overprotective, and I'm 28. He devoted his life to keep us safe and unharm that he never gave us the space to explore and choose who we wanted to be, which unfortunately affected us while growing up. When Triton destroyed Ariel's collection, I cried, because my dad did something similar. I love drawing to this date. And one day when we were arguing, he took my sketches and tore them apart in front of me. Instead of getting angry, I felt heartbroken. The only reason I was able to forgive him, is because my sister told me he felt so much regret for what he did to me, he even search in the trash trying to find them. I never doubted that my dad loved me. But if love is about growing closer, it's also about letting go.
Watch the dr. Ramani vids about narcistic parents. You will be shocked! (We share the same age, as well as mothers who behave like crap, judging by what you wrote here). I sooo get the "sneaking around, triyng to have some fun" (and I always get "found out" because I have been drilled to answer all questions).
Your dad destroying your art, isn't the same as triton destroying Ariel's possessions. he did his to try and wake her up out of her obsessions' of humans. he seem them as a danger, due to how his wife died. your dad destroyed your things to HURT you, because he could. it had nothing to do with protecting you. he wanted to hurt you. Unless he actually apologizes for it, i wouldn't have forgiven him.
I am 53, my mother of 80-ish, still is like that. Anything I like or anything I do that does not resonate with her, will not get her 'mark of approval'. And she will gleefully rub that in if I happen to fail at anything. I am still always half-sneaking behind her back just to have some joy in life.
I love the Little Mermaid, it's one of my favorite Disney films, but if I were to name a problem with it, it would not be the supposed lesson that girls should be pretty and quiet. First off, I think the fact that this is stated by the villain shows that the filmmakers meant to underscore its falseness. And while Eric does fall in love with Ariel while she has no voice, his arc contradicts Ursula's ideas of love. Eric is obsessed with this perfect dream girl, he thinks he'll know her instantly, and he's holding out for her. When he meets Ariel, he's disappointed that she doesn't live up to his dreams, but as he spends time with Ariel, he realizes he enjoys her company. He eventually learns that although Ariel might not meet the perfect vision in his head, he loves her. He throws away his flute, and with it his ideas of perfection. By taking away Ariel's voice, Ursula actually took away the one thing that Eric was obsessed with, and in order to win him back, Ariel has to spend time with him and get him to fall in love with her for who she is, not for her voice. If Ursula's argument is that you can reduce a woman down to one beautiful thing that boys will obsess over, Eric's arc shows that real love is about truly seeing the real people around you. My problem with the movie is that Ariel, like most Disney princesses, doesn't get a character arc in her own movie. The strongest arc in the movie goes to Triton, who has to learn to stop trying to control his daughter; the next strongest goes to Eric. But Ariel doesn't have an arc. She wants to be part of the human world, and though she has to overcome several obstacles, that's what she does. She wants to be with Eric, so that's what she does. She doesn't learn any lessons or grow as a person. Of course, not every character has to have a character arc in every movie, but it's concerning that Disney has a collection of movies aimed at young girls with nominal female protagonists, almost none of whom have arcs. But that's more of a problem with Disney princess movies as a whole than with this movie in particular, although this movie does play into that trend.
And in doing so, it shows that Ursula knows and agrees with feminism she just wants to spite Ariel because she’s Triton’s daughter. If you watch the sequel with Ariel’s daughter, Ursula’s sister shared that Ursula was casted out by Triton because of her power.
I think it’s honestly the opposite. It’s showing that girls can have a voice without having a voice. That your voice matters but there’s other ways to speak your mind and get your message across. I also think the point is that she lives in a place where no one listens to her unless it’s when she’s singing. She’s controlled by a man (her father) so she sings about wanting freedom. Ursula sings a song about giving her that freedom but takes away her voice as a trick. Ursula acts like having a voice is useless and says men don’t like it when you speak your mind, but we know she’s just trying to trick Ariel. Ariel was able to win the prince over and speak her truth without having an actual voice box. Part of Your World can equate to a feminist song and Poor Unfortunate Souls is a song that’s trying to trick her into thinking she’ll get her freedom if she submits (but it’s so tricky that Ariel doesn’t realize it)
She achieved her goal, that is the point. And well, there is some of character arc. She was forced to make a big decision, she had two options that both will permanently affect her life. She could choose to stay in the ocean forever, leave all her dreams behind and forever be a 'well behaved daughter' of her father who is controling her life. If she chosed that, that would be so called 'safe zone' wich is wery unhealthy thing, and it basicaly means (staying in uncomfortable situation because you are too scared or lazy to try to leave it) Or she has to leave her past behind, never see her family again, lose her voice and even risk being enslaved, for a chance to get what SHE ACTUALY WANTS from life. She was scared at first, but she decided to take the risk and make sucrifice for her future life. In my opinion, that is a VERY BIG character arc for the 16 years old.
Ariel doesn’t need an arc. She’s knew what she wanted and got it. If they gave her an arc in this movie it would take away what Ariel actually IS. Not a magical creature but a human. Ariel is fully formed since the beginning to the end. she was able to change her fathers views cuz the story is more about triton leaving his prejudices rather than Ariel having the arc to apologize to her father for wanting to be who she really is
A line from Ariel's song that I think is important: "Betcha on land they understand. Bet they don't reprimand their daughters. Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand..." I think Ariel isn't obsessed with the human world just because it's exotic and taboo. She sees the human world as a place with more freedom than her life under her father's rule.
Yeah, that line show that Ariel was indeed a teenager. And also I think Eric was just the final drop that make her took action, but a version where she take the deal without the love factor could be totally possible
There’s also the fact that she wanted to become human before she even met Eric/knew of his existence. Him and the argument with her dad were kind of just the last pushes to go and find out how she could actually get up there. Like idrk how to feel about the argument that she changed her body ONLY for a guy, because it’s only really half true
i kind've always interpreted triton's enthusiasm for ariel's romance to be because it meant she'll focus on her place in the ocean. hence the "who the lucky *mer*man."
It's also kind of a metaphor for assuming your child is one sexuality when they actually are another. Like how Triton thinks Ariel's in love with a merman when she's actually in love with a human, some parents think their children are straight and push the heteronormative narrative onto them when in actuality their child could be gay, bi, pan, aro, ace, or anything in between. That's how my mind interprets it anyway (as a token straight chaotic ally friend)
"How long do fish last? A couple years?" Actually, yes. Most fish only live for about five years or less. My college professor said the oldest fish he ever aged was about 16 years old. The same age Ariel is in the movie.
@Kat My simple guppies lived 6 years and longer, people around here have neontetra's last almost 15 years, some have corydoras who reach 17-18 easy. And those are just the small ones! Just do not overheat them and make sure they have unpolluted water (as much as possible). Oh, we do not have plastic plants in our tanks, we have underwater gardens ;) The large fish living in colder water live far, far longer.
@muurrarium yeah, I just felt the need to comment because while yeah majority of tropical fish for example live around 5 years but his comment made it sound like it's something unimaginable for fish to live past 100 years
I'll argue this point since a lot of people seem to give little mermaid crap for the trope of "love at first sight" and "giving up your whole world for one guy". Now, I'm not a huge Ariel fan, even though I love the ocean, but some of the stuff she talks about and sings about really resonate with a lot of people for how badly they want to be seen for who they are and how badly they want their freedom. I think it's easy to assume that the love story is as far as Ariels story goes. So I'm honestly disappointed you two didn't pick it apart further. She has wanted to explore the human world before she ever met Eric, so to me, while yes, she was also crushing on him, she was willing to give up her life, her fins, her voice to go explore the dream she always wanted, to explore land. To me, she is a LOT like Rapunzel, though Rapunzel warmed up to Flynn over time versus Ariels puppy love right out the gate, they both felt very sheltered from the world and wanted to go and explore it, at any cost. While her view of the world above is romanticized, she wants that world where she can stand up and be who she wants to be, where she can be valued for more than her voice, her looks, for being royalty, but for being just HER. Eric didn't know she was a princess, and sure she has her looks still but Eric is a prince, I'm sure he has easy access to plenty of people with good looks and still was charmed by her. To me that speaks more to her energy and personality that shines through even without her voice. I do think it's a flaw of the film to not show them communicating more but you do see this in non-verbal cues and body language as Eric talks to her even though she can't answer very specifically. Like he genuinely wants to know more about her. I think that you kind of forgot that she had this as her goal long before Eric and when you are the daughter of the King of the Seas, where else would you be able to go to get your freedom and have people like you for you instead of being a princess when the whole ocean knows who you are and your father can basically have watch over you anywhere you go UNLESS you leave the ocean. Part of growing up is being able to leave home, stand on your own two feet and know that people like you for you, not just the titles that come with you, or whose kid you are, or what you sound or look like but who you are on the inside. I think it's also a tale of how actions can speak louder than words, especially when you cannot speak, your actions literally are the thing that defines you. So yes, Ariel is still a teenager, and I think she plays the best and worst parts of being a teen very well, but I also think a lot of people just see this as a bratty teen or similar to how Anna falls in love asap in Frozen, etc but I do think it hits home for a lot of reasons that are also part of this film if you take the time to dig a little deeper.
Thank you so much! I’m so sick of the crap that a lot of these Disney Princess movies get, especially The Little Mermaid. You hit all of the points beautifully! I think the key thing people need to think about is: Ariel sings “Part of THAT World” BEFORE she met Eric. Once she rescued him, that’s when she wanted to be part of HIS world. AND on top of that, before the Under the Sea number, Ariel was planning to meet him again to talk to him. You can hear her over Sebastian’s dialogue that she wanted to see him again and that Flounder will get his attention, etc. So, she wasn’t planning to throw her life away for one guy, she was planning to get to know him more and learn more about him by talking to him. Only when Ursula gave Ariel that task to kiss him before the three days were up did it become a goal for her to get with Eric.
Thank you so much for saying this. This movie gets a lot of crap for its tropes but it does have some brilliant things to ponder on and your comment summa up pretty much everything.
Thank you! Agreed. I wrote a thesis paper defending the Disney princesses' agency and independence. I used examples from Disney's Golden Age, Ariel being one of them. Good analysis, Trish!
Great comment 💎 I just want to say that the way I saw the bond that was formed wasn't a 'at first sight' kind of thing. I thought it was the rescue-- the kind you always see the male heroes do. It probably messed me up for life lol because I stay looking for someone to rescue as if that will be the key to an undying appreciation and happiness. 💔
I got pretty disappointed that you didn't see more of this story. I'm glad that there are a lot of people in the comments that think the same. I hoped you would dive deeper into Tritons abusive behavior, her passion for human world that was not just for love. He was just the addition. I always felt bad that so many people just see stupid teenager that just rebels for the first handsome man she just met. It is not just about love. Just by learning that Trition could just spare everyone the trouble and just change her into human. He was just too scared and ignorant to listen, and because of that he almost lost Ariel to a sea witch.
They might actually touch upon it in Fuller unedited episodes that I think they have on their website. I am not sure because I haven't checked it out but it could be possible that they touch upon it.
I know, normally I love this channel's videos, but with this one it looks like instead of watching the full movie, they just watched the most popular scenes to roast them with the typical, shallow internet criticisms found on the internet. I was actually hoping to hear Jonathan's take on Triton destroying Ariel's grotto, and they didn't even show it! There's plenty good stuff in the film, it's not hard to find.
15:30 fun fact, Eric was designed to be a reinvention of Disney princes. The first three were sort of like statues in comparison to the princesses. Also the voice of Eric was 16 during recording lol Jodie Benson says some great things about Ariel in a q&a video somewhere. Look that up if you’re interested. Because I don’t agree with this video but I can’t articulate it as well as she can. I have trouble articulating what I mean sometimes, and you’re more qualified than me, so you’ve got me there. But I’ll say this as quickly as I can. I don’t appreciate the argument that all Ariel did is sit there and look pretty, or that her greatest achievement was the sexual awakening of many (although that is fair, and I know that’s not exactly what you’re saying, but still). I don’t appreciate the argument that the first three princesses aren’t as strong as the others who came after. I think it’s a little hurtful to say that girls who are quiet or shy, or girls who stay in a situation with grace, or girls who leave a situation in desperate circumstances aren’t as strong as those who are considered warriors or fighters. When I was little, I was horrendously shy and insecure, but I looked at Ariel and I saw someone who didnt have a voice and couldn’t (literally) speak up, because I was so shy I couldn’t talk, and Eric loved her anyway, without her voice. I saw Cinderella, and saw myself in her resilience in a tough home life. And Aurora and Snow White too. I don’t think all female role models have to be a warrior to be valid. Because sometimes, it’s okay to ask for help. Or to know your limits, or to stand by and wait for an opportunity. Not everyone can wield a sword. And I think that’s okay. I do absolutely love when a female character can slay her own dragons. But I think it’s also okay to be gentle.
@Sophie Pea yes! I just watched the 2015 one yesterday. I had forgotten how they made it more clear that the glass slipper shrunk or got bigger because it was meant for Ella, and it was the fairy godmother’s magic guiding her towards her destiny and her way out. A lot of people forget that and argue about it but it’s very clear she didn’t tell him her name and that the magic only worked for her.
Especially cinderella tbh, it’s mentioned that she’s abused and it’s not like she didn’t try at all to stick up for herself. She tried to go to the ball with her mother’s old dress and then that was just destroyed by those very people who constantly abuse her. It was only after that that the fairy godmother came in. And honestly I think her ability to wake up and show a good face every day considering the situation she’s in is very strong in itself.P, it’s just a different kind of strong. There’s also the factor that she didn’t even go to the ball looking for the prince or looking to get saved, she didn’t even know it was him that she’d been dancing with, they just happened to meet that night because he sought her out. Their circumstances in the regards that they didn’t know each other that well is another thing, but I’d say that’s expanded upon really well in the live action, and it’s great to see them have such a nice friendship before he tells her he’s the prince.
i think the argument was more that they dont have character arcs, they just exist to further others', not that they are incapable of violence. the complaint was that the movies arent really about their journey at all emotionally, its about the journeys of the characters around them. i do think in general there has been somewhat of a cultural overcorrection where people think that making a disney princess an active or dynamic character in their own stories necessitates that they be a totally independent warrior girlboss, but i dont think thats necessarily a bad thing either. im glad you were able to relate to the early princesses though, and im certain you werent alone in that.
i like the examples of all the the good things you saw in the first three princesses and it's awesome that it helped you feel seen as a shy kid, but i think there's a difference between being shy and being passive. in my opinion, it's kinda harmful to represent shyness as total passiveness in your own life when everything happens because someone else made it happen. for me it seems more like a disservice, because when you're shy (unless it has a great effect on your life, in which case it's a serious issue that requires professional help) you still have your full autonomy as a person. not everyone need to know how to wield a sword, that's true, and the capacity to be gentle is a great quality or sometimes even a skill, but i think these characters are awfully close to the category of damsel in distress, and that fact has nothing to do with their ability to be gentle. everything needs a balance, which means you don't have to choose between being completely passive in your own story or Strong™ without having to do everything on your own without any help
One thing I find really interesting about a lot of these arguments is this: everyone seems to assume that if Ariel got the prince to kiss her, she would get her voice back. But if you listen to the song, that''s *explicitly not the deal.* Ursula only says she'll get to *keep the legs* if the prince kisses her. The voice is the *payment.* The only reason Ariel gets her voice back at all is because Ursula's necklace breaks--something that wasn't part of the plan. This means that in Poor Unfortunate Souls, Ariel is okay with giving up her voice *forever* for the chance to live on land. I don't have any additional things to add, but some people have been using this logic in their arguments and I just wanted to point out that this is a flawed read.
@ilikethisalready I wish the same, actually. The real Andersen story was about the mermaid earning the right to win an eternal soul, despite not being born a human, which was the only being that had a soul, since Andersen was a Christian and Christians believed that humans were second to God in divinity (even angels were inferior, as they technically had no free will). In the original fairy tale, the mermaid had to choose between her own life or the prince's, and chose to die so the prince could live, ending the tale as an air sprite with the potential to gain an eternal soul due to her selflessness. The Disney version was kind of the opposite; yes, Ariel felt stifled, yes, she wanted something more, but she started off the story thinking only about herself and no one else, and ended the story…still really only thinking about herself, because there were no real long-term consequences of her being selfish. I guess Disney absolutely needs that clear-cut happy ending, and am personally grateful for not having Christian ideals stuffed down our throats from a mostly secular studio, but at least the mermaid's characterization, and being rewarded for her selflessness, could have been kept somehow. It would have been a much better lesson for children too, if combined well with lessons about individuality and being proactive.
one of my biggest pet peeves of this movie is that Ariel can obviously read and write (signs her name on the contract). Why didn't she just write Eric a letter saying that she was the one who saved him? Would have made things a little less oblivious
You know what's weird. As a trans person myself I was thinking about the whole body dysmorphia thing and wondering if they would bring up the difference between the two AND THEY DID. I am so glad that was clarified.
I'd honestly argue Ariel is more trans-species than having body dysmorphia. She wants to become a human and the thought of that identity gives her euphoria. So much so, that she's willing to lose her family to achieve that identity (like we trans people have to prepare ourselves to do too when we transition). I feel like body dysmorphia would be trying to change the shape of her fin or wanting to remove it entirely, not necessarily wanting to change it for an identity sake. I remember being a child and wanting to become Prince Eric. I wanted to wear suits and father children. I dreamed of life as a man, and didn't know girls typically didn't do that. So maybe I liked The Little Mermaid because it told me I could become whatever identity I truly wanted.
I’m honestly so glad they brought it up too because it’s something I’d never even really thought to pair with it before. It really changes the story/her character when you look at it through that lense as well tbh, it gives her sooo much more depth imo. Not necessarily “good” depth, but it’s definitely something that the remake could explore and build upon
I love when Eric finds Ariel on the beach and she can't speak, he says, "You're really been through something haven't you? Don't worry, I'll get you help" or something like that. It's just so... good. For her to be SEEN.
I saw a really good argument for how good the Little Mermaid is on Tumblr talking about how Ariel is an anthropologist and Ursula made it all about a man. Ariel wanted to experience the culture, Ursula forced her to focus on the romance.
For me as a kid I didn't see it as a story about her being desperately in love, but in a place where she belongs and is valued. Growing up all I wanted was to be in the world my friends lived on which was a wolf in which they had loving caring parents. I didn't have that and desperately wanted it. As well as her courage to stand up to her dad and do what she wants anyways I took that and was the only one who consistently stood up to my mother for myself and others. Part of your world was my theme song for YEARS because I wanted to be somewhere else I knew how she felt in that regard.
My interpretation: Eric was a justification for Ariel for wanting to be with the humans, but she always wanted to (Part of Your World was before she ever laid eyes on him). She latched on to him for that reason, but it wasn't her fixation on him that lead her to making that deal. It was her father's actions that pushed her away and toward Ursula. From then, she worked to keep her legs. Kissing the prince was just the mechanism by which she'd keep her legs.
@catsmom129 That’s because Indiana Jones got to be a graverobbing archaeologist AND be married to Marion. He didn’t have to choose between his career aspirations and love. Unlike Ariel, Indiana Jones didn’t give up his voice nor changed his species for Marion.
One thing I love about being an adult is being able to look back on why this movie makes me nostalgic and think fondly of my childhood while also being able to look at it critically with my adult lens. Both are possible and it need not be a joyless process! :)
I feel she also is drawn to what was hidden from her and withheld from her. She feels alone in her own family and wants to fill that feeling inside that feels empty. A hole left by the death a mother and the distant father who leans away from her. She looks like her mom and sounds like her too. His pain and anger and fear from her death due to a human ship broke him and he took it out on EVERYONE but mostly on her as very young child. He wants to protect her sure but he also wants to control her like so many adults do
My oldest friend suffered from body dysmorphia, and I didn't quite get it until I sat down with her for a day and just observed all of her little behaviours - She was extremely fixated in particular on her nose. She would spend hours scrolling through Instagram, looking at photos, zooming in on peoples noses and then posing herself to take similar photos, to compare them - And it made her so depressed.. She'd ask me to take photos of her nose, ask me how I thought it looked, and was never happy.. this drove her to get a nose job. Afterwards though, the negative feelings eventually came back. Nowadays, she has a great therapist to help her manage. I wish I could have shown her how there's nothing wrong with her nose at all, but it doesn't work that way - It would fall on deaf ears. Thankfully now, she's a lot more comfortable and seemingly happy with herself. :)
I read Triton's reaction to his daughter's passions and her decision to run away similarly to Romeo and Juliet. If the adults in the kids' lives had just backed off and been cool about their kids' interests, things wouldn't have escalated as far as they did. But Triton gets violent and destroys Ariel's collection, including the gift she just got from her friend, and then just leaves her sobbing. It's then when Floatsam and Jetsam, who have been stalking her all movie waiting for an opportunity to butt in, convince Ariel to seek Ursula. The villain only gets to Ariel when she's emotionally vulnerable and prone to make a rash decision.
I lived with a narcistic mother who controlled me, I wanted to get free so badly and this movie tought me not to get it with any cost, not to trust the witch, but that it's ok to want a different life. Everyone tells Ariel that she has the most anazing singing voice but no one is listening when she talks. No one is interested in her dreams, what she wants for life. I was in that position and this movie helped me to stay sane and not to give up my dreams. And sometimes it's an other person that gives you the spark to get out of it. I don't see why this should be problematic. Also Eric gets to know her better, sees that she is funny, curious, friendly but also likes a bit of danger. Look at the montage of them in the town, look how he looks at her. You can see that he sees her character. He gave up his dream girl (scene him throwing away the flute), he wanted to be with Ariel but was bewitched by Ursula. Ariel didn't do the "body language" (heavily flirting) she was just herself and that is what Eric liked, her character. She also rescued Eric after she knows he is under a spell, that is not passiv. Yes she had help, but everyone needs that in life. And remember the sea animals help her, the "people" she thought she needed to left behind. Also her father helps her, even if he doesn't undertsand her he let Ariel go (transform her) because he loves her. In my opinion the people look too much on the " she falls in love with a guy" point. Like Eric were the only reason she wanted to be human, no she wanted that before that, he was only the spark.
Ursula is such a business woman that she convinced the AUDIENCE that Ariel left the sea for a man when really her Princess song was about nearly everything but a man. It was about her infactuation with the land specifically and how much she wanted to be a part of it. She just preyed on the young FIRST crush she had to seal the deal to her voice. Otherwise, Ariel wouldn't have signed out of anger towards her father for smashing the statue and what he had done to her collection.
@Nahbroo true. They are quite similar indeed. These parents need therapy and their kids. Though it's never selfish to get what you desire, especially if you've poured everything you could into it alone and Yes Ariel was being petty and determined to live a life she knew would make her happiest if she tried. Unlike Moana, Ariel wasn't the only heir to the throne, in fact, she was the lesser choice out of seven? Others? as the youngest. So, her presence didn't have a strong effect on anyone besides her father who blamed himself and her sisters who may miss her. As far as we know, she didn't have friends beside guppy flounder and I bet it's because of who her father is. I think apart of the point was that she had NO premise as a princess. There was nothing else for her besides her collection and relative bonds. Ariel did lament on the sacrifice of never seeing her family again and looked scared at the sacrifice she would have to make before they settled the deal. now that I think about it, her intentions were just slightly petty. With Moana, she was also out for self interest and when she mentioned fishing beyond the reef, it wasn't only for food, though they did need to solve the problem. It was a bit of a crutch to wean the idea of the wider sea to her father. Before the small boat crashed, her words before leaving was, "there's more fish beyond the reef... there's more beyond the REEF." Yes, eventhough her people having something to eat was important, she was still a child in training and it shows that being on the sea is what she wanted more than nearly anything. It wasn't about a great sacrifice for her people at first and that's ok just like Ariel. Unlike Ariel, she just didn't know how bad her fate in particular could get. It was about fulfilling what she wanted and maybe having the island benefit from it too. If it fails, they would've had to travel again anyway. Like Ariel she wanted more and like Ariel it was for a 'selfish' reason. In terms of saving, Ariel did save the prince, but without the tefiti plot and just the main internal conflict (sameish level of family drama) for Moana, she didn't save anyone. There was no one to save. Ariel wasn't entirely selfish tho, she tried to save sebastion when he was on a platter, but there isn't much people she could've saved. Plus besides Ursela, there weren't any food shortages or any reason why people would need saving. She saved a stranger yes, she thought he was handsome yes, but I don't think that's the only reason why she saved him. Moana also almost got Maui and herself killed and his powers gone because she wanted to prove something. In fact, she just fixed a mistake that Maui was too cowardly to fix himself too. She did alot of dumb stuff too. Yes she fixed it for, er with him at the end, but if it was just selfless, they wouldn't have voyaged in the end because the fish would've been back, and the island flourishing. She just wanted to sail the sea and possibly voyage and she got that. Ariel wanted to share human culture and was willing to give up her adventure after they defeated Ursula but because her dad recognized how much she wanted that life, he let her have it in the end. The both ultimately got what they wanted. I think permission was all Moana needed to go and get Maui, she got that from her grandma and later her mom. She didn't want to think about how sad and depressed the entire village would be with the loss of their only princess in the grieving process of the chieftains mother. Instead she did what she thought she should. Judgment was tricky for both while emotions were fresh. At least Moana got the permission to go that Ariel never got. Eventhough her choice was VERY DUMB. If Ariel had no love interest, it would've ended a bit differently. You have to admit, that she didn't care at that moment and it was ballsy. It could either go VERY WRONG in life or VERY RIGHT. I know that eventually, you could have made a choice to either risk it or stay where you are and maybe never progress. I think both of those movies are about taking a chance, a leap of faith despite the risks. Moana could've SERIOUSLY DIED and she was the only one who HAD ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE on a boat at sea and they let her leave alone. Like come on, a fisherman or something wouldve been handy but ig story or whatever lol. Ariels story just wasn't designed to be that deep. She had no kingdom besides at the end of the movie, she didn't have hundreds of merpeople or humans depending on her. So fair comparison based on intent and needs, no. But I do get the spirit of what you're trying to say. I hope you get mine. I think in a way we both are fairly correct.
@Me, Myself & I yeah, I totally understand your viewpoints. In a way, Moana and Ariel are quite similar. Both were born of power (moana being the daughter of the chief and ariel being a princess) yet isolated from what they love their whole lives because of their dad’s trauma. They’re also both 16 years old. The difference between the two that makes Moana more likable is Moana wasn’t very petty. Moana yearned to go out into the ocean, and snuck out twice, but her longing for the ocean was just a small part of her reasoning. The first time Moana snuck out was because there were more fish past the reef, and the village would soon go hungry. The second time was because her grandma was dying, and her grandma’s last wish was for her to go and return the heart of te fiti Ariel on the other hand, did it out of pure selfishness. Nothing about the surface had anything to do with helping her people, and other than it being said that she’s the daughter of king triton, she does absolutely NOTHING to prove her worth as a princess nor does she breath even a word about her kingdom. Sometimes I even forget that she’s a princess when I watch the movie. The only selfless thing she did in the *entire* movie was help Eric, and it seems just by watching her that if she wasn’t attracted to Eric, she probably wouldn’t have even cared if he died. When she signed the contract with Ursula, she didn’t take into consideration what would happen to her, or her family. She was just mad at her dad for destroying her collection. Of course, she has a right to be mad abt that but SIGNING YOUR LIFE AWAY is *not* the way to got about it!! Half the movie is Ariel being a complete idiot and the other half is her being selfish
@Mckenzie .Latham Why couldn’t Ariel still continue her anthropological studies even when she was a wife and mother? There are anthropologists who are married in real life. If Ariel were a man, she wouldn’t have to choose between love and hobbies because she can have both. 😤 The problem with Ariel is that once Eric enters the picture, she gives up her hobbies for him because the movie wants to teach girls that being a beautiful, dumb wife who can’t talk is more important than being intelligent and vocal. 😝
@Nora Girl At least the fairy tale doesn’t make it about romance, since the mermaid doesn’t get the prince in the end, and she instead is able to obtain an soul without him by reincarnating as a daughter of the air. Plus, the prince treats the mermaid like a pet instead of a human being as evidenced by him having the mermaid sleep on a velvet cushion outside his door instead of a bed and calling her his “little foundling”, therefore the romance wouldn’t have worked. The prince loves the mermaid like a sister.
Watching this again, I thought of another couple of things about Ariel and Triton's relationship. The FIRST thing is related to how chill Triton seemed at first about the idea of his daughter, having a boyfriend. Ariel is a princess, which means whoever she might take as a spouse would have to be under much more scrutiny, than someone in a different social class. One would assume that Triton would have more of a vetting process about that. The SECOND thing is that, despite the massively traumatic argument she'd had with him barely a couple of hours earlier, Ariel was still concerned about the chance that she'd never see her father again. This moment proved how strong their bond really was. (2/19/2023)
I went to see this movie in theaters at 17. I actually reacted the same as you about the voice even then. I have always been a woman who thought I am smart and have opinions. My father taught me conflicting messages that men prefer women that they can teach things yet he told me I should have opinions, to educate myself enough to be able to form an opinion. This movie coming out at a time when I was learning these conflicting lessons took me in the direction that as a woman I am supposed to keep my mouth shut and defer to men if I want a relationship. It hurt my feelings for a long time
I think what really fuels Triton's anger and worry towards the humans just goes back to trauma, resentment and anger. We see in the third movie that Triton's wife is killed by fishermen when Ariel was just a kid. So the idea of his youngest falling in love with the brutes that killed her mom is like reopening a wound that festered.
I've always thought that a big part of the reason she wanted legs so badly was the way she was forbidden from the surface. If her dad had let her explore the surface more, maybe she wouldn't have been so fixated on becoming HUMAN. To her, legs began to represent freedom.
I was 8 when I watched this at the cinema, and for YEARS afterwards I had nightmares about Triton. I was horrified at what a terrible dad he was, and how it took him and Ariel almost dying for him to listen to her even a little bit. Terrible parenting.
He wasn't a terrible parent, flawed yes but not terrible. He was terrified at the idea of losing one of his daughters (if I remember correctly, he lost his wife, obviously his daughters mother in a terrible way and Ariel reminded him the most of his late wife because she had the same adventurous, stubborn free spirited personality that Ariel has, all this is revealed in one of the sequels i believe, so it may explain Tritons behavior if you consider it canon) I don't think he knew how to deal with this fear and didn't know how to handle Ariel. Her 6 older sisters were content with their lives under the ocean, so Ariel's "rebellion " especially considering she was enamored with humans, something he deeply feared was difficult to accept. Sure he could have handled things better, but I can understand his behavior. At least he cared and just wanted the best for his daughter. I'd much rather have a father like Triton when I was growing up, and even now as an adult then the miserable excuseof a "father " i have. Plus at least Triton was able to change and give his daughter the chance to have what she wanted, with his blessings. His intentions were in the right place, even earlier in the film IMO
I didn't have that realization until years after I saw it because my dad was kinda like Triton (not exactly the same but definitely had fits of anger where my stuff got broke, he's better now). Watching the movie now, it's super obvious.
But it was the best arc in my opinion for this movie. It took all of that just to see how the more he tries to control her decisions, and what she likes ( about humans and such ) the more she gets hurt. And so, he set her free and let her go, which I think he would have done even if there was not a prince involved. Terrible parenting? Yes. But it portrayed the growth they both had, which was quite beautiful to me now that I am analyzing this movie a little bit 🤗
Here’s why I think the “your pretty face” argument is wrong. I think the film actively proves Ursula wrong, and rightly so as she is the villain and it’s incredibly wrong. To start of though, I will acknowledge both Eric and Ariel are probably some of the most beautifully designed people in the Disney pantheon. They’re both very attractive so it’s easy to argue it was just about the beauty. However, I believe it is more than that. When Ariel first sees Eric, we see him sea-faring, playing with his dog, playing the flute, and talking about his romantic tendencies - already she and the audience know a lot about him. Later on we see him try to save his servant rather than his own life, further proving he is a decent guy, and Ariel has every right to fall head over heels for this guy. When Eric first sees Ariel, it’s after she literally saved his life. She pulled him out of flaming ship wreckage in a storming sea and back to land. But that’s not all he gets fixated on. He loves the sound of her voice and how she sings to him, so much so that after he meets Ariel again and he finds out she can’t speak he loses all interest in her. He cares about the talented singer who saved his life and ran away before he could talk to her. Despite his disinterest, he agrees to take Ariel in, look after her, clothe and feed her, and even take her on tours around the city and the lagoons. They go riding in carriages, shopping at markets, dancing in the square, and he takes her to his favourite spot. They spend real time with one another and get to know one another. They find each other funny and charming and fun to be around. Eric realises he likes Ariel so much, he throws alway his flute into the ocean, symbolically giving up on the singing mystery girl so he can pursue his feelings for Ariel. Unfortunately this is where Ursula shows up and enchants him - something she only has to do because they see they’re genuinely falling for each other. Remember, Ursula specified it had to be a kiss of “true love”. She probably thought that as lovesick teenagers, it wouldn’t be true, especially as they couldn’t communicate properly, but they find a way to do so anyway and actually get to know one another. Ursula only has to step in because they’re getting close to really being in love. However, they never actually do the kiss to see if their love is true as Ariel runs out of time, and I’d argue it wouldn’t break the curse as they’re not quite there yet, but they’re well on their way. Are they both attractive? Yes. Is this the thing that motivates them to fall in love? Absolutely not.
I love this comment & totally agree with you! Everything you're describing is exactly why I loved the character of Eric. And also why I loved Ariel. There's usually a lot more going on with so many of these stories when you really start looking at them or if you're paying attention in the first place! 🥰🙌💓
25:39 - 26:20 I laughed so hard at this because this is my exact thoughts as well! What the Fuc* did she do all day?! Why?! I would have tried to get to Eric and most likely learned far sooner what Ursula was doing, stopped her and so on. Ended the film far faster than it went. Lol. Love your channel and the reactions you do! Please keep them coming! If you ever hit up SC, let us know. I would love to meet you guys! ❤️
my fiance has loved the little mermaid forever (her words) and she is saying that she felt that eric didn't fall in love with ariel while she was mute, he loved her when she saved him and all he had to go off of was her voice. The whole town sequence reads more like a date with someone you may be attracted to but not necessarily able to build a life with. when she regains her voice he's happy because this beautiful, funny person he's had a great time with is also the woman who saved him, he didn't fall in love on the date, he fell in love on the beach after the shipwreck. she is also demanding you react to the redemption arc of zuko from avatar
'But Daddy i love him!' 😂😂 Laughing at the part where we all collectively acknowledge that as a kid we were all like 'Aww she loves him, Triton is so mean, he doesn't get it' to being an adult going 'Child, sit down, you don't know!' 😂🙈 I'm the same with Gilmore Girls aswell
@Love Nala Tritons intentions were positive, but that doesn't mean he cannot harm her with his actions, his actions are what caused Ariel to rather be mute
@Furienna Now this makes more sense and I agree with you. Ariel wanted more than love. Love just popped up her way. But since the beginning she wanted her freedom to choose and do what she wanted to do, without being around her father's shackles of "protection". And well, a human with legs always fascinated her as and she saw that as 'independence'. She gets a lot of shiz on for leaving her world and exploring another one on her own 'just for love'. I just believe love, made her desire to be free even more stronger. And Triton messes up her feelings real bad that she had to go to the infamous Ursula for legs, in exchange of her voice. But once she reached the land, she was happy to see Eric but she seemed more thrilled to experience new things with him, as a companion/friend/lover. I understand why many would say she left her father and her world just for a boy, but if we look closer it's more than just that.
@Love Nala I agree with you, and I understand why Triton acted like he did. But what I was really trying to say is that we should understand Ariel too. People mock her for saying that she loves Eric before they really even interact with each other, that she's got a crush but it's not really love (yet). But I can see why a teenager who's defending herself to her father would use stronger words than just "I've got a crush". Besides, she is the protagonist in a fairy-tale, and traditionally, love at first sight is real in such stories, so she would be right anyway.
I'm the original, mermaids lived for a thousand years, stuck in their kingdom where nothing ever changed, nothing ever happened. Humans were described as always being in a hurry because of their short lives and Ariel becomes fascinated with them. She feels excitement for the first time whe she visits the surface, she had never felt excitement in all of her life. When she gives up her voice and receives excruciating painful legs, yes, she wants the prince to fall in love with her BUT she also wants to just experience a human life as much as possible AND there is no time limit. She gets to see the world, explore the kingdom, and experience things beyond her wildest dreams. When the prince announces he will marry someone else, he announces it first to her because she had become his best friend. In the end she has to make a decision: kill the prince and return to being a mermaid or let the prince live and die of a frozen heart. Many people say that she doesn't kill him because he loves him, but I think she doesn't kill him because she has lived the amazing exciting life that she wanted and being alive for a thousand years in a world were nothing moves, excites you, or doesn't allow you to be free would feel the same as dying. Obviously, this is a KZclip comment so I am cutting a lot, but this is my main idea.
So true, you are the only commenter that refers to the original version from Hans Christian Andersen, not the Disney adaptation. In the original story mermaids have a longer life than humans but humans have a soul so after death they can live forever. To have a soul she needs to marry a mortal and that’s when she makes the deal to exchange her voice for a pair of legs. When the man she loves marries someone else she get a new chance to become a mermaid again in exchange of killing him but she cannot do it so she ends up killing herself by drowning. When she is vanishing, she is told she is told that she still can get a forever living soul through good actions as air or soft rain, so despite the tragic end there is a little glimpse of hope at the end.
could one argue that Ariel's "body dysmorphia" was more about identity? she wasn't comfortable in her own skin, she wanted to be human but didn't know about it because Triton kept her away from the surface world.
She's 16, so on the one hand, she's looking for some autonomy. She knows what a fish hook looks like, she knows what a net is, and she knows how to avoid them. On the other hand, she's 16 and boy-crazy over Eric. More appropriately, over what he represents. This tunnel vision can cause her to overlook viable options, instead choosing something more dangerous that's not a sure thing, for the chance at getting what she believes will satisfy her. This is where it would pay to talk to her father, and that is where her relationship with him is a major obstacle. They could really use a bit of help from an experienced mediator with a neutral stance, like a family therapist. This is not Sebastian's strong suit.
@brigidtheirish ah yeah my bad, it seems that I got it confused with another legend that had a similar story, but probably Hans didn't know about it. Or he did and never told anyone ^^ To be fair though, there are many different myths about mermaids and similar creatures all around the world.
@Third Planet Another thing for those who have suffered traumatic events, the body also subconsciously remembers anniversaries. Example: If you got kicked out of your house in early Feb, then you'll be more tense than usual during that time of year later on down the line. I've learned to take specific days off of work.
Seeing King Tridon talk about the humans is very similar to how Luca's mom from the movie, Luca, talk about the "land monsters". That's why I believe that Luca is like a modern rendition on the Little Mermaid since both Luca and Ariel's parents are sea creatures that want to explore the surface, but Ariel is a bit older than Luca so she's much more rebellious compared to Luca.
Well, it helps that Luca is prepubescent boy and can go to back being a sea monster whenever he feels like it. Plus, his friend Alberto is a sea monster so it’s not like Luca changed himself to be with Alberto.
I love the little mermaid, would love more content from you guys on it. Thank you. P. S I just love all the characters in it, and growing up vegan I like how the cheif was perceived so much, I pretended ariel was vegan too as she wouldn't eat a crab or a fish, maybe lots of seaweed though!
In regards to body dysmorphia, most all the women (myself included) in my family just have a self hate for ourselves and see ourselves in such bad lights. My mother gouges out scars and things she finds ugly on her body. She covers herself up and overall just hates herself but "my dad's love for her and her having kids made life tolerable". I've been disabled my whole life. Spent so much time in hospitals I never had time to care about my looks or "the things that make me ugly". I got bullied for big front teeth, acne, glasses, my arm deformities causing me to wear braces, etc. It took 20 years of trying to fix myself and then winding up stuck before I just finally learned to accept myself for who I am. My husband is a great partner to have cause he boosts me up when I feel really down. But now I just don't care when people hee-haw at me for my teeth. And, NO. Braces is not an answer because all my teeth are big and crowded and my jaw is crooked so nothing can fix it.
Thank you for reviewing this. I may not agree with all of the points you made, but I had been asking for this for awhile and I’m glad you did it. I’m non-binary, so I have a slightly different interpretation of the body dysmorphia you brought up: gender dysphoria. The original little mermaid is a gay allegory so I thought maybe they take this a step further and make it an allegory for transgender women who want to become women. I like the idea of body dysmorphia, though! I also always thought the film was a message about overcoming prejudice.
I love Pat Carroll's Ursula. I loved her as Prunella in the 1965 Cinderella. As a 9/10 year old "Part of Your World" was THE song. It was beatiful and expressed a range of feelings I thought I could relate to. More the independence part, the love part/kissing was just accepted as part of what happens when older etc. As an adult, I can see now how -until more recently-the Disney movie catalogue reenforce a certain societal view of norms/abnorms. And children watch them over and over again and I can see it as a kind of brainwashing of gender roles and how certain human behaviors/traits are good and bad...in very simple terms. As a kid you are innocent. You understand hero=good, villian=bad. You don't realized that the traits of the LBGTQ+ community were overwellmingly portrayed more by villians. You see good boys save good girls and live happy forever. Watching Frozen as an adult was interesting. When the "true love" kiss was familial not sexual...it was just so liberating. I'm a hetero/cis female and I was applauding that these two sisters "saved" each other. It was just (forgive the pun) cool to see. Often woman are in competition over a man -the main character- so just seeing a different ending was a refreshing.
I'm not sure if the Internet Dads watched the sequels or not, but in the 3rd one, it gives a lot of extra weight to Triton's tough parenting: he's a single parent who has had to raise 7 little mermaids on his own because he saw his own wife killed by humans. Ariel is the youngest and also the only one who looks IDENTICAL to her deceased mother (and also had a love of humans herself), so on top of being a constant reminder of the love he lost and how he lost her, she's also most likely her father's favorite, and being the youngest sibling, likely going to be babied and overprotected. Triton's actions, while still not excusable, are at least much easier to sympathize with and understand knowing this.
I've seen that but I got to watch it again. I thought Triton explained what happened to her mother to Ariel in that movie, which begs the question' why is their relationship so strained in the original? You would think Ariel would be more cautious and the movie basically wouldn't have happened. Major continuity loophole?
@Sarah Grandy That is the only reason she ended up believing her mother, Ariel, was stifling. Because her mom didn't want her to get killed, so Ariel was like "No chances."
@Sarah Grandy Actually, the reason she built a wall and kept her daughter, Melody, away from the water and ocean is because Ursula's sister wanted to fucking murder the child/take her. This is shown at the very beginning of the movie when Ariel and Eric go out on a boat to meet her father, Tritan, to show him his new granddaughter and so that he'd be able to show/tell her about life under the sea as she gets older, but then the witch sister comes up and is like "I'm getting revenge for you killing ny sister, and I'll do it with this baby."
I think Triton got a reality check after he destroyed her things and she went AWOL. I don't think I ever sympathized with him because his actions were more about control and it was for his comfort, not always theirs. In the prequel, he [REDACTED]. Because he doesn't know how to communicate with his own family, and chooses to rule them too instead of well...being a dad. That's all we see from most of him, honestly. Angry, Authoritative, Controlling, and selfish. Maybe happy sometimes. But not a lot of times.
I actually fell in love with my now husband at 16, I was in an abusive childhood home, I left home at 16 and moved in with other family till 18. I was sooooo lucky that things didn’t turn out badly! We are still together growing as humans every day 10 almost 11 years later. But looking back on it with a more mature mindset I realize how dangerous it could have been. But I’m living proof that strict, overbearing, controlling and abusive parenting will do nothing but run your children away from you.
I grew up really attached to The Little Mermaid. It's always been my favorite Disney Renaissance film, and a lot of that was really because I've got a singing voice I'm quite proud of and really related to Ariel's pride in her own voice. Now that I'm officially entering my late twenties and I'm fully out as an agender lesbian, I look back and I think about why I loved this movie so much. I think it's got a lot to do with this feeling I always had that I had to fundamentally change myself in order to be acceptable to others. I lived so much of my life in the closet, a lot of it without even really knowing I was in the closet because of repressive religious standards in my upbringing, and I always had this feeling that who I was at my core was deeply shameful and wrong. Like Ariel, I felt I had to become something I wasn't in order to win over people and be deserving of their love and affection and in order to be worthy as a person. But the more that I've done the work to be confident in myself and my identity, the more I've come to realize that the loud voices demanding that I change in order to be acceptable are the real unacceptable factor in my life. I've surrounded myself with a community that loves and supports me for who I am, and that's led to me becoming more willing to be fully myself in every space. I never had to change to be acceptable and worthy. I already was acceptable and worthy.
I used to be on the "pshh Ariel threw everything she knew away for some guy she barely knew" but upon discussing with fans and stuff it becomes way more obvious that she's chasing after a dream of being on land. Girl just realised that she could use this opportunity of meeting Eric (who is looking for companionship) to help her achieve that dream. It's not that she didn't have feelings for Eric but Eric was only a piece of the puzzle. She was given the opportunity to achieve her dream that specifically involved love and therefore Eric so she didn't really have another choice if she wanted to explore land. edit: you can see this so much when she doesss finally get on land and is rushing around to look at everything because she is there for the world around her more than just Eric
Wait, they didn’t talk about the destruction of the grotto by Triton! That’s incredibly important and plays a huge role in pushing Ariel to go see Ursula!
I find it interesting that Triton's blowup is where it falls apart for Alan. Me and my dad started having VERY different views in my teens and drove each other up a wall to points of blowout fights like theirs. Often over permissions and power so I relate to that scene alot more now than as a kid. Triton and Ariel learning compromise in their communication after some uncertain rough seas also happened with us.
I feel like you are leaving out the most important point of context when it comes to Ariel taking Ursula's deal and you also left out Triton's worst moment as a father: him destroying her collection. When he found out she was infatuated with a human, he completely overreacted, refused to listen to her and when she still didn't submit to him, he states "you leave me no choice" and destroys her entire collection, which is the equivalent of a parent intruding on their child's "safe zone" and destroying it "for their own good." He deeply regrets this later, saying "What have I done?" when he finds out Ariel went missing, but the damage was done at that point. So when she takes Ursula's deal, it's not just "I'm giving up my family for a boy" it's "My father will never listen to me and never let me find my own happiness, so maybe I can find happiness here." Ursula came to her at her most vulnerable and pretty much gaslit her into taking the deal. I also feel like you are leaving out important context when it comes to her relationship with Eric: her saving his life and his immaturity when it comes to love. He remembers "a girl with a beautiful voice" saving him, and decides that she is "the one" and that he will find her and marry her. When he finds Ariel without her voice, he says "So you aren't the one," but sees she needs help and takes her in out of kindness. This is important: he does not see her in a romantic light at this point in time because he is hung up on "the girl with the beautiful voice." Ironically, Ursula taking her voice is the best thing that could have happened for their relationship because of this, because it means Eric has to see Ariel as Ariel and not as "the girl with the beautiful voice." He is charmed by her curiosity, her quirks, her eagerness to learn about his kingdom and finds that he likes spending time with her. However, he still does not see her romantically, as shown when Ariel tries to kiss him the first time and he turns away. It is only after he learns her name by trying to guess it (and Sebastian giving it to him) that he starts to let his guard down around her and see her in a more romantic light, although that is more an "in the moment" kind of thing. Later when he is still playing his flute to find "the girl with the beautiful voice," Grimsley tells him that maybe he should stop trying to pine for "the one" and try to see what is right in front of him. He then throws away the flute and decides to go to Ariel, showing a growth from his immature outlook about "knowing who is 'the one'" and deciding to try and make what he has with Ariel work. Unfortunately, Ursula interferes by using Ariel's voice and magic to ensnare Eric to stop that progression and the rest of the movie goes from there. So that is my long winded take on the movie. I'd like to know what you think of it.
@sharksfan232 I would more chalk it up to them buying into the 'feminist' trend of unjustly bashing the old Disney films... It's not just this film, they often ignore important elements in any case where a laymen with 0 interest in looking into the layers of a movie could say 'oh film bad, make girls look weak ' -_- it's kind of irritating, because they otherwise are insightful ... but there's really no excuse for the same guy that notices an ice ball in magnifying the inside of a baby's mouth in The Incredibles II, and the guy who analyzes human behavior for a living ... 'missing' obvious context, and signs of personality from characters that runs contrary to the tired old complaints the 'woke' crowd throw at these films.
@Elana Felberg I think that touching on topics like body dysmorphia, hoarding, and assorted other issues like they do is awesome. It may not be a perfect fit, but it definitely helps clarify those issues for people who may be dealing with them to look at them in a fictional setting and then watch the discussion play out after.
@Elana Felberg While I agree with the OP I have to disagree with you. Most YT videos on Disney movies are going to be video essays and they have garnered quite large audiences but that's nothing to say you have to watch them too. Please don't make yourself miserable anymore. Go watch something that you find fun. :) Speaking for myself, I find both their analyses very useful to understanding the human experience as sampled through the lense of these movies. I learn and eventually apply what essential truths I may gather from video essay channels like this. I, like the OP, have independently dissected this movie. CT are simply giving a different/similar/deeper take. After this video, Ariel is a lot more relateable for me "as a person", rather than "just another Disney princess". I'd rather relate to more characters than not because that makes me a better person myself.
@Bumbling Bee Eric is kinda like finding that one friend who shares your interests when most ppl r either uninterested or don’t want to hear it. Flounder isn’t like that necessarily, but he’s also scared and Ariel might even see it as her kinda forcing him at times, which prob doesn’t feel good
@Risa Chi I'm not saying that they are intentionally leaving anything out to make the film look bad, I'm saying without the context I mentioned, their analysis of the movie is incomplete in my opinion. I'm not trying to shame them, I'm just giving my own perspective and critique.
I think the musical deals with the communication issues wonderfully with 'One Step Closer'. I love the little mermaid, but it's been a long time since I've seen the movie so I can't remember if this was done in the movie. In the musical, Eric teaches Ariel to dance and explains to her that dance is a sort of communication and through the process of teaching her they develop a connection.
Voice theory- her losing her voice added an extra level of difficulty to this task of making him fall in love with her. Ursula knew that she might get him to like her or lust for her but it would be pretty hard for him to fall truly in love with her without being able to communicate. She was betting on that to win Ariel soul. And also giving Ursula a way to win him over immediately at the end of the movie. This was multifaceted. I think it’s also Hard for small children to understand the concept of losing your soul. So, having her give up her voice and her family for just the opportunity to fall in love shows her state of mind at the time. I also think that in love stories there’s always that one thing that makes you feel like OK because of this they’re not gonna fall in love and then somehow they overcoming that thing. I feel like the voice was that thing. They must truly be in love and be soulmates because they were able to fall in love when she couldn’t even talk to him. I could literally go on and on. Now I don’t know if any of these theories are why they were actually thinking in the creations movie but it is fun to theorize the possibilities.
2 things: 1. you talked about her not having a voice of her own in her own life and that truly sets the framework of the movie. She has no voice of her own so she rebels (fascination with humans and the surface) and in pursuing what she wants (rational or not) she learns through he mistakes and trials and her father learns to listen. 2. The rainbow at this point in time (when the Little Mermaid was created) hadn't become the symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. It was a symbol of promise and hope. There is Biblical as well as other cultural references to it. The fact that it comes after storms has been a big part of its overall meaning in various cultures.
I absolutely LOOOOOOVE the idea of him learning to communicate with her despite her not being able to speak. That would’ve been so much more mentally healthy and INTERESTING than the original movie.
As an intersex woman watching this movie as a kid that I rewatched over and over. I interpreted it as Ariel was like me. She was halfway normal. Her cave wasn’t about horsing, it was about trying to fit into that world the best she could. She could have all the people things in the world, just like I could have all the girls clothes or Barbie’s. It never was enough, because we still don’t fit in. Going to the surface and getting in trouble was because she was being told she’s one thing and humans won’t understand her, just like me being told as a young child no one is going to understand and you’re going to be picked on. Overprotective parenting and even though they were worried I felt as if I was the problem and it made me want to be “normal” even more. Ariel went to Ursula because it was her only option to finally fit in and feel normal, willing to leave home and your family just so you can start over and finally have peace in feeling complete. It wasn’t really about Eric, it was mostly about her just wanting to be like the others. She just happened to see eric and save him. I can also relate with that. She wants him, but she knows he’ll never want her if he finds out what she truly is. I’m in no way telling you you’re interpretation is wrong! This is just mine and when I watched this movie and especially sing part of your world it was just deeper for me….
Something I'm really surprised they didn't talk about: Triton's absolute tantrum he throws when he finds Ariel's grotto. He acts like a big child, screams, scares her, breaks her stuff... I don't care if he's trying to protect her. How is doing that anything but abuse? And Ariel doesn't decide to leave until after Triton does all that. To me that just screams like a young person trying to get out of an abusive situation because she's scared. And as far as her hiding things from her father... Um...yeah. You don't come out to abusive parents because you don't want to get disowned or worse. We as an audience know Triton loves her because we see scenes of him caring. But Ariel doesn't. And she only goes to Ursula right after his outburst. She's afraid. I'd want out too.
I agree that Triton was out of line, but I have to point out that Ariel isn’t afraid. She never fears for her safety. She’s only desperate about her dreams, angry for being unheard and misunderstood. She’s having a teenage reaction to her guardian opposing her wants. Triton did go too far trying to put his fin down, but he was never trying to harm Ariel, only discourage what he sees as dangerous behaviour (approaching boats and humans), and she knows this since she never cowers away from him.
At the end of the day parents aren't meant to be our friends. At some point they need to kill the unrealistic dreams to allow for a child's true potential to come out. What Triton's tantrum represents is the destruction of innocence. Ariel's rejection and trying to hold on to that led her going Ursula led her to sacrifice to maintain an unhealthy innocence but in the end she won over her father got back her voice and got the prince by casting off innocence and adopting responsibility and real potential.
You know, I wasn't expecting to be validated for being trans in a video about the Little Mermaid, but I'll take what I can get. I've had a lot of problems with the Little Mermaid (most being pointed out here, like Ariel, no. Don't be like Juliet), but if there's one thing that certainly hits home, it was with her relationship with her dad. Now, this is a *rant*, so if you don't want to read this, look away! :D Okay, I am assuming you are reading this because you want to. In any case, welcome to the show that is my life. I've always had a kind of rough relationship with my dad. He is a very firm believer of honoring your parents, being obedient, etc etc. The usual "be filial" things, which is completely fine, but sometimes I feel as though that's my entire purpose. I know he cares about me; if there's one thing I've learned, it's that he cares. But like Triton, he usually does this by getting louder, bigger, and meaner to the point where if he's ever mad, my first instinct is to figure out what's wrong, agree with him with whatever the issue is so that the conversation doesn't go longer, and hide in my room doing what he wants me to do so if he checks on me, he knows that I'm doing what he wants and I don't get in trouble. Thankfully, all the troubles are about school and stuff because he's an immigrant and knows how important education is. The problem with that is that I've become the typical "burnt out 'gifted' kid". I don't have any motivation in my studies. The most crap I CAN give about them is to get as high as possible for my pride and my parents. Music, one of the things I love most, is being squished because my parents don't think I can do anything with it in the future and I am REQUIRED to practice. My hobbies? All have to add up to a future. Is it just for fun or for college? College is the end goal, so if anything is blocking your path, burn it. Do whatever you can to get rid of it. Some other things I have a bone to pick because I'm too cowardly to say this besides anonymously on a Cinema Therapy video is the fact that when we DO get in an argument, if we don't see each other for a few hours, he'll try to make it up by pretending nothing happens. I've asked a few times about it, but he insists on not making me mad anymore. We didn't discuss anything. I've cooled down. We're not willing to confront it. We're fine. I try to avoid him as much as possible. I get aggressive way too fast as well as he as a way to lash back. It also doesn't help that he believes that being trans is a choice and repeatedly misgenders or uses the wrong pronouns on people despite him saying that he doesn't care about what they do. Which reminds me of the time where he lectured me saying that if people say "follow your dreams", they don't care about you because they're not being realistic and not giving you the right choice for you and he ended an argument we had after I broke down and started crying by saying "fine, do what you want. Follow your dreams. I don't care." Everything's like a cycle to the point where I refuse to cry anywhere besides the shower or my room because "no one likes a crying 'girl'". I love my parents. I love my dad. It's just hard, especially piling on the apathy or (mood) depressive (so not clinical) thoughts I have. Am I worthy? Will my parents love me back? Am I enough? The Little Mermaid hit way too close to home, especially when Ariel thinks that her voice is everything along with her looks. And especially when she sings that she bets that they don't reprimand their daughters on land. That legit made me cry. Cinema Therapy helped me so much. I get help understanding my actions through learning by their comments on some of my favorite (or at least well known) movies, I get to understand the thoughts my parents have, and I'm entertained. Three in one. Thanks, random stranger, if you read through this brainrot. May you be blessed. And WATCH MOVIES! :D
I could always relate to Ariel as a child because Tritons angry tantrum scared me and reminded me of how my own father sometimes acted and I envied her for her courage to stand up to him. I also love this movie for many other reasons like the music, the characters and their designs, the colors, the simple fact that I like mermaids and fairytales, I also love romance movies (even tho I'm aromantic or maybe because of that) so I fixated on it (autism) and watched it a thousand times and it's easily one of my favorite movies. I see the movie's flaws but it's definitely not as flawed as many people say it is (it's especially the romance in this movie or Ariel herself that gets criticized)
I feel like Ariel's conundrum is less 'body dismorphia' and more 'trans teen struggling with coming out'. She doesn't have an obsession with a body part, she is trying to express fascination and interest in a part of her identity that she's having to keep hidden, that she can't express at home. She collects things and builds a space where she can explore this part of herself. She muses to Ursula before signing the contract: "If I become human, I can never be with my family again". Spoken like a teenager from a conservative family who's struggling to balance her relationships with the only family she's ever had, with what she's discovering about her own identity.
In the original story Ariel's legs are described as feeling like "walking on knives". She goes dancing while human one night and it's the only time she does not notice the pain because of the joy dancing (using her legs) brings. As someone who lives in a binder, I felt that so hard.
This came out when I was about 6 and I was obsessed. I know it has its issues but it was a fun escape. When you mentioned body dysmorphia I was surprised you didn’t say it contributed this issue, but that Ariel had this. I never saw Ariel’s love for this other world as her hating her body. The legs were a vehicle to give her freedom to explore and experience things the way she wanted to experience them. My understanding of body dysmorphia is you see your body as something that it is not; like a very thin person looking in the mirror and being legitimately convinced they see a large person. I see Ariel’s situation as she hates the strictness of her dad SO much, she fantasizes about leaving it entirely. And she ends up making a permanent decision at 16 that she probably would have outgrown if she stayed a mermaid into adulthood. I think that aspect is relatable. Being a teenager and hating our parents and fantasizing about some other unattainable grass-is-greener life. King Triton’s rage filled yelling and violence reminds me of my dad and man did I do some fantasizing about being somewhere else where I’m more I’m charge. Anyway. Just my two cents. I hope everyone is having a pleasant day 💙
i find it interesting that when Trident finds out Ariel went to the surface and tries to silence her he says "as long as you live in my ocean, you'll obey my rules" which we all know is a twist on when parents say "as long as you live under me roof, you'll obey my rules" but the difference here is Trident is literally the king of the ocean so the entire ocean is his, so when i heard him say that it kinda seemed like, at least to me, that he was saying "I'm the king, I make the rules, and you will never have a say and always have to obey me" basically trying to strip away her voice, free will, and independence forever.
As a former kid raised into an extremely protected enviroment, this movie is a fair reflection of my relationship with my dad until well into my 20's. You can't ground, yell, manipulate or intimidate a person into thinking how you think. Similar to Ariel, I grew up feeling invalidated to take my own decisions and feeling guilty for yearning independence, which kept me from enjoying a great deal of my teenage years. I spent the most turbulent years of my life unable to share any of my growing experiences with the very same people who love me for fear of getting even more controlled or admitting mistakes that would prove my incompetence. 0/10 would not recommend to project your fears onto your kids.
Same I relate a lot. My dads a lot worse & way more abusive than triton hence we don’t have a relationship or speak. But Triton & a lot of parents are this way because of narcissistic personality disorder amoung other issues. Parents make the mistake of not healing themselves before having children. They make the mistake of not seeing their children as human beings, but objects they own & must control & use how they please
Makes me really think sometimes parents just need a parenting class. Be more involved than asking 'how was school' and expecting a very withdrawn kid to open up and explain it was awful because of kids bullying them. . . At least I can say I feel like I'm better terms with them now that I've moved out. . .enough to say I've moved too far away and would like to return to my home state at some point down the line to be closer.
I am 30 and I haven’t resolved this with my parents haha. I see them only on birthdays and holidays and tell them basically nothing about me. I only watched this movie for the first time a few years ago so I don’t really have any emotional attachment to it, but I didn’t realise how much I could really relate to it.
This is so me.... Even now as an adult (turning 30 this year) I struggle to have adult conversations with my mom, especially when it involves sexuality mostly because of religious aspects
When I turned 12 my mom had no choice but to trust me and my sister because suddenly she became a single parent who had to work a lot to support us. But, I think as a parent she did the best thing and it was to let us know that we could trust her. She told us that if we messed up and were in a bad situation that we wouldn't get in trouble and wouldn't be judged for it. She followed up with this by saying she would rather have us call her for help during a questionable situation rather than feel we need to hide it from her. This instilled an absolute faith in our mother that we never wanted to betray and it made us closer.
Amazing episode as always! 😍 it’s really cool that you did your master thesis on gender roles in Disney. I’m doing my BA thesis next year about the construction of femininity in Disney Princess movies across time.
In defense of Ariel choosing to relinquish her voice to Ursula, the sea witch is a cunning schemer. It really wasn't a good choice for Ariel to take the deal, and she was even about to protest before Ursula cut her off to bring up her "looks and pretty face". And all the way up to Ariel making her decision, Ursula is singing her song about how Ariel needs to deal with the sacrifices and make the choice quick, so the song takes on such a fast and intense pace. Ursula pressured Ariel to sign the contract before she could properly think it through. Not a bad message to young girls, but a cautionary tale about shady dealers, if you ask me.
I love the discussion on adolescent knowledge. I have always said at 15 you know everything. At 18 you realized you didn’t know everything but now you know you know everything. Somewhere around 25-30 you realize you don’t know crap.
I like to look at Triton's reaction to Ariel's crush on an unidentified merman as a parent being just excited that their child's growing. I mean, I like to imagine a parent looking through their memories of their first love and happy for their child and whatnot. I've never had my parents have that reaction, but I imagine that's what Triton is feeling.
something interesting in Poor Unfortunate Souls is Ariel's many emotions as she signs the contract, cycling through fear and anxiety but finally settling on something very telling - her expression as she grabs the quill is nothing more than fury. She is signing her voice away not just to get to Land, but also as a resounding FUCK YOU to her father. The next expression is back to fear of what she's just done, showing that she's fully aware that she's made a bad decision, but it wasn't made out of stupidity, it was made out of spite. Triton and Ariels negative emotions had fallen into a feedback loop so severe that Ariel ended it explosively, ending her relationship with her father metaphorically and entering one with Ursula, his mortal enemy, purely to get back at him.
@Ashley L Hunt this was the way I saw and still see that look. It reminds me a lot of the feeling and maybe the look I had (and probably many others) when I signed up for basic training. Worried about doing the right thing but determined to show myself and others that it was right for me (almost 20 years later I'm still not sure)
I always saw the look when she signs as 'Resolve' she is determined to take this chance to have all her dreams come true (living on land) the the uncertainty of how Ursula is going to respond to having Ariel in her power.
My thoughts when they at the end of the video talk about therapy between Triton and Ariel, and how he doesn't listen is taking away her voice, goes so well with this comment. Ariel might be thinking, "I can either give up my voice to have a shot at getting the life I want, or remain here and have no voice anyway."
For me personally, I love the little mermaid. Because what I took from it as a child was that she was willing to do anything, give up anything, to achieve her dreams. That might be wrong for someone people, but for me, there’s not much that will stop me from at least trying to achieve my dreams.
Though the film is a Disney classic, I prefer the Arielle series. Arielle is an inspiring and strong character: she is curious and brave, charming, loving and a little bit crazier than the people around her. That comes more out in the series. Besides, what I also really love about the series: Arielle has a friend (Gabriella), who has a darker skin (I think she was supposed to be a latina) and who uses sign language. Maybe the movie has aged not that well because of all that "love at first sight" and "passive female character" thing, but the series is still modern. I mean, how many today's Disney movies are there who represents disabled people? The series did that AND represents coloured people in one person, of course, Gabriella is a side character, but she impressed me when I was a kid and watched the series. Last but not least, for all people who critisize Disney's choice to cast a black actress for Arielle, watch the series! It goes totally well for me to see a black Arielle because it reminds me of this cool character Gabriella, who was a lot like Arielle (curious, brave etc). So Disney, go for it, support the black community! I'm really looking forward to watch the remake :)
But I don't think that Ariel ever was a "passive female". She was spunky and brave and saved Eric's life at least twice! And I don't really mind that Ariel is black is that movie, since there's no specific skin color for mermaids.
I'm trans and as a little kid I was obsessed with this movie and merpeople and apparently that isn't uncommon also I love you guys using your platform to mention the difference between being trans and being body dysmorphic
I think the reason why Triton was so adamant on Ariel never going near the surface, to the point of destroying her collection, was because his wife was killed by humans. There's a prequel to The Little Mermaid where Triton bans music because it lured humans to a cove where his wife was and they killed her. By the end of the movie, Triton lifts his Bannon music, but he still kept his grudge against humans. Triton believes the only way to keep his people safe is by making sure no one goes anywhere near the surface, land, or ships.
Being a parent isn't being in charge it's being a leader especially when they grow past elementary. You explain the purpose and drive behind actions and expectations and it will encourage peaceful team energy. My goal is to allow my kids to fall and fail while they still have me as a net instead of keep them bubbled and then I'm gone and now they have to high wire alone with no one to catch them. When I'm there for them to fail I can share my experience redirect their energy and show my support so they know it's safe to fall with me.
As a fellow therapist and someone who is queer, I love this movie. Ariel has always been my favorite Disney princess. This is why I will continue to defend Ariel: 1. When we first meet Ariel, she is exploring a sunken ship to collect more “human stuff.” She is so preoccupied with her love of the human world that she completely forgets about the concert. This right away establishes just how much Ariel is fascinated with the human world. 2. Ariel’s “I want” song, Part of Your World, comes up fairly early in the movie, before meeting Prince Eric. She wants to be human, to learn, to explore, to grow, to be free. This has nothing to do with romance, a man, or anyone else, but rather, her own desire to experience something else-something better. 3. Even after she meets Prince Eric, she has no intention of going to Ursula or trading her voice. Instead, she talks about meeting him outside his palace, splashing around to get his attention, i.e., being herself. 4. It is only after her father finds and destroys her statue of Prince Eric and her ENTIRE collection of human stuff (that she must have spent YEARS of hard work building) that she broke. Even when Flotsam and Jetsam (Ursula’s eels) initially tried to convince her to make a deal with Ursula, she refused. She finally changed her mind after they tossed the broken piece of the statue with Prince Eric’s face her way. 5. When she made the deal with Ursula, she was still very hesitant. She had to be manipulated in order to actually go through with it. 6. As you mentioned in the video, she was only 16. I imagine I would have done something similarly regrettable at that age, full of hormones, without a fully developed prefrontal cortex, after a deeply emotional fight with my parents. 7. When she is in the human world with Prince Eric, she still finds ways to express herself and be herself without speaking, from brushing her hair with the dinglehopper, to playing the snarfblat, to driving the carriage. 8. While Prince Eric is attracted to her and seemingly enamored by her (even without her voice), her wasn’t in love with her. That’s why he needed to be convinced by Grimsby to propose to Ariel. It’s only after Ariel got her voice back that she fell in love with him. 9. Ariel’s grief after finding out Prince Eric was engaged to another woman is understandable. I don’t think this makes her weak or complacent; instead, this is a normal, healthy reaction to finding out devastating news. And once she learned the truth, she took action by doing what she could to stop the wedding. 10. No, she is not the one who took down Ursula, but arguably, there was not a whole lot she could do. Again, I didn’t read this as her being weak or complacent, but rather her current circumstances, especially because she didn’t give up. As a child, I was obsessed with this movie; I watched it so often that I basically had it memorized. However, it never made me want to give up my voice, nor did it convince me that romance is based on appearance alone. Rather, one of the biggest influences it had on me is that I wanted to be a mermaid. As an adult, I can still appreciate Ariel’s tenacity and her determination to go after her dreams, despite making some mistakes in the process. Also, from a queer perspective, I think a lot of us can relate to Ariel feeling different, like she doesn’t belong in the world where she was placed and wanting more. Howard Ashman, one of the lyricists who worked on The Little Mermaid, was gay. His experience as a queer man comes through especially with Part of Your World, which is why this song tends to resonate so much with those of us who identify as LGBTQIA+. Okay, end of soapbox ;)
I also watched this movie a ton of times when I was a child. I was always bawling my eyes by the end of the movie. It actually taught me that you can cry from happiness not just from sorrow. I will defend The Little Mermaid forever. She did make me want to be a mermaid but I loved her curiosity and ability to adapt and learn, she was brave also she was able to see the simple things as so fascinating. She could see small details not just a whole image.
This is all really good and I want to expand on a few points. When Triton is yelling at her in the throne room, he tells her she isn't allowed to talk about the surface world while she lives in his ocean. This felt very much to me like a parent telling a queer child they don't want to hear any more about "this gay stuff" while living under their roof. Triton gave her an ultimatum of staying with her family and giving up this world she wanted to desperately to be a part of, or trying to enter that world at the cost of her family. Second, Prince Eric going to marry Vanessa wouldn't just take him away from Ariel as a romantic partner and provider for her, it would literally take away her only way to say human and mean she would turn back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. Without exaggeration, it would have been the end of her being able to live her life in any semblance of the way she wanted to. She might not have taken down Ursula, but she put in the work forming friendships that did. I very much doubt someone like Scuttle would risk his well being attacking the sea witch if Ariel had been a less caring friend. Same with Sebastian, Flounder and all the other marine life that helped. I also don't think Eric was fighting Ursula just because he thought it needed to be done or because he saw Ariel as some prize to be won, but because even in 2 short days she'd made an impression on him and he wanted to save her. Could she have had a more active role is surviving and taking down Ursula? Of course, but I don't think it was anywhere near as uninvolved as say Snow White or Aurora. This was the first movie that we had on cassette when I was a kid and one point my mom brought up when I was older was that Ariel didn't get what she wanted when she made a deal with a witch and ran away from home, she got what she wanted after she and Triton finally started listening to each other and he helped her get there.
Another member of the "little girl obsessed with The Little Mermaid, watched it over and over again, and wanted to be a mermaid" club here. Given how much Ariel wanted to be a human, and how much I wanted to be a mermaid, I always desperately wanted to switch places with Ariel. While not a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have since discovered that I'm neurodiverse, and wonder if I felt a little "weird" or "off" even back then. Or maybe I just resonated with having obsessive interests...
I definitely wanted to be a mermaid after watching this and the second movie. 😂 And that's the only thing I learned as a kid. Now as an adult, I love your take on it and I fully agree.
Wow thank you for that perspective. I always thought Ariel was foolish to make the deal with Ursula, and just for that I was never particular to her. Plus also wanting to be a mermaid as a kid, I could never agree with her decision to leave all that behind, especially with how important family is to me. But I never had stifling parents nor did I ever get that connection to feeling like an outsider with Ariel. This is very eye opening. Thank you again for your perspective 💕 ✌️
The voice part comes from the main story of the little mermaid where her voice was enchanting… a type of power she had. Also in the original film Úrsula was King 🔱 sister… they took some details out of the final product but it’s not just that her voice was magic but also that it would be too easy for her to make Eric fall for her as he had already fallen for the woman that had saved his life. He had a near death experience and visualized an angel 😇 that saved him and it felt soooo real to him. So obviously the voice thing was also a way for Ariel (who probably couldn’t write in English) have less of chance at succeeding. The sea witch wanted Triton’s power and needed Ariel to fail.
My father is just like king Triton from him breaking things from rages, telling me what not to do, and also being very proud of me as his daughter. And I guess, this is why I've always enjoyed watching a little mermaid :)
The little mermaid was my childhood. Watching it as an adult I can see why some people some people have mixed feelings about it but I still love it. I am not willing to give that remake a chance because ever since Disney started doing this, I watched as all of my favorite childhood movies were butchered by the bland and overdramatic acting with a mix of terrible cgi. And I cannot see anyone playing Ariel other than Jodi and with the passing of Pat Carroll still fresh on the mind, I can't see anyone giving off that menacing and diva acting she gave Ursula.
I never thought of it as body dysmorphia. I don't think it's that she hates her fins and loves legs. It's more that those are just symbols of the life that she wants. It's that she feels more comfortable and happier as a human than as a mermaid. It's an issue of feeling like she isn't in the right place, not that she hates her body.
I think this is a good movie to watch with your kids when they are a little older. You can go over the pros and cons of the movie. People want to cancel these types of movies, but I think we should let kids watch it and teach them life lessons. I hear some parents say they want to give their children creative freedom and then shield them from movies like this. Teenagers and adults will fall in love, change themselves or give up something for someone else, want freedom, and have issues with their bodies even without watching movies like this. It's better to have open communication with your kids when they are young so they can handle what they go through in life. She is not only leaving because she is in love or wants legs, she wants freedom away from her father. Unfortunately, she thinks she can only get these things if her body was different and if she can get the guy. If she left on her own and then met Eric, I would have liked it more. Then it would be more about getting more freedom and then just falling in love in the process.
On the subject of body language there's actually an interesting inversion. From her body language, Ursula's intention is implied to be sexual, but Ariel's body language _is_ a large part of how she communicates with Eric; it's just through a different facet. Her facial expressions, her energetic movements, all of it serves to communicate her passion and drive and energy, and ultimately that's a large part of what endears her to Eric. Ariel doesn't have a story arc in the same way that Eric and Triton do; she actually changes very little if at all by the end of the film, but she does help progress Eric's arc from "I want pretty-voiced lady" to "I need someone with the passion to actively engage me". Ursula is very clearly indicating that Ariel should seduce Eric, but Ariel operates on a complete subversion of that, so I think your assertion that "the film doesn't do anything to negate that" (kzclip.org/video/5hkaqlRH6bA/бейне.html) misses the subtlety of the character. Her body language plays an active role in shaping her story and Eric's story arc, because it's the only means she has to communicate with Eric at all. Honestly I could write an entire thesis on the various aspects of this film and how it fits within larger film theory, but you should check out Lindsay Ellis' video on the subject. I won't link it here (feels like bad manners?), but it goes over a lot of other points on Ariel, her role in the story of the film, and some of the other ways the film fits in film theory.
@arhythmius I think I saw it in 1990-91, as I would have been 2 in 1989. So I would have been 3-4 years old when I first saw it. Then again I have a friend my age who thinks the entire meaning of Part of Your World is that Ariel is greedy. He thinks the line "I want more" means she wants more stuff regardless of the surrounding context.
@Elanor The Fair And here I was wondering why a therapist and a filmmaker completely missed some essential points that were clear to me when I first saw the movie in 1989...
@Elanor The Fair I figured out all of what John McDevitt points out as a little kid. In fact Disney did almost everything they possibly could to convey that message short of beating you over the head with it. I am starting to suspect the takes in this video were done at least in part to rile people up. I've only met one other person who's had a worse take than the guys here, and he could only make his argument by taking one line out of context and hyper literally.
@Bugs Bunny I hate when a movie over explains..! Personally, I love every story that can tell something by the character's expression, actions etc There can be a base line with what the story wants to tell and we can have amazing discussions like these with so many perspectives. Do some people really want handholding when watching a movie, a narrator that just tells you what's happening? Really? Lastly, children can just simply enjoy a movie, if they got some kind of message, that's a bonus. Do that many kids think that deeply after watching a movie anyway?
@Elanor The Fair I would argue that people take everything at face value (especially from that filmmaker, he should know it better). The market scene vividly shows Ariel being very excited to experience the human things e.g. when she grabs the puppet, when she points to Eric over to where people are dancing ("I wanna see, wanna see 'em dancing"), and when Eric gives her the reins of the carriage they're in, I mean just look at her face, lol. Movies nowadays need to be verbally explained to the audience, instead of showing the action, like it used to.
The thing about saying “I am never to hear of you doing x” as a parent is it leaves the possibility of your kid hearing “as long as I don’t find out, you’re golden”
They said they didn’t like the voice storyline, but at the end they were talking about her not having a voice and that her dad needed to let her have one. Well that was the point of the storyline 😆 she needs to have her voice!
Eric is definitely the hottest of at least the early Disney princess movies because he has a personality! He speaks more than two sentences, has some motivations, and is a fairly skilled sailor. That is so much more than Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty or Prince Charming from Cinderella (does not even have a name!) or Prince (also charming?) from Snow White. Most of those early princes have the characterization of a cameo character, not even a secondary character. And I'd say maybe Ariel couldn't get close to Eric during the day of the wedding because he got swept up in wedding preparations? I think you're right that there could have been so much more communication between Ariel and Eric even without her voice. Writing never comes up even though she signs her name with Ursula so she can write that much at least. I'm willing to say that maybe they use a different alphabet or something that isn't obvious in the movie that makes too easy an out that wasn't possible. But my dad's side of the family is all French and when I was a kid I knew very little French and couldn't really speak with my French cousins, and they didn't know much English, but we did a kid's version of sign language/charades miming out do you want to go outside or play video games. There are some attempts to communicate in the movie but she could have attempted to tell him that she was the one who rescued him from drowning and sang but lost her voice.
I'm queer (bisexual and genderfluid if you must know) and, I must say, my take on the little mermaid is that it's fucking awesome. The rainbow at the end? It's literally a symbol of happiness and it's not even the pride flag rainbow, you read waaaaaay too far into that. And the whole Ursula-Is-Queer-Coded thing, I mean she's literally based off a drag queen so... Yeah, but also, making the villains queer is still representation. Bad representation? Yeah, sure. But it was made in 1989. C'mon, guys. It's a nice movie. (Obviously, I do not speak for the entire queer community, so if you're queer and disagree, that's OK too)
@Mal 123 It’s only bad representation if Disney only portrayed gay people as villains. Thankfully “The Owl House” rectified that by showing gay people as heroes of their own story.
Disney Villains were probably how a lot of sheltered 90s kids were exposed to the tiniest bit of queer-coding. I always liked the villains better than the princesses because they had better songs and were just so much more fun to watch! Finding out Ursula was based on a drag queen made drag queens cool!
1) As a trans person, I was damn near sobbing from how respectfully both of you brought up the queer coding and ensuring that we understood that our identity is inherently not a disorder, you guys are awesome internet dads 2) Alan's "B O D Y L A N G U A G E , H A H" will haunt me forever
Keep in mind that the “body language” message is coming from the villain. That sends a subtext that this is not in Ariel’s (or other girls watching) best interest. In addition, the original Brothers Grimm story things ended quite differently.
What makes this movie really important to me is actually the idea that this is Howard Ashman’s legacy. He was the composer of the songs and had a lot of creative control over the movie. As a master storyteller, he knew how to use different components of a musical to effectively tell a story. I truly believe that the only reason Disney renaissance movies were as successful as they were are because they used his musical storytelling formula, and they are still using it to this day. He died before Beauty and the Beast was completed, so he never got to see how successful his work would become. I still get teary listening to Part of Your World because it’s Howard’s song. And he was a gay guy composing the songs of this movie during the AIDS crisis. I can’t speak for all people from marginalized communities, but Ariel’s experience is so relatable. Like for me as a gay person, I’m obviously going to focus on her isolation and her longing for acceptance and her hiding key parts of herself from her xenophobic family. When her dad finds her human stuff and destroys it all, that can be seen as her coming out. Her parent reacts negatively and rejects her, and this leads to her doing whatever it takes to run away. Obviously, there are healthier decisions that she can make, but everything she does makes a lot of sense to me.
Actually the original story (with a not very happy ending) was a metaphor for the male author falling in love with another man, but he had a wife. The Disney version may be more dreamy and stuff, but the original story had a powerful message I think.
I get so much more out the videos with both Jonno and Alan. Please bring us more videos with the two of you! You really work so well together and have such a great energy!
20:30 I am happy that you didn't include Cinderella in this part! I think Cinderella is a more complex character than she seems and has many layers, I would like to see a cinema therapy on her. But please, do not mix the 1950 version and the 2015 version because to me, they are two entirely different Cinderella and both have their own story so it would be interesting to make one episode for each of Cinderella. Or an episode where you compare both Cinderella
I'm so glad I see so many comments of people having the same interpretation that I had when I watched this growing up. It wasn't about getting the guy for her it was about getting to experience the world she always dreamed of and Eric just happened to be apart of it. Eric fell in love with her for her personality in spite of not being able to communicate at first, not because of her not being able to talk; plus, she had to save him first so she wasn't the damsel in distress.
I did not see this mentioned already in the comments, but a big shoutout to whoever did the closed captioning on this video - definitely made me laugh! People watching without the closed caption are missing out on some hidden gems! 18:43
I don’t think Ariel gives up her Family and voice for a guy she only met a few minutes ago, I think it goes deeper than that. In her song, in her curious nature, Ariel has shown a desire to try new things, especially wondering what goes on at the surface, Ursula is offering her that chance to do so, not to mention she’s not exactly in the right frame of mind when she goes to Ursula in the first place; her dad just destroyed her grotto of human things, she’s probably thinking that accepting the deal is the best way to stick it to her father. And furthermore, the she’s doing this for a guy? No. The guy is *Ursula’s Condition for staying on the Surface* as I said before, Ariel’s deal is that she wants to go to the surface, and after her father’s outburst, she believes he doesn’t care about her, ergo, there’s no reason for her to stay. It’s like when every little kid talks about running away, or does run away, when it happens they don’t intend on coming back, this deal is essentially Ariel Running away from home with no intention of going back.
I think this is why I prefer the Broadway musical more than the movie because they really have a deeper connection to not only Ariel's character and her autonomy in the story, but also to her connection to Ursula and Ursula's backstory. Ariel saves the day, and on top of that, Eric and Ariel have a lot more time to bond and connect and make their relationship start on more than just looks. I highly recommend watching it. There's a bootleg of the Pre-Broadway production on KZclip! Also, as a note, I think it's important to consider the fact that the original story was written by a gay man and was significantly sadder at the end. That adds a lot to your conversation of queer coding and the mental health aspect of it.
When you consider the original story and what was going on in that writers life at the time you can find out more and put together a better understanding of the story. It’s actually lgbt the author was said to be secretly in love with his friend who at the time was getting married so willing to change for someone he loves to be able to be with him and in the end not being able to is what killed him metaphorically and the story literally maybe the voice has to do with him not being able to express his feelings and sit back and quietly go along
Growing up with a narcissist father who would fly into rages at random, it took this video and comment section for me to realize that part in the movie where Triton flies into a rage was supposed to be scary. His tantrums were part of life growing up, he simply didn't have magic.
My argument on this film that didn't get addressed here is: Ariel did not get a chance to really think through her decision; she's just been scared by her father who just broke all her stuff and clearly has anger issues which I'm sure makes her not want to go back, especially when it's a fresh experience. Ursula is also pressuring her to make a choice, it's not like Ariel got any time to process it exactly, she was offered what she really wanted (IE: Legs and a chance to be human, something she wants long before she see's Eric) and something she wants right now (IE: Eric), A perfect escape Ursula is pushing her towards... and remember she's 16; she's being taken advantage of and makes a bad decision while emotionally vulnerable being offered to her by someone who does want to hurt her. Point is I feel the girl deserves a lot more slack then she usually gets (Though you were a lot kinder to her then most are)
Honestly though, nobody likes to think that they're so stupid as to get swindled into ruining their own life. It happens allll the time but nobody likes to think it could happen to them. Easier to blame that person on being a rube than to admit that that's one slick fast-talking witch who probably could've convinced you too!
Absolutely we need to cut her some slack I’m so sick and tired of people bad mouthing about her she’s 16 she was emotionally vulnerable and made a bad choice!
@TheMoo 2 You know, that never occurred to me as something that could've been done. Maybe because I've always been fine with the movie as is, but that would've been interesting to hear what was going on in her head even if she couldn't verbally express it.
This is a really good point! I think its overlooked because we can't hear anything from Ariel while she's mute, not even her inner voice. Perhaps in the remake, she might be questioning if it was the right choice with her inner voice that we could hear
I think the whole Little Mermaid story holds up as a story of teenagers making teenage type decisions until Ariel and Eric get married at the end. The wedding conclusion is where it falls apart.
Trusting your kids and letting them know that you do it's the best way to make sure that they will think twice before doing something stupid in my experience. My parents had complete trust in me and because of that, even when there were alcohol/drugs/other dangers at my reach at parties or other places, I never crossed those limits because that would had meant breaking my parents trust, therefore I always asked myself first "do you really need this to have fun?" and 99% of the time the answer was no. Of course I made mistakes (teenager me couldn't help it sometimes lol), but that same trust also help me go to them for help, because I trusted them in return.
Click here www.helixsleep.com/cinematherapy for up to $200 off your Helix Sleep mattress plus two free pillows! I've been sleeping like a Disney princess for weeks! #helixsleep
I instantly noted that you filling out McLovin’s profile! I love it!!
Please do the Rumplestiltskin and Belle, Regina and Robin, Emma and Bealfire, Emma and Hook, Charming and Snow, and Zelena and Hades Once Upon A Time Relationships!
A remake where instead of three days it was one year and exactly as you say Ariel and Eric learn sign language and connect that way, and see how she's a genuinely good person etc that would be much more interesting.
I hope u guys react to
The little mermaid 2 Return To The Sea and
The little mermaid 3 Ariel's Beginning
❤️
Can you also review and make a movie therapy the original story of "Hans Christian Anderson" littlie mermaid." We have Russian, Czech or Japanese Animated version. It has a good story to and it has message.
You could probably do a whole thesis on Ariel's voice - when it's celebrated and when she's silenced. Something to consider might be how Ariel's singing voice is prized by everyone, but not what she says or does or wants - her value is in her voice, but only in specific, controlled circumstances. If Ariel's been measured by two things her entire life - her voice and her fins before Ursula gives her an opportunity to not only pursue her crush, but also to strip away the two external factors holding up her identity and to explore who she is without them.
Oh, I’d never caught that before!
I whole heartedly agree with you!
Thank you! ❤
(This is long, sorry) Agree in all parts. for the last one though where you point out that those two traits of hers were stripped from her to let her explore herself: I'd say she never did a whole lot of self exploration, or rather, the story itself didn't focus on that aspect of her sadly and mainly focused on her exploration related to being with her crush. I can definitely see so many times in the movie where she was definitely learning new things about her new world and new self, and I imagine she did a whole lot of that by the time she had her daughter Melody and became queen, but we don't see her experience in that and more like the "befores" and "afters" of her experience. It would've really fascinating to have more focus on her own thoughts and how she processed stuff in the movie and less on the love interest. frankly tho, that's just my opinion after some years of getting more insight on the importance of self exploration as an adult compared when I was a kid enjoying the story and sseeing colorful dancing fish 😅
Then why doesn't she sing nonsense words, if it's her voice alone that counts?
Let’s also keep in mind that Triton’s parenting and the not letting his daughters go to the surface thing is also a result of his possible PTSD because of how tragically his wife died (shown in the little mermaid prequel)
@Chance Will It is very likely that the writers of the first movie hadn't thought about Ariel's mother's death being why Triton acted like he did.
But you can't help thinking about it after you learn about it and feel more sympathy for Triton.
I mean I was a child when I watched little mermaid and I thought he was the worst. I didn't see the prequel until later so I guess I thought she magically spawned because I had no idea there was a mom. He was extremely mean to her all the time and I'm not sure the mother's death can be the reason because he was just like "Ariel, Ariel, Ariel" never "Ariel I'm just trying to keep you safe" and hated everything she loved for no apparent reason
@Emily Bixler To be fair to Triton though, it is clear that he feels remorse after he has destroyed Ariel's collection.
Yes, he was truly wrong to do that, but in the end, he thought he had to do it to protect Ariel, until he could see that it only made things worse.
I don't think you can claim that since that was a prequel that came out like 20 years after the original. They surely didn't have that plot point in mind when they initially wrote this movie, and if they did, it isn't in the text.
@Emily Bixler yes I 100% agree on this! Just mentioned it as the source/context :)
I like how Eric had no idea what was going on but was still willing to help arial out. As if he was saying "I don't understand but at the same time I don't need to,"
I love you and I dont care how you look I just love you
OK, so I had this thought as you guys were going through the end of the film. I think this may, in a very subversive way, be kind of inspiring. Think about Ariel's relationship with her friends and family under the sea-they all hyper fixate on her singing ability and her voice. "The most wonderous voice, the most beautiful voice"-- they never bring up any of her other attributes because they don't care. Then her voice is taken away when she gets up to the surface and she's trying to woo Prince Eric without the one thing that she has been told her whole life that she's good for. And Eric, to his credit, takes her seriously and appreciates her, goes out into town with her, watches for her reactions to make sure she's having a good time, and is very possibly falling in love with her and it's *not because of her voice.* But then, when she finds out that he is marrying Ursula in disguise, and I think if I remember correctly she does notice that it's her voice by this point, she comes to the conclusion that she wasn't good enough after all. That she isn't enough without her voice.
But the ultimate point is that she is! That Eric was falling in love with her for who she is even without this magical perfect voice that everyone has always told her she has. She was so good that Ursula had to steal that voice and craft it into a spell to keep Eric away from her.
By taking away her voice, it gave Eric a chance to not fawn over her voice (the way he was initially), and also gave Ariel a chance to see that she really is more than just what her family praised her for.
Just a thought!
@AnakhaSilver Yes, they talk about her voice in a song _they're_ singing in a _concert,_ what else are they supposed to talk about? It's a _concert;_ are they supposed to about her skill at embroidery? And you even said it yourself: "in her musical _debut,"_ which means _no one else_ has heard her sing- so she's not _known_ for her voice. And, yes, they're making a big deal, _because she is a princess._
And really? Triton irritatedly, questioningly saying "Ariel?" is what you'd consider "PISSED!!!!"? (No, later when he's destroying giant marble statues is "PISSED!!!!") When he's scolding her, he doesn't even get off his throne until the surface is mentioned. He's disappointed and annoyed - you're supposed to be able to tell the difference, since he has such an explosive temper every time humans are mentioned.
I get that you feel like _the movie_ focuses on her voice, but _none_ of the characters are _obsessed_ with it (like I said, it's just the only thing Eric remembers).
@DD Ariel is literally introduced in song-form by her voice and age. "And then there is the youngest in her musical debut
A seventh little sister, we're presenting her to you
To sing a song Sebastian wrote, her voice is like a bell
She's our sister Ari- (all gasp)"
Literally the only ways she's described IN HER INTRODUCTION is her voice and how she's the youngest. Yes, people make a big deal about her voice, it's just not as blatant as you'd like!
Also, Triton was FURIOUS she wasn't at the musical! He literally gets PISSED!!!! He's calmed down a lot by the time she comes back, just being Moody, and then finding out where she went pisses him off MORE. But he was, indeed, mad!
@F CV Actually, Ariel's _lack_ of a voice is the focal point of the story. The only reason her voice is important is because she _doesn't have it._ Eric is only "fixated" on her voice, because that's all he can remember. If he could remember her eyes or her left ankle, he'd have fixated on that. And Ursula used straight up _magic_ on Eric- she didn't _manipulate_ him, she put a literal spell on him.
Triton's daughters aren't _expected_ to be singers - they just are. Triton scolds her a little (but mostly it's Sebastian bitching, because he's egotistical and a drama queen), but he doesn't actually get angry until he finds out she went to the surface. Ariel is _not_ known for having a "prized voice" - her singing _debut_ was the concert _she didn't go to._ Yeah, mermaids sing, but _all_ mermaids can sing; Ariel's only special in Atlantica because she's a princess and she's special to the audience because she's the protagonist.
FFS, Ariel has _one_ song in the entire movie. Sebastian's voice gets more screen time than hers.
@DD Ariel's voice is a focal point of the story. How can you say no one is fixated with Ariel's voice when Eric fell in love firstly through her singing? Ursula even used it to manipulate him. And Eric doesn't truly understand Ariel is the girl he fell in love with until he hears her sing again. Also, the mythology of mermaids having beautiful voices is tied to greek sirens, who used to lure sailors with their beautiful singings. That's why all of Triton's daughters are expected to be singers, and why Ariel not attending the concert was a big deal. For mermaids, singing is a big deal.And Ariel has a prized voice, it's another reason why Ursula took it as a price (as well as to hinder Ariel). It's very clear throughout the movie that Ariel's voice is a key factor to her identity and value, both at face-value and symbolically. You don't need an unsubtle dialogue or narrator to show us what the theme of the movie and the protagonist are.
Don't forget the whole point of her so-called beautiful voice was that she's basically a siren her voice is magical it's possible he never was even in love with her voice it just the voice is self made him believe that he doesn't love that he was in a spell and Transfixed which is why he did not remember her face but he remembered her voice
My own dad was always similar to Triton. He, to this date, was always overprotective, and I'm 28. He devoted his life to keep us safe and unharm that he never gave us the space to explore and choose who we wanted to be, which unfortunately affected us while growing up.
When Triton destroyed Ariel's collection, I cried, because my dad did something similar. I love drawing to this date. And one day when we were arguing, he took my sketches and tore them apart in front of me. Instead of getting angry, I felt heartbroken. The only reason I was able to forgive him, is because my sister told me he felt so much regret for what he did to me, he even search in the trash trying to find them.
I never doubted that my dad loved me. But if love is about growing closer, it's also about letting go.
Watch the dr. Ramani vids about narcistic parents. You will be shocked! (We share the same age, as well as mothers who behave like crap, judging by what you wrote here). I sooo get the "sneaking around, triyng to have some fun" (and I always get "found out" because I have been drilled to answer all questions).
Your dad destroying your art, isn't the same as triton destroying Ariel's possessions.
he did his to try and wake her up out of her obsessions' of humans. he seem them as a danger, due to how his wife died.
your dad destroyed your things to HURT you, because he could. it had nothing to do with protecting you. he wanted to hurt you.
Unless he actually apologizes for it, i wouldn't have forgiven him.
I am 53, my mother of 80-ish, still is like that. Anything I like or anything I do that does not resonate with her, will not get her 'mark of approval'. And she will gleefully rub that in if I happen to fail at anything. I am still always half-sneaking behind her back just to have some joy in life.
Thanks for sharing this story. I am new to parenting, I am sure I will use it as a reminder to myself that my anger should be under control.
I love the Little Mermaid, it's one of my favorite Disney films, but if I were to name a problem with it, it would not be the supposed lesson that girls should be pretty and quiet. First off, I think the fact that this is stated by the villain shows that the filmmakers meant to underscore its falseness. And while Eric does fall in love with Ariel while she has no voice, his arc contradicts Ursula's ideas of love. Eric is obsessed with this perfect dream girl, he thinks he'll know her instantly, and he's holding out for her. When he meets Ariel, he's disappointed that she doesn't live up to his dreams, but as he spends time with Ariel, he realizes he enjoys her company. He eventually learns that although Ariel might not meet the perfect vision in his head, he loves her. He throws away his flute, and with it his ideas of perfection. By taking away Ariel's voice, Ursula actually took away the one thing that Eric was obsessed with, and in order to win him back, Ariel has to spend time with him and get him to fall in love with her for who she is, not for her voice. If Ursula's argument is that you can reduce a woman down to one beautiful thing that boys will obsess over, Eric's arc shows that real love is about truly seeing the real people around you.
My problem with the movie is that Ariel, like most Disney princesses, doesn't get a character arc in her own movie. The strongest arc in the movie goes to Triton, who has to learn to stop trying to control his daughter; the next strongest goes to Eric. But Ariel doesn't have an arc. She wants to be part of the human world, and though she has to overcome several obstacles, that's what she does. She wants to be with Eric, so that's what she does. She doesn't learn any lessons or grow as a person. Of course, not every character has to have a character arc in every movie, but it's concerning that Disney has a collection of movies aimed at young girls with nominal female protagonists, almost none of whom have arcs. But that's more of a problem with Disney princess movies as a whole than with this movie in particular, although this movie does play into that trend.
And in doing so, it shows that Ursula knows and agrees with feminism she just wants to spite Ariel because she’s Triton’s daughter. If you watch the sequel with Ariel’s daughter, Ursula’s sister shared that Ursula was casted out by Triton because of her power.
I think it’s honestly the opposite. It’s showing that girls can have a voice without having a voice. That your voice matters but there’s other ways to speak your mind and get your message across. I also think the point is that she lives in a place where no one listens to her unless it’s when she’s singing. She’s controlled by a man (her father) so she sings about wanting freedom. Ursula sings a song about giving her that freedom but takes away her voice as a trick. Ursula acts like having a voice is useless and says men don’t like it when you speak your mind, but we know she’s just trying to trick Ariel. Ariel was able to win the prince over and speak her truth without having an actual voice box. Part of Your World can equate to a feminist song and Poor Unfortunate Souls is a song that’s trying to trick her into thinking she’ll get her freedom if she submits (but it’s so tricky that Ariel doesn’t realize it)
AGREEEEEE
She achieved her goal, that is the point. And well, there is some of character arc. She was forced to make a big decision, she had two options that both will permanently affect her life. She could choose to stay in the ocean forever, leave all her dreams behind and forever be a 'well behaved daughter' of her father who is controling her life.
If she chosed that, that would be so called 'safe zone' wich is wery unhealthy thing, and it basicaly means (staying in uncomfortable situation because you are too scared or lazy to try to leave it)
Or she has to leave her past behind, never see her family again, lose her voice and even risk being enslaved, for a chance to get what SHE ACTUALY WANTS from life. She was scared at first, but she decided to take the risk and make sucrifice for her future life.
In my opinion, that is a VERY BIG character arc for the 16 years old.
Ariel doesn’t need an arc. She’s knew what she wanted and got it. If they gave her an arc in this movie it would take away what Ariel actually IS. Not a magical creature but a human. Ariel is fully formed since the beginning to the end. she was able to change her fathers views cuz the story is more about triton leaving his prejudices rather than Ariel having the arc to apologize to her father for wanting to be who she really is
A line from Ariel's song that I think is important:
"Betcha on land they understand. Bet they don't reprimand their daughters. Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand..."
I think Ariel isn't obsessed with the human world just because it's exotic and taboo. She sees the human world as a place with more freedom than her life under her father's rule.
love this channel but if they had just heard this one line i think they would've given this movie less crap lol
Yeah, that line show that Ariel was indeed a teenager. And also I think Eric was just the final drop that make her took action, but a version where she take the deal without the love factor could be totally possible
I always thought that line was funny because she is wrong.
There’s also the fact that she wanted to become human before she even met Eric/knew of his existence. Him and the argument with her dad were kind of just the last pushes to go and find out how she could actually get up there. Like idrk how to feel about the argument that she changed her body ONLY for a guy, because it’s only really half true
@blueneptune146 Instead of "As long as you're under my roof he says "as long as you're under my ocean". That's everywhere she could go at the time.
i kind've always interpreted triton's enthusiasm for ariel's romance to be because it meant she'll focus on her place in the ocean. hence the "who the lucky *mer*man."
It's also kind of a metaphor for assuming your child is one sexuality when they actually are another. Like how Triton thinks Ariel's in love with a merman when she's actually in love with a human, some parents think their children are straight and push the heteronormative narrative onto them when in actuality their child could be gay, bi, pan, aro, ace, or anything in between. That's how my mind interprets it anyway (as a token straight chaotic ally friend)
"How long do fish last? A couple years?"
Actually, yes. Most fish only live for about five years or less. My college professor said the oldest fish he ever aged was about 16 years old. The same age Ariel is in the movie.
One word: sturgeon
@Vickybell280 And she is the daughter of Triton and Triton is the son of Poseidon, who is a god. So Ariel definitely has some godly mortality in her.
@Kat My simple guppies lived 6 years and longer, people around here have neontetra's last almost 15 years, some have corydoras who reach 17-18 easy. And those are just the small ones! Just do not overheat them and make sure they have unpolluted water (as much as possible).
Oh, we do not have plastic plants in our tanks, we have underwater gardens ;)
The large fish living in colder water live far, far longer.
@muurrarium yeah, I just felt the need to comment because while yeah majority of tropical fish for example live around 5 years but his comment made it sound like it's something unimaginable for fish to live past 100 years
I'll argue this point since a lot of people seem to give little mermaid crap for the trope of "love at first sight" and "giving up your whole world for one guy". Now, I'm not a huge Ariel fan, even though I love the ocean, but some of the stuff she talks about and sings about really resonate with a lot of people for how badly they want to be seen for who they are and how badly they want their freedom.
I think it's easy to assume that the love story is as far as Ariels story goes. So I'm honestly disappointed you two didn't pick it apart further. She has wanted to explore the human world before she ever met Eric, so to me, while yes, she was also crushing on him, she was willing to give up her life, her fins, her voice to go explore the dream she always wanted, to explore land. To me, she is a LOT like Rapunzel, though Rapunzel warmed up to Flynn over time versus Ariels puppy love right out the gate, they both felt very sheltered from the world and wanted to go and explore it, at any cost.
While her view of the world above is romanticized, she wants that world where she can stand up and be who she wants to be, where she can be valued for more than her voice, her looks, for being royalty, but for being just HER. Eric didn't know she was a princess, and sure she has her looks still but Eric is a prince, I'm sure he has easy access to plenty of people with good looks and still was charmed by her. To me that speaks more to her energy and personality that shines through even without her voice.
I do think it's a flaw of the film to not show them communicating more but you do see this in non-verbal cues and body language as Eric talks to her even though she can't answer very specifically. Like he genuinely wants to know more about her.
I think that you kind of forgot that she had this as her goal long before Eric and when you are the daughter of the King of the Seas, where else would you be able to go to get your freedom and have people like you for you instead of being a princess when the whole ocean knows who you are and your father can basically have watch over you anywhere you go UNLESS you leave the ocean.
Part of growing up is being able to leave home, stand on your own two feet and know that people like you for you, not just the titles that come with you, or whose kid you are, or what you sound or look like but who you are on the inside. I think it's also a tale of how actions can speak louder than words, especially when you cannot speak, your actions literally are the thing that defines you.
So yes, Ariel is still a teenager, and I think she plays the best and worst parts of being a teen very well, but I also think a lot of people just see this as a bratty teen or similar to how Anna falls in love asap in Frozen, etc but I do think it hits home for a lot of reasons that are also part of this film if you take the time to dig a little deeper.
Thank you so much! I’m so sick of the crap that a lot of these Disney Princess movies get, especially The Little Mermaid. You hit all of the points beautifully! I think the key thing people need to think about is: Ariel sings “Part of THAT World” BEFORE she met Eric. Once she rescued him, that’s when she wanted to be part of HIS world. AND on top of that, before the Under the Sea number, Ariel was planning to meet him again to talk to him. You can hear her over Sebastian’s dialogue that she wanted to see him again and that Flounder will get his attention, etc. So, she wasn’t planning to throw her life away for one guy, she was planning to get to know him more and learn more about him by talking to him. Only when Ursula gave Ariel that task to kiss him before the three days were up did it become a goal for her to get with Eric.
@Alexandra Musilová i was thinking the same thing, you're right!
Thank you so much for saying this. This movie gets a lot of crap for its tropes but it does have some brilliant things to ponder on and your comment summa up pretty much everything.
Thank you! Agreed. I wrote a thesis paper defending the Disney princesses' agency and independence. I used examples from Disney's Golden Age, Ariel being one of them. Good analysis, Trish!
Great comment 💎 I just want to say that the way I saw the bond that was formed wasn't a 'at first sight' kind of thing. I thought it was the rescue-- the kind you always see the male heroes do. It probably messed me up for life lol because I stay looking for someone to rescue as if that will be the key to an undying appreciation and happiness. 💔
I got pretty disappointed that you didn't see more of this story.
I'm glad that there are a lot of people in the comments that think the same.
I hoped you would dive deeper into Tritons abusive behavior, her passion for human world that was not just for love. He was just the addition.
I always felt bad that so many people just see stupid teenager that just rebels for the first handsome man she just met.
It is not just about love.
Just by learning that Trition could just spare everyone the trouble and just change her into human.
He was just too scared and ignorant to listen, and because of that he almost lost Ariel to a sea witch.
They might actually touch upon it in Fuller unedited episodes that I think they have on their website. I am not sure because I haven't checked it out but it could be possible that they touch upon it.
I know, normally I love this channel's videos, but with this one it looks like instead of watching the full movie, they just watched the most popular scenes to roast them with the typical, shallow internet criticisms found on the internet. I was actually hoping to hear Jonathan's take on Triton destroying Ariel's grotto, and they didn't even show it! There's plenty good stuff in the film, it's not hard to find.
It’s the movie’s fault for not putting more emphasis on Ariel’s passion for the human world because Ariel gives up her hobbies to be Eric’s wife.
15:30 fun fact, Eric was designed to be a reinvention of Disney princes. The first three were sort of like statues in comparison to the princesses. Also the voice of Eric was 16 during recording lol
Jodie Benson says some great things about Ariel in a q&a video somewhere. Look that up if you’re interested. Because I don’t agree with this video but I can’t articulate it as well as she can.
I have trouble articulating what I mean sometimes, and you’re more qualified than me, so you’ve got me there. But I’ll say this as quickly as I can. I don’t appreciate the argument that all Ariel did is sit there and look pretty, or that her greatest achievement was the sexual awakening of many (although that is fair, and I know that’s not exactly what you’re saying, but still). I don’t appreciate the argument that the first three princesses aren’t as strong as the others who came after. I think it’s a little hurtful to say that girls who are quiet or shy, or girls who stay in a situation with grace, or girls who leave a situation in desperate circumstances aren’t as strong as those who are considered warriors or fighters. When I was little, I was horrendously shy and insecure, but I looked at Ariel and I saw someone who didnt have a voice and couldn’t (literally) speak up, because I was so shy I couldn’t talk, and Eric loved her anyway, without her voice. I saw Cinderella, and saw myself in her resilience in a tough home life. And Aurora and Snow White too. I don’t think all female role models have to be a warrior to be valid. Because sometimes, it’s okay to ask for help. Or to know your limits, or to stand by and wait for an opportunity. Not everyone can wield a sword. And I think that’s okay. I do absolutely love when a female character can slay her own dragons. But I think it’s also okay to be gentle.
@Sophie Pea yes! I just watched the 2015 one yesterday. I had forgotten how they made it more clear that the glass slipper shrunk or got bigger because it was meant for Ella, and it was the fairy godmother’s magic guiding her towards her destiny and her way out. A lot of people forget that and argue about it but it’s very clear she didn’t tell him her name and that the magic only worked for her.
Especially cinderella tbh, it’s mentioned that she’s abused and it’s not like she didn’t try at all to stick up for herself. She tried to go to the ball with her mother’s old dress and then that was just destroyed by those very people who constantly abuse her. It was only after that that the fairy godmother came in.
And honestly I think her ability to wake up and show a good face every day considering the situation she’s in is very strong in itself.P, it’s just a different kind of strong.
There’s also the factor that she didn’t even go to the ball looking for the prince or looking to get saved, she didn’t even know it was him that she’d been dancing with, they just happened to meet that night because he sought her out.
Their circumstances in the regards that they didn’t know each other that well is another thing, but I’d say that’s expanded upon really well in the live action, and it’s great to see them have such a nice friendship before he tells her he’s the prince.
i think the argument was more that they dont have character arcs, they just exist to further others', not that they are incapable of violence. the complaint was that the movies arent really about their journey at all emotionally, its about the journeys of the characters around them. i do think in general there has been somewhat of a cultural overcorrection where people think that making a disney princess an active or dynamic character in their own stories necessitates that they be a totally independent warrior girlboss, but i dont think thats necessarily a bad thing either. im glad you were able to relate to the early princesses though, and im certain you werent alone in that.
i like the examples of all the the good things you saw in the first three princesses and it's awesome that it helped you feel seen as a shy kid, but i think there's a difference between being shy and being passive. in my opinion, it's kinda harmful to represent shyness as total passiveness in your own life when everything happens because someone else made it happen. for me it seems more like a disservice, because when you're shy (unless it has a great effect on your life, in which case it's a serious issue that requires professional help) you still have your full autonomy as a person. not everyone need to know how to wield a sword, that's true, and the capacity to be gentle is a great quality or sometimes even a skill, but i think these characters are awfully close to the category of damsel in distress, and that fact has nothing to do with their ability to be gentle. everything needs a balance, which means you don't have to choose between being completely passive in your own story or Strong™ without having to do everything on your own without any help
I agree with everything you said.
One thing I find really interesting about a lot of these arguments is this: everyone seems to assume that if Ariel got the prince to kiss her, she would get her voice back. But if you listen to the song, that''s *explicitly not the deal.* Ursula only says she'll get to *keep the legs* if the prince kisses her. The voice is the *payment.* The only reason Ariel gets her voice back at all is because Ursula's necklace breaks--something that wasn't part of the plan. This means that in Poor Unfortunate Souls, Ariel is okay with giving up her voice *forever* for the chance to live on land. I don't have any additional things to add, but some people have been using this logic in their arguments and I just wanted to point out that this is a flawed read.
@S in a video about Ursula's song there are ppl doing that
Actually Ursula says that if she doesn't kiss the prince, she would belong to her
@ilikethisalready I wish the same, actually. The real Andersen story was about the mermaid earning the right to win an eternal soul, despite not being born a human, which was the only being that had a soul, since Andersen was a Christian and Christians believed that humans were second to God in divinity (even angels were inferior, as they technically had no free will). In the original fairy tale, the mermaid had to choose between her own life or the prince's, and chose to die so the prince could live, ending the tale as an air sprite with the potential to gain an eternal soul due to her selflessness. The Disney version was kind of the opposite; yes, Ariel felt stifled, yes, she wanted something more, but she started off the story thinking only about herself and no one else, and ended the story…still really only thinking about herself, because there were no real long-term consequences of her being selfish. I guess Disney absolutely needs that clear-cut happy ending, and am personally grateful for not having Christian ideals stuffed down our throats from a mostly secular studio, but at least the mermaid's characterization, and being rewarded for her selflessness, could have been kept somehow. It would have been a much better lesson for children too, if combined well with lessons about individuality and being proactive.
😶💎
Definitely
one of my biggest pet peeves of this movie is that Ariel can obviously read and write (signs her name on the contract). Why didn't she just write Eric a letter saying that she was the one who saved him? Would have made things a little less oblivious
Because what she writes might not be a language he knows.
You know what's weird. As a trans person myself I was thinking about the whole body dysmorphia thing and wondering if they would bring up the difference between the two AND THEY DID. I am so glad that was clarified.
I'd honestly argue Ariel is more trans-species than having body dysmorphia. She wants to become a human and the thought of that identity gives her euphoria. So much so, that she's willing to lose her family to achieve that identity (like we trans people have to prepare ourselves to do too when we transition). I feel like body dysmorphia would be trying to change the shape of her fin or wanting to remove it entirely, not necessarily wanting to change it for an identity sake.
I remember being a child and wanting to become Prince Eric. I wanted to wear suits and father children. I dreamed of life as a man, and didn't know girls typically didn't do that. So maybe I liked The Little Mermaid because it told me I could become whatever identity I truly wanted.
I’m honestly so glad they brought it up too because it’s something I’d never even really thought to pair with it before. It really changes the story/her character when you look at it through that lense as well tbh, it gives her sooo much more depth imo. Not necessarily “good” depth, but it’s definitely something that the remake could explore and build upon
I love when Eric finds Ariel on the beach and she can't speak, he says, "You're really been through something haven't you? Don't worry, I'll get you help" or something like that. It's just so... good. For her to be SEEN.
I saw a really good argument for how good the Little Mermaid is on Tumblr talking about how Ariel is an anthropologist and Ursula made it all about a man. Ariel wanted to experience the culture, Ursula forced her to focus on the romance.
For me as a kid I didn't see it as a story about her being desperately in love, but in a place where she belongs and is valued. Growing up all I wanted was to be in the world my friends lived on which was a wolf in which they had loving caring parents. I didn't have that and desperately wanted it. As well as her courage to stand up to her dad and do what she wants anyways I took that and was the only one who consistently stood up to my mother for myself and others. Part of your world was my theme song for YEARS because I wanted to be somewhere else I knew how she felt in that regard.
Same!! I felt like an outcast growing up so part of your world was such a mantra that song speaks volumes about Ariel!!
My interpretation: Eric was a justification for Ariel for wanting to be with the humans, but she always wanted to (Part of Your World was before she ever laid eyes on him). She latched on to him for that reason, but it wasn't her fixation on him that lead her to making that deal. It was her father's actions that pushed her away and toward Ursula. From then, she worked to keep her legs. Kissing the prince was just the mechanism by which she'd keep her legs.
@Black Shiva Hans Christian Andersen. The author of the original little mermaid story.
@TheBusyHoneyBee What source material is that? Going up to the surface as a rite of passage? That sounds like Luca 💜
Interestingly, someone else in the comments pointed out that Ariel didn't pin all her above water dreams on Eric, Ursala did 💎💯
@catsmom129 That’s because Indiana Jones got to be a graverobbing archaeologist AND be married to Marion. He didn’t have to choose between his career aspirations and love.
Unlike Ariel, Indiana Jones didn’t give up his voice nor changed his species for Marion.
@Beethoven’s Fidelio oh i completely forgot that! yeah..... even more reason for them not to add that time limit.
One thing I love about being an adult is being able to look back on why this movie makes me nostalgic and think fondly of my childhood while also being able to look at it critically with my adult lens. Both are possible and it need not be a joyless process! :)
I feel she also is drawn to what was hidden from her and withheld from her. She feels alone in her own family and wants to fill that feeling inside that feels empty. A hole left by the death a mother and the distant father who leans away from her. She looks like her mom and sounds like her too. His pain and anger and fear from her death due to a human ship broke him and he took it out on EVERYONE but mostly on her as very young child. He wants to protect her sure but he also wants to control her like so many adults do
My oldest friend suffered from body dysmorphia, and I didn't quite get it until I sat down with her for a day and just observed all of her little behaviours - She was extremely fixated in particular on her nose. She would spend hours scrolling through Instagram, looking at photos, zooming in on peoples noses and then posing herself to take similar photos, to compare them - And it made her so depressed.. She'd ask me to take photos of her nose, ask me how I thought it looked, and was never happy.. this drove her to get a nose job. Afterwards though, the negative feelings eventually came back. Nowadays, she has a great therapist to help her manage. I wish I could have shown her how there's nothing wrong with her nose at all, but it doesn't work that way - It would fall on deaf ears. Thankfully now, she's a lot more comfortable and seemingly happy with herself. :)
I read Triton's reaction to his daughter's passions and her decision to run away similarly to Romeo and Juliet. If the adults in the kids' lives had just backed off and been cool about their kids' interests, things wouldn't have escalated as far as they did. But Triton gets violent and destroys Ariel's collection, including the gift she just got from her friend, and then just leaves her sobbing. It's then when Floatsam and Jetsam, who have been stalking her all movie waiting for an opportunity to butt in, convince Ariel to seek Ursula. The villain only gets to Ariel when she's emotionally vulnerable and prone to make a rash decision.
I lived with a narcistic mother who controlled me, I wanted to get free so badly and this movie tought me not to get it with any cost, not to trust the witch, but that it's ok to want a different life.
Everyone tells Ariel that she has the most anazing singing voice but no one is listening when she talks. No one is interested in her dreams, what she wants for life.
I was in that position and this movie helped me to stay sane and not to give up my dreams. And sometimes it's an other person that gives you the spark to get out of it. I don't see why this should be problematic.
Also Eric gets to know her better, sees that she is funny, curious, friendly but also likes a bit of danger. Look at the montage of them in the town, look how he looks at her. You can see that he sees her character. He gave up his dream girl (scene him throwing away the flute), he wanted to be with Ariel but was bewitched by Ursula. Ariel didn't do the "body language" (heavily flirting) she was just herself and that is what Eric liked, her character.
She also rescued Eric after she knows he is under a spell, that is not passiv. Yes she had help, but everyone needs that in life. And remember the sea animals help her, the "people" she thought she needed to left behind. Also her father helps her, even if he doesn't undertsand her he let Ariel go (transform her) because he loves her.
In my opinion the people look too much on the " she falls in love with a guy" point. Like Eric were the only reason she wanted to be human, no she wanted that before that, he was only the spark.
Ursula is such a business woman that she convinced the AUDIENCE that Ariel left the sea for a man when really her Princess song was about nearly everything but a man. It was about her infactuation with the land specifically and how much she wanted to be a part of it.
She just preyed on the young FIRST crush she had to seal the deal to her voice. Otherwise, Ariel wouldn't have signed out of anger towards her father for smashing the statue and what he had done to her collection.
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@Nahbroo true. They are quite similar indeed. These parents need therapy and their kids. Though it's never selfish to get what you desire, especially if you've poured everything you could into it alone and Yes Ariel was being petty and determined to live a life she knew would make her happiest if she tried. Unlike Moana, Ariel wasn't the only heir to the throne, in fact, she was the lesser choice out of seven? Others? as the youngest. So, her presence didn't have a strong effect on anyone besides her father who blamed himself and her sisters who may miss her. As far as we know, she didn't have friends beside guppy flounder and I bet it's because of who her father is. I think apart of the point was that she had NO premise as a princess. There was nothing else for her besides her collection and relative bonds.
Ariel did lament on the sacrifice of never seeing her family again and looked scared at the sacrifice she would have to make before they settled the deal. now that I think about it, her intentions were just slightly petty.
With Moana, she was also out for self interest and when she mentioned fishing beyond the reef, it wasn't only for food, though they did need to solve the problem. It was a bit of a crutch to wean the idea of the wider sea to her father. Before the small boat crashed, her words before leaving was, "there's more fish beyond the reef... there's more beyond the REEF." Yes, eventhough her people having something to eat was important, she was still a child in training and it shows that being on the sea is what she wanted more than nearly anything. It wasn't about a great sacrifice for her people at first and that's ok just like Ariel. Unlike Ariel, she just didn't know how bad her fate in particular could get. It was about fulfilling what she wanted and maybe having the island benefit from it too. If it fails, they would've had to travel again anyway. Like Ariel she wanted more and like Ariel it was for a 'selfish' reason.
In terms of saving, Ariel did save the prince, but without the tefiti plot and just the main internal conflict (sameish level of family drama) for Moana, she didn't save anyone. There was no one to save. Ariel wasn't entirely selfish tho, she tried to save sebastion when he was on a platter, but there isn't much people she could've saved. Plus besides Ursela, there weren't any food shortages or any reason why people would need saving. She saved a stranger yes, she thought he was handsome yes, but I don't think that's the only reason why she saved him. Moana also almost got Maui and herself killed and his powers gone because she wanted to prove something. In fact, she just fixed a mistake that Maui was too cowardly to fix himself too. She did alot of dumb stuff too. Yes she fixed it for, er with him at the end, but if it was just selfless, they wouldn't have voyaged in the end because the fish would've been back, and the island flourishing. She just wanted to sail the sea and possibly voyage and she got that. Ariel wanted to share human culture and was willing to give up her adventure after they defeated Ursula but because her dad recognized how much she wanted that life, he let her have it in the end. The both ultimately got what they wanted.
I think permission was all Moana needed to go and get Maui, she got that from her grandma and later her mom. She didn't want to think about how sad and depressed the entire village would be with the loss of their only princess in the grieving process of the chieftains mother. Instead she did what she thought she should. Judgment was tricky for both while emotions were fresh. At least Moana got the permission to go that Ariel never got.
Eventhough her choice was VERY DUMB. If Ariel had no love interest, it would've ended a bit differently. You have to admit, that she didn't care at that moment and it was ballsy. It could either go VERY WRONG in life or VERY RIGHT. I know that eventually, you could have made a choice to either risk it or stay where you are and maybe never progress. I think both of those movies are about taking a chance, a leap of faith despite the risks. Moana could've SERIOUSLY DIED and she was the only one who HAD ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE on a boat at sea and they let her leave alone. Like come on, a fisherman or something wouldve been handy but ig story or whatever lol.
Ariels story just wasn't designed to be that deep. She had no kingdom besides at the end of the movie, she didn't have hundreds of merpeople or humans depending on her. So fair comparison based on intent and needs, no. But I do get the spirit of what you're trying to say.
I hope you get mine. I think in a way we both are fairly correct.
@Me, Myself & I yeah, I totally understand your viewpoints. In a way, Moana and Ariel are quite similar. Both were born of power (moana being the daughter of the chief and ariel being a princess) yet isolated from what they love their whole lives because of their dad’s trauma. They’re also both 16 years old. The difference between the two that makes Moana more likable is Moana wasn’t very petty. Moana yearned to go out into the ocean, and snuck out twice, but her longing for the ocean was just a small part of her reasoning. The first time Moana snuck out was because there were more fish past the reef, and the village would soon go hungry. The second time was because her grandma was dying, and her grandma’s last wish was for her to go and return the heart of te fiti
Ariel on the other hand, did it out of pure selfishness. Nothing about the surface had anything to do with helping her people, and other than it being said that she’s the daughter of king triton, she does absolutely NOTHING to prove her worth as a princess nor does she breath even a word about her kingdom. Sometimes I even forget that she’s a princess when I watch the movie. The only selfless thing she did in the *entire* movie was help Eric, and it seems just by watching her that if she wasn’t attracted to Eric, she probably wouldn’t have even cared if he died. When she signed the contract with Ursula, she didn’t take into consideration what would happen to her, or her family. She was just mad at her dad for destroying her collection. Of course, she has a right to be mad abt that but SIGNING YOUR LIFE AWAY is *not* the way to got about it!! Half the movie is Ariel being a complete idiot and the other half is her being selfish
@Mckenzie .Latham Why couldn’t Ariel still continue her anthropological studies even when she was a wife and mother?
There are anthropologists who are married in real life.
If Ariel were a man, she wouldn’t have to choose between love and hobbies because she can have both. 😤
The problem with Ariel is that once Eric enters the picture, she gives up her hobbies for him because the movie wants to teach girls that being a beautiful, dumb wife who can’t talk is more important than being intelligent and vocal. 😝
@Nora Girl At least the fairy tale doesn’t make it about romance, since the mermaid doesn’t get the prince in the end, and she instead is able to obtain an soul without him by reincarnating as a daughter of the air.
Plus, the prince treats the mermaid like a pet instead of a human being as evidenced by him having the mermaid sleep on a velvet cushion outside his door instead of a bed and calling her his “little foundling”, therefore the romance wouldn’t have worked. The prince loves the mermaid like a sister.
Watching this again, I thought of another couple of things about Ariel and Triton's relationship. The FIRST thing is related to how chill Triton seemed at first about the idea of his daughter, having a boyfriend. Ariel is a princess, which means whoever she might take as a spouse would have to be under much more scrutiny, than someone in a different social class. One would assume that Triton would have more of a vetting process about that. The SECOND thing is that, despite the massively traumatic argument she'd had with him barely a couple of hours earlier, Ariel was still concerned about the chance that she'd never see her father again. This moment proved how strong their bond really was. (2/19/2023)
I went to see this movie in theaters at 17. I actually reacted the same as you about the voice even then. I have always been a woman who thought I am smart and have opinions. My father taught me conflicting messages that men prefer women that they can teach things yet he told me I should have opinions, to educate myself enough to be able to form an opinion. This movie coming out at a time when I was learning these conflicting lessons took me in the direction that as a woman I am supposed to keep my mouth shut and defer to men if I want a relationship. It hurt my feelings for a long time
The character who said that was the villain, so it should not be taken as good advice.
I think what really fuels Triton's anger and worry towards the humans just goes back to trauma, resentment and anger. We see in the third movie that Triton's wife is killed by fishermen when Ariel was just a kid. So the idea of his youngest falling in love with the brutes that killed her mom is like reopening a wound that festered.
I've always thought that a big part of the reason she wanted legs so badly was the way she was forbidden from the surface. If her dad had let her explore the surface more, maybe she wouldn't have been so fixated on becoming HUMAN. To her, legs began to represent freedom.
I was 8 when I watched this at the cinema, and for YEARS afterwards I had nightmares about Triton. I was horrified at what a terrible dad he was, and how it took him and Ariel almost dying for him to listen to her even a little bit. Terrible parenting.
He wasn't a terrible parent, flawed yes but not terrible. He was terrified at the idea of losing one of his daughters (if I remember correctly, he lost his wife, obviously his daughters mother in a terrible way and Ariel reminded him the most of his late wife because she had the same adventurous, stubborn free spirited personality that Ariel has, all this is revealed in one of the sequels i believe, so it may explain Tritons behavior if you consider it canon) I don't think he knew how to deal with this fear and didn't know how to handle Ariel. Her 6 older sisters were content with their lives under the ocean, so Ariel's "rebellion " especially considering she was enamored with humans, something he deeply feared was difficult to accept. Sure he could have handled things better, but I can understand his behavior. At least he cared and just wanted the best for his daughter. I'd much rather have a father like Triton when I was growing up, and even now as an adult then the miserable excuseof a "father " i have. Plus at least Triton was able to change and give his daughter the chance to have what she wanted, with his blessings. His intentions were in the right place, even earlier in the film IMO
I didn't have that realization until years after I saw it because my dad was kinda like Triton (not exactly the same but definitely had fits of anger where my stuff got broke, he's better now). Watching the movie now, it's super obvious.
But it was the best arc in my opinion for this movie. It took all of that just to see how the more he tries to control her decisions, and what she likes ( about humans and such ) the more she gets hurt.
And so, he set her free and let her go, which I think he would have done even if there was not a prince involved. Terrible parenting? Yes. But it portrayed the growth they both had, which was quite beautiful to me now that I am analyzing this movie a little bit 🤗
Yeah he was a terrible parent
Here’s why I think the “your pretty face” argument is wrong. I think the film actively proves Ursula wrong, and rightly so as she is the villain and it’s incredibly wrong.
To start of though, I will acknowledge both Eric and Ariel are probably some of the most beautifully designed people in the Disney pantheon. They’re both very attractive so it’s easy to argue it was just about the beauty. However, I believe it is more than that.
When Ariel first sees Eric, we see him sea-faring, playing with his dog, playing the flute, and talking about his romantic tendencies - already she and the audience know a lot about him. Later on we see him try to save his servant rather than his own life, further proving he is a decent guy, and Ariel has every right to fall head over heels for this guy.
When Eric first sees Ariel, it’s after she literally saved his life. She pulled him out of flaming ship wreckage in a storming sea and back to land. But that’s not all he gets fixated on. He loves the sound of her voice and how she sings to him, so much so that after he meets Ariel again and he finds out she can’t speak he loses all interest in her. He cares about the talented singer who saved his life and ran away before he could talk to her.
Despite his disinterest, he agrees to take Ariel in, look after her, clothe and feed her, and even take her on tours around the city and the lagoons. They go riding in carriages, shopping at markets, dancing in the square, and he takes her to his favourite spot. They spend real time with one another and get to know one another. They find each other funny and charming and fun to be around.
Eric realises he likes Ariel so much, he throws alway his flute into the ocean, symbolically giving up on the singing mystery girl so he can pursue his feelings for Ariel.
Unfortunately this is where Ursula shows up and enchants him - something she only has to do because they see they’re genuinely falling for each other. Remember, Ursula specified it had to be a kiss of “true love”. She probably thought that as lovesick teenagers, it wouldn’t be true, especially as they couldn’t communicate properly, but they find a way to do so anyway and actually get to know one another. Ursula only has to step in because they’re getting close to really being in love.
However, they never actually do the kiss to see if their love is true as Ariel runs out of time, and I’d argue it wouldn’t break the curse as they’re not quite there yet, but they’re well on their way.
Are they both attractive? Yes. Is this the thing that motivates them to fall in love? Absolutely not.
@Nemamka I just want to say I love your comment and I 100% agree with you.
@Nemamkayou are my knight in shining armor saving the day by putting all these thoughts into words so I don’t have to thank you
Of course it was, if she had been ugly he would not have taken her in, and she would never have had the chance...
A whole essay good grief
I love this comment & totally agree with you! Everything you're describing is exactly why I loved the character of Eric. And also why I loved Ariel. There's usually a lot more going on with so many of these stories when you really start looking at them or if you're paying attention in the first place! 🥰🙌💓
25:39 - 26:20 I laughed so hard at this because this is my exact thoughts as well! What the Fuc* did she do all day?! Why?! I would have tried to get to Eric and most likely learned far sooner what Ursula was doing, stopped her and so on. Ended the film far faster than it went. Lol. Love your channel and the reactions you do! Please keep them coming! If you ever hit up SC, let us know. I would love to meet you guys! ❤️
my fiance has loved the little mermaid forever (her words) and she is saying that she felt that eric didn't fall in love with ariel while she was mute, he loved her when she saved him and all he had to go off of was her voice. The whole town sequence reads more like a date with someone you may be attracted to but not necessarily able to build a life with. when she regains her voice he's happy because this beautiful, funny person he's had a great time with is also the woman who saved him, he didn't fall in love on the date, he fell in love on the beach after the shipwreck.
she is also demanding you react to the redemption arc of zuko from avatar
'But Daddy i love him!' 😂😂 Laughing at the part where we all collectively acknowledge that as a kid we were all like 'Aww she loves him, Triton is so mean, he doesn't get it' to being an adult going 'Child, sit down, you don't know!' 😂🙈
I'm the same with Gilmore Girls aswell
@Simbala 1994 Yes, but it becomes understandable if you think about how Ariel's mother died.
@Furienna Yeah I mean destroying her collection is just messed up
@Love Nala Tritons intentions were positive, but that doesn't mean he cannot harm her with his actions, his actions are what caused Ariel to rather be mute
@Furienna Now this makes more sense and I agree with you.
Ariel wanted more than love.
Love just popped up her way.
But since the beginning she wanted her freedom to choose and do what she wanted to do, without being around her father's shackles of "protection".
And well, a human with legs always fascinated her as and she saw that as 'independence'.
She gets a lot of shiz on for leaving her world and exploring another one on her own 'just for love'.
I just believe love, made her desire to be free even more stronger.
And Triton messes up her feelings real bad that she had to go to the infamous Ursula for legs, in exchange of her voice.
But once she reached the land, she was happy to see Eric but she seemed more thrilled to experience new things with him, as a companion/friend/lover.
I understand why many would say she left her father and her world just for a boy, but if we look closer it's more than just that.
@Love Nala I agree with you, and I understand why Triton acted like he did.
But what I was really trying to say is that we should understand Ariel too.
People mock her for saying that she loves Eric before they really even interact with each other, that she's got a crush but it's not really love (yet).
But I can see why a teenager who's defending herself to her father would use stronger words than just "I've got a crush".
Besides, she is the protagonist in a fairy-tale, and traditionally, love at first sight is real in such stories, so she would be right anyway.
I'm the original, mermaids lived for a thousand years, stuck in their kingdom where nothing ever changed, nothing ever happened. Humans were described as always being in a hurry because of their short lives and Ariel becomes fascinated with them. She feels excitement for the first time whe she visits the surface, she had never felt excitement in all of her life. When she gives up her voice and receives excruciating painful legs, yes, she wants the prince to fall in love with her BUT she also wants to just experience a human life as much as possible AND there is no time limit. She gets to see the world, explore the kingdom, and experience things beyond her wildest dreams. When the prince announces he will marry someone else, he announces it first to her because she had become his best friend. In the end she has to make a decision: kill the prince and return to being a mermaid or let the prince live and die of a frozen heart. Many people say that she doesn't kill him because he loves him, but I think she doesn't kill him because she has lived the amazing exciting life that she wanted and being alive for a thousand years in a world were nothing moves, excites you, or doesn't allow you to be free would feel the same as dying. Obviously, this is a KZclip comment so I am cutting a lot, but this is my main idea.
So true, you are the only commenter that refers to the original version from Hans Christian Andersen, not the Disney adaptation. In the original story mermaids have a longer life than humans but humans have a soul so after death they can live forever. To have a soul she needs to marry a mortal and that’s when she makes the deal to exchange her voice for a pair of legs. When the man she loves marries someone else she get a new chance to become a mermaid again in exchange of killing him but she cannot do it so she ends up killing herself by drowning. When she is vanishing, she is told she is told that she still can get a forever living soul through good actions as air or soft rain, so despite the tragic end there is a little glimpse of hope at the end.
could one argue that Ariel's "body dysmorphia" was more about identity? she wasn't comfortable in her own skin, she wanted to be human but didn't know about it because Triton kept her away from the surface world.
She's 16, so on the one hand, she's looking for some autonomy. She knows what a fish hook looks like, she knows what a net is, and she knows how to avoid them. On the other hand, she's 16 and boy-crazy over Eric. More appropriately, over what he represents. This tunnel vision can cause her to overlook viable options, instead choosing something more dangerous that's not a sure thing, for the chance at getting what she believes will satisfy her. This is where it would pay to talk to her father, and that is where her relationship with him is a major obstacle. They could really use a bit of help from an experienced mediator with a neutral stance, like a family therapist. This is not Sebastian's strong suit.
Very good analysis!
@Nerobyrne True. And there's certainly no shortage of magical bride stories.
@brigidtheirish ah yeah my bad, it seems that I got it confused with another legend that had a similar story, but probably Hans didn't know about it.
Or he did and never told anyone ^^
To be fair though, there are many different myths about mermaids and similar creatures all around the world.
@Nerobyrne I don't think there was an original legend. The story was created by Hans Christian Andersen.
@Third Planet Another thing for those who have suffered traumatic events, the body also subconsciously remembers anniversaries. Example: If you got kicked out of your house in early Feb, then you'll be more tense than usual during that time of year later on down the line. I've learned to take specific days off of work.
Seeing King Tridon talk about the humans is very similar to how Luca's mom from the movie, Luca, talk about the "land monsters". That's why I believe that Luca is like a modern rendition on the Little Mermaid since both Luca and Ariel's parents are sea creatures that want to explore the surface, but Ariel is a bit older than Luca so she's much more rebellious compared to Luca.
Also, unlike Ariel, Luca actually gets to ask questions and get them answered by Giulia.
Well, it helps that Luca is prepubescent boy and can go to back being a sea monster whenever he feels like it.
Plus, his friend Alberto is a sea monster so it’s not like Luca changed himself to be with Alberto.
I love the little mermaid, would love more content from you guys on it. Thank you.
P. S I just love all the characters in it, and growing up vegan I like how the cheif was perceived so much, I pretended ariel was vegan too as she wouldn't eat a crab or a fish, maybe lots of seaweed though!
In regards to body dysmorphia, most all the women (myself included) in my family just have a self hate for ourselves and see ourselves in such bad lights. My mother gouges out scars and things she finds ugly on her body. She covers herself up and overall just hates herself but "my dad's love for her and her having kids made life tolerable". I've been disabled my whole life. Spent so much time in hospitals I never had time to care about my looks or "the things that make me ugly". I got bullied for big front teeth, acne, glasses, my arm deformities causing me to wear braces, etc. It took 20 years of trying to fix myself and then winding up stuck before I just finally learned to accept myself for who I am. My husband is a great partner to have cause he boosts me up when I feel really down. But now I just don't care when people hee-haw at me for my teeth. And, NO. Braces is not an answer because all my teeth are big and crowded and my jaw is crooked so nothing can fix it.
Thank you for reviewing this. I may not agree with all of the points you made, but I had been asking for this for awhile and I’m glad you did it. I’m non-binary, so I have a slightly different interpretation of the body dysmorphia you brought up: gender dysphoria. The original little mermaid is a gay allegory so I thought maybe they take this a step further and make it an allegory for transgender women who want to become women. I like the idea of body dysmorphia, though! I also always thought the film was a message about overcoming prejudice.
I love Pat Carroll's Ursula. I loved her as Prunella in the 1965 Cinderella.
As a 9/10 year old "Part of Your World" was THE song. It was beatiful and expressed a range of feelings I thought I could relate to. More the independence part, the love part/kissing was just accepted as part of what happens when older etc.
As an adult, I can see now how -until more recently-the Disney movie catalogue reenforce a certain societal view of norms/abnorms.
And children watch them over and over again and I can see it as a kind of brainwashing of gender roles and how certain human behaviors/traits are good and bad...in very simple terms.
As a kid you are innocent. You understand hero=good, villian=bad. You don't realized that the traits of the LBGTQ+ community were overwellmingly portrayed more by villians. You see good boys save good girls and live happy forever.
Watching Frozen as an adult was interesting. When the "true love" kiss was familial not sexual...it was just so liberating.
I'm a hetero/cis female and I was applauding that these two sisters "saved" each other. It was just (forgive the pun) cool to see. Often woman are in competition over a man -the main character- so just seeing a different ending was a refreshing.
I'm not sure if the Internet Dads watched the sequels or not, but in the 3rd one, it gives a lot of extra weight to Triton's tough parenting: he's a single parent who has had to raise 7 little mermaids on his own because he saw his own wife killed by humans. Ariel is the youngest and also the only one who looks IDENTICAL to her deceased mother (and also had a love of humans herself), so on top of being a constant reminder of the love he lost and how he lost her, she's also most likely her father's favorite, and being the youngest sibling, likely going to be babied and overprotected. Triton's actions, while still not excusable, are at least much easier to sympathize with and understand knowing this.
I've seen that but I got to watch it again. I thought Triton explained what happened to her mother to Ariel in that movie, which begs the question' why is their relationship so strained in the original? You would think Ariel would be more cautious and the movie basically wouldn't have happened. Major continuity loophole?
@Sarah Grandy That is the only reason she ended up believing her mother, Ariel, was stifling. Because her mom didn't want her to get killed, so Ariel was like "No chances."
@Sarah Grandy Actually, the reason she built a wall and kept her daughter, Melody, away from the water and ocean is because Ursula's sister wanted to fucking murder the child/take her. This is shown at the very beginning of the movie when Ariel and Eric go out on a boat to meet her father, Tritan, to show him his new granddaughter and so that he'd be able to show/tell her about life under the sea as she gets older, but then the witch sister comes up and is like "I'm getting revenge for you killing ny sister, and I'll do it with this baby."
I think Triton got a reality check after he destroyed her things and she went AWOL.
I don't think I ever sympathized with him because his actions were more about control and it was for his comfort, not always theirs.
In the prequel, he [REDACTED].
Because he doesn't know how to communicate with his own family, and chooses to rule them too instead of well...being a dad.
That's all we see from most of him, honestly. Angry, Authoritative, Controlling, and selfish.
Maybe happy sometimes. But not a lot of times.
This! I was going to bring this up! He's parenting from grief and trauma 💔
I actually fell in love with my now husband at 16, I was in an abusive childhood home, I left home at 16 and moved in with other family till 18.
I was sooooo lucky that things didn’t turn out badly!
We are still together growing as humans every day 10 almost 11 years later.
But looking back on it with a more mature mindset I realize how dangerous it could have been.
But I’m living proof that strict, overbearing, controlling and abusive parenting will do nothing but run your children away from you.
I grew up really attached to The Little Mermaid. It's always been my favorite Disney Renaissance film, and a lot of that was really because I've got a singing voice I'm quite proud of and really related to Ariel's pride in her own voice. Now that I'm officially entering my late twenties and I'm fully out as an agender lesbian, I look back and I think about why I loved this movie so much. I think it's got a lot to do with this feeling I always had that I had to fundamentally change myself in order to be acceptable to others. I lived so much of my life in the closet, a lot of it without even really knowing I was in the closet because of repressive religious standards in my upbringing, and I always had this feeling that who I was at my core was deeply shameful and wrong. Like Ariel, I felt I had to become something I wasn't in order to win over people and be deserving of their love and affection and in order to be worthy as a person. But the more that I've done the work to be confident in myself and my identity, the more I've come to realize that the loud voices demanding that I change in order to be acceptable are the real unacceptable factor in my life. I've surrounded myself with a community that loves and supports me for who I am, and that's led to me becoming more willing to be fully myself in every space. I never had to change to be acceptable and worthy. I already was acceptable and worthy.
I used to be on the "pshh Ariel threw everything she knew away for some guy she barely knew" but upon discussing with fans and stuff it becomes way more obvious that she's chasing after a dream of being on land. Girl just realised that she could use this opportunity of meeting Eric (who is looking for companionship) to help her achieve that dream. It's not that she didn't have feelings for Eric but Eric was only a piece of the puzzle. She was given the opportunity to achieve her dream that specifically involved love and therefore Eric so she didn't really have another choice if she wanted to explore land.
edit: you can see this so much when she doesss finally get on land and is rushing around to look at everything because she is there for the world around her more than just Eric
Wait, they didn’t talk about the destruction of the grotto by Triton! That’s incredibly important and plays a huge role in pushing Ariel to go see Ursula!
I find it interesting that Triton's blowup is where it falls apart for Alan. Me and my dad started having VERY different views in my teens and drove each other up a wall to points of blowout fights like theirs. Often over permissions and power so I relate to that scene alot more now than as a kid. Triton and Ariel learning compromise in their communication after some uncertain rough seas also happened with us.
I feel like you are leaving out the most important point of context when it comes to Ariel taking Ursula's deal and you also left out Triton's worst moment as a father: him destroying her collection. When he found out she was infatuated with a human, he completely overreacted, refused to listen to her and when she still didn't submit to him, he states "you leave me no choice" and destroys her entire collection, which is the equivalent of a parent intruding on their child's "safe zone" and destroying it "for their own good." He deeply regrets this later, saying "What have I done?" when he finds out Ariel went missing, but the damage was done at that point. So when she takes Ursula's deal, it's not just "I'm giving up my family for a boy" it's "My father will never listen to me and never let me find my own happiness, so maybe I can find happiness here." Ursula came to her at her most vulnerable and pretty much gaslit her into taking the deal.
I also feel like you are leaving out important context when it comes to her relationship with Eric: her saving his life and his immaturity when it comes to love. He remembers "a girl with a beautiful voice" saving him, and decides that she is "the one" and that he will find her and marry her. When he finds Ariel without her voice, he says "So you aren't the one," but sees she needs help and takes her in out of kindness. This is important: he does not see her in a romantic light at this point in time because he is hung up on "the girl with the beautiful voice." Ironically, Ursula taking her voice is the best thing that could have happened for their relationship because of this, because it means Eric has to see Ariel as Ariel and not as "the girl with the beautiful voice." He is charmed by her curiosity, her quirks, her eagerness to learn about his kingdom and finds that he likes spending time with her. However, he still does not see her romantically, as shown when Ariel tries to kiss him the first time and he turns away. It is only after he learns her name by trying to guess it (and Sebastian giving it to him) that he starts to let his guard down around her and see her in a more romantic light, although that is more an "in the moment" kind of thing. Later when he is still playing his flute to find "the girl with the beautiful voice," Grimsley tells him that maybe he should stop trying to pine for "the one" and try to see what is right in front of him. He then throws away the flute and decides to go to Ariel, showing a growth from his immature outlook about "knowing who is 'the one'" and deciding to try and make what he has with Ariel work. Unfortunately, Ursula interferes by using Ariel's voice and magic to ensnare Eric to stop that progression and the rest of the movie goes from there.
So that is my long winded take on the movie. I'd like to know what you think of it.
@sharksfan232 I would more chalk it up to them buying into the 'feminist' trend of unjustly bashing the old Disney films... It's not just this film, they often ignore important elements in any case where a laymen with 0 interest in looking into the layers of a movie could say 'oh film bad, make girls look weak ' -_- it's kind of irritating, because they otherwise are insightful ... but there's really no excuse for the same guy that notices an ice ball in magnifying the inside of a baby's mouth in The Incredibles II, and the guy who analyzes human behavior for a living ... 'missing' obvious context, and signs of personality from characters that runs contrary to the tired old complaints the 'woke' crowd throw at these films.
@Elana Felberg I think that touching on topics like body dysmorphia, hoarding, and assorted other issues like they do is awesome. It may not be a perfect fit, but it definitely helps clarify those issues for people who may be dealing with them to look at them in a fictional setting and then watch the discussion play out after.
@Elana Felberg While I agree with the OP I have to disagree with you.
Most YT videos on Disney movies are going to be video essays and they have garnered quite large audiences but that's nothing to say you have to watch them too. Please don't make yourself miserable anymore. Go watch something that you find fun. :)
Speaking for myself, I find both their analyses very useful to understanding the human experience as sampled through the lense of these movies. I learn and eventually apply what essential truths I may gather from video essay channels like this. I, like the OP, have independently dissected this movie. CT are simply giving a different/similar/deeper take. After this video, Ariel is a lot more relateable for me "as a person", rather than "just another Disney princess". I'd rather relate to more characters than not because that makes me a better person myself.
@Bumbling Bee Eric is kinda like finding that one friend who shares your interests when most ppl r either uninterested or don’t want to hear it.
Flounder isn’t like that necessarily, but he’s also scared and Ariel might even see it as her kinda forcing him at times, which prob doesn’t feel good
@Risa Chi I'm not saying that they are intentionally leaving anything out to make the film look bad, I'm saying without the context I mentioned, their analysis of the movie is incomplete in my opinion. I'm not trying to shame them, I'm just giving my own perspective and critique.
I think the musical deals with the communication issues wonderfully with 'One Step Closer'. I love the little mermaid, but it's been a long time since I've seen the movie so I can't remember if this was done in the movie. In the musical, Eric teaches Ariel to dance and explains to her that dance is a sort of communication and through the process of teaching her they develop a connection.
Voice theory- her losing her voice added an extra level of difficulty to this task of making him fall in love with her. Ursula knew that she might get him to like her or lust for her but it would be pretty hard for him to fall truly in love with her without being able to communicate. She was betting on that to win Ariel soul. And also giving Ursula a way to win him over immediately at the end of the movie. This was multifaceted. I think it’s also Hard for small children to understand the concept of losing your soul. So, having her give up her voice and her family for just the opportunity to fall in love shows her state of mind at the time. I also think that in love stories there’s always that one thing that makes you feel like OK because of this they’re not gonna fall in love and then somehow they overcoming that thing. I feel like the voice was that thing. They must truly be in love and be soulmates because they were able to fall in love when she couldn’t even talk to him. I could literally go on and on. Now I don’t know if any of these theories are why they were actually thinking in the creations movie but it is fun to theorize the possibilities.
2 things: 1. you talked about her not having a voice of her own in her own life and that truly sets the framework of the movie. She has no voice of her own so she rebels (fascination with humans and the surface) and in pursuing what she wants (rational or not) she learns through he mistakes and trials and her father learns to listen. 2. The rainbow at this point in time (when the Little Mermaid was created) hadn't become the symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. It was a symbol of promise and hope. There is Biblical as well as other cultural references to it. The fact that it comes after storms has been a big part of its overall meaning in various cultures.
I absolutely LOOOOOOVE the idea of him learning to communicate with her despite her not being able to speak. That would’ve been so much more mentally healthy and INTERESTING than the original movie.
As an intersex woman watching this movie as a kid that I rewatched over and over. I interpreted it as Ariel was like me. She was halfway normal. Her cave wasn’t about horsing, it was about trying to fit into that world the best she could. She could have all the people things in the world, just like I could have all the girls clothes or Barbie’s. It never was enough, because we still don’t fit in. Going to the surface and getting in trouble was because she was being told she’s one thing and humans won’t understand her, just like me being told as a young child no one is going to understand and you’re going to be picked on. Overprotective parenting and even though they were worried I felt as if I was the problem and it made me want to be “normal” even more. Ariel went to Ursula because it was her only option to finally fit in and feel normal, willing to leave home and your family just so you can start over and finally have peace in feeling complete. It wasn’t really about Eric, it was mostly about her just wanting to be like the others. She just happened to see eric and save him. I can also relate with that. She wants him, but she knows he’ll never want her if he finds out what she truly is. I’m in no way telling you you’re interpretation is wrong! This is just mine and when I watched this movie and especially sing part of your world it was just deeper for me….
Something I'm really surprised they didn't talk about: Triton's absolute tantrum he throws when he finds Ariel's grotto. He acts like a big child, screams, scares her, breaks her stuff... I don't care if he's trying to protect her. How is doing that anything but abuse? And Ariel doesn't decide to leave until after Triton does all that. To me that just screams like a young person trying to get out of an abusive situation because she's scared. And as far as her hiding things from her father... Um...yeah. You don't come out to abusive parents because you don't want to get disowned or worse.
We as an audience know Triton loves her because we see scenes of him caring. But Ariel doesn't. And she only goes to Ursula right after his outburst. She's afraid. I'd want out too.
@Lina Quit apologizing for abuse, signed an abuse victim, thanks
She's daddy's favorite. In this case with what's given I don't think she's afraid. That girl is fearless
@Léa Mu Biu wow thats beautiful and so perfect. Talking about teaching healthy fear and caution in an unhealthy way.
I agree that Triton was out of line, but I have to point out that Ariel isn’t afraid. She never fears for her safety. She’s only desperate about her dreams, angry for being unheard and misunderstood. She’s having a teenage reaction to her guardian opposing her wants. Triton did go too far trying to put his fin down, but he was never trying to harm Ariel, only discourage what he sees as dangerous behaviour (approaching boats and humans), and she knows this since she never cowers away from him.
At the end of the day parents aren't meant to be our friends. At some point they need to kill the unrealistic dreams to allow for a child's true potential to come out. What Triton's tantrum represents is the destruction of innocence. Ariel's rejection and trying to hold on to that led her going Ursula led her to sacrifice to maintain an unhealthy innocence but in the end she won over her father got back her voice and got the prince by casting off innocence and adopting responsibility and real potential.
You know, I wasn't expecting to be validated for being trans in a video about the Little Mermaid, but I'll take what I can get.
I've had a lot of problems with the Little Mermaid (most being pointed out here, like Ariel, no. Don't be like Juliet), but if there's one thing that certainly hits home, it was with her relationship with her dad.
Now, this is a *rant*, so if you don't want to read this, look away! :D
Okay, I am assuming you are reading this because you want to. In any case, welcome to the show that is my life. I've always had a kind of rough relationship with my dad. He is a very firm believer of honoring your parents, being obedient, etc etc. The usual "be filial" things, which is completely fine, but sometimes I feel as though that's my entire purpose. I know he cares about me; if there's one thing I've learned, it's that he cares. But like Triton, he usually does this by getting louder, bigger, and meaner to the point where if he's ever mad, my first instinct is to figure out what's wrong, agree with him with whatever the issue is so that the conversation doesn't go longer, and hide in my room doing what he wants me to do so if he checks on me, he knows that I'm doing what he wants and I don't get in trouble. Thankfully, all the troubles are about school and stuff because he's an immigrant and knows how important education is.
The problem with that is that I've become the typical "burnt out 'gifted' kid". I don't have any motivation in my studies. The most crap I CAN give about them is to get as high as possible for my pride and my parents. Music, one of the things I love most, is being squished because my parents don't think I can do anything with it in the future and I am REQUIRED to practice. My hobbies? All have to add up to a future. Is it just for fun or for college? College is the end goal, so if anything is blocking your path, burn it. Do whatever you can to get rid of it.
Some other things I have a bone to pick because I'm too cowardly to say this besides anonymously on a Cinema Therapy video is the fact that when we DO get in an argument, if we don't see each other for a few hours, he'll try to make it up by pretending nothing happens. I've asked a few times about it, but he insists on not making me mad anymore. We didn't discuss anything. I've cooled down. We're not willing to confront it. We're fine. I try to avoid him as much as possible. I get aggressive way too fast as well as he as a way to lash back. It also doesn't help that he believes that being trans is a choice and repeatedly misgenders or uses the wrong pronouns on people despite him saying that he doesn't care about what they do. Which reminds me of the time where he lectured me saying that if people say "follow your dreams", they don't care about you because they're not being realistic and not giving you the right choice for you and he ended an argument we had after I broke down and started crying by saying "fine, do what you want. Follow your dreams. I don't care." Everything's like a cycle to the point where I refuse to cry anywhere besides the shower or my room because "no one likes a crying 'girl'".
I love my parents. I love my dad. It's just hard, especially piling on the apathy or (mood) depressive (so not clinical) thoughts I have. Am I worthy? Will my parents love me back? Am I enough? The Little Mermaid hit way too close to home, especially when Ariel thinks that her voice is everything along with her looks. And especially when she sings that she bets that they don't reprimand their daughters on land. That legit made me cry.
Cinema Therapy helped me so much. I get help understanding my actions through learning by their comments on some of my favorite (or at least well known) movies, I get to understand the thoughts my parents have, and I'm entertained. Three in one. Thanks, random stranger, if you read through this brainrot. May you be blessed. And WATCH MOVIES! :D
I could always relate to Ariel as a child because Tritons angry tantrum scared me and reminded me of how my own father sometimes acted and I envied her for her courage to stand up to him.
I also love this movie for many other reasons like the
music,
the characters and their designs,
the colors,
the simple fact that I like mermaids and fairytales,
I also love romance movies (even tho I'm aromantic or maybe because of that) so I fixated on it (autism) and watched it a thousand times and it's easily one of my favorite movies.
I see the movie's flaws but it's definitely not as flawed as many people say it is (it's especially the romance in this movie or Ariel herself that gets criticized)
I feel like Ariel's conundrum is less 'body dismorphia' and more 'trans teen struggling with coming out'. She doesn't have an obsession with a body part, she is trying to express fascination and interest in a part of her identity that she's having to keep hidden, that she can't express at home. She collects things and builds a space where she can explore this part of herself. She muses to Ursula before signing the contract: "If I become human, I can never be with my family again". Spoken like a teenager from a conservative family who's struggling to balance her relationships with the only family she's ever had, with what she's discovering about her own identity.
In the original story Ariel's legs are described as feeling like "walking on knives". She goes dancing while human one night and it's the only time she does not notice the pain because of the joy dancing (using her legs) brings. As someone who lives in a binder, I felt that so hard.
This came out when I was about 6 and I was obsessed. I know it has its issues but it was a fun escape. When you mentioned body dysmorphia I was surprised you didn’t say it contributed this issue, but that Ariel had this. I never saw Ariel’s love for this other world as her hating her body. The legs were a vehicle to give her freedom to explore and experience things the way she wanted to experience them. My understanding of body dysmorphia is you see your body as something that it is not; like a very thin person looking in the mirror and being legitimately convinced they see a large person. I see Ariel’s situation as she hates the strictness of her dad SO much, she fantasizes about leaving it entirely. And she ends up making a permanent decision at 16 that she probably would have outgrown if she stayed a mermaid into adulthood. I think that aspect is relatable. Being a teenager and hating our parents and fantasizing about some other unattainable grass-is-greener life. King Triton’s rage filled yelling and violence reminds me of my dad and man did I do some fantasizing about being somewhere else where I’m more I’m charge. Anyway. Just my two cents. I hope everyone is having a pleasant day 💙
i find it interesting that when Trident finds out Ariel went to the surface and tries to silence her he says "as long as you live in my ocean, you'll obey my rules" which we all know is a twist on when parents say "as long as you live under me roof, you'll obey my rules" but the difference here is Trident is literally the king of the ocean so the entire ocean is his, so when i heard him say that it kinda seemed like, at least to me, that he was saying "I'm the king, I make the rules, and you will never have a say and always have to obey me" basically trying to strip away her voice, free will, and independence forever.
As a former kid raised into an extremely protected enviroment, this movie is a fair reflection of my relationship with my dad until well into my 20's. You can't ground, yell, manipulate or intimidate a person into thinking how you think. Similar to Ariel, I grew up feeling invalidated to take my own decisions and feeling guilty for yearning independence, which kept me from enjoying a great deal of my teenage years. I spent the most turbulent years of my life unable to share any of my growing experiences with the very same people who love me for fear of getting even more controlled or admitting mistakes that would prove my incompetence. 0/10 would not recommend to project your fears onto your kids.
Same I relate a lot. My dads a lot worse & way more abusive than triton hence we don’t have a relationship or speak. But Triton & a lot of parents are this way because of narcissistic personality disorder amoung other issues. Parents make the mistake of not healing themselves before having children. They make the mistake of not seeing their children as human beings, but objects they own & must control & use how they please
same, it sucks
Makes me really think sometimes parents just need a parenting class. Be more involved than asking 'how was school' and expecting a very withdrawn kid to open up and explain it was awful because of kids bullying them. . . At least I can say I feel like I'm better terms with them now that I've moved out. . .enough to say I've moved too far away and would like to return to my home state at some point down the line to be closer.
I am 30 and I haven’t resolved this with my parents haha. I see them only on birthdays and holidays and tell them basically nothing about me. I only watched this movie for the first time a few years ago so I don’t really have any emotional attachment to it, but I didn’t realise how much I could really relate to it.
This is so me.... Even now as an adult (turning 30 this year) I struggle to have adult conversations with my mom, especially when it involves sexuality mostly because of religious aspects
When I turned 12 my mom had no choice but to trust me and my sister because suddenly she became a single parent who had to work a lot to support us. But, I think as a parent she did the best thing and it was to let us know that we could trust her. She told us that if we messed up and were in a bad situation that we wouldn't get in trouble and wouldn't be judged for it. She followed up with this by saying she would rather have us call her for help during a questionable situation rather than feel we need to hide it from her. This instilled an absolute faith in our mother that we never wanted to betray and it made us closer.
Amazing episode as always! 😍 it’s really cool that you did your master thesis on gender roles in Disney. I’m doing my BA thesis next year about the construction of femininity in Disney Princess movies across time.
That sounds really interesting and fun!
In defense of Ariel choosing to relinquish her voice to Ursula, the sea witch is a cunning schemer. It really wasn't a good choice for Ariel to take the deal, and she was even about to protest before Ursula cut her off to bring up her "looks and pretty face". And all the way up to Ariel making her decision, Ursula is singing her song about how Ariel needs to deal with the sacrifices and make the choice quick, so the song takes on such a fast and intense pace. Ursula pressured Ariel to sign the contract before she could properly think it through. Not a bad message to young girls, but a cautionary tale about shady dealers, if you ask me.
I love the discussion on adolescent knowledge. I have always said at 15 you know everything. At 18 you realized you didn’t know everything but now you know you know everything. Somewhere around 25-30 you realize you don’t know crap.
I like to look at Triton's reaction to Ariel's crush on an unidentified merman as a parent being just excited that their child's growing. I mean, I like to imagine a parent looking through their memories of their first love and happy for their child and whatnot. I've never had my parents have that reaction, but I imagine that's what Triton is feeling.
I also believe that Triton is so happy, because he thinks Ariel won't be interested in human beings and land after falling in love with some merman.
something interesting in Poor Unfortunate Souls is Ariel's many emotions as she signs the contract, cycling through fear and anxiety but finally settling on something very telling - her expression as she grabs the quill is nothing more than fury. She is signing her voice away not just to get to Land, but also as a resounding FUCK YOU to her father. The next expression is back to fear of what she's just done, showing that she's fully aware that she's made a bad decision, but it wasn't made out of stupidity, it was made out of spite. Triton and Ariels negative emotions had fallen into a feedback loop so severe that Ariel ended it explosively, ending her relationship with her father metaphorically and entering one with Ursula, his mortal enemy, purely to get back at him.
Yep; Triton and Ariel both have issues but this goes to show that Ariel was not mature enough to be making such a choice. Let alone get married.
@Ashley L Hunt this was the way I saw and still see that look.
It reminds me a lot of the feeling and maybe the look I had (and probably many others) when I signed up for basic training. Worried about doing the right thing but determined to show myself and others that it was right for me (almost 20 years later I'm still not sure)
I always saw the look when she signs as 'Resolve' she is determined to take this chance to have all her dreams come true (living on land) the the uncertainty of how Ursula is going to respond to having Ariel in her power.
My thoughts when they at the end of the video talk about therapy between Triton and Ariel, and how he doesn't listen is taking away her voice, goes so well with this comment. Ariel might be thinking, "I can either give up my voice to have a shot at getting the life I want, or remain here and have no voice anyway."
Yes. This is it.
For me personally, I love the little mermaid. Because what I took from it as a child was that she was willing to do anything, give up anything, to achieve her dreams. That might be wrong for someone people, but for me, there’s not much that will stop me from at least trying to achieve my dreams.
Though the film is a Disney classic, I prefer the Arielle series. Arielle is an inspiring and strong character: she is curious and brave, charming, loving and a little bit crazier than the people around her. That comes more out in the series. Besides, what I also really love about the series: Arielle has a friend (Gabriella), who has a darker skin (I think she was supposed to be a latina) and who uses sign language. Maybe the movie has aged not that well because of all that "love at first sight" and "passive female character" thing, but the series is still modern. I mean, how many today's Disney movies are there who represents disabled people? The series did that AND represents coloured people in one person, of course, Gabriella is a side character, but she impressed me when I was a kid and watched the series.
Last but not least, for all people who critisize Disney's choice to cast a black actress for Arielle, watch the series! It goes totally well for me to see a black Arielle because it reminds me of this cool character Gabriella, who was a lot like Arielle (curious, brave etc). So Disney, go for it, support the black community! I'm really looking forward to watch the remake :)
But I don't think that Ariel ever was a "passive female".
She was spunky and brave and saved Eric's life at least twice!
And I don't really mind that Ariel is black is that movie, since there's no specific skin color for mermaids.
I'm trans and as a little kid I was obsessed with this movie and merpeople and apparently that isn't uncommon also I love you guys using your platform to mention the difference between being trans and being body dysmorphic
@sleepyote any child did that sorry to break it to you
Same. It actually got to the point where I looked up "how to become a mermaid" and actually tried a "spell" to make myself into a mermaid.
I think the reason why Triton was so adamant on Ariel never going near the surface, to the point of destroying her collection, was because his wife was killed by humans. There's a prequel to The Little Mermaid where Triton bans music because it lured humans to a cove where his wife was and they killed her. By the end of the movie, Triton lifts his Bannon music, but he still kept his grudge against humans. Triton believes the only way to keep his people safe is by making sure no one goes anywhere near the surface, land, or ships.
Being a parent isn't being in charge it's being a leader especially when they grow past elementary. You explain the purpose and drive behind actions and expectations and it will encourage peaceful team energy. My goal is to allow my kids to fall and fail while they still have me as a net instead of keep them bubbled and then I'm gone and now they have to high wire alone with no one to catch them. When I'm there for them to fail I can share my experience redirect their energy and show my support so they know it's safe to fall with me.
As a fellow therapist and someone who is queer, I love this movie. Ariel has always been my favorite Disney princess. This is why I will continue to defend Ariel:
1. When we first meet Ariel, she is exploring a sunken ship to collect more “human stuff.” She is so preoccupied with her love of the human world that she completely forgets about the concert. This right away establishes just how much Ariel is fascinated with the human world.
2. Ariel’s “I want” song, Part of Your World, comes up fairly early in the movie, before meeting Prince Eric. She wants to be human, to learn, to explore, to grow, to be free. This has nothing to do with romance, a man, or anyone else, but rather, her own desire to experience something else-something better.
3. Even after she meets Prince Eric, she has no intention of going to Ursula or trading her voice. Instead, she talks about meeting him outside his palace, splashing around to get his attention, i.e., being herself.
4. It is only after her father finds and destroys her statue of Prince Eric and her ENTIRE collection of human stuff (that she must have spent YEARS of hard work building) that she broke. Even when Flotsam and Jetsam (Ursula’s eels) initially tried to convince her to make a deal with Ursula, she refused. She finally changed her mind after they tossed the broken piece of the statue with Prince Eric’s face her way.
5. When she made the deal with Ursula, she was still very hesitant. She had to be manipulated in order to actually go through with it.
6. As you mentioned in the video, she was only 16. I imagine I would have done something similarly regrettable at that age, full of hormones, without a fully developed prefrontal cortex, after a deeply emotional fight with my parents.
7. When she is in the human world with Prince Eric, she still finds ways to express herself and be herself without speaking, from brushing her hair with the dinglehopper, to playing the snarfblat, to driving the carriage.
8. While Prince Eric is attracted to her and seemingly enamored by her (even without her voice), her wasn’t in love with her. That’s why he needed to be convinced by Grimsby to propose to Ariel. It’s only after Ariel got her voice back that she fell in love with him.
9. Ariel’s grief after finding out Prince Eric was engaged to another woman is understandable. I don’t think this makes her weak or complacent; instead, this is a normal, healthy reaction to finding out devastating news. And once she learned the truth, she took action by doing what she could to stop the wedding.
10. No, she is not the one who took down Ursula, but arguably, there was not a whole lot she could do. Again, I didn’t read this as her being weak or complacent, but rather her current circumstances, especially because she didn’t give up.
As a child, I was obsessed with this movie; I watched it so often that I basically had it memorized. However, it never made me want to give up my voice, nor did it convince me that romance is based on appearance alone. Rather, one of the biggest influences it had on me is that I wanted to be a mermaid. As an adult, I can still appreciate Ariel’s tenacity and her determination to go after her dreams, despite making some mistakes in the process.
Also, from a queer perspective, I think a lot of us can relate to Ariel feeling different, like she doesn’t belong in the world where she was placed and wanting more. Howard Ashman, one of the lyricists who worked on The Little Mermaid, was gay. His experience as a queer man comes through especially with Part of Your World, which is why this song tends to resonate so much with those of us who identify as LGBTQIA+.
Okay, end of soapbox ;)
I also watched this movie a ton of times when I was a child. I was always bawling my eyes by the end of the movie. It actually taught me that you can cry from happiness not just from sorrow.
I will defend The Little Mermaid forever. She did make me want to be a mermaid but I loved her curiosity and ability to adapt and learn, she was brave also she was able to see the simple things as so fascinating. She could see small details not just a whole image.
This is all really good and I want to expand on a few points. When Triton is yelling at her in the throne room, he tells her she isn't allowed to talk about the surface world while she lives in his ocean. This felt very much to me like a parent telling a queer child they don't want to hear any more about "this gay stuff" while living under their roof. Triton gave her an ultimatum of staying with her family and giving up this world she wanted to desperately to be a part of, or trying to enter that world at the cost of her family.
Second, Prince Eric going to marry Vanessa wouldn't just take him away from Ariel as a romantic partner and provider for her, it would literally take away her only way to say human and mean she would turn back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. Without exaggeration, it would have been the end of her being able to live her life in any semblance of the way she wanted to.
She might not have taken down Ursula, but she put in the work forming friendships that did. I very much doubt someone like Scuttle would risk his well being attacking the sea witch if Ariel had been a less caring friend. Same with Sebastian, Flounder and all the other marine life that helped. I also don't think Eric was fighting Ursula just because he thought it needed to be done or because he saw Ariel as some prize to be won, but because even in 2 short days she'd made an impression on him and he wanted to save her. Could she have had a more active role is surviving and taking down Ursula? Of course, but I don't think it was anywhere near as uninvolved as say Snow White or Aurora.
This was the first movie that we had on cassette when I was a kid and one point my mom brought up when I was older was that Ariel didn't get what she wanted when she made a deal with a witch and ran away from home, she got what she wanted after she and Triton finally started listening to each other and he helped her get there.
Another member of the "little girl obsessed with The Little Mermaid, watched it over and over again, and wanted to be a mermaid" club here. Given how much Ariel wanted to be a human, and how much I wanted to be a mermaid, I always desperately wanted to switch places with Ariel.
While not a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I have since discovered that I'm neurodiverse, and wonder if I felt a little "weird" or "off" even back then. Or maybe I just resonated with having obsessive interests...
I definitely wanted to be a mermaid after watching this and the second movie. 😂 And that's the only thing I learned as a kid. Now as an adult, I love your take on it and I fully agree.
Wow thank you for that perspective. I always thought Ariel was foolish to make the deal with Ursula, and just for that I was never particular to her. Plus also wanting to be a mermaid as a kid, I could never agree with her decision to leave all that behind, especially with how important family is to me. But I never had stifling parents nor did I ever get that connection to feeling like an outsider with Ariel.
This is very eye opening. Thank you again for your perspective 💕 ✌️
The voice part comes from the main story of the little mermaid where her voice was enchanting… a type of power she had. Also in the original film Úrsula was King 🔱 sister… they took some details out of the final product but it’s not just that her voice was magic but also that it would be too easy for her to make Eric fall for her as he had already fallen for the woman that had saved his life. He had a near death experience and visualized an angel 😇 that saved him and it felt soooo real to him.
So obviously the voice thing was also a way for Ariel (who probably couldn’t write in English) have less of chance at succeeding. The sea witch wanted Triton’s power and needed Ariel to fail.
My father is just like king Triton from him breaking things from rages, telling me what not to do, and also being very proud of me as his daughter. And I guess, this is why I've always enjoyed watching a little mermaid :)
The little mermaid was my childhood. Watching it as an adult I can see why some people some people have mixed feelings about it but I still love it. I am not willing to give that remake a chance because ever since Disney started doing this, I watched as all of my favorite childhood movies were butchered by the bland and overdramatic acting with a mix of terrible cgi. And I cannot see anyone playing Ariel other than Jodi and with the passing of Pat Carroll still fresh on the mind, I can't see anyone giving off that menacing and diva acting she gave Ursula.
I never thought of it as body dysmorphia. I don't think it's that she hates her fins and loves legs. It's more that those are just symbols of the life that she wants. It's that she feels more comfortable and happier as a human than as a mermaid. It's an issue of feeling like she isn't in the right place, not that she hates her body.
I think this is a good movie to watch with your kids when they are a little older. You can go over the pros and cons of the movie. People want to cancel these types of movies, but I think we should let kids watch it and teach them life lessons. I hear some parents say they want to give their children creative freedom and then shield them from movies like this. Teenagers and adults will fall in love, change themselves or give up something for someone else, want freedom, and have issues with their bodies even without watching movies like this. It's better to have open communication with your kids when they are young so they can handle what they go through in life.
She is not only leaving because she is in love or wants legs, she wants freedom away from her father. Unfortunately, she thinks she can only get these things if her body was different and if she can get the guy. If she left on her own and then met Eric, I would have liked it more. Then it would be more about getting more freedom and then just falling in love in the process.
On the subject of body language there's actually an interesting inversion. From her body language, Ursula's intention is implied to be sexual, but Ariel's body language _is_ a large part of how she communicates with Eric; it's just through a different facet. Her facial expressions, her energetic movements, all of it serves to communicate her passion and drive and energy, and ultimately that's a large part of what endears her to Eric. Ariel doesn't have a story arc in the same way that Eric and Triton do; she actually changes very little if at all by the end of the film, but she does help progress Eric's arc from "I want pretty-voiced lady" to "I need someone with the passion to actively engage me". Ursula is very clearly indicating that Ariel should seduce Eric, but Ariel operates on a complete subversion of that, so I think your assertion that "the film doesn't do anything to negate that" (kzclip.org/video/5hkaqlRH6bA/бейне.html) misses the subtlety of the character. Her body language plays an active role in shaping her story and Eric's story arc, because it's the only means she has to communicate with Eric at all.
Honestly I could write an entire thesis on the various aspects of this film and how it fits within larger film theory, but you should check out Lindsay Ellis' video on the subject. I won't link it here (feels like bad manners?), but it goes over a lot of other points on Ariel, her role in the story of the film, and some of the other ways the film fits in film theory.
@arhythmius I think I saw it in 1990-91, as I would have been 2 in 1989. So I would have been 3-4 years old when I first saw it. Then again I have a friend my age who thinks the entire meaning of Part of Your World is that Ariel is greedy. He thinks the line "I want more" means she wants more stuff regardless of the surrounding context.
@Elanor The Fair And here I was wondering why a therapist and a filmmaker completely missed some essential points that were clear to me when I first saw the movie in 1989...
@Elanor The Fair I figured out all of what John McDevitt points out as a little kid. In fact Disney did almost everything they possibly could to convey that message short of beating you over the head with it. I am starting to suspect the takes in this video were done at least in part to rile people up. I've only met one other person who's had a worse take than the guys here, and he could only make his argument by taking one line out of context and hyper literally.
@Bugs Bunny I hate when a movie over explains..! Personally, I love every story that can tell something by the character's expression, actions etc There can be a base line with what the story wants to tell and we can have amazing discussions like these with so many perspectives. Do some people really want handholding when watching a movie, a narrator that just tells you what's happening? Really?
Lastly, children can just simply enjoy a movie, if they got some kind of message, that's a bonus. Do that many kids think that deeply after watching a movie anyway?
@Elanor The Fair I would argue that people take everything at face value (especially from that filmmaker, he should know it better). The market scene vividly shows Ariel being very excited to experience the human things e.g. when she grabs the puppet, when she points to Eric over to where people are dancing ("I wanna see, wanna see 'em dancing"), and when Eric gives her the reins of the carriage they're in, I mean just look at her face, lol. Movies nowadays need to be verbally explained to the audience, instead of showing the action, like it used to.
The thing about saying “I am never to hear of you doing x” as a parent is it leaves the possibility of your kid hearing “as long as I don’t find out, you’re golden”
They said they didn’t like the voice storyline, but at the end they were talking about her not having a voice and that her dad needed to let her have one. Well that was the point of the storyline 😆 she needs to have her voice!
I would love to read that thesis if at all possible! You guys are amazing, thank you for everything you do.
@Cinema Therapy Oh, snap!
We shared it on our socials a few weeks ago! :)
Eric is definitely the hottest of at least the early Disney princess movies because he has a personality! He speaks more than two sentences, has some motivations, and is a fairly skilled sailor. That is so much more than Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty or Prince Charming from Cinderella (does not even have a name!) or Prince (also charming?) from Snow White. Most of those early princes have the characterization of a cameo character, not even a secondary character.
And I'd say maybe Ariel couldn't get close to Eric during the day of the wedding because he got swept up in wedding preparations?
I think you're right that there could have been so much more communication between Ariel and Eric even without her voice. Writing never comes up even though she signs her name with Ursula so she can write that much at least. I'm willing to say that maybe they use a different alphabet or something that isn't obvious in the movie that makes too easy an out that wasn't possible. But my dad's side of the family is all French and when I was a kid I knew very little French and couldn't really speak with my French cousins, and they didn't know much English, but we did a kid's version of sign language/charades miming out do you want to go outside or play video games. There are some attempts to communicate in the movie but she could have attempted to tell him that she was the one who rescued him from drowning and sang but lost her voice.
I'm queer (bisexual and genderfluid if you must know) and, I must say, my take on the little mermaid is that it's fucking awesome. The rainbow at the end? It's literally a symbol of happiness and it's not even the pride flag rainbow, you read waaaaaay too far into that. And the whole Ursula-Is-Queer-Coded thing, I mean she's literally based off a drag queen so... Yeah, but also, making the villains queer is still representation. Bad representation? Yeah, sure. But it was made in 1989. C'mon, guys. It's a nice movie. (Obviously, I do not speak for the entire queer community, so if you're queer and disagree, that's OK too)
@Mal 123 It’s only bad representation if Disney only portrayed gay people as villains. Thankfully “The Owl House” rectified that by showing gay people as heroes of their own story.
Honestly if the villains are interesting or charismatic characters, can you really call it bad representation
Disney Villains were probably how a lot of sheltered 90s kids were exposed to the tiniest bit of queer-coding. I always liked the villains better than the princesses because they had better songs and were just so much more fun to watch! Finding out Ursula was based on a drag queen made drag queens cool!
1) As a trans person, I was damn near sobbing from how respectfully both of you brought up the queer coding and ensuring that we understood that our identity is inherently not a disorder, you guys are awesome internet dads
2) Alan's "B O D Y L A N G U A G E , H A H" will haunt me forever
@Proud Atheist Dude...uncalled for
@Proud Atheist It’s called LGBT for a reason, which is what queerness refers to. Also, your random fear-mongering on this post is soundly unwelcome.
Keep in mind that the “body language” message is coming from the villain. That sends a subtext that this is not in Ariel’s (or other girls watching) best interest. In addition, the original Brothers Grimm story things ended quite differently.
@Beethoven’s Fidelio you’re right, I stand corrected. The BGs (as it were) just automatically come to mind regarding fairytales.
Hans Christian Andersen wrote “The Little Mermaid”. It was not written by the Grimm Brothers.
What makes this movie really important to me is actually the idea that this is Howard Ashman’s legacy. He was the composer of the songs and had a lot of creative control over the movie. As a master storyteller, he knew how to use different components of a musical to effectively tell a story. I truly believe that the only reason Disney renaissance movies were as successful as they were are because they used his musical storytelling formula, and they are still using it to this day. He died before Beauty and the Beast was completed, so he never got to see how successful his work would become. I still get teary listening to Part of Your World because it’s Howard’s song. And he was a gay guy composing the songs of this movie during the AIDS crisis.
I can’t speak for all people from marginalized communities, but Ariel’s experience is so relatable. Like for me as a gay person, I’m obviously going to focus on her isolation and her longing for acceptance and her hiding key parts of herself from her xenophobic family. When her dad finds her human stuff and destroys it all, that can be seen as her coming out. Her parent reacts negatively and rejects her, and this leads to her doing whatever it takes to run away. Obviously, there are healthier decisions that she can make, but everything she does makes a lot of sense to me.
Actually the original story (with a not very happy ending) was a metaphor for the male author falling in love with another man, but he had a wife. The Disney version may be more dreamy and stuff, but the original story had a powerful message I think.
I get so much more out the videos with both Jonno and Alan. Please bring us more videos with the two of you! You really work so well together and have such a great energy!
20:30 I am happy that you didn't include Cinderella in this part! I think Cinderella is a more complex character than she seems and has many layers, I would like to see a cinema therapy on her. But please, do not mix the 1950 version and the 2015 version because to me, they are two entirely different Cinderella and both have their own story so it would be interesting to make one episode for each of Cinderella. Or an episode where you compare both Cinderella
I'm so glad I see so many comments of people having the same interpretation that I had when I watched this growing up. It wasn't about getting the guy for her it was about getting to experience the world she always dreamed of and Eric just happened to be apart of it. Eric fell in love with her for her personality in spite of not being able to communicate at first, not because of her not being able to talk; plus, she had to save him first so she wasn't the damsel in distress.
I just commented like the same thing. She gave up everything under the water for the life on land, Eric just pushed it to happen quicker.
Eric was infatuated with the voice of the girl who saved him. He fell in love with the girl he saved(from his own dog).
I did not see this mentioned already in the comments, but a big shoutout to whoever did the closed captioning on this video - definitely made me laugh! People watching without the closed caption are missing out on some hidden gems! 18:43
I don’t think Ariel gives up her Family and voice for a guy she only met a few minutes ago, I think it goes deeper than that. In her song, in her curious nature, Ariel has shown a desire to try new things, especially wondering what goes on at the surface, Ursula is offering her that chance to do so, not to mention she’s not exactly in the right frame of mind when she goes to Ursula in the first place; her dad just destroyed her grotto of human things, she’s probably thinking that accepting the deal is the best way to stick it to her father. And furthermore, the she’s doing this for a guy? No. The guy is *Ursula’s Condition for staying on the Surface* as I said before, Ariel’s deal is that she wants to go to the surface, and after her father’s outburst, she believes he doesn’t care about her, ergo, there’s no reason for her to stay. It’s like when every little kid talks about running away, or does run away, when it happens they don’t intend on coming back, this deal is essentially Ariel Running away from home with no intention of going back.
I think this is why I prefer the Broadway musical more than the movie because they really have a deeper connection to not only Ariel's character and her autonomy in the story, but also to her connection to Ursula and Ursula's backstory. Ariel saves the day, and on top of that, Eric and Ariel have a lot more time to bond and connect and make their relationship start on more than just looks. I highly recommend watching it. There's a bootleg of the Pre-Broadway production on KZclip!
Also, as a note, I think it's important to consider the fact that the original story was written by a gay man and was significantly sadder at the end. That adds a lot to your conversation of queer coding and the mental health aspect of it.
When you consider the original story and what was going on in that writers life at the time you can find out more and put together a better understanding of the story. It’s actually lgbt the author was said to be secretly in love with his friend who at the time was getting married so willing to change for someone he loves to be able to be with him and in the end not being able to is what killed him metaphorically and the story literally maybe the voice has to do with him not being able to express his feelings and sit back and quietly go along
Growing up with a narcissist father who would fly into rages at random, it took this video and comment section for me to realize that part in the movie where Triton flies into a rage was supposed to be scary. His tantrums were part of life growing up, he simply didn't have magic.
My argument on this film that didn't get addressed here is: Ariel did not get a chance to really think through her decision; she's just been scared by her father who just broke all her stuff and clearly has anger issues which I'm sure makes her not want to go back, especially when it's a fresh experience. Ursula is also pressuring her to make a choice, it's not like Ariel got any time to process it exactly, she was offered what she really wanted (IE: Legs and a chance to be human, something she wants long before she see's Eric) and something she wants right now (IE: Eric), A perfect escape Ursula is pushing her towards... and remember she's 16; she's being taken advantage of and makes a bad decision while emotionally vulnerable being offered to her by someone who does want to hurt her.
Point is I feel the girl deserves a lot more slack then she usually gets (Though you were a lot kinder to her then most are)
Honestly though, nobody likes to think that they're so stupid as to get swindled into ruining their own life. It happens allll the time but nobody likes to think it could happen to them. Easier to blame that person on being a rube than to admit that that's one slick fast-talking witch who probably could've convinced you too!
Absolutely we need to cut her some slack I’m so sick and tired of people bad mouthing about her she’s 16 she was emotionally vulnerable and made a bad choice!
I agree
@TheMoo 2 You know, that never occurred to me as something that could've been done. Maybe because I've always been fine with the movie as is, but that would've been interesting to hear what was going on in her head even if she couldn't verbally express it.
This is a really good point! I think its overlooked because we can't hear anything from Ariel while she's mute, not even her inner voice. Perhaps in the remake, she might be questioning if it was the right choice with her inner voice that we could hear
I think the whole Little Mermaid story holds up as a story of teenagers making teenage type decisions until Ariel and Eric get married at the end. The wedding conclusion is where it falls apart.
At least “Romeo and Juliet” ended with the teenagers dead.
Trusting your kids and letting them know that you do it's the best way to make sure that they will think twice before doing something stupid in my experience. My parents had complete trust in me and because of that, even when there were alcohol/drugs/other dangers at my reach at parties or other places, I never crossed those limits because that would had meant breaking my parents trust, therefore I always asked myself first "do you really need this to have fun?" and 99% of the time the answer was no. Of course I made mistakes (teenager me couldn't help it sometimes lol), but that same trust also help me go to them for help, because I trusted them in return.