Are Mermaids True?

The transition from a girl to a woman is created by the socially implemented ideals of femininity depicted in commercials, books, and mainly films. One of the famous animated princess Disney films, The Little Mermaid can be easily added to yet another Disney film portraying hegemonic femininity. In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid (Ron Clements, John Musker), a beautiful, young mermaid is willing to make a risky deal with an evil sea-witch because she yearns to walk on land and fall in love with a prince, while secretly the sea-witch wishes for the mermaid to lose the deal. Ultimately, mermaid ends up achieving her dream of marrying the prince although the evil sea-witch tries to destroy the plan. Throughout the fantasy/ melodrama film, the main protagonist Ariel reinscribes the hegemonic

Water calming to listen to, cooling to go in on a hot summers day, but what lies beneath the surface? The world has many myths from mermaids to sea monsters, but could any of these be true? In 1493 Christopher Columbus claimed he had seen a mermaid that was really a manatee or someone mistaking a giant octopus when really . Maybe I could prove that all of this is true with a story I heard a few years ago from a fisherman who learned about this while he lived in Norway. The story goes, in a small town in Norway called Larvik in 1770 a young girl had the most beautiful voice. She became vain from the beauty of her voice. One day an old woman knocked on her door. The old woman asked for some food because she had no money to buy it with. The young

There are a number of fairytales, either from Grimm’s Brothers or Hans Christian Anderson, that portray numerous social issues that we still face in modern days. Social issues could include racism, equality between men and women, and ethnocentrism. These are social problems we face daily, and we have yet found solutions to eliminate\ the plentiful social issues. As said, fairy tales and children’s book always show hidden messages on problems that humans face every day. A very famous short story, which is known also by its movie, has an abundance in social issues that people face to this day. This short story is called “The Little Mermaid”, by Hans Christian

Many people are forced into this idea of what society classifies as a mermaid. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a mermaid is, “An imaginary sea creature that has a woman's head and body and a fish's tail instead of legs,” (Mermaid 2015). In Hollywood, legends, and media, that is generally how mermaids are depicted. In the theory of evolution that is put into place by Darwin, an early scientist, there are two different competing theories for how’ humans came to be. There is the Savannah Theory (ST), and then there is the Aquatic Ape Theory (AAT). Both theories have strong standings with how history has unfolded (but there are issues within their own theories); however, the Aquatic Ape Theory also has an evolutionary theory into how it could be possible that mermaids exist (Bergman 2007). With the Aquatic Ape Theory, the evolutionary process has a possibility of leading to the existence of mermaids, because of the similarities in humans and aquatic animals, there is a gap in the evolutionary fossil record, and finally there are some mysterious findings and

As McGovern explains in her synopsis of The Little Mermaid, a mermaid falls in love with a prince and makes a deal with a witch: She will trade her speech for legs, and if the prince marries her, she will get a soul. If he marries someone else, “she will turn to foam on the sea.” The prince does marry someone else, but the mermaid’s sisters save her by giving their hair to the witch.

When examining The Little Mermaid from a feminist perspective, it becomes clear that the little mermaid is a misogynistic tale that glorifies a woman’s dependence on men and the objectification of women.

Long ago under the sea, there lived a royal mermaid family in a beautiful kingdom. Queen Ryell bore six flawless daughters to King Adron, however, one was not ordinary. She was the youngest mermaid and never fit in with the rest of the girls. She possessed long blonde curly hair with bright blue eyes. She was unique in her own way and talked to everyone she caught sight of. Although she was curious of what was outside of the Kingdom gates, she obeyed her parents and never departed. Her name was Luna.

Gender is a sociological idea, in which it is not based on biology. While there is some biological differences between the sexes, the “meaning” of being male or female is based on social norms. Like race, these “biological” differences provided a system of enabling inequality between the sexes. History offers many examples of the gender norms over time. Women, for centuries, are few as the homemakers and often viewed as intelligent. Despite living in the twentieth century with greater equality, one does not need to go far to see how society and media influence our perception of gender. Advertisements in various media persuade its audience to buying their products. However, the means of attracting and persuading the audience can have underlying messages. Even in entertainment for young girls these underlying messages are prevalent. One example is the popular film, The Little Mermaid, in which the main protagonist is a young female. The protagonist gave up her identity to satisfy her lover. Even traditional gender roles are at work; the film showed young girls that to be happy and successful one had to find a husband and must relinquished one’s identity (Wood 1994). The generalized perception of male and female are polar opposites. Males are viewed as masculine, strong, authoritative, powerful, and devoid of emotions. Females are viewed as beauty, fragile, nurturing, emotional and sole purpose is to please men. These ideas can lead to sexism, which can have negative effects on

Three years later she decided to return to her hometown and visit her family in Bakersfield, Oregon. The employees of Seaworld finally caught up to Oceania at Bakersfield only to discover that she had no fins. Along with the fact that there was no water source anywhere nearby. Confused they decided to ask the girl that the signal was coming from and were surprised to find out that it was the mermaid that they had captured.

According to Animal Planet TV Channel that aired an incredibly controversial program about mermaids and the evidence in 2012 and 2013, the whole world should know the truth about mermaid. They invited a marine scientist Dr. Paul Robertson claims that mermaids are real, they do exist, living in the deep ocean and there’s a lot of evidence has been found all around the world.

In Hastings article, he describes how women are portrayed throughout each fairytale. It is clear that in the Disney movie of “The Little Mermaid”, women usually end up relying on men and do not have their own clear voice. They also end up changing for their men. Hastings says, “…all “bad” desires within a figure of female evil”(Hastings pg 86). when mentioning The Little Mermaid. In each story, the little mermaid gives up something of hers for the prince. However, in the fairytale, the mermaid sacrifices her sexuality in order to keep this feminine ideal. She goes through a sexual awakening and holds back any desires. The Disney version gives women an unrealistic expectation of perfection. There is a lot of “female stereotyping”(pg 86). It makes women believe that they need to be beautiful and if they are, life will be easy as perfect. Whereas in Andersons little mermaid, the mermaid has more

Overall this mystery remains unsolved. But most things point to mermaids being real. Lots of transcripts, painting and recordings of people seeing these beautiful creatures. We may never know the truth but, one thing we can do is to believe. Who knows maybe one day you just might see one. So to all the believers out there keep on believing and the ones who don't, start

She would only be granted a human soul if a human loved her with all his heart and married her. “The Prince married someone else, the Little Mermaid would not get a human soul, and she would turn to foam of the sea”(Anderesens 185). Everything the Little Mermaid had could be lost in a blink of an eye, but she did not think about the consequences. She thought only of what could possibly come out of this journey she has embarked on. The Prince married who he thought saved him, which was not the Little Mermaid. The only option she had left was to kill the Prince. Being too in love with the Prince, she could not do such a thing. “They told her that she loved the Prince so deeply that she gave her life to save his, and her soul would live forever” (Anderesend 185). Instead of turning into sea foam, the Little Mermaid rose up in the air and her soul lived forever. The Little Mermaid’s desire for knowledge and exploration made her a perfect heroine for this story. It takes courage to do what the Little Mermaid has done. Even though she was timid, she achieved more than expected.

In the original version The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, eventually visits the Sea Witch, who sells her a potion that gives her legs, in exchange for her tongue. The Sea Witch cuts her tongue and warns her that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. Drinking the potion made out of snakes and

Mermaids are legends that have been among us for years; moreover, to understand the legends, one must look at their history, their mystical powers and their distinct descriptions. Mermaids, Mermen, and Merbabys are making more of an appearance in our waters than they ever have. These mystical creatures are swimming back into our world.