Reaction Paper About Mermaids

When I was a child, watching Disney’s The Little Mermaid became a sort of ritual. While other girls dreamed of ball gowns and tiaras, I desperately wanted to sprout a tail and dye my hair red—not orange-red, but Ariel-red. Singing along with Jodi Benson, I longed to be a part of Ariel’s underwater world. As the years passed, my dreams faded and reality set in. Gradually, I became more intrigued with Ursula—I began to realize that she did not conform with the other female characters; though female in nature, she was a masculine character. In fact, I later discovered that Ursula was actually inspired by the drag queen, Divine (Dart). Consequently, it is her masculine characteristics that further set her apart from the world around her.

The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale that was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1836 and then remade by Disney in 1989, which turned out to be a popular animated film targeted for young, juvenile children, specifically girls. The Little Mermaid is about a fifteen-year-old mermaid, named Aerial, who was willing to give up her family, voice and tail to win over a man, Prince Eric. Watching The Little Mermaid as a kid, I loved the movie. I never seen any negatives until watching it again as an adult. It characterizes how women are viewed in today’s society. In The Little Mermaid, Aerial is characterized for her appearance and beautiful singing voice. Throughout the film, we learn that Aerial changes her appearance against her father’s wishes all for the marriage of a man. Aerial gave up her voice and her mermaid tail to the sea witch, Ursula, for a man that she fell in love with. The Little Mermaid is about doing whatever it takes to make dreams come true for girls but shows it negatively because Aerial alters her body to please a man. “The princess stories in the folk fairy tales are full of symbolism and portray a gritty, harsh world to reinforce the cautionary aspects of the tales being told. The Disney version of the Princess story shies away from cautionary story elements and centers on the dreams and ideals.” (Bethmann 7) With the audience and popularity targeted by children, The Little Mermaid teaches

He says that the history of mermaid start seven million years ago in Africa. Human ancestors left their shelter to find food, and there were curious about what’s in the ocean. Because of the instinct of human, the ancestors went to the ocean and adapt. Some of them drawn to the sea, but the rest adapted very well even their body change and adapt as

After examining the “Star Cross’d Lovers”. The illustration demonstrated many physical differences that can be seen between the mermaid and the angel. Stating the obvious that the mermaid is covered in fishy scales while the angel is in human like form with beautiful wings. These differences have more meaning than just looking different. Due to the clarity of the water and clear visualization

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.

However, because childhood and adulthood never exist completely separate from the influence of one another, the sea kingdom of innocence and joy is tinged with glimpses into the adult domain – glimpses which grow in frequency and intensity of curiosity as the Little Mermaid grows older. The Little Mermaid has shaped her garden to look like the sun; the sun has connotations with the over-world as well as with “son” or man (Dahlerup). The statue of a young man in her garden verifies this semblance. Such indications of another world are not given birth on its own, but rather are spurred by the figure of the grandmother, who serves as both an otherworldly messenger, as well as an embodiment of the sea world. The grandmother acts as a mother figure to the mermaids, as a center and a sustainer of a child world; however, the twelve oysters on her tail shows her to be “a little too proud of her rank” and instantly places her as an adult with desires and manifestations of such desires that extend beyond the simplicity and ignorance of childhood (Andersen 218). The grandmother’s stories and descriptions of an ulterior reality power both imagination and curiosity – and the Little Mermaid longs for the day she is “old enough” to give tangible form to her

Do you know that manatees are considered the foundation of the mermaid legend? They are considered the basis of the mermaid legend because it is believed manatees are responsible for sailors’ tales of mermaids and sirens. That must have been a long time at sea because the manatee’s also known as the sea cow. Manatees are marine mammals that breathe air through their nostrils. They are a few species of manatees: the West African, the Amazonian, and the West Indian. They are settled in rivers, in the ocean, and the shoreline of the islands. The name manatee comes from the Taino, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning, and “beast”. The manatees are critically endangered due to human conflicts and red tide; however, concerned

The documentary "Mermaids the body found" released in May 2012, produced by Josh Wilkins and Theresa Ryan discusses the possibilities of real-life mermaids and how they came to form. In 2004 the NOAA team also known as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration claimed that there was a group of boys who saw a weird animal that appeared human-like and lived underwater. This theory was reported to the navy for investigation when a bunch of whales appeared dead on the beach, the whales and sharks had serve force to their ear, that caused internal bleeding. The question was what caused it?

(Tiptree p. 386) Tiptree is able to use the mermaid as an example of the power of nature to evolve which may one day take back all that humans

However, the main thing she yearns for is the ability to become human, since mermaids do not possess souls. When she finally becomes the age that she can explore the surface, she discovers a prince on a ship and falls in love. Now she has two reasons to become human. In an attempt to gain what she desires, she strikes a deal with the sea witch in exchange for her tongue and her tail. Should she fail to succeed, she will turn into sea foam and die.

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.

Being allowed to go above the sea and view the land represents the little mermaid’s transcendence into adulthood. However, in order to do this she must turn fifteen, and once this happens her grandmother prepares her for her voyage above. Throughout her preparation, the little mermaid is told that becoming a woman is exemplified in her beauty, and that she must dress for the occasion (Anderson 67-87). Elements of their interaction prove to show a sort of objectifying of woman. Particularly, when the grandmother clamps oysters on the little mermaid’s tail, and she shrieks, the grandmother exclaims, “we do have to suffer a little for our finery” (Anderson 71).

Many people have seen manatees “from a distance and thought that they were mermaids”(“Mermaid”). Many sailors have sighted mermaids and think they have seen them but what they see is a huge animal called a manatee. The sailors come “home with strange tales of what they had encountered”(“Manatees”). The shape of this mammal has been mistaken for a mermaid many times.

Next, the mermaid in the video especially striking. In mythology, the mermaids represent the glorious vision of the past, they can use the song to lure sailors to jump into the sea to death. For the author, the mermaids are traditionally a sweet creature that can sing, but they are illusory. Therefore, the

Phillpotts analyzes the different influences that mermaids have on a culture, including: the first mermaids, mermaids and their relations to sex and religion, mermaid marriages, sea sightings, historical hoaxes, folk heroine and creative muse, and the modern interpretation of mermaids. The earliest record of a mermaid is Atargatis, a Semitic mood goddess, worshipped by the Philistines, Syrians and Israelites. She was represented as the fertility goddess who also personified a darker aspect: love as a destructive force. This is an element integral to the mermaid legend throughout history. Phillpotts connects the ancient goddess to Aphrodite and the Greek culture. I will be using this connection to analyze the connection between mermaids as goddess