The Complex Layers Within the Little Mermaid

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

Usually in a story there is a heroic figure which are possesses of a supernatural abilities or whose who take courageous actions with a kind heart. It is similar when speaking about mythological traditions of different cultures, because mainly these mythological stories refers to a heroes or Gods which are used to show strength and collective identity. I will call them “mythological,” because even though they often promote positive behaviors and encouraging lessons. You cannot take word by word, it is a figurative language which uses magical elements. A story that I can think is the often commercialized story of the “The Little Mermaid.” Which uses many mythical creatures such as Zeus the king of the Seas, a mermaid half women half fish creatures

There is a universal ideology that suggests that each gender plays their specific, individualized roles in society: men acting as independent, powerful alpha males, and women being their dutiful submissives. Contemporary narratives depict women as such whereas mythology is rich with goddesses and other female figures who are brave and powerful warriors equal to men. So if mythology can be overflowed with stories about female leaders, how come contemporary narratives have derived from that viewpoint? Sirens in Greek Mythology are a perfect example of the derivation to the new idea of women in society: weak. By examining the myth of Sirens through a feminist critical lens, the question of whether society is “concerned with the ways in which literature and other cultural productions reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression”(Brizee Web) will be answered. The mythological legend of the Sirens highlights the superiority of these figures who could destroy by temptation through their melodic voices; modern interpretations of sirens- as in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989)- reduce the feminine power of the siren to a contemporary stereotype of the powerless, dependent, subservient woman.

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.

Fairy tales have been passed down from generation to generation, each person in one way or another altering the tale to reflect a piece of their life in the work . The Brothers Grimm wrote hundreds of fairy tales in their life time and in these works they used their childhood experiences as reference. Because of the hardships they faced growing up their tales take on a more gruesome approach to fairy tales. Because their mother was their only caregiver growing up, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm reflect their fondness towards her through the strong willed, independent female characters in their fairy tales. Female heroines are rarely seen in modern day fairy tales, but as a result of their childhood the Brothers Grimm utilized them frequently

The Little Mermaid is an example of how woman were seen in society. In the fairy tale, women are characterized by appearance rather than personality by both men and women. The little mermaid mentions “But if you take my voice, what shall I have left?” (Anderson 226). In this quote, the little mermaid believes that she cannot just be herself to win the prince’s heart. The prince also looks at women the same way because of how he talks to the little mermaid. He asks her, “You’ve no fear of the sea, have you, my dumb child?” (Anderson 229). He treats her as if she is still a small child just because she cannot speak. The tone helps shape the whole story into a feminist piece. Anderson relays the moral of

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

In the story, “The Little Mermaid” there are demonstrations that describe what a heroine is. A female character that is noted for special achievements represents the heroine in a story. Therefore, the youngest mermaid “Little Mermaid” represents the heroine throughout the story. The Little Mermaid is a mystical creature that longs only to seek the handsome prince she laid eyes on. “Once she became human, the witch said she could never become a mermaid again” (Anderesens 185). This is an example of how the Little Mermaid chose to do something incredible and dangerous just to accomplish something she only dreamt of. Not only is the Little Mermaid the heroine of the story, but she also exemplifies other archetypal characteristics. An

Every girl has at one time wanted to be a princess. We held this belief because of the stories we were told as young girls. The stories we heard in which poor peasant girls could become princesses through perseverance, patience, beauty or wit. These stories were introduced to us under the guise of fairytales, which, for many of us are synonymous with the name Grimm, although several of our favorite fairytales are by other authors. Even if you don’t know the name Grimm, you know at least one story by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel, and the list continues. The Grimm Brothers collected and wrote stories scattered throughout the rural countryside, recording them based on a general

Our society, as a whole, has its fair share of strengths and weaknesses, literature tends to reflect these standards. In general, most works of literature almost seemingly emulate the situations and viewpoints of our culture at a particular period. The Little Mermaid, a Danish fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837, exhibits multiple examples of the general paradigms society was facing at the time. In the early 19th century women were expected to obey their husbands, have children, do household duties like cleaning and cooking, and find work as laundresses, dressmakers or nurses. Although Andersen uses a relatively progressive feminist view in his writing of the Little Mermaid, there are some dominant ideas of typical gender roles ingrained in the text. One quote from the novel reads, "...his old mother kept house for him." This excerpt implies the traditional, passive role of housekeeping for women while men occupy all noteworthy positions in society. Another passage states that Ariel and her sisters would not do anything productive but that "The whole day long they used to play in the palace."

One element is the initiation stage where the Little Mermaid travels from the sea to the surface for the first time, “The fifth sister’s birthday occurred in the winter; so when her turn came, she saw what the others had not seen the first time they went up”, (Andersen). Initiation is something humans often go through so this archetypal element blends well with our culture. The color green is also symbolic throughout The Little Mermaid as water, and hope both play intricate roles in the fairy tale. The Little Mermaid starts out her life living within the confines of her father’s castle in the ocean but grows to become much more than a mermaid. She grows to a point where she does not desire a longer existence but to a have a shorter existence and loving relationship with the prince.

My father eats the core of his apples. Every time he goes for his usual afternoon snack, I watch with disgust and fascination, as he begins his snack in an ordinary fashion: crunching down on the red skin, orbiting the surface until only the northern and southern hemispheres retain their original size, then he adjusts and continues to munch through another orbit, crunching and munching on the pale yellow spikes of juicy flesh until he reaches the center of the planet, then, from bottom to top, in a measly six bites, seeds and all, the planet is reduced to a stem. His outlandish behavior signifies the thought that, just as apples, humans are made of skin, flesh, and a core, and no one should truly want to reach the core.

There are many variations of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen that have been told, but it is safe to say that the most popular version was released by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1989. While there are similarities between the Disney version and the original they are vastly different. In the Disney animated film, we meet a fiery 16-year-old mermaid named Ariel with a strong desire for adventure. In the beginning of the original story, the little mermaid is only 10 years old.

The research question that I chose to investigate was: Is it possible for mermaids to exist? I chose to do this because there seems to have been a lot of different controversies on the topic before the semester started. I am supporting the claim that it is possible for mermaids to exist. The main reasons for supporting the claim, is because there are similarities in humans and aquatic mammals, there is a gap in the evolutionary fossil record, and there are mysterious findings and recordings of mermaids. The three counter arguments that I am going to address are there is a previously accepted theory called the Savannah Theory (ST), the gap in the evolutionary fossil record does not prove anything, and there is no undisputable proof

There are many fairy tales out there and they all focus in teaching many of the different life lessons. Honestly, I was never the fairy tale reading type just because I really did not read much as a child. There was a couple fairy tales I became familiar with because I have two younger siblings. They really enjoyed watching these two fairy tale’s movies, which were Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. Since these are the only fairy tales that I can say I’m familiar with these will be the ones that I will be discussing further. In these fairy tales, there are two very important lessons to be learned. In Cinderella fairy tale, the lesson to be learned is that even when faced with the worst behavior from other people and the fact that you