The Little Mermaid Research Paper

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.

In the 1989 classic Disney film, The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s story can be easily misconstrued that it is okay to abandon your family, drastically change your body, and give up your strongest talent all to get your man. Once he sees your pretty face only a witches spell could draw his eyes away from you. These” teachings” may not be intended but are definitely present and although this movie is a favorite amongst many, it can send a bad

Disney directly exposes the idea that young girls should make their main goal in life to find their prince charming, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Making young girls’ aspiration in life revolve around finding a man of their dreams “transfix[es the] audience and divert[s] their potential utopian dreams and hopes through the false promises of the images [Disney] cast[s] upon the screen” (22). Disney tells the audience that women need a man to be happy. Disney presents the idea that women are dependent on me. Just like in The Little Mermaid, Ariel goes as far as surrendering her voice, to a witch named Ursula, and abandoning her family in order to be with her prince. Ariel also trades in her life as a mermaid, drastically changes her body, and sacrifices her greatest talent all in order to win her prince. Disney sends the message that girls need to give up their talents and lives in order to be with a man. Disney suggests that a woman’s main priority is her lover, no one or nothing else. Disney effectively portrays women in a negative way, depicting them as weak and needy. No attempt to break the stereotypical gender roles of women are evident however, these stereotypes are growing as Disney instills this image of women in the minds of viewers.

“She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart” (Anderson). This quote from the short story of The Little Mermaid written by Hans Christian Andersen depicted a more gruesome and realistic view of the not so happily ever after. However, when the work was recreated into a film by the Disney Corporation the original gory details were not included to keep the fairy tale appropriate for children’s viewing. This transition has created a great separation between the original piece of literature and the new Disney film. Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of The Little Mermaid possesses certain qualities that define it as a literary work, whereas the Disney version was created solely for the commercial purposes of entertainment and profit. The two works are still closely related in some aspects as the Disney film was based off of the original fairy tale.

Is there more than one way a person can interpret a story? The answer is yes because every person has a different view on what something they are reading might mean.A joyful person might read a story and think it was inspiring; whereas, a person who is snobby may think the story was agonizing. The difference in stories is shown in both Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid and the Disney version of his story. The three major differences are how the little mermaid portrays herself, the moral of the story, and the mood that both versions set. All these provide evidence as to how people can change a story, and how they interpret it.

The play The Little Mermaid is based on the story of the same name by Christian Andersen. It starts with Ariel (Jenna DiMarco) daughter of King Triton (Stan Gosalves) who is fascinated with the human world. She falls in love with a human named Prince Eric (Christian Bell) and saves his life from drowning. Soon after she makes a deal with her evil aunt Ursula (Karen Walker) to gain legs to meet Prince Eric on land. But to do so, she must lose her amazing voice. The play then focus’ on Ariel trying to make Prince Eric fall in love with her

The little mermaid starts with a young mermaid who has tragically lost her mother, but she has a father(triton the king of the sea) who has surprisingly took on the maternal roll very well. This young mermaid, Ariel, is in love with the human world, she goes to the surface all the time even though her father and her friend Sebastian the crab warn her it is dangerous, however her friend Scuttle (a goofy seagull) fuels her desire to live on the land by bringing her human trinkets and telling her all about the things he sees in the human world, and her guppy friend flounder eagerly follows her wherever. While Sebastian tries his best to convince her the surface world is no place for her, she is determined. Especially after she saves the life of a young prince named Eric, he is on a ship and the ship gets struck by lightening, Ariel witnesses this and drags the prince to the beach, once he has regained consciousness he hears Ariel singing from far away. Determined to meet the prince again Ariel makes the tough decision of going to visit Ursula, the old sea witch who caused her mothers death (Ariel does not know that). Ariel barters with Ursula and receives an offer she is hesitant to accept at first; she can have human legs, but only for 3 days unless she kisses the prince before the end of the third day, and if she gives up her voice. When she is concerned about how she will make the prince fall in love with her without her voice Ursula claims “you will have your looks, your pretty face, and don't underestimate the power of body language.”(The little Mermaid) Ariel hesitantly gives up her voice, she is whisked to the shore where she and the prince meet again. He doesn't remember her saving him and even though she isn't able to talk he takes her back to his castle. On the end of the second day Sebastian sings a

. Before making her decision, the Little Mermaid is warned by the Sea Witch about the terrible hardships she will face ahead. The Little Mermaid is told that she will be exiled from the sea, never allowed to return again and that she will experience tremendous pain and suffering for becoming human. The Sea which then goes on to explains that the Little Mermaid must make the prince fall in love with her and get married in order for her to gain a human soul. However, if the prince marries another woman then the Littler Mermaid will pay for her failure with her own life. The Sea Witch prophesied that on the sunrise of the prince’s wedding day, to another woman, the Little Mermaid will die from heartbreak and then will turn into sea foam making

The little mermaid’s id her desire to experience the world above see, find love and gain an immortal soul. She was captivated with the alien world, “ Nothing gave her so much pleasure as to hear about the world above the sea. She made her old grandmother tell her all she knew of the ships and of the towns, the people and the animal. To her it seemed most wonderful and beautiful to hear that the flowers of the land” (Andersen 2). She waits eagerly after each sister visits the foreign world to learn a little more about it each time. However she isn’t quite with the red flowers she grows that resemble the sun, the marble statue of a handsome boy and the world

The Disney story lacks feminism and the maturity level needed for young girls in 2017. When King Triton finds out about Ariel’s unforgivable actions Ariel realizes that she must choose between these two men. In the article “Is Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ a Feminist Film or Not” it talks about how some people can see how “The little Mermaid” lacks feminism because Ariel chooses to change herself for a man. Then the immature image that Disney shows young girls is that Ariel “rejects her father’s culture to embrace Eric’s culture” (Trites 2). The maturity level of how to handle situations between the two stories is evident. Disney’s underlying message is that “Children, especially girls, can gain an identity independent from their parents by becoming dependent on someone else”, while in Andersen’s story the mermaid 's quest is for a soul and she searches for answers in a less malicious way.

In this tale, the Little Mermaid wants nothing more than to live on land, with feet and legs; with people who dance and run and climb. Against her father’s wishes, she decides to make a deal with an evil sea witch who gives her legs in return for her voice. While Ariel is partying above the ocean, her father is freaking out about where she could have gone. He ends up sacrificing his throne to the sea witch in order to get his daughter back. However, the sea witch lies and holds both of them hostage. This giant mess is resolved in the end, but it doesn’t change the fact that Ariel should have been true to her father and not run off to see what life would be like if she had two legs instead of a green, scale-covered tail. Ariel is a very good and honest person; in fact, she is her father’s favorite child, demonstrating beauty in her physical appearance and her singing voice. She lets him down when she lets her curiosity get the better of

Walt Disney’s movies have been thrilling young children, most especially young girls, around the world for years. One specific movie, The Little Mermaid, had young girls wanting to be just like Ariel and buying any paraphernalia they could after the movie came out. But have you ever wondered where these stories have come from? Or why they always end with a “happily ever after”? The famous, Danish, children’s writer Hans Christian Andersen is the father of the tale of “The Little Mermaid”. Andersen’s original is quite different than Walt Disney’s “happily ever after” tale. With differences in imagery, theme, and storyline in Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” and Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid, there is a lot to be said for Andersen’s emphasis on the female character of the Little Mermaid as well as her struggle in finding her sexuality through various different events and aspects of her life.

It rises up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars. As we rise out of the water, and behold all the land of the earth, so do they rise to unknown and glorious regions which we shall never see” (Andersen). Anderson shines a new light onto mermaid, as the little mermaid is displayed selflessly; a radical twist to the common nineteenth century

To begin with, in Disney’s production The Little Mermaid, Ariel is portrayed as a princess who gives up her voice for her legs to be with prince Eric. In this film, Ariel has a dream, and her dream is to be a human, so that she can be with the handsome prince which caused her to trade her voice for legs. On the other side, people might only find this as an image of a woman’s independent strength, however it is giving a poor message to young girls.

Many believe that Ariel is a bad role model for children, especially young girls who look up to Disney Princesses. Many of these people believe that she changed her body for a man, and that no young girl should be taught to do the same. Many people think that the little mermaid is one of the least feminist princesses created by the Disney company, but unfortunately, these views are incorrect, and have weak supporting evidence. Ariel was anything but an anti-feminist, and actually was an advocate for women’s and mer-people’s rights. The little mermaid is the youngest (only sixteen at the time) in her family. While she may be little, but she made a big impact in her world, and is still making an impact on the world around us today.