In Defense of Disney 4: Ariel Edition
Character: Ariel, from The Little Mermaid (1989)
Criticism: “This one drastically changes her physical appearance so as to be more attractive to a man. The price is that she can’t speak. No problem, she has nothing of value to say anyhow. She is saved by a prince.”
Can you see why this got my hackles up? If the other critiques were bad, this one has so much wrong with it, it’s like they never saw the movie, just had it described to them by someone else who had never seen it.
First of all, Ariel does not change her appearance to be more attractive to Eric. (Which doesn’t even make sense, because first of all, he’s only seen her face, and she doesn’t change that, and also, he was already plenty attracted to her). She is simply being logical: Eric is human, she is a mermaid, and he can’t live under the sea 1. because he would drown, 2. if he managed to somehow breathe underwater, her father would kill him (and I mean that literally) and 3. he doesn’t know that that’s where she is, so he wouldn’t even think to come down there looking for her. Therefore, she (who knows where he is) becomes human because it’s the only way to be with Eric, which is what she wants. It isn’t for Eric, it’s because of Eric, and that’s not the same thing. Eric doesn’t tell her to change, because he already thinks she’s a human; he doesn’t know there’s even anything to change! In fact, there’s nothing in the movie to suggest that it ever crosses Ariel’s mind that Eric won’t love her because she’s got a fish tail. Becoming human is simply logistics.
Furthermore, and even more importantly, Ariel has always wanted to be human (or at least long enough to collect a grotto full of human stuff). What I think people often forget about The Little Mermaid is that the entirety of “Part of Your World” (which is a misnomer anyway, since she sings ‘part of THAT world’) happens before Ariel even knows that Eric exists. She wants to be human completely removed from wanting a specific human; there isn’t any mention of love or princes or Eric in that song. She just wants to understand fire and streets and stuff (she wants mooooore!). Then, of course, as soon as she lays eyes on Eric, it’s magically magical love at first sight, but even then she makes plans to see him while in her merform, and doesn’t say a word about becoming human. It’s not until Ursula says that she can make her into a human that the thought of changing herself even crosses her mind. And, as evidenced by her line, “can you do that?” Ariel hadn’t known that turning into a human was even a possibility before she went to see Ursula. Yet, she was still going to go after Eric. Basically, Eric isn’t the reason she becomes human, he’s just the last thing in a long list of reasons why she thinks that it might be awesome to have feet.
The price of becoming human is not so much that she can’t speak, as so that she can’t sing, but I’m not going to argue this point. Eric fell in love with her voice, and therefore, in order to keep them apart (as is Ursula’s plan) she can’t have that voice for him to recognize. Logistics.
Stating that Ariel has nothing of value to say… Do I really need to go into this? What, exactly, constitutes saying something of value? Do you want her to give you a lecture on underwater physics? And besides, even if you were empty headed and spewing drivel (which she is not), you should still have the right to say it. Do we remove the vocal cords of everyone we deem unworthy to talk? No, because that would be wrong, and also, who would be the judge? Of course I’m going to argue that Ariel DOES have things of value to say (have you met me?) but even if she didn’t, she still doesn’t deserve to have her voice taken away. Also, doesn’t the beauty of her singing have value? Even if she’s just singing nonsense? This statement is just full of fail.
I did write a paragraph expounding the things of value that Ariel says, but I don’t know that it’s necessary. I do have it to refer to, however, if anyone wants proof. But let me just say that one of the things Ariel uses her voice for is to tell her father she loves him (not that you need to be able to talk to do this, but she does) and telling the people you care about that you love them is possibly the most valuable speech of all.
Yes, Ariel is saved by a prince in the end. A prince who would have been dead, had she not rescued him from drowning earlier. He’s not so much doing her a favor as paying her back. In fact, by saving Eric earlier, she has also saved herself. So there.
The point of The Little Mermaid, once again, is that it doesn’t matter if you’re not of the same species, if your father thinks your love is a spineless savage harpooning barbarian, if your butler dude thinks you’re crazy, or if there’s a seawitch involved; true love conquers all. That moment where Eric dives into the ocean, armed with nothing but a single harpoon and probably as confused as a man has even been in his life, shouting “I lost her once, I’m not gonna lose her again” is beautiful. It also illustrates my true love point, and seems to indicate that he would have been with Ariel even if she had had to stay a mermaid. True, he’s pretty happy to see her walk up on dry land with legs at the end, but can we blame him? It’s easier to deal with the vagina you know than the fish tail you don’t. (Dear God, please don’t make me go into how human/mermaid sex could work. I can, and I will, but I don’t think I need to).
The other point of The Little Mermaid is the father-daughter relationship. In the end, even after the True Love bit, you have Sebastian’s line: “Children got to be free to lead dere own lives” as well as Triton’s line from the musical: “Fathers have to learn, that daughters have to grow. And if you truly love them, you must let them go.” Which is what they’re teaching with this movie: Not only does love conquer all, but there is more than one kind of love, and you can love your children and your parents and your spouse, but you can’t keep your kids young and with you forever, nor should you. You have to let them grow up, but that doesn’t mean they love you any less.
To read the rest of the entries in this series, please click on the 'in defense of disney' tag.