Comments on: Advice for Young Girls from The Little Mermaid

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:08:51 +0000

What in the movie gave you that impression?

By: thewhatifgirl

thewhatifgirl — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:05:10 +0000

Okay, sorry about the assumption on gender, then.

But that doesn’t change the fact that I got the ever-so-subtle message that weight played an issue in Ursula’s hatred of Ariel.

By: Andie

Andie — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:20:18 +0000

THat’s the thing.. along with taking positive messages from these films, it is also important to be aware of possible negative messages as well.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:56:58 +0000

As a girl in the 18-24 age group, I think that the movie was targeted at me. It was also my favorite movie as a little kid.

(for future reference, Mike is a nickname for Michaela)

By: thewhatifgirl

thewhatifgirl — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:51:35 +0000

I probably watched that movie a thousand more times than you did, being the right age at the time as well as the gender it was ostensibly aimed at, so you can snark all you want. That is the message I got.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:46:58 +0000

Yeah, because the whole thing about Ursula using Ariel to get back at Triton is SOOOO not the reason Ursula took advantage of the Little Mermaid. It has to be because the Little Mermaid isn’t the Fatty Mermaid. /s/

By: Dragonclaws

Dragonclaws — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:51:20 +0000

It’s posted here, so it’s natural that people here would judge it as a serious social critique. That’s its purpose here regardless of what the author intended.

By: thewhatifgirl

thewhatifgirl — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:13:18 +0000

She forgot “fatties are evil and will do everything in their power to tear you down because you’re prettier than they are”/”you fatties are just jealous because you’re fat and ugly” (depending on the audience).

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:37:30 +0000

I am glad someone else saw the struggle between cultures in The Little Mermaid (I always thought it was the bigger point). I always saw King Triton as having his own sub-plot, in which he learns how to overcome his strong racism.

I always thought of Scuttle as the person who claims to be cultural, but really isn’t. You know, kinda like the hipster kid who claims to know everything about Buddhism (and proceeds to brag to his friends about it and act out “Buddhist” rituals) and then ends up doing something unbelievably rude and disrespectful in front of a monk.

While I do not agree with everything in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, I do believe that is does teach some important lessons about not fearing those different than you.

If I could delete Ariel’s strong desire to change only to get a man she barely knew, I would, but instead I guess I will always speak to my little sister after the movie. Instead of simply letting her watch the film, I will point out that, while Ariel felt she had to give up part of herself for Eric, that in the end we all get to see that Eric loved Ariel for who she was (and tell her that Ariel just has feet so she and Eric can live in the same castle more easily). It would also help to further point out how problems arise when one decides to not be true to themselves (as seen by all the chaos that happens when Ariel gives up her voice).

By: Eneya

Eneya — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:53:33 +0000

Yes!!! You are absolutely right!!
It’s funny and it is critique but the author never claimed it is a social critique or it is professional critique.
Hmm… so obvious and yet somehow I needed someone to point that out.

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:29:36 +0000

I wasn’t talking about you, specifically. But I do find the tone of many of these comments quite defensive. Really, given that the video is satire, it’s obviously going to exaggerate a bit to make a funny point. The fact that several people were so quick to deride it for not being realistic about the movie is striking, because satire isn’t generally designed to be perfectly realistic. It can be, but it often isn’t. IMHO, the video didn’t really pull anything out of it’s ass, it just exaggerated themes that were already present in the movie, to a greater or lesser extent.

So, that’s where I’m coming from.

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:24:59 +0000

“On the other hand, maybe the movie’s had a negative impact _because_ people remember it as wholehearted endorsement of sacrificing everything you have for a man.”

I think there is probably something to that idea. Ignoring for a moment, whether or not that’s what the story actually is about, it’s at least worth wondering why so many people remember it that way, or remember that as a lesson it teaches.

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:15:19 +0000

Aww, shit, you exposed me. You’re right–I’m illiterate. I actually get my typing monkey to do all this for me.

But, while he’s at it, let me have him point out that you’re using fallacious reasoning when you basically say that other companies do things wrong and Disney does things wrong, so therefore the wrongs are equal. Sorry, but no, that’s insufficient evidence to conclude, “Disney is no better or worse than any company.”

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:11:27 +0000

I’m not using any sort of watered-down argument, and I’m not convinced that you’re more knowledgeable about the subject, seeing as you have yet to say something I didn’t already know. You’re essentially trying to nitpick my point by saying that I didn’t mention every tangential thing related to the subject. No, my post was never meant to be a comprehensive study of folk tale origins, and I never at any point said that Disney was the sole party responsible for altering these tales. I made snarky comments about Disney, sure, but never said they were the only ones responsible. Now, who’s the one making a straw man here?

By: Syd

Syd — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:04:38 +0000

You’re going to get that with any royalty story, especially one surrounded by so many romantic myths. I doubt any royal family doesn’t have similar ‘skeletons in the closet,’ for lack of a better term, but I find that people will pick and choose based on how interesting the lives of any king or queen was. Another example would be Isabel of Castilla. The Spanish Inquisition is a lot less fun to tell children about than the nice, smart, beautiful queen helping Columbus discover America. ;)