Oops, I just LOLed myself. Hard.

Ariel doesn't become human just to be with some guy she's never spoken to. The movie makes it pretty clear that Ariel wants to be human because she's fascinated by the human world, and the last straw comes when her dad destroys her collection. The main role the prince plays in all this is giving Ariel a human to have a crush on, which is what enrages her dad.

While there's plenty to object to in that movie, I think that it's not _quite_ as bad as people make it out to be.

I liked the video a lot.

Still, although Disney had lots of issues, especially the animations targeted towards girls, I am not entirely sure about "The Little Mermaid".
Ariel is 16(ish) and someone can compare her to a homegrown archaeologist or anthropologist. I still think that Eric was more of an icon for this another place/world witch which she is obsessed than something else.

The negative parts of the movie, apart from making a sequel was everything else...
The only reason I don't hate Ursula is because she was one hell of a villain. "Poor unfortunate souls" is one of my favorite Disney songs. But I digress.

What I am saying is that the movie is scarily stereotypic.
But of course the witch wants her voice. But of course she envies Ariel's beauty. Nothing new here.

The strange part... the prince kisses Ariel although she didn't say even a word. Doesn't used a sign language (which was going to be immensely cool!). None of the above... she just acted weird, smiled and was cute.

Still the video you posted is taking it a bit too far. I didn't see most of the implications (especially about the plastic surgery) and I think the movie was quite nice. Especially compared with previous examples as "Snowhite" (creepy, creepy story), "Cinderella" (she was simply put, simple in the head) and "Sleeping Beauty" (DO NOT EXPLORE THE WORLD unless you have a prince to rescue you. Also, princesses don't need any useful gifts, being pretty is enough).

Hm.

It's difficult for people to be completely critical of stories (even industries) they've been socialized to enjoy. A peer-reviewed study specific to The Little Mermaid:

http://web4.uwindsor.ca/users/w/winter/Winters.nsf/0/321cd36660790563852570c3003b0f49/$FILE/media_Lit_mermaid.pdf

Perhaps that's why there could be mixed reviews of this video.

I kind of found the video irritating, although I do agree that there are some questionable messages in the Little Mermaid regarding women and submissiveness.

My FAVORITE sketchy disney film, however is probably Beauty and the BEast. What a great message there:

"Yes, my boyfriend is an overbearing, abusive beast who yells at me and is physically threatening and keeps me contained in his castle away from human contact, but if I stay with him long enough My Love And Understanding will turn him into the Prince I want him to be!"

Lovely.

he got lost yes and wandered onto the castle grounds.

i particularly enjoy the ads that appear on the Evolving Thoughts page for EasyDate, aka benaughty.com. oh irony, you so funny.

What are some kid-appropriate, fairytale-type stories that portray girls and women in a positive way?

A lot of Russian fairytales feature women who rescue men by being clever and resourceful.

Miyazaki's movies are pretty good.

The book version of Ella Enchanted is a good subversion of Cinderella. The main character's martyr-like obedience is actually compelled by a curse, which she must find a way to break. There are some evil female step-relatives, but the main character also has supportive friendships with women.

The book version of Howl's Moving Castle is also about subverting fairytale roles. (And I think it's actually a lot better than the movie, too.)

What are some others?

I think it's interesting that Disney movies get such backlash. Most of them have problematic elements, but compared to the original stories......Most of these stories have been around for hundreds of years, and it's very interesting how Disney has tried to make stories with plots such as 'men, especially men of royalty, have the right to any woman or girl's body, period, and she should be happy about that' appropriate for a 20th century audience of children.

It should also be noted that most of these stories are not originally for children. So maybe there is a misaimed fandom here.

Hilarious! There needs to be one of these for Beauty and the Beast, too...

I admit that there's some bad things about The Little Mermaid, such as the true love's kiss and the chef/Sebastian violence for instance, so I don't think it's above criticism, but I think a lot of the hateful criticism is overblown. The whole mermaid/human divide is very much like people in different cultures, and King Triton's misanthropy is analogous to racism. Ariel loves humanity and wants to be "part of [their] world", learning all she can about them in secret to keep her father from finding out. She collects "junk" as artifacts from a foreign civilization. She runs away from her father who loves her when her loving father destroys her treasured artifacts because he wants her to be racist like him.

Her transformation isn't like plastic surgery in that being human is the only way she can fully be a part of the surface world and it is more analogous to surgery that allows someone to walk, and it is still portrayed as not the smartest choice because of Ursula's manipulations. Ursula's whole thing about men not liking women who talk a lot ("it's she who holds her tongue who gets her man") is portrayed as wrong considering the source. Does Ursula seriously seem like the kind of person you can trust?

The "dinglehopper" thing is Scuttle pretending he knows more about human culture than he really does, to the point that he starts making up gibberish. This is something the annoys me, this humor in confusing people of other cultures by making up random stuff, so while I think it should be criticized the video misses the point. And even if Ariel wouldn't automatically be a princess through marrying the human prince, it's not a bad thing if her love of human culture would lead her to seek out even a common human existence. That's a sign of maturity in my book.

There is no way to be perfectly politically and socially correct if you want yo make any kind of art.

About Bell... I really don't see it as an abusive promotion story. People DO change and having a female character who was strong willed, intelligent and smart was quite nice. He changed and that is why she stayed, not the other way around. I have met people who have shut themselves and I know they aren't happy but if everyone ignores them... how exactly will they change (even if they want to, this isn't easy, I suppose)?

In short, all fairy tales rewritten by the Grimm brothers are scary and horrible as shit. (Yes, "The Little Mermaid is from H.C.A, I know) Anderson's stories made me cry when I was small... although they were quite good, they were really upsetting.
Now the question is - do we have to shield children form everything, even from literature and art? I read "The Hunchback of Notrdam" when I was 11 (the original story) and although the Disney version is much cuter, I find it weird the idea that children should believe in this pink, positive world, where everything is good and nice... possibly with talking animals. Well... it isn't and those children would be hit even harder later.

Wow these comments are depressing.

no one understands satire anymore

This is so funny! Thanks for the link.

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).