Image Design by Madison Echlin.
As the summer season officially starts in a few weeks, we have been graced with the opportunity to see the latest Live Action Remake of the Disney classic movie, "The Little Mermaid." On opening day, nostalgia filled the air as I rushed to the movie theater to watch this remake. Most people may say that this movie centers around a love story between the little mermaid, princess Ariel and prince Eric. However, I believe that the story of "The Little Mermaid" is mostly a story of understanding between a daughter and her father. When I was a little girl, I did not resonate with any of the Disney princesses. None except Ariel, the little mermaid. As a kid, I watched the movie so often that I practically re-enacted every scene and sang every song out loud by heart. Watching the original movie as a little girl back in the 90's, I was able to understand Ariel more than the other Disney princesses. Of course my main focus back then was not particularly on the storyline itself. It really was on the colorful cartoon images displayed on the screen and the animation of seeing the fictional life of a mermaid being depicted. My focus as a little girl was entirely on the fun music, the singing crab, and the predictable heroic triumph of the little mermaid.
Now watching the Live action remake of “The Little Mermaid” in 2023 in my thirties, I am rather pleased to see how much of this new version stayed true to the original classic. At the beginning of the first scenes in this remake, we see the mighty sea king sitting on his throne and surrounded by his daughters. Here the viewers are immediately introduced to a refreshingly diverse new group of daughters compared to the original. Each of the modern daughters are noticeably of a different ethnic race. Which makes the most sense as a viewer considering that American children as a whole, are a very diverse bunch. There are white Americans, black Americans, African Americans, Caribbean Americans, Asian Americans, Indian Americans, Latino Americans and much more. I think it is important to be very transparent about this remarkable diversity that we share as an American nation. As adults, we may look past a certain lack of diversity in mass media. However, American children as a whole do deserve much better diverse representation. It is very important for children to see diverse skin tones, different hair textures, different accents in movies, shows, and across platforms that generally target young impressionable American children. I believe that the live action remake of "The Little Mermaid" was attempting to do that for this new generation of young Americans. As such, I greatly applaud its efforts.
The story of Ariel, the little mermaid is a story worth looking into just a little bit deeper. In essence, she is given an ultimatum. Either she remains in the ocean and follows her father's rules or follow her heart and explore the new world above. When the viewers are introduced to Ariel's collection of treasures, it is a significantly large collection of things. One cannot help but wonder how that small sling bag of hers collected all that treasure; and how much could Flounder's little fins really assist her with transporting everything that she collected. Ariel has a massive cavern filled to the brim with her collected human treasures from under the sea. Safe to assume then that her father is fully aware of her obsession with human things and the human experience. But maybe that is as far as this father knows about his daughter; just a little treasure collector. I see Ariel very differently. She likes discovery, she has courage, she is curious about knowledge, and is driven to educate herself about what she may not know. We see a similar thirst for knowledge with the young human prince Eric. He is first introduced to the viewers as a sailor exploring the open sea along with his fellow sailors on his birthday. This subtly signifies how important exploration is to this young prince, that he would choose the open sea for his birthday celebration, rather than being in an extravagant castle.
This is where the young prince Eric has a shipwreck from the sea storm. You see, unlike other Disney princesses who waited sometimes for years for a prince to come save her, this princess Ariel actually saves prince Eric during the shipwreck. We can see throughout the movie how both Ariel and Eric share a lot in common. Their sense of discovery and exploration is an example of this commonality. The prince wants to be in the wild uncharted waters, while Ariel wants to be on land, with feet, doing human things. Here the viewers experience a more mutually compatible version of their young love. Not the notion from the other Disney princesses where ladies are seen fighting each other for an overly exalted prince. Thankfully in "The Little Mermaid", the connection is mutual between the two. So if Ariel's love is actually mutual, and she is technically not fighting for the prince, my question is what then is Ariel's true fight?
It is obvious to assume that Ariel's fight is to get to the prince on land and the wicked Ursula under the sea is Ariel's enemy. However, as aforementioned, I want to challenge that with this review of this movie. I think that Ariel's fight is entirely a fight for knowledge of the world above, getting understanding from her father, having her freedom from his rules, and ultimately exercising her own will-power. Yes, Ariel's battle is definitely with choices and freedom from her father's rules. I believe that in a way, not only could prince Eric understand Ariel's need for freedom and knowledge, I think he may have even embodied some of this for Ariel. He personified what she had been collecting in that cavern filled with human treasures. For this reason, as far as I am concerned, Prince Eric might as well have been one more valuable “item” in that cavern filled with Ariel’s collected treasures found under the sea. I think Prince Eric also represents a meeting of the minds and a way for Ariel to further understand the new world above. Instead of the little mermaid asking the bird what a fork was used for, she could now ask Eric, the human, this question and he would finally give her the correct answers to her inquiries. In other words, I think Ariel was really mostly fighting to be part of the human experience and Eric just so happened to be a symbol to represent that world or even the catalyst for her to reach that world. Eric could simply be one of the many inspirations for Ariel to get to the world above, after all she has an entire cavern worth of inspirations, but Eric was not the main reason. Eric is not only her love interest, he is also Ariel's teacher about the human world, and rightfully so. The question for this protagonist is what is she willing to sacrifice to be a part of the human world where she can expand her knowledge? Here we see Ariel's display of courage. She goes to the depth of the sea to meet Ursula, the sea witch to ultimately sacrifice her voice, and her mermaid tail, to give up the comfort of her home with her father and sisters. All this for an experience of three whole days on land, exploring the human world, and yes with prince Eric (in my opinion, her teacher).
What I find particularly interesting about Ariel is at first glance, she does not seem to have any special powers. Unlike other Disney princesses who had great beauty (like in The Beauty and the Beast or Snow White), or extremely long hair (like Rapunzel), or special physical strength comparable to the guys (like Mulan), or given special magical assistance from a fairy like (Cinderella). Here we see Ariel was completely stripped from everything by Ursula in exchange for what Ariel really wanted, freedom. Ariel sacrificed everything for it. To reaffirm this point, the little mermaid is reintroduced to the viewers as being bare on a boat, caught in a net like a fish. A reminder to us that Ariel is afterall a sea creature, now turned human, but with no voice, and learning how to walk for the very first time with her new feet. When Ariel goes on land, it should also be noted that Ariel instantaneously goes from being of royalty under the sea to joining the royal castle on the land. Unlike other disney princesses, she did not suddenly gain a royal title because of a prince. If anything, the movie script suggests that princess Ariel is born into royalty, and prince Eric was adopted by the queen into the royal family on land. So what is Ariel's real power? What makes her so special from the other Disney princesses? Is it her angelic singing voice? Maybe not, because all the other Disney princesses could also sing angelically. Although she sings phenomenally. Was it her beauty? maybe not, because Ariel's beauty is rarely mentioned, although she is beautiful. Is it her well trained physical strength? Well no, because she was not up against an army so there would be no need to show her physical strength. Is it her magical laser eyes that beam out rays of fire? Of course not! That is not a thing for the little mermaid. Well then, what is Ariel's special power? And then it hit me. Her mind.
I would not go as far as to say that Ariel's super power is her intellectual ability. Afterall, she is not depicted solving complex mathematical equations, nor is she seen bringing conclusions to scientific discoveries or theories. However, princess Ariel is depicted as a collector of human treasure, and an open-minded mermaid, with a noticeable thirst for more knowledge about a world that she has been taught to fear or even hate. She is a fellow young Anthropologist, in my opinion. I value this difference in approach for this Disney princess, because it explores nuances such as the difference between intellect and knowledge. A nice lesson to teach the children watching the movie. Here, this Disney princess's superpower is her thirst for knowledge and expanding her mind to understand her world and other worlds. While Princess Ariel is exploring the land with her newly acquired feet and prince Eric by her side, Ariel is depicted as mute. Yet the curious sapio-compatibility between Ariel and Eric is undeniable. Instead of remaining at the palace and exchanging googly eyes of mushy love with each other, this princess and this prince break the rules of the palace and run off exploring the world around them. In my opinion, this is really Ariel’s dream come true and thankfully for Eric’s sake, he fits nicely into that dream. They both excitedly run off to market where Ariel finally learns what a fork is used for. They do lots of fun activities.They even ride a boat. Ariel and Eric are seen bonding over their meeting of the minds, plus their shared thirst for knowledge and excitement for exploration. They are bonding over teaching each other little things and big things. They even bond over the simplicity of looking at the stars above in the night sky.
The more I reflect on Ariel and Eric, there isn't much else to really say about them as a couple. I do not find their love story in itself particularly charming or even romantic. The idea alone that princess Ariel saves the helpless prince once during the sea storm. Secondly saves him from marrying Ursula after he is entranced by the sea witch. Thirdly she saves him again from Ursala who physically attacks him at sea. This is one prince who just keeps on getting saved by this princess. Thankfully, for his sake, he can teach her about the human world so in that way I can see how he is definitely worth saving. There seems to be nothing heroic about Eric really, and yet everything heroic about Ariel. From a critical standpoint, I think the script of both the classic version and the remake of this movie could have written Ariel and Eric simply as good friends and it would have been just as impactful. Technically you see, the human prince Eric is in love with a sea creature, princess Ariel the mermaid who cannot talk; yet he still seems to really like her mind. Unlike other Disney princesses who wear magical elaborate gowns and capture the attention of the prince because of their beauty, this little mermaid princess is attracting a prince with her mind. As a result, their meeting of the minds is something that I do appreciate as their connecting point in their unique love story. A rather refreshing take on mutual compatibility that goes beyond just the physical. This is what I appreciate and even respect about their love.
One of the obvious themes of the live action remake of this classic movie is the added inclusivity in diversity. There is a phenotypic adjustment in the musical vocal notes from this modern black Ariel who seems to sing with her vibrato echoing with a touch more sass displayed in her facial expressions; encouraging the audience to depict her as singing with more "soul." And I like it. It is rather interesting, now seeing this movie with this new "tone" I can not help but wonder why this was not done all along. You see, the obvious Caribbean vibes in the music done by the crab who sings "Under the Sea" and "You wanna kiss the girl" has always been very suggestive of inclusivity even in the classic movie. Sebastien the crab always speaks with a noticeable thick Carribean accent, even in the classic movie. Really, the live action remake makes entirely more sense than the classic, because of this refreshingly diverse inclusivity in the characters. Can’t help but wonder what the logical reason could be why the original animation movie did not have an ethnically diverse character cast to begin with. Afterall they could have simply drawn diverse inclusivity into the original before its release. However, I do want to emphasize that comparing the classic movie and this 2023 remake is not my prerogative with this review, as I truly do like them both. Yet, it seems meant to be that there needed to be two versions. Both are just as impactful and can stand next to each other. My focus is on challenging the understanding of the character, Ariel, and her story in both versions of the movie.
Now that we know what Ariel's super power is, who then is Ariel's enemy? If we assume that it is Ursula, then it defeats the purpose of Ariel's super power being her mind. Afterall, Ursala sees this aspect of Ariel as a weakness and offers Ariel's insatiable curiosity, a three day chance at exploring the land above. For this reason, I believe that Ariel's real enemy is not Ursula alone, even though she did use magic against Ariel. I also believe that Ariel's enemy is not her father who banned her from exploring the human world, under the guise of protecting his daughters. Who then was Ariel's antagonist? I reflected on this for a moment and I think that it is not a question of who, but rather of what. In a way, both Ariel's father and Ursula personified this aspect of what her enemy could be. Even Sebastien the crab did too at one point while singing the song “Under the Sea” to Ariel; “down here is better,” sings the crab to the little Mermaid who disappears before he finishes that song. But none of them are the little mermaid’s real enemy. The question truly does remain: what is Ariel's real enemy? If her superpower is being open-minded and free, then her enemy has to be the opposite. Her real enemy was indeed her will power being imposed on. Basically, anyone who imposed their will on Ariel and went against her freedom of mind, thirst for knowledge, and curiosity about the human world; could very easily be considered her enemy.
At some point towards the conclusion of the movie, Ariel is shown feeling alone while on land without a powerful king as a father, plus the prince whom she had previously rescued was suddenly entranced by Ursala who used Ariel's singing voice to charm him into marrying her instead of Ariel. This is where Ariel asks herself one of the most important questions in the entire movie, "Where do I go with nowhere to turn to?" A powerful question indeed for this protagonist. Any other time before this, Ariel's will-power and decision-making was brought into questioning by others. What does she want? Where will she go to get what she wants? What will she do to get what she wants? For once, Ariel asks herself the question, prompting a deep search within herself for her own answer. "Where do I go with nowhere to turn to?" says the little mermaid. At that moment, Ariel finds her inner strength, and immediately grabs her voice back from Ursula by jumping onto her. An act of courage that Ariel displays at the wedding for all to see. As a result, both Ariel and Ursula jump back into the sea where they are confronted by Ariel's father. Upon seeing his daughter in captivity, the sea king immediately sacrifices himself for his daughter's freedom from Ursula, who demands the king hand over his trident. In my opinion, this is where the true "love" story begins. A protecting love of understanding between a father and his daughter.
When Ursula gets the sea king's trident, her first display of power is minimizing the sea king's size and maximizing her size into a large sea giant. Prince Eric is once again seen somewhere dangling from a ship looking lost at sea during this storm, leaving the little mermaid to single handedly save the prince, by stirring the ship towards Ursula with a wooden spear straight into Ursala's torso.This act of defeating Ursula ultimately saves the prince and also saves her father, as the sea king is soon shown coming back to his original form. Ariel is symbolically handing over her father's trident, his power, back to him. The words exchanged between them at this moment are emotionally charged. Ariel recognizes that her father gave his life, his power, and everything for his daughter. And the father realizes that his daughter fought to get him back his life. In an act of fatherly understanding and with one golden swoop from his magical trident, her father the sea king gives his daughter what she wanted all along. Feet. Here, feet symbolize the little mermaid's freedom of choice to stay and leave as she pleases. Now she can visit the land when she wants to, with feet. And she can visit the sea when she wants to, as a mermaid. She can exercise her will to explore the human world and gain knowledge. Ariel says to her father, "Thank you for hearing me." And her father says to his daughter, "You should not have had to give up your voice to be heard."
Written by Elisa Nyassom
Mango Island Girl
