Since we’ve been watching The Little Mermaid so much recently, this thought finally occured to me enough times to be worth mentioning.
Does anyone else find it vaguely … troublesome that the protagonist of the movie, who spends most of her time in a bikini top, trying to woo and marry the prince, is only sixteen?
If I were King Triton, I know I’d have a few objections. Especially given the flighty and immature way she behaves throughout the rest of the movie.
Or am I just an overprotective fuddy-duddy father here?
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It’s not just you. I watched it recently for the first time in a while and it was not nearly as appealing as I remember.
Ariel is disrespectful, immature and irresponsible, but the attitude is clearly “Oh her father is just a big meanie!” One of the biggest things that bugged me was Triton’s guilt over actually disciplining his daughter. Believe me, I understand teenage girl angst, but crikey – she’s sixteen!
And Eric is what, 18??
I must note that I loved this movie when it came out. Maybe it’s me getting old or maybe it’s becoming a parent.
There’s some very cool stuff about the movie. The music is great. The animation varies from overly cartoony very appealing.
But, yeah. Ariel blows off responsibilities and commitments. Ariel disses her dad. Ariel moons about being somewhere else. Ariel gets infatuated with some handsome guy (we’ll leave the cross-species ickiness aside) with whom she’s never exchanged a word. Ariel makes a deal with the devil (almost literally) to try and be with him. Ariel’s actions almost end up with her beau, and her dad, dead or worse.
And she gets to live happily ever after.
Yeah, it’s every kid’s fantasy, and every parent’s nightmare.
Triton goes a bit over-ballistic at times, but he shows a lot more genuine love for Ariel than she does in return. Except for the whole letting her go off with Eric at the end.
It might be good to remember that the Disney movie does not give the traditional ending to this story, one which if I remember correctly goes bad for our flighty young girl.
It might be good to remember that the Disney movie does not give the traditional ending to this story, one which if I remember correctly goes bad for our flighty young girl.
The orignal authors might have been making a point (usually part of a fairy tale) that is now lost in translation.
The original (or at least the version I recall) was by Hans Christian Andersen. There are several online sites. And, yeah, it ends quite a bit differently.
How old was Juliet? Sure, it’s better art and more accurate of the little hormone-driven moonbeam-brained brats suffer for their idiocy. But this is Disney marketing to kids raised on sitcoms. Happy endings are de rigeur.
Rooting for Ariel to get hitched to Eric is like ogling the Olson Twins.
If I remember correctly, Juliet was 14.
Perfect marriage age for people only expected to live to 35/40 years of age.
16 for Ariel during the Victorian age was about right as well.
Disney…the destroyer of more stories then I care to think about.
The old stories had points. Life is not Fair. You don’t always get what you want. The old guy/gal actually knows what is going on, and not trying to ruin your life. Wisdom is a good thing. There are reasons why limits are put on children.
I was raised on Disney and am in a most joyous sing-along fashion raising my 3 1/2 year old daughter on Uncle Walt and Company.
The biggest hits this winter have been – not surprisingly – Beauty and the Beast (original and Christmas version), The Little Mermaid (I and II) and Cinderella I and II. (Hey, when the snow is falling, even a little variety makes a big difference.)
A few weeks ago it dawned on my spouse and I that the winter’s entertainment focused on motherless girls looking for love from distant, (Prince Charming doesn’t actually speak until he breaks into song) potentially abusive, (Beast? hello? cuts her off from her family, breaks furniture when he’s mad? issues edicts starting with “I forbid”? sounds like a call to a crisis center waiting to happen. . .) and, well, what is the right label to apply to someone who would stick a hook in your best friend’s mouth, club him and eat him for dinner? (Prince Eric seems nice enough, but Dad really was right about the Fish Eating Savage bit).
We haven’t turned them off, we haven’t spoken to the Girl Child about her mother’s continued presence and relevance in her life but it did make us head to the movie store to look for Movies with Moms (we spent the Summer of 2001 with Mary Poppins). Haven’t struck gold yet.
Interesting thoughts.
Parenting by the Paranoid – that’s us.
My own observations on videos for kids is that you’re damned one way or the other. Either it’s utter pap, or it’s bound to have some messages that, when you think about them, might not be what you want the kinder exposed to.
I mean, as you note, you could probably rip apart any number of Disney releases (to pick a prominent target) for “lessons” they “teach” — (“Just be nice to your boyfriend, even if he is abusive and violent, and he’ll become warm and kind and protect you from other abusive and violent guys,” to take one B&tB example) — but that’s going to be true of any lit worth viewing; it’s up to the parents to try to bring out the lessons that are worth repeating (“Don’t let the popular guy pressure you into something you don’t want; don’t be intolerant; look below the surface of people; don’t give into mob behavior; kindness can change people; reading is fun,” to pull from the same film) while tempering those that aren’t.
Yeah, I know — making the parents do all the work. Sheesh. What’s this world coming to?