The Little Mermaid

- I was going through and looking at my Blogs and realized for some reason my last blog was from Fight Club and my last two never posted on Ugly Betty and The Little Mermaid. I remember this happened to someone else before, it was really weird and for some reason I guess it never went through, so here they are:

I am doing my presentation on The Little Mermaid on Thursday and I was surprised to find there was so much more behind the movie and story than I thought. I found the article by Laura Sells on The Little Mermaid really fascinating. She brought up so many points refuting what feminists for many years have argued. Although Ariel is just another Disney princess, with a Barbie like body there is actually a lot about her in the story of her trying to get away from patriarchy. That the under the sea world that her father rules represents patriarchy. That Ariel is held down by her fins that constrain her and limit her mobility. Ariel has the desire for knowledge, freedom and mobility that she sees the “human” world can give her. This was all brought up within Sell’s article.

When seeing these new views of the movie that I never I thought about, I begin to think about the affect on little girls today. I know I used to watch The Little Mermaid when I was little; it was one of my favorite movies. I saw Ariel as independent and although yes marrying the prince made her fulfilled I never really thought much of it as a girl. When I was little I always just assumed you grow up and get married, I always thought I would and still even today still hope I will. I think her desires to have more and know more was taken from the movie, her adventure and not necessarily that marriage makes women complete. I don’t look as marriage as the end of a women’s life, yet the beginning of a new part of it. After reading Sell’s Article and reading more into movie and watching it again, I think there are a lot of positive aspects to the movie for young girls to look up to.