The Little Mermaid

Almost nothing reminds me of my childhood quite like The Little Mermaid. I used to put the VCR in and watch it with my cousins 2 times through before we decided to switch to a different movie. One of my favorite parts about this is that many of the times I watched the movie it was in Spanish. My father and cousins are from Argentina so they preferred the Spanish version. I didn’t know a single word of Spanish, but I would watch completely attentively time and time again. That’s one of the beauties of this movie. I didn’t need to know what they were saying to feel empathy for Ariel or to feel that hatred towards Ursula; I got the content of the movie just by watching body language and actions.

Now that I got that out of the way, time for my take on the ENGLISH version of the movie. For starters, “Under the Sea” is still one of my favorite Disney songs to this day. Its got the upbeat melody and I love Sebastian’s Jamaican accent. The song has an extremely “beachy” feel that makes me think I am chilling outside by a pool.

One of the things that I definitely didn’t notice as a kid were the glaring stereotypes present in the film. There is a very misogynistic nature to how Ariel tries to gain Eric’s love. For starters, it is just assumed that she should ditch her entire life and family to go live with him. Not for a second was it an option that Eric would come live “Under the Sea.” This is the case in many male-dominated societies, but proves to be blatantly unfair towards the woman. Another huge problem is that Ariel is forced to change her body so that it works best for the man. This reminds me a lot of the end of Grease (1978), where Sandy does a full transformation so she can be the perfect girl for Danny. So many women in today’s society are pressured into conforming to society’s idea of the perfect body. Even further, Ariel is forced to give up her greatest talent for the man she wants, while he sacrifices absolutely nothing. This is just like how so many women have to give up their passions and dreams to fit the role of a normal house wife. So basically Ariel is giving up her home, her body, and her greatest talent for a dude who isn’t giving up anything… sounds like a bunch of bull**** to me. Another stereotype is that can be seen is Sebastian. Sebastian is the typical laid back Jamaican who just wants to relax and chill. He tries to convince Ariel to stay and not become human because everything is good and easy.

Watching this film again definitely changed how I view. Its always going to be hard not to notice the relatively obvious prejudices and stereotypes, but in the end its always a fun movie to watch.