The Little Mermaid: A Feministic Perspective
THE LITTLE MERMAID: A FEMINISTIC PERSPECTIVE The children's classic, The Little Mermaid, as portrayed by Walt Disney Studios is wrought with feministic stereotyping and chauvinistic ideas. Even in animation, there are those that not only strive to push the limits of decency, but also sway the minds of the innocent viewer in the direction of their way of thinking. In watching the animated film in its entirety, the evidence is clear. The opening sequence begins with the playful world of the sea creatures, and rapidly shifts to a contrasting first impression of humans as sea faring males that like to sing of fairy tales and display wooden women on their ships like a deer head hung on their wall. While singing their macho sailor songs of mermaids and such, they are completely oblivious to what it is like "under the sea." Apparently, women are not seen much differently in the world of our heroine, Ariel. The first real glimpse of this under water world introduces the viewer to a world where females are put on display to entertain the king, like a cross between a harem and a Broadway musical. The star of the show, the beautiful, unrealistically proportioned Ariel and her angelic voice were not present. She wanted more
Even Ursula, the overweight, bitter, (sea lesbian) sea witch wishes to possess her. Many of the crew perish, and had Ariel not been there, Eric would have been among the lost. Ariel arrives, regains her voice, and Eric returns to her side. In the light of fatherly decency, King Triton returns Ariel to human form, this time fully clothed. As he plays his soft music on the beach, the sea witch ensnares Eric using Ariel's voice and a conjured body. Ursula proposes the possibility of Ariel becoming human. Had it not been for a washed up sail, the approaching Prince Eric might have got a lusty eye full. She mourns the apparent loss of her love, while her father contemplates what to do with her. On the third day, she awakens to the news of a wedding, but soon finds it is not her own. In Eric's kingdom, the human women are portrayed as unattractive servants, gossiping like cackling hens. She is then left to be carried ashore by her male counterparts, unknowingly naked from the waist down, with no voice to ask for help. When Ariel's male guidance steers her wrong, she turns heads (and almost stomachs) at the dinner table. Her very movements scream of pent up sexual frustrations and vengeance, seducing the naive heroine. As the crew celebrate, a hurricane hits, and the ship is destroyed.
Common topics in this essay:
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Prince Eric,
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Poor Ariel,
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body language,
FEMINISTIC PERSPECTIVE,
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Little Mermaid,
king triton,
prince eric,
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walt disney,
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