Little Mermaid Essay
Jackeline Elizabeth Chang Chang 1 Ms. Carr EMS30 24TH, March, 2010 The Little Mermaid The Little Mermaid is a film made in November, 17th, 1989. It was written by John Musker and Ron Clements. This is the story of a mermaid named Ariel, youngest daughter of King Triton, who is dissatisfied with life in the sea. She longs to be with the humans above the surface. She dreams of going on land. She is often caught in arguments with her father over those “barbaric fish-eaters”. Her father also forbids her to go on land. She goes to meet Ursula, the Sea Witch, to strike a deal, but Ursula has bigger plans for this mermaid and her father.
Ariel is the type of girl that wants everything to go her way. She does everything she pleases. In the movie Ariel portrays a character that symbolizes a normal teen. Disobedient, demanding, will powered and very independent. She is 16 years and wants to follow her dreams no matter what anyone says. Ariel as a princess of her father, King Triton, must act and behave like one. King Triton is very controlling and have many arguments with her. As king he demands and expects good from everyone, especially his daughters, including Ariel. He wants Ariel not to go to the surface because it’s dangerous and doesn’t want her to be involved with humans.
Knowing Ariel she disobeys and goes anyways. Here we see that Ariel is doing what she wants. Demonstrating her will power. Ariel is not alone when she goes on her adventures above the waters, she has her best friend Flounder, he is a yellow and blue Chang 2 coloured fish. He is seen to be younger. As a male character, Flounder scares easily and is prone to panicking under stressful situations, but when Ariel is in trouble he comes through for her without hesitation. After an initial argument over Ariel over her latest trip to the surface, Triton orders his loyal servant, Sebastian, to keep an eye on her.
Sebastian is a crab, he is known for his Caribbean accent. He follows Ariel and tries to keep her out of trouble. He tries his best to watch for Ariel, and helps her in anyway he can. He is very loyal and honest and wants to please the King. Ursula is another character in the movie, she is an octopus person sea witch who “helps” unfortunate mermaids to achieve her own goals. Her appearance is of an obese purple-skinned, white-haired female human with a facial mole, but from the waist down she has six black tentacles. She is very cruel and dominant.
Ursula commands her minions, the twin moray eels, to watch Ariel, who might be “the key to Triton’s undoing”. Ursula forms her plan to seize power around Ariel’s forbidden love for the human Prince Eric. Ariel has many journeys in this movie. From finding human treasures to falling in love with a human prince. In disobeying her father to going up the surface she finds her true love. All of a sudden a storm hits, everyone manages to escape to the lifeboat except for Eric, who swims back to save his dog, Max. In the process he almost drowns, but he is saved by Ariel.
She drags him to shore and sings to him, but before he can regain consciousness fully, Max and Grimsby arrive, forcing Ariel to dive underwater. Ariel wants to meet him again and be with him. At that time, Sebastian and Flounder were with Chang 3 her when she was with Prince Eric. Sebastian tries to do the job given to him, and is horrified when Ariel saves the life of and falls in love with a human. Sebastian accidentally lets this information slip to King Triton, who confronts Ariel. King Triton is furious with Ariel and destroys all her human treasure that she has kept in her secret place.
Ariel is hurt and angry. She goes on another journey where Flotsam and Jetsam, Ursula’s minion’s, persuade Ariel to go to Ursula’s lair, claiming that the sea witch is the only one who can solve her problem. Ariel knowing she is not allowed to talk or even be with her because she was banished from Atlantica. Goes with them and agrees with Ursula’s plan. She is being disobedient and doing what she pleases. Ursula plan is to take her voice and she will give her human legs. She has to kiss Eric within 3 days, or else she belongs, her soul, to Ursula.
She has Ariel sign a contract to have proof that Ariel made a deal with her. What Ariel doesn’t know is that she never kiss Eric because Ursula has planned it like that. So she can have the Triton’s power. Ariel soon learns Ursula whole plan in tricking her, but it’s too late, she can’t do a thing. Ariel puts her father and even Eric’s life in danger. She put the whole sea life in danger. When you do anything wrong and be disobedient , there are always consequences, no matter what, This what Ariel got for being disobedient in going up to the surface.
At the end, of course Ursula loses her powers and King Triton gains back his power. He see’s what Eric, a human, has done. He knows that he was wrong about all humans, and gains respect for Ariel. With the approval of her father she does marry Eric and everyone is happy. King Triton has learned that Ariel was right about humans, and that Ariel is very independent. He has Chang 4 changed his views about humans and his daughter. Ariel has know followed her dreams, even though it almost cost her life and father‘s, to marry her true love, a human, prince Eric.
Even tough her adventures and journeys has caused trouble, at the end it all came out good. She marry’s Eric, She has made friends with Sebastian, and has gained her respect and trust with her father again. The social values that are described in this movie are gender values. There is that stereotype of a princess, Ariel, always ending up marrying their true love. This is what happened. Ariel marry’s Eric. Ariel also portrays a stereotype of a typical teen, she disobeys, independent and has will power. Most teens resemble her personality. Another stereotype is the villain.
There always has to be an antagonist in the movie. The villain gains and has power at one point, and they even go through with their plan, but at the end they always end up losing, or dieing. In this case, this is what happened to Ursula. Lastly, a demanding or controlling person is always portrayed, in this case that would be King Triton. He looks out for Ariel and wants things to go his ways. Men are always demanding, and they want the will power. A father always, no matter what, looks out for his daughter, and this is what King Triton portrays.
In conclusion, The little Mermaid created by John Musker and Ron Clements was a good movie indeed. It demonstrates how love has power, even for a mermaid. Journeys and adventures have purposes, even though they get you into trouble. Ariel followed her dreams of her heart. She disobeyed her father many times, made a deal with Ursula the Chang 5 sea witch, put her father, Eric and even the whole sea in jeopardy. All for the cause of true love. She marry’s her Prince and gains respect from the whole sea. All because Ariel was a will powered, independent and demanding teenage girl.
