The original character in the 1989 movie was inspired by the triple threat drag queen, actor, and singer Divine, a fact that was mere speculation at first, but has since been confirmed by those involved with the film. Divine catapulted to cult fame after appearing in Pink Flamingos, John Waters' filthy 1972 comedy.
Think: Exaggerated eyebrows, overdrawn red lips and fanned-out lashes. It turns out, the villain's trademark look was inspired by none other than drag queen legend Divine (née Harris Glenn Milstead).
Rather, Ursula's appearance is radically different from her family, and she sports tentacles that look like a permanent black dress. It's possible Ursula is not a mermaid in appearance because she and Triton did not have the same mother or father. If they're half siblings, Ursula's tentacles make more sense.
Who was the original Ursula in The Little Mermaid?
Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid and appeared in CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, ABC's Laverne & Shirley, and NBC's ER. Carroll was an Emmy, Drama Desk, and Grammy Award winner, as well as a Tony Award nominee.
While it is known that her mother perished, there is no story attached to the event. However, much later, in 2008, an animated The Little Mermaid prequel revealed that Ariel's mother was crushed by a pirate ship during an altercation between humans and merpeople.
But in a desire to re-market these ladies to a chic clientele, it appears that they decided to shave more than a few pounds off of Ursula the Sea Witch and Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts. Because in order to be fashionable, you must be thin. The fact is, Ursula was fashionable.
In the 2023 film version of The Little Mermaid, Ursula is presented as being Triton's younger sister, who had been exiled from their underwater kingdom. This also makes Ursula Ariel's aunt, bringing to mind Disney's long line of wicked matriarchs.
what makes Ursula black? She was based of Divine, who is white She was voiced by a white woman When she takes human form she's white," yet another well-versed Little Mermaid fan noted. "She was originally meant to be King Tryton's sister, and [he's] white."
Smith King said he intentionally did not want the actress to look like a drag queen, preferring to see more of McCarthy than of the makeup. Defending the uneven brows, he said he wanted it to look like Ursula did the makeup herself and did not have it done by a masterful professional.
While Ariel is 16 years old in Disney animated The Little Mermaid film, her love interest is not the same age. The character's voice actor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, was just 16 years old at the time of recording the film, leading to the assumption that the character was intended to be the same age.
The original character in the 1989 movie was inspired by the triple threat drag queen, actor, and singer Divine, a fact that was mere speculation at first, but has since been confirmed by those involved with the film. Divine catapulted to cult fame after appearing in Pink Flamingos, John Waters' filthy 1972 comedy.
In addition to being the god of the sea, Once's Poseidon is also the father of Merrin Dungey's Ursula, a concept omitted from Disney's The Little Mermaid in 1989, though later included in the Broadway musical.
A female queen, diva queen, or hyper queen is a drag queen who is a woman. These performers are generally indistinguishable from the more common male drag queens in artistic style and techniques.
In The Little Mermaid remake, Scuttle plays a bigger role than in the original. Instead of Scuttle being a male seagull, Scuttle is a northern gannet which is a female seabird. This allowed Scuttle to be included in the underwater scenes which ends up being an important change from the original movie.
The video goes on to talk about how this original concept for Ariel was too close to the Splash mermaid and the designers wanted to differentiate Ariel, so her red hair was born. We can't imagine Ariel without her red hair, but not everyone felt the same way back in the 80s.
There was a popular theory by the fans which suggested that Marina and Ursula were the same person because of the similarities between the two characters. This was disproven however when the film was released on DVD.
The reported box office result of The Little Mermaid 2023 remake is about $560 million. On paper, these numbers look good. The film grossed over $298 million domestically and more than $263 million internationally.
Morgana is a villainess who appears in The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. She is the infamous younger sister of Ursula and the older sister of Ulyana, but Ursula is worse than Morgana. She was loved less than her older sister Ursula, because Ursula had more powers than Morgana did.
While some of Sebastian's features resemble a lobster, Sebastian is definitely a crab, as is stated in The Little Mermaid itself a few times. This includes the scene where the obsessed Chef Louis refers to Sebastian as a crab, and since he's a professional, he really should know.
Ariel appears as an adult in Return to the Sea and gives birth to a daughter named Melody, becoming the first, and currently, only, Disney princess to become a mother.
“Many people call her an octopus and I'm so knowledgeable I have to correct them,” Carroll explained in the documentary “Treasures Untold: The Making of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid. '” “She's not an octopus, she's a squid. … She has six tentacles instead of eight.”
