She can't bring herself to kill the Prince and return to being a mermaid, so she instead kills herself, ending her life after rejection. In order for the Mermaid to be rewarded for her personal sacrifices, she must first live through the pain and torment, and also be forced to make impactful decisions.
That's what the mermaid sacrifices everything for: to have a soul. The only way she can get it is to marry a human man. Then part of his soul will enter into her, and she will go wherever souls go after the body dies. Because she can't speak, she can't tell the prince that she's the one who rescued him.
While the original tale was likely influenced by folklore about mermaids and sirens, scholars have speculated that "The Little Mermaid" was also inspired by the author's own life, as some events in the story parallel his experiences with navigating family pressures, discovering his true identity, and pursuing love.
The original story is dark that included a murder and suicide. When Little Mermaid visits Ursula, the Sea Witch she strikes a deal, swapping her voice and tongue for legs. She will only survive if she wins over the affections of the Prince.
If she fails to be kissed, she will turn into sea foam. The prince is captivated by her appearance but fails to recognize her - he only remembers being saved by a girl with a magical voice. Eventually he marries someone else. Broken hearted, the Little Mermaid throws herself off a cliff and turns into sea foam.
The Messed Up Origins of The Little Mermaid | Disney Explained - Jon Solo
What happened to Ariel's mom?
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.
Summary. The original story of The Little Mermaid is much darker than the Disney version, featuring gruesome elements that wouldn't fit well in a family-friendly film.
On the significance of casting a Black actress as Ariel
Sherri Hope Culver: To have a Disney character who is not just a princess but a live-action, real flesh and blood person that children can be inspired by is important. This is because people of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the media.
Ariel, is a fictional character, with no defined skin color in her original material. She was originally written by a Danish author in the 1800s. She has been portrayed in ballet and movies by Asian, Russian, and mixed-race individuals, her cartoon depictions are typically pale.
While lighting itself isn't all that expensive, darkness can be used to hide a lot of things. Halle Bailey is not actually a mermaid, and so having the scenes be darker makes it easier to disguise the CGI work.
What race is Ariel in the original Little Mermaid?
In the 1989 movie, Ariel was born in the fictional underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which technically makes her Atlantican, not Danish. As Ariel is half fish, she cannot be categorized by our ethnicities and races.
1. The little mermaid in the book was white. Here is how Hans Christian Andersen described the little mermaid: “They were six lovely girls, but the youngest was the most beautiful of them all.
What does The Little Mermaid symbolize? The little mermaid symbolizes of loneliness and not having a place in society. She feels like she does not belong in the sea, but when she arrives on land, she discovers that she does not have a real place there either.
Because of her selflessness, she is given the chance to earn her own soul by doing good deeds for humankind for 300 years, and she will one day rise up into Heaven.
In the movie The Little Mermaid (Clements & Musker, 1989), Ariel displays symptoms of disposophobia, which is defined as the fear of getting rid of things.
Ursula debuted in the 1989 adaptation of The Little Mermaid (where she is voiced by Pat Carroll), as a sea witch who is scheming to take advantage of the ambitions of King Triton's youngest daughter Princess Ariel in order to usurp the throne and turning merpeople into seaweed for her garden.
Diversity. Ariel had 3 male animal friends, so they needed to make one a girl. Same reason they made Jock a girl (Jacqueline aka Jacque) in the Lady & The Tramp live-action remake.
And while creators of The Little Mermaid originally wanted Ariel to have blonde hair to stay in keeping with the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, Splash's massive popularity was still too hot to ignore. So, in a bid to stand out from the crowd, an iconic change was given to the underwater princess.
There are several instances when Eric's mother Queen Salina (Noma Dumezweni), who is Black and adopted him as a child when he washed up from the ocean, chastises him for his obvious love for beings that are considered other.
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.
All of king Triton's daughters represent their own seas all over the world and as such they are all different ethnicities in the movie. It is not specified where the movie takes place, i.e. where Ariel lives but it's obvious it's not in Denmark.
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose.
It was released theatrically on May 26, 2023, in the United States by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. A sing-along edition of the film was released in theaters on August 25, 2023.
The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale of Danish origin and was originally conceived by writer Hans Christian Andersen, who was best known for his riveting fairy tales. Andersen lived from 1805 to 1875.
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.
