Archetypal Elements In The Little Mermaid

There are a number of fairytales, either from Grimm’s Brothers or Hans Christian Anderson, that portray numerous social issues that we still face in modern days. Social issues could include racism, equality between men and women, and ethnocentrism. These are social problems we face daily, and we have yet found solutions to eliminate\ the plentiful social issues. As said, fairy tales and children’s book always show hidden messages on problems that humans face every day. A very famous short story, which is known also by its movie, has an abundance in social issues that people face to this day. This short story is called “The Little Mermaid”, by Hans Christian

Fairy tales convey political, moral, and social lessons through characters, relationships and setting. They originate from an oral tradition passed down from generation to generation often in a varied form, drawing inspiration from diverse sources such as the Bible and mythology. As societies gained access to the printed word, fairy tales became less changeable and tended to focus on characters who were transitioning from childhood to adulthood (Abler). Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm became renowned for their collection of fairy tales which have been disseminated worldwide and translated into a hundred and sixty different languages during the Romantic period of the nineteenth century (Abler). They often changed tales from their original versions to get rid of sexual undertones and horrific violence against innocent characters, injecting their interpretation of Christian morality into the subtext. Laced with various complex layers, the original tale of "The Little Mermaid" is imbued with poignant cultural meaning. Sirenetta, the young mermaid protagonist, dwells in a kingdom under the sea with her older sisters, but desires to become human after she falls in love with a prince whom she saves from drowning (Brothers Grimm 4). She implores the Witch of the Deep for help to get human legs but sacrifices her voice and accepts that every step she takes will be excruciatingly painful (5). Sirenetta and the prince fall in love, but ultimately the prince is ordered to marry another woman

The next discussion about “The Little Mermaid” is the other archetypal characteristics present in the story. One of the main archetypal characteristics in the story would be “the lover”. The whole theme of the story is about love and how a person can go on a outrageous adventure to reach the one she adores. “Inside, she

Ponyo and The Little Mermaid have reflected important societal views on the individuality and standards for women during their time period. Both Ponyo and Ariel display promising female characters within a society where they did not value the individuality of women. The Little Mermaid (by Disney), and Ponyo (by Hayao Miyazaki), share similar storylines. They are both about women trying to become a part of the human world in order to be with the men they love. In order to do so, they make some mischievous and dangerous decisions.

In the film, “The Little Mermaid” Ariel, the heroin of the film, is perceived as a delicate girl who cannot protect herself and has to rely on a man to be rescued. An analysis a child may have is that beautiful women usually must have a small waist. The villain of the film, Ursula, is a woman that is overweight and has animal traits in her figure; therefore, creating a demining perception about overweight females. Males are typically in the films of Disney thin and muscular; this gives a perception that boys should grow up like them to be wanted by women. In the article, “The Egg and the Sperm: How Science …”

Next, the mermaid in the video especially striking. In mythology, the mermaids represent the glorious vision of the past, they can use the song to lure sailors to jump into the sea to death. For the author, the mermaids are traditionally a sweet creature that can sing, but they are illusory. Therefore, the

My research paper focuses on how the 1989 Disney film, The Little Mermaid, objectifies the female characters' value and bodies within the film's music, rhetoric, and imagery. I analyze direct examples in which the male characters, King Triton and Prince Eric, impose misogynistic and sexist attitudes towards the female characters, Ariel and Ursula, which may ultimately idealize women as weak, submissive, and objects of sex. This is a problematic theme to perpetuate within classic films viewed by all ages simply because these ideas are vital in sustaining women’s social maltreatment and demonization within society. Because the audience of this paper includes my fellow colleagues and highly skilled and trained professor, I present it in an academic

The imagery used to describe how lovely the mermaid is portrays what the prince wanted as a wife. When the prince found her on the shore and took her in as one of his own people, he took care of and adored her, but he would not marry her because she could not

Kristen Wehnke 10/29/15 Volini P.5 The Fault in Our Stars By John Green The Little Mermaid – Kiss the Girl The reason I pick this song for a part of the book was.

The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The tale is about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a merperson to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. The tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media including musical theater and animated film.The standard of this classical story has been set to be the Disney Movie titled the same

Je suis Bien. Et toi? I think you will be trés bien to hear that I was involved in “The Little Mermaid” as the assistant stage crew, and tech. for the show. I also helped with the Charlie Brown show.

Suzie Han The premise of The Little Mermaid has developed into several varying versions of the tale. However, it is the stylistic decisions made in Disney’s 1989 animated take on the film that has instilled certain notions regarding the representation of genders and the roles associated with them, the act of marking and othering certain groups, and the utilization of stories as resolutions to the inner conflicts of children. The animated feature showcases Disney’s specific formula for depicting female characters through the significance of the roles that they play in the plot down to their physical appearances. Despite Ariel fulfilling the position as the mermaid protagonist of the animated feature, her overall role in the plot is limited

Hans Christian Andersen’s story follows a similar protagonist, but a varied story line. She, too, yearns to visit the surface like her five older sisters (Anderson). However, she must wait for her fifteenth birthday (Anderson). On her visit to the surface, she saves “a young prince, the most beautiful of all, with large black eyes,” from a shipwreck and falls in love with him (Anderson). Repeated visits to the surface cause her to “grow more and more fond of human beings, and wish more and more to be able to wander about with those whose world seemed to be so much larger than her own” (Anderson). The little mermaid discovers that if her young prince were to love her, she could gain an immortal soul (Anderson). Despite her fear, she decides to visit the sea witch who then cures her of her fins…for a price

Growing up watching Disney movies you never notice how sexist they really are. I always watched The Little Mermaid, but watching it now is very different. When you are younger you just watch things because you like them, you do not necessarily understand them. As you get older you realize what you were really being taught. Walt Disney’s movie The Little Mermaid displays a lot of sexism and displays how society should see women and how women should act.

When first reading “The Little Mermaid”, the reader is sure to notice the imagery painted by Anderson. He finds a way to make a place we see as dark and abysmal, the sea floor, seem bright, vibrant, and full of joy. One sentence Hans Christian Andersen writes, “The most wonderful trees and plants are growing down there, with stalks and leaves that bend so easily that they stir at the very slightest movement of the water, just as though they were alive” (216), perfectly exemplifies this imagery. It is also important to take note of how the imagery changes by location. In the part of the sea where the witch lives, the imagery evokes the feeling of gloom and loneliness that one would naturally expect from the sea floor. Above the surface of the ocean, in the human world, the author uses imagery that quite frankly blows the beauty of our world out of proportion. Andersen writes, “The whole sky had looked like gold, she said, and the clouds—well, she just couldn’t describe how beautiful they were as they sailed, all crimson and violet, over her head.” (218) This makes something we find trivial seem like something everyone must see before they die. While some may view this as odd, it is important to consider that the story centers around a mermaid who has never seen these things before.