From Fins to Feats: Ariel

(Image via Wikipedia.org, with Thanks)

            The fourth Disney Princess to earn the attention of audiences, Ariel appeared in theaters in the movie The Little Mermaid, released in 1989. It featured a motherless mermaid with around half a dozen older sisters, and a father she couldn’t see eye to eye with. They exist separately from humans, under the sea, and seem to have a good amount of their culture focusing on music and keeping to themselves. They avoid humans who live on the surface, and enemies within the sea such as sharks (natural predators) or the evil Sea Witch, Ursula.

            Ariel herself, like previous princesses, is earnest and kind hearted. She’s loyal to her friends, risking her own life to save Flounder from a shark, and encouraging Sebastian to flee to her plate so he is not eaten. She is honestly remorseful when she realizes she missed the concert at the beginning of the movie, though her father focuses on her flaws. She is also insatiably curious about the forbidden: the world above the water and the humans who live in it. She craves adventure, going off to collect items from sunken ships and consulting a sea gull from above the ocean about them. She desires a life more then she has, but has remorse when she realizes she’s caused trouble for people she cares about.

(Image from Disney.wikia.com with thanks)

            Now, who is Ariel’s enemy? Ursula, a powerful and dangerous sea witches who strikes deals in a devil like fashion. She strikes people when they’re weak and in despair, offering them opportunities they could never otherwise have. She plays on hopes, and puts people at their highest-at which point she tears them down, takes their souls, and plants them in her kelp garden. She desires power among all else, can see through the eyes of her eels, who act as her spies. She was once in the palace but apparently Ariel’s father, the King Triton, wisely banished her. And though it’s clear Ursula was once more powerful, she still has the power of hypnotism and can disguise herself with magic.

            Ariel often gets criticism for the matter of her romance: many consider that she abandoned her family and risked her life for her first teenage idol encounter. And while yes, how she handled it was a little unorthodox, that was not entirely the case. She first spots the Prince Eric playing the flute and dancing, and indeed finds him handsome. This is why she’s still beside the ship when disaster strikes and the ship is destroyed. While many of the sailors were able to get away, Eric was not so lucky. Ariel saves his life. That is truly at the base of their romance; and it is known that when one person saves another they share a very strong bond. It’s quite the rush knowing you changed a person’s fate, and Ariel did that. And even though he only saw her for a moment when he came to on the shore, Eric searches for the girl who saved him because of that bond. The seeds of romance are planted then, and both are obviously in love before long. After two days of constant bonding once she gets her legs and loses her voice, they’re well on their way to a happy ending.

            Now, given earlier conversation, there were better ways to try to get to know him then to make a deal with the equivalent to the devil. But Ariel was in distress at that point because her father discovered how much of the human world she’d collected, and that she was in love with a human. They had a rather massive battle (more literal on his end, thanks to his magic trident), and her leaving could be compared to running away from home. Still, given the severity of the deal made (she had to make Eric kiss her in three days, without the use of her voice, or else be trapped in Ursula’s kelp garden) she could have thought about it more. She does hesitate, thinking about how it would mean never seeing her family again. But Ursula is influential and plays Devil’s advocate, and so the power of peer pressure is demonstrated.

            In terms of being a role model, Ariel is okay. She’s not horrid, but she tends to rush into things. Obviously her bravery is worth noting, and her loyalty to those she cares about. She demonstrates remorse when she realizes she’s done wrong, and was more then prepared to give up her romance at the end because of all the trouble it caused. Even though her father had the power to give her legs (proven at the end), she did not ask him to do so. She learned from her mistakes and grew, and curiosity about the world beyond her own is not a crime. A brave, kind hearted, sensitive, curious, loyal, and intelligent young woman: these are all things worth emulating. As for her rushing into things without a thought…well, she is sixteen.