First, the story isn’t originally by Disney. It’s by an author called Hans Christian Anderson, who brought us stories like The Ugly Duckling and Thumbelina.

In the original story, she saves the human prince from drowning and falls in love with him. However, when he wakes up, there is a girl from a convent up the hill who happened to find him while she was walking on the beach.

With the help of the sea witch, the mermaid becomes human, however not only does she not have a voice, but being how she’s supposed to have fins, it’s extremely painful for her to walk. As she’s trying to get the prince to kiss her (which is symbolic for him falling in love with her), he’s fallen for the other girl, thinking she was the one who rescued him. He marries her, and she becomes so sad, she dies. The spirits take pity on her, and turn her into an angel.

Disney’s version of The Little Mermaid is not at all what you’re saying it to be. And since this is my favorite movie, I can’t let you trash it without clearing up some points.

First off, the person who tells her to use her body language is Ursula. The villainess. She’s trying to convince Ariel to give up her voice, so Ursula can use it later to her advantage. So since Ariel doens’t know anything about humans, she tells her that human men prefer for their women to not talk much. As for the body language, people who are mute often use body language to get their points across. Ursula telling Ariel to use body language doesn’t necessarily mean for her to use her boobs to get his attention. But that’s what you want to read into it, she’s being told to do so by the bad person in the story. Also, she tells her that she could never return home because she would have turned the king’s daughter into a human. And as for her telling Ariel she could never come home, again, I have to point out that she is the villainess. Everything she is telling Ariel is to get her to accept the deal. She’s planning on using Ariel as a bargaining chip.

As for teaching kids that their parents are wrong, what it does is show children that parents aren’t always right. Look at the issue of slavery. Somewhere down the line, a cycle was broken, where a child saw their parents owning another person, and thought to themselves that was wrong. If we all believed that what our parents do or believe is the right thing, society would never evolve.

Her father, the king, believed that humans are evil. Ariel had the heart to believe otherwise. Through the objects she found in shipwrecks, she saw the good in humans, and believed in that. So when she fell in love with a human, it was that goodness that gave her the resolve to love him, even though it went against what her father wanted for her.

And even after her father found out, and told her that a relationship with him would be impossible, she didn’t listen. She had the courage to believe in her heart. And she set out to make her dreams come true. She didn’t wallow in the lot she was casted, or lament that she was a mermaid and he was human and they couldn’t be together. She made it happen by seeking out someone who could help. Granted, she went to the wrong person, but we all make mistakes.

She gets the prince to fall in love with her without the use of her voice to clue him in that she was the one who rescued him. Which I think is wonderful. He fell in love for who she was, and not the fact that she saved his life.

When Ursula interferred, and caused Ariel to fail, Eric went after her. Even after learning that she was really a mermaid, he loved her and he wasn’t going to lose her. He went up against a scary octopus woman, something he probably never heard about let alone seen before, showing just how much he loved her.

This movie taught me to not be afraid to love who I love, regardless of where they come from or if they are different from me, something I really don’t think my parents would support. It also taught me to go for my dreams. That I have to take steps to make them happen. And that if you believe in the good in people, they can surprise you.

In the end, her father realize just how much she loved him and turned her in a human himself. He knew he couldn’t keep her forever. So he let her go. And not only did she show up to the wedding, along with the rest of her family and friends, but he sent them off with a rainbow ( and presumably safe sailing).

Your assessment of the movie just shows that you weren’t really paying attention. Or maybe you were one of those people who swore SEX was spelled out in the stars in the lion king instead of SFX (for special effects).

I’m also going to assume you never read the original Hans Christian Andersen, http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_merma.html , because in that one she gives up her voice and home. And FAILS. Yes the prince marries someone else and will die the morning after. So her wonderful sisters give her a knife and tell her if she kills the prince as his blood pours onto his feet she will be turned back into a mermaid and be able to go home . But she doesn’t kill him instead she dies and becomes a spirit who must sacrifice herself for 300 years until she can earn a soul and go to heaven.

Disney version doesn’t sound so bad now does it.

let the children be kids for a while

when they can

you have nothing to do

if you are real mother you want your child happy

I guess it's too early to explain that the prince and cinderella are not in love, they just have The Hots? Yeah, though so…

I get around it by not really reading the actual story, just commenting on the pictures, and inserting my own editorials–"Now, Cinderella and the Prince only THINK they're in love, but they haven't actually spoken, so they're not REALLY in love."

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I know, the first couple of times I just thought "OK, strange coincidence" but now I'm like "What the fuck is your problem with moms??" Walt had issues.

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