The Little Mermaid Positivity Thread

[MrXemnas1992]

Nowadays it seems like everybody wants to bash this great film for bad reasons just to seem "progressive" and this once beloved film seems to be getting more and more hated...(and given how Disney listened to whiny internet people regarding Beauty and the Beast and "tried to fix it" with the live action version, chances are Little Mermaid's live action reboot is doomed)

So let's fix that and talk about why we love this film.

I'll start~
1) Ariel is the first non-passive heroine. Her flaws make her a more realistic character & she defies those who try to put her down and goes to pursue her dream.
2) Sebastian is awesome and hilarious.
3) Ursula is the best Disney villain...devious, cunning, vindictive, and terrifying.
4) The princess saves the prince and then he saves her, putting them on equal footing.
5) Fantastic songs.
6) Saved the future of Disney animation. Were it not for this film, we would never have gotten Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Treasure Planet, Tangled, Frozen, Hercules, Princess and the Frog, Moana, Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Wreck it Ralph, etc.

[DisneyFan09]

Really? I know that Mermaid always had it's haters and people who were criticizing it, but there's a lot of love for it here on the boards. In fact, my impression is that is more loved than hated. Just look around and you'll find praise.

As for myself, I like the movie for it's strenghts; The score, engaging characters, fun tone, nice visuals and good songs.

[Marce82]

To be honest, I don't really hear bad stuff about the movie, but about the CHARACTER ARIEL.

And it usually is stuff that people didn't really put much thought into, and they usually haven't seen the movie in ages. That whole thing about her "giving up her voice for a man" is crap. Pursuing Eric was the trigger, but her desire to live in the human world had been established WAY before him. And the oppression from her father is what really pushed her to give up her voice, which was her way of pushing against the oppression.

And yes, Ariel doesn't have much of a character arc (other than realizing the consequences of her actions: she does quickly apologize to Triton during the confrontation with Ursula).... but Triton DOES have a big character arc. And a VERY feminist one at that, where he learns he shouldnt oppress his daughter and let her pursue her life. What is more feminist than THAT???

I personally love the movie. I won't watch the live action remake cause a) I think its unnecessary and b) I see no possible way for them to have humans/mermaids talk under water and make me buy it.

[Jules]

When I saw its title on the main page I assumed this was a 2004-ish Timon/Pumbaa fan-era thread somebody had bumped, lol.

Not that I actually remember him bashing TLM - that was before I joined - but I clearly remember others making references to those events.

We're gettin' old.

[milojthatch]

I don't agree with the comments made recently about this film in the news. There is nothing wrong with showing kids this film and actually I'd rather show kids this movie than a lot of more modern "Disney" films. However, if I'm honest with myself, this is not my favorite of the classic Post-Walt films. I'm sure that mostly has to do with the fact that this film was very much aimed at girls and I'm not a girl. It didn't excited me as much as basically all the films that would come right after it did.

That said, I have come to appreciate that this film literally saved Disney Film Animation. I can also appreciate that a lot of the animation was fantastic and the songs were for the most part very well written and felt "Disney." Sebastian as a character was also very well crafted. It's no wonder he was used in other areas of the company, including DTVA. He was a great addition to Raw Toonage! And of course this film firmly established Jodi Benson, who has been a shining light in the world of animation voice over since. All positive things.

[DisneyFan09]

To be honest, I don't really hear bad stuff about the movie, but about the CHARACTER ARIEL.

Exactly. That's how I see it.

[milojthatch]

To be honest, I don't really hear bad stuff about the movie, but about the CHARACTER ARIEL.

Exactly. That's how I see it.

I'm not a fan of Ariel, but not for the same reasons a lot of other critics are. For me, I kind of find her naiveté a bit tiresome. However, as for the greatest criticism I have heard about her from others, that she "gave up everything for a man," I'd have to say it's not that simple and these people didn't really pay attention to the film. Also, even if it was that simple, there is nothing wrong with that if that's what the lady wants, but it seems that to some the right to decide how you will live your life is only valid if it alines with the views of the people complaining about such things, but i digress. Either way, she didn't give up everything for Eric, she traded her old life to be "part of our world." It's established early on that she's super into the human world, and Eric represents the mother load of that fandom. It doesn't hurt that he's good looking and ends up being nice, but her initial attraction is based on her geeking out over the human world.

Over the course of her time with Eric sans her voice, she does start to fall for him, but that's really just icing on the cake for her. Had he been mean, I'm sure the story would have gone differently, but it wasn't supposes to be that kind of story, so it didn't. If anything, Ariel was standing up for what she wanted to her father. That was the bigger deal in this story, the relationship between her and her dad, not Eric. Either way, being something of a fairy tale, I think it's asking too much to expect more depth to the story than that. These stories are meant to be simple. Despite that, Disney has usually done a great job adding a little more depth to stories that are very flat and meant to only explain a single virtue anyway, but even they can only do so much without it turning into something very different.