Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The summary of little mermaid
Fairy tales and love essay
The summary of little mermaid
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The summary of little mermaid
There are many things included in the original Little Mermaid that most people would be shocked by today. I mean, isn’t it hard to believe that the Little Mermaid never actually marries the prince, but rather she falls into the sea and turns into foam? In the new Disney version of the Little Mermaid there are many different things that were hidden from the original story by Hans Christian Andersen. From Ariel’s personality to her way of life, both of these versions are in fact very different from the other. In the Hans Christian Andersen version, the Little Mermaid was very shy and curious growing up. She longed for a different body, and she wasn’t that happy in her own. The Little Mermaid was in a way searching for her “immortal soul,” and
The Little Mermaid’s family encourages this, and her grandmother helps her to be able to do that. Her sisters helped her to find the prince, and to find out more information about him, as well. They traveled to the surface with her to see for themselves, and they each highly encouraged her to go find him. Her sisters helped her to find out where he lived, as well. In the Disney version, Ariel was forbidden from visiting and seeing humans. Ariel’s father believed that humans were dangerous, and he even set someone out to keep an eye on her. Most of the time, Ariel only went and searched for treasures under the water in sunken ships and treasure chests, but one time she did go to the surface. Whenever her father found out, he was angry. Her father didn’t want to see or hear that Ariel had been going to the surface to talk to or see any other humans again. Even with these rules though, Ariel continued to swim to the
In Hans Christian Andersen’s version, the Prince fails to fall in love with the Little Mermaid. “And he loved her as one would love a little child. The thought never came to him to make her his wife.” (Andersen, 1837) Though, if he never loved or married her then she would never receive an immortal soul or be able to become a mermaid once again. If he were to marry another, she would die of a heartbreak and turn into foam of the sea. The prince’s parents didn’t want him to marry anyone but another princess. The prince told the Little Mermaid that if he could choose who he could marry, then he would have chosen the young maiden that saved him from the shipwreck. At this point in time, the prince didn’t know that the young maiden was the Little Mermaid, and she didn’t tell
The first reason why Ariel is most like myself is because of her love for adventure. In the film, The Little Mermaid, Ariel wonders off to ship wrecks and swims up to the surface to speak to birds to identify human objects. She is always on the run for an adventure, much like myself. If I am not at home taking care of my family, we are out at the Kermit sand hills, taking last minute trips to Indiana, or spending the weekend at my families’ lake house. Like the quote in The Little Mermaid and on “IMDb” says, “If only I could make him understand. I just don't see things the way he does. I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad,” I too agree, the world is a beautiful, magnificent place and taking adventures and exploring is something that has always been appealing to me.
Anderson, Hans Christian. “The Little Mermaid.” Folk and Fairy Tales. 3rd ed. Eds. Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek. Toronto: Broadview, 2002.
According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which help them to obtain a man. They are often encouraged to use their looks and their body to capture a man’s attention, and having a curvy, petite body is required in all good Disney women. The Little Mermaid is a 1989 movie directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, where “A mermaid princess makes a faustian...
The Little Mermaid is well known to everyone, but which version is known best? Hans Christian Andersen or Walt Disney, both are very similar mostly because Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid was the most popular version of the story before Walt Disney.
...this way, Hollywood twists the unknown to make it more appealing to audiences. However, they can also just as easily contrast this by making the object less desirable, as seen in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. Where the Disney mermaid figure is flipped on its head and the beautiful innocent mermaid turns to sharp-fanged, devious, bloodthirsty merpeople. The general premise of the creature still appears, a half woman, half fish hybrid, however, being mythical creatures Hollywood can mould them into whatever they want, and whatever fits their needs most. There is no forced style everyone must adhere to as there is no evidence of their existence so Hollywood film studios can design their mermaid to whatever they want, probably to whatever makes them the most money. Completely depending on their target audience they could have anywhere between innocent and sinful creatures.
When most people think of the movie, "Cinderella';, they think of the animated Disney version with the little mice and the happy ending where Cinderella marries the prince and they live happily ever after. While the movie "Ever After'; is based on "Cinderella';, it is not animated, but still has many of the same characteristics as the Disney version. Of course it is not exactly the same, and since it is not animated there are many differences.
According to A. Waller Hastings Ariel didn’t have to face her consequences. The movie ends with Ariel’s father trading his life to the sea witch in order to save her. “Once again Disney’s heroine survives to find happiness thanks solely to the heroism and sacrifice of male characters” (O’Brien). Because of this, Ariel doesn’t grow or mature. Instead, everyone lives happily ever after thanks to the men in Ariel’s life (Hastings). Now, there’s nothing wrong with living happily ever after. However, this perpetuates an unrealistic expectation of life for impressionable viewers that abide by Mulvey’s theories on narcissism and how viewers may relate themselves to the object on the screen (Storey, 110). The image of a helpless damsel in distress being saved by men with no further consequences to her life is harmful because it may give viewers a distorted view of reality. The damsel in distress stereotype erases all of Ariel’s prior independence due to the fact that she has to be
In both versions, the mermaid meets the prince and he falls for her beauty, but he’s already betrothed to another. However, Anderson’s mermaid has to endure not only physical, but also mental and emotional hardships. She is unable to communicate with the prince to reveal she was his true savior, and with every step the mermaid experiences agonizing pain. Andersen’s mermaid has to stand by and watch her love marry another and her chance of an immortal soul slips out of her grasp. Soon after the wedding, the mermaid is approached by her sisters with an opportunity to return to the sea, but she would have to commit a terrible, and selfish act. The story goes like this, “Before the sun rises, you must plunge it [a knife] into the heart of the prince; when his blood sprays on your feet, they will turn into a fishtail and you will be a mermaid again” (Andersen). The mermaid faced a difficult dilemma, one that all individuals face—self betterment or selfless sacrifice. Andersen’s mermaid chooses selfless sacrifice, tosses the knife overboard and cast herself into the ocean. This ending is not what most would call happy, but it reveals some remarkable life lessons and an incredible depiction of selflessness. Not all stories have to have happy endings to satisfy a reader (Whitty); this story for example holds so much more depth, substance, and emotion because it does not have one. Disney chose a happier, predictable ending where Ariel marries the prince in the end; this ending makes it easy to smile, but lacks in allowing the reader to develop much more emotion than
The first thing to pop into one’s mind when they hear The Little Mermaid is most likely the Disney animated movie starring the beautiful red haired mermaid, Ariel. However, as with most Disney films, The Little Mermaid is an adaption of an original story written by Hans Christian Andersen in the 1830s. The creation of this classic fairytale into an animated feature required alterations from the Disney corporation, leading to a final product that is reminiscent of Andersen’s original story with added layers of American culture, sexism, and musical numbers. The initial release of Disney’s The Little Mermaid was highly successful both domestically and overseas, resulting in a total box office revenue of about 180 million.
Many pieces of literature give different perspectives and change over time. Some may incorporate the same characters along with the same concept, but some contain opposite perspectives of the stories. Cinderella has two different films that tell the same story but they contain different concepts throughout the films. While the 1950’s version of Cinderella does not reveal Cinderella’s mother, the 2015 film version reveals her mother and makes the step sisters more attractive
...gently every day and now has found the love of her life. Also, this version of Cinderella is more magical than the original which is more along the lines of today’s fairy tales. The movie Cinderella emphasizes that working hard and being well-behaved will result in an abundance of rewards.
As stated in “Where Do The Mermaid’s Stand”, Ariel was fascinated in discovering the human world. Her fascination reached the point where she was scolded by her father to never go above water. Sadly her fascination ended when she sees Prince Eric and instantly falls in love with him. Her motive then becomes to marry him and eventually join him on land. “Her interest in the role of citizen becomes supplanted by her interest in the role of wife”.
“The mermaid swam with her prince toward the beach. She laid him in the fine white sand, taking care to place his head in the warm sunshine, far from the water. She also had to give up her voice, which she had done so willingly, endure tremendous amounts of pain to have the legs of a human, and give up her life as a mermaid as well as never be able to be with her sisters at the bottom of the ocean again. The little mermaid passed all of the tests that the universe threw at her, but in the end, she did not get to marry the prince and this is a great example of a message from the author that life can be unfair sometimes.
Some of the exact differences between the different versions include, the fact that in the story we see that after the mother dies the father is still alive but he stays alive throughout the story and does not love his daughter the same as the other two girls. Whereas in the Disney version the father dies and that is when the stepmother and the two stepdaughters start to treat (Cinderella/ashputtle) differently. In the movie ?Ever After? we see that the father also dies and again that is when the evilness in the family comes out. A few other differences that were discussed include the differences in the prince's portrayal, in one version he was outgoing and honest, and in another he was very shy, and reserved but very dedicated.
First, the theme of The Little Mermaid really impressed me when I first read this story because it conveys a more realistic and cruel perspective about life. I always think this story is really special for kids because the end of this story is not as usual as normal fairy tales. From the original version of The Little Mermaid, readers can know that at the end of the story, The Little Mermaid actually became the foam because the prince got married with another girl. So, to make it simple, the whole story is about a mermaid who sacrifices her voice for feet in order to get married with her “Mr. Right”, but ends up her life miserably. I think the theme of this story is actually about “sacrifice”, and that is also what I’ve learned from this story. First sacrifice that The Little Mermaid had made is her voice, and what I learned from this is if you want something so badly you have to sacrifice although you may feel painful. And the second sacrifice The Little Mermaid had made is her life, and in order to see her lover...