By the late 1900s, approximately five billion human beings occupied planet Earth. Whether they crawled on top of comfortable carpets or scurried across dark alleys, five billion people carried the ability to not only walk on the earth, but also to shape it, to mold it with their footsteps. Among this era's sculptors that molded the ground below them with their various talents was Walt Disney, a man who grew up to become a film producer, a screenwriter, a director, an animator, an entrepreneur, an international icon and a philanthropist. With his imagination, ambition, and a little help from a special mouse, Disney transformed both the entertainment industry and international culture itself. He pioneered full-color animated cartoons, created "the happiest place on Earth", and introduced the world to inspiring family movies that to this day encourage both children and adults alike to pursue their dreams and chase happiness. However, while Disney's movies all end with a "happily ever after", the actual tales the movies are based on are far from happy; they are rather morbid, realistic and poignant. The Little Mermaid, Disney's movie about a young princess lusting after a prince, serves as an example of a story in which Disney strayed far from the actual tale. The basis of Disney's feel-good, family movie is Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, which shocks readers with the death of the mermaid's beloved prince, the mermaid's awareness of her physical pain, and the loss of her innocence. Analyzed through a psychoanalytical lens, both Walt Disney's and Hans Christian Andersen's A Little Mermaid displays female subjectivity in favor of a dominant patriarchal world.
Patriarchy is a social system in which men are the primary aut...
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...dersen's original story traces the little mermaid's journey to obtain a soul, something she cannot complete without both the help of a man and the sacrifice of her own femininity in order to assimilate to a patriarchal world. Disney's story takes the subjectivity of femininity even further by replacing the little mermaid's spiritual, self-fulfilling aspiration of an immortal soul with a lustful desire for love instead. The little mermaid's decision to give up her voice for legs in both Andersen and Disney's stories transforms her into a "woman [that] man wants her to be" rather than a "woman for herself" (Sells 180). Both versions of the mermaids hold the belief that they can gain love by suppressing their true identities. However, since they have no verbal communication skills and are mute, they can express their personalities only by relying on their appearances.
Back in the roaring twenties America was seeing such world-changing phenomenons such as The Great Gatsby, and penicillin, but what took the world by surprise was none other than Walt Disney and his lovable creation, Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney, throughout his entire lifetime and career, always had an idea, a spark, and a way to make things better. Even in the face of tough times, he never failed to keep his optimistic attitude and kind faith in humanity from infecting those around him. A major part of his success was due to the technological innovations that revolutionized the film industry.
Disney has made it his life 's goal to create home entertainment for both young and old. From the creation of Mickey to his work in films, Disney had made it clear that happiness is something that everyone should have. Disney had also know that animations is not just for the imagination of the children. Early movies such as Snow White and Pinocchio have clear messages for the younger views. “In Snow White- the main characters are victims of injustice who are eventually restored to their rightful place. In Pinocchio, the characters Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket and Geppetto are faced with dilemmas, and their own actions result in them becoming victims of ev...
In 1989, John Alvin created a stunning movie poster for the soon-to-be iconic movie, The Little Mermaid. His visual contains movement and depth that creates a sense of wonder when the viewer looks at the poster. At first the viewer might look at John Alvin’s The Little Mermaid and see a story about a forbidden romance between the two main characters that are artfully rendered in the middle of the poster. However, when looking closer at the visual, the viewer can begin to gather all sorts of messages from John Alvin’s use of symbolic colors to project certain meanings and his placement of specific images to portray sexual attraction. Even Alvin’s careful positioning of the characters on the poster helps the viewer to further understand the
Disney promotes sexisim by forcing young girls to live in a patriarchal world. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The little mermaid, Aladdin, and Snow White are all examples of popular Disney movies that encourage young viewers that they need a man to save the day. Yes, it’s true that there are recent movies such as Moana and Frozen that prove otherwise, but how long will it take to completely get over the fact that women are mainly viewed as secondary citizens compared to the men? There are countless examples of how Disney movies influence this theme, and how much the female characters’ actions, ideas and thoughts are not included in a Disney movie.
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...
Walt Disney, creator of all things “happily ever after”, renowned for his work in movies and tv, is not only a famous animator and film producer, he is also a pioneer in American history by changing the lives of many through his encouraging work in movies. Walt Disney is important to the study of American history because he created movies and tv shows that taught happiness and heartbreak to children. He taught them that being small cannot hold you back from being mighty and doing the right thing. He revealed different cultures to children, and broadened their views on the world around them. In doing this, he widened global communication and the understanding of varieties of cultures and ethnicities (4).
If children or adults think of the great classical fairy tales today, be it Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or Cinderella, they will think Walt Disney. Their first and perhaps lasting impression of these tales and others will have emanated from Disney film, book, or artefacts (Zipes 72)
Disney Princess movies target children and are none other than a transfigured fairytale story in which innocence and moral virtue are questioned. In pursuit of romance and having the mindset of doing whatever it takes for love, Disney creates this magical world and targets the youth, especially young girls. Walt Disney was a creative and “radical filmmaker who changed [one’s] ...
Unlike Little Roja Riding Hood, which was published during 2014, The Little Mermaid has details that would be considered morbid it today’s books (Elya, 2014). In the story of the Little Mermaid, the little sea princess finally got to go to the surface of the water when she turned fifteen. While on the surface of the water, a storm tore apart a ship carrying a prince. The little sea princess saved his life and fell in love with the prince. After a while, she decided to risk her life to try to get the prince to fall in love with her; if she could get the prince to fall in love with her she would become human and gain an eternal soul. Reading today’s fairy tales, you would expect the prince to fall in love with her and they would live happily ever after; however, during this period stories didn’t end this way. The prince found a bride and on the day of the marriage, the little sea princess had an option to kill the prince and become a mermaid again or to die (Andersen,
Produced in 2009, The Frog Princess is a Disney animation inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, The Frog Prince. Both The Frog Princess and The Frog Prince deal with a multiplicity of issues, all of which contribute to supporting positive messages and morals (Ceaser, 2009). However, though The Frog Princess is based on a classic fairytale, it is far from being the same. The writers at Disney have taken a classic fairytale and created a “Monster” (Prince, 2001). This essay will examine the evolution of the original Grimm Brothers’ fairytale, the messages both main characters represent, and how the adaptation to fit a modern child readership diminishes a classic fairytale. Through discussing these arguments, this paper will prove that Disney’s adaptation into The Princess and The Frog is counter-productive in representing the original story’s messages, morals, and values.
Once upon a time, there was a 16 year old mermaid princess named Ariel who gave up her voice, an important part of her identity, in order to be with a man who she became infatuated with at just one glance. Ariel has a very traditional gender-stereotypical role in the film, as the helpless, clueless, naive, physically weak, submissive, and attractive female protagonist that Disney films, especially the classics, portray so often (England). There is a lot of controversy surrounding this film in regards to its patriarchal ideals. The Little Mermaid, like most media, is build for the ‘male gaze’, a term coined by Laura Mulvey that suggests that visual entertainment, such as movies, are structured to be viewed by a masculine consumer. I will argue that the male gaze perpetuates harmful gender-stereotypes in The Little Mermaid.
The theme in Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, is knowing how to follow your heart and dealing with the consequences after doing so. The little mermaid makes up her choice to be with the prince. She has to leave all of her sisters, her father, and her beloved grandmother behind. She trades in her tail for legs that hurt her to walk on. All for a prince who does not end up loving her like the way she had hoped. These consequences that come after lay out her fate by the end of the fairy tale.
In both Hans Christian Andersons “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney’s version of the story, the main character— a young and beautiful mermaid— waits anxiously for her fifteenth birthday to venture from her father’s underwater castle to the world above the water. As the story carries on the mermaids priorities change; her modest and selfless nature is revealed towards the end in Andersen’s version. However, Disney’s version encompasses a rather shallow ending and plot throughout. The theme found in comparing the two versions reveal that Andersen’s substance trumps Disney’s entertainment factor in fairy tales.
In today’s modern age, young children are being raised by their TV screen. Reining from the original tales of Perrault and the Grim Brothers, the Disney princess line has been a staple on the screens since the 1930s (Do Rozario 1). However, these princesses have gone through dramatic changes to remain relevant to todays youth. The effects that can be influenced by the roles expressed in these types of films send mixed messages to the audience, causing them to ask themselves whether or not they should believe what the princess is expressing on the screen.
The text I will be deconstructing is the Walt Disney Feature Animation film The Little Mermaid released in 1989. The film was directed by Ron Clements and produced by John Musker. The Little Mermaid (1989) is the story of a young mermaid who gives up her voice in order to become human and find her one true love Prince Eric. I find the film to be incredibly significant, not only in its portrayal of feminine roles, the human body, and the willingness to sacrifice for true love, but in the film's vast audience and popularity. I will be using the feminist framework, as described in Critical Media Studies: An Introduction by Ott and Mack (2010), to deconstruct The Little Mermaid (1989).