Reading Response to Disney's (Sub)Version of Andersen's The Little Mermaid

As I was reading "Disney's Sub/version of Andersen's The Little Mermaid",  I was surprised at how bitter Trites was with Disney's version of this fairy tale. She criticized the story as being sexist and Ariel as a needy, male-dependent, manipulative character. According to Trites, Ariel requires a man to feel complete and her motivations to become human is superficial.

While I do see the validity in this argument, I can also understand Ariel's desire to pursue the prince and sacrifice her voice to become a human. She is of a young age (sixteen years old) and at this age, it is easy to mistake lust and infatuation for love, which often leads to reckless thoughts or actions. In Ariel's case, I don't think she was exhibiting the fact that she's "incapable or autonomy", but rather blinded by this new, fascinating emotion she was experiencing. Furthermore, at the mere age of sixteen, it is hard to picture the long-term consequences of an impulsive decision.

I think Trites is being too critical of Ariel and Disney's version of "The Little Mermaid". This is not to say that it does not have its issues (as mentioned in my previous blog post on my response to the film about why Ariel has to sacrifice being with her family) but I would argue that we need to cut Ariel some slack. She was innocent, naive, and filled with ideals of what her life would be on this land of humans with magical items. Ariel's wish is understandable because the grass seems greener on the other side.

Another flaw in Trites' critical essay is her argument against the prince. Trites asserts that the prince remembers the beautiful voice and physical attractiveness of his savior and wants to marry her. He does not attempt to get to know Ursula's personality, but marries her on the bases of her attractiveness and the fact that she possesses the voice of his rescuer. However, the film portrayed the prince as being under some kind of trance or hypnotic enchantment after hearing Ursula's voice (a.k.a. Ariel's voice). After reading this piece, I was kind of disappointed at Trites' reasoning and thought some of the assertions were unwarranted.