#“why did Disney get the Little Mermaid story so wrong??”

[shiny-jr]

Loved all your info about Empyrean with my last ask and left comments/reblog to it, and so sorry to spam your asks especially when you’re still working on this idea, but I’m just curious and want to hear whatever ramblings you’d like to share!

You mentioned Heartslabyul being inspired by Europe with a dash of volcanos via borders and I’m sure there’s going to be lots of references to the regions of origin for the fairytales/Disney movies for each. But are there other places of the world you’re drawing inspiration from, whether in real life or from Genshin too?

You’ve given teasers about Leona and Idia, along with the original premise post for a few of the other archons, are there any other backstories you’ve been developing for the archons or even the other characters?

Again, sorry to spam your asks but the more I look into Genshin, the more I’m excited by Empyrean and wishing you all the best in writing~!

So if y'all recall, my biggest qualm with Genshin Impact was the amalgamation of cultures and cultures as costume. I am NOT trying to do that here. However, here's the problem when it comes to implementing the twst x genshin au: a majority of the stories are based in Europe or have European origins. So that means that most of the world, if we go by that logic, would be European, which doesn't sit right with me.

So for story's sake, I think I'll imply in the story that the seven nations are the ones of the known world, and the most recognized due to their archon's power. I've considered maybe changing the setting of a nation, but that doesn't exactly sit right with me either. So that's why I stated here and like I said, it will be implied in the story, that there is another part of the world not even really known. That being said, I probably won't lean too heavily into the cultural aspect of the story. However, there will be mentions here and there. Keep in mind though, I belong to none of these cultures, so I'll try to research to the best of my ability but it's also why, like I just said, I don't want to heavily into the cultural aspect of the story, because by no means do I want to get something wrong and offend anyone.

Here's my thought process for the inspiration of each. Keep in mind, this is still very much a work in progress.

Heartslabyul: British Isles

If you thought this was gonna be any other place, then what the hell are you thinking? Riddle definitely has a British accent. The tea, the tarts, all that stuff? Very British, if you ask me. Of course there's the fact that the original author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is from Britain.

Savanaclaw: East Africa

After bit of research, I found several things. Such as the fact that many of the names from The Lion King movie are based off the Swahili language. Zulu is apparently also spoken in the opening song, The Circle of Life. Additionally, the Pride Lands are said to be set in either Tanzania or Kenya.

Octavinelle: Scandinavia(?)

I know a lot of people like to debate where The Little Mermaid takes place, but I'm basing this on the origins of the author, as he is Danish. Also, if you recall, I believe there's in game dialogue where one of the Octavinelle characters mentions how ice often makes it difficult for them to return home, thus suggesting that their homeland is very cold. Originally I did want to add a tropical location, but this complicates things.

Scarabia: Arabian Peninsula(?)

Yes, yes, there's the fact that the movie of Aladdin takes inspiration from Indian and other Southeast Asian cultures, but from what I've seen, the story seems to mainly derive from Arabic cultures. Aside for the fact that the story of Aladdin is said to come from the Islamic Golden Age and is from a collection of Middle Eastern folktales. If you research names like Kalim or Jamil, they do have Arabic origins.

Pomefiore: Central/Eastern Europe(?)

We all know the Brothers Grimm, yes? Authors of many fairytales, one of which being Snow White. Well, they're German. And, I mean, the archon is going to be Vil SCHOENHEIT, if that's not German sounding last name, then I dunno what is. Why did I include Eastern Europe? Because I personally HC a lot of the characters with accents and the accent I imagine Epel with is some type of Slavic. God, I love creative freedom.

Ignihyde: Greece

This one isn't even a debate. I don't gotta say why.

Diasomnia: Western Europe(?)

It is said that one of the earliest records of Sleeping Beauty was in a French book. If we look at some of the inspiration from the movie, it's said to take place in a French medieval kingdom. So yeah, it just made sense in my mind.

[kay-enemy]

What did Jason Todd miss while dead?

If Jason died in 1988 and was dead/catatonic/training as an assassin for 3 years, he might have missed such cultural touchstones as:

the sequels to Terminator and Back to the Future (1991 and 1989)

Disney's Little Mermaid (1989)

the very first nintendo gameboy (while this one was before my time, my sister had the color and I had the advance, you young'uns are spoiled with your backlit displays)

If he came back in 2005 and missed the 3-ish years before, he might have missed:

Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) (was this the source or a symptom of the pirate craze?)

The fast and furious sequel(s)

Rosie O'Donnell comes out

The Osbournes reality TV

low rise jeans, according to Buzzfeed (look I lived through the early 00s, I'm biased)

If he came back recently (not my jam but look, we gotta resolve the fanfic timelines somehow) he would have missed....covid.

[demigodofhoolemere]

Um, Disney… this was literally already the plot of the movie. Her motivations are pretty clearly not just about Eric (and even if they were — so what?). She’d been collecting things in the grotto for ages and sang Part of Your World, the song where she goes very into detail about wanting to take part in the human world, BEFORE she ever laid eyes on Eric. Tell me you haven’t watched the movie in a while without telling me you haven’t watched the movie in a while.

[ick25]

About The Little Mermaid...

I hate how Hollywood thinks that a strong female character has to kick ass and not let a man save them, she just needs to be relatable.

Growing up with the little mermaid made me realized how well written the movie was, Ariel was not a weak female protagonist that needs a man to save her from the villain. Actually, one of my favorite parts of the movie is when Ariel attacks Ursula out of rage after she turned her father into... whatever that thing was.

As a woman, how many times have you gotten angry at someone and wanted to harm them, only to be stopped abruptly by something or someone else? It doesn’t mean that you are weak, it just means you were caught in the moment and forgot that other people are bigger or physically stronger than you are. It also means that you are not use to fighting but you try to anyway because you are angry. That is what happened to Ariel, Ursula was stronger than her so she barely did anything, but at least she tried.

Shortly after this, Eric appears to save Ariel, even though he had no idea what was really going on, all he knew was that the girl he fell in love with was in trouble and he went to help. He was caught by Ursula’s eels but Sebastian and Flounder helped him escape, when Ursula was about to kill him with the trident, Ariel pulled her hair making her accidentally zap her precious eels.

This made Ursula focus her rage on Ariel and that gave Eric the chance to stab her with the ship. Because Eric decided to stay even after Ariel told him to leave, in the end, it was their love for each other that helped them defeat Ursula.

That is why I loved this movie so much, it was the first time I ever saw a Disney princess get enraged like that and actually tried to attack their villain. As a woman, I know I don’t need a man to be happy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to meet one! I am proud of being a girl, I like to look my best and am capable of defending myself when I need to, I can be strong and do things by myself, but I know when I need help and I value when others offer to give me a hand. 

Men or women, it doesn’t matter, we are all human, we make mistakes and we learn from them, and each individual have their own strengths and weaknesses. I know parents are afraid to have their daughters learn the wrong messages, but at least trust that they are smart enough to understand the good aspects of a well written story.

[waggtoon]

It feels like with the Disney remakes (and even some of the newer animated films) Disney feels afraid of any criticism aimed at their movies, so they want to make sure their main characters are as flawless as possible and that every single action they do is justified.

An example of this is the Pinocchio remake. In the original he skips going to school to become an actor, leading to him being imprisoned by Stromboli as punishment later on. In the remake he goes to school and gets kicked out, which is supposed to justify him skipping school to become an actor, but the whole plot of Pinocchio is that he's supposed to learn how to be a good boy. It's supposed to teach important morals; like go to school, don't go with strangers, listen to your parents, let your conscience be your guide, don't do stuff you know is wrong otherwise you'll turn into a donkey. In the remake they make the moral of "don't be bad" kind of pointless as Pinocchio did do the right thing, but he got punished for it anyway, so it feels like the moral of the new version is "Do whatever and you'll get the same results."

It feels like Disney saw all of those Cinema Sins videos with all the nitpicky critiques of their older films and took them all seriously, leading to the current state we're in where even "Poor Unfortunate Souls" the villain song in The Little Mermaid sung by the villain (AKA the character who is evil and we are not supposed to root for) has to be corrected to be "Progressive."

I'm all for progress and updating stuff, there are several pieces of media I love that fit in that category like Steven Universe, and the Netflix She-Ra series. Now some people don't like those, and I'll admit they have their flaws, but here's the thing... It's okay for media to have flaws, it's okay for characters to have flaws, you know why? Because people have flaws, it's what makes us human. It's how we deal with them and learn from them that makes us who we are, and what makes characters and stories so much fun and unique. If you give us nothing but main characters who never do anything wrong and already know the right thing to do... Well it's just kind of bland.

Are there elements of past stories in media that haven't aged well? Of course. Can some of these elements be seen as harmful? Yes. When retelling these stories should we try to update them properly? Yes. But we shouldn't try to avoid our stories and characters having no flaws whatsoever. Because to quote Duckman:

"The risk is better than the alternative: a steady diet of innocuous, child-proof, flavorless mush!"

Those are my thoughts anyway. Remember wether you're creating your own stories and characters or just a fan who enjoys them, it's okay for them to have flaws. Maybe it's accepting the flaws in characters which makes it easier to accept the flaws we have as humans.

Now to end this, a couple of Cartoon Network quotes which sum up my feelings:

[outsidethebeautybox]

How It Started: Part 1: The Fan Art

A little less than a year ago I started working on a webcomic with an aspiring comic creator from the Philippines.

I’d already released several chapters of my serialized web novel “Damsel in the Red Dress” at that time, and as we worked together on our comic project, this artist was reading my novel. 

For those who don’t know (which is probably everyone) my novel is about a Mexican-Navajo painter from Baltimore, Maryland. 

She’s a short, brown-skinned, Hispanic queen just like me, and one of the things that I love so much about this novel is how it gives me an opportunity to represent a different kind of beauty. My female lead is a heroine who (beautifully) lives outside the “beauty box” of cultural norms and beauty standards.

But, unfortunately, some people don’t care about representation as much as I do.

I’d been working with this artist for a few weeks when she decided that she wanted to do a ‘fanart’ of my novel’s heroine. I was both flattered and elated, and readily approved the idea. 

The artist asked me for a description of the character (so she wouldn’t have to go back through the whole book and piece the description together herself.) 

The summary I sent her was brief, but crystal clear in terms of color: The character had black hair and cinnamon brown skin.

So imagine my bafflement when, a few days later, the artist posted her “fanart” on Instagram and claimed that it was a drawing of my character.

The drawing she posted had the complexion of a Disney princess. I don’t mean Moana, Tiana or the new version of “The Little Mermaid.” She was Cinderella, Aurora, Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” white, and that baffled me and made my heart sink.

To be fair, the artist made two versions of the fan art. One of the versions had the cinnamon brown complexion I had described, and the other was fair skinned. 

I don’t mind people “reimagining” characters. The problem is, the fair-skinned version is the one that was put on the first slide. The brown-skinned version, the accurate version, ‘won’ second place, and the light-skinned version hadn’t been labeled an ‘AU’ or ‘Reimagining'.’

When I asked the artist why she did this she just said that she liked the light-skinned version better.

Sadly, brown and black girls have been swallowing similar sentiments for time out of mind, and honestly, it makes me so mad I could spit.

Maybe, after all this time, I should be over being bothered by this. 

Maybe, but I’m not, so that brings us here.

First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having fair skin or making fair skinned characters. Fair skin is every bit as beautiful as dark skin. But my character is not fair-skinned, and people of all complexions deserve to be represented in the media.

In my opinion, it is absolutely unacceptable to light-wash or bleach anyone’s skin, even if that “someone” is just a character.

In my opinion, media is one of the most influential things in the world. Even when we don’t care about politics or the news, we watch television, we read comics and we watch commercials (whether we like it or not.) Media, especially fiction, has the power to influence our thoughts and cultural ideals, and that’s why it’s so important that we use it to promote equity and love.

Hence, this blog “Outside the Beauty Box.”

This is a place where we can learn about and discuss the realities of colorism, light-washing, skinny-washing and all other toxic beauty standards promoted through the media. 

BUT, it’s also a place where we can encourage each other, promoting self love and diversity-positivity.

This is a place to learn about art, music, stories, (and more) that people are using to promote this message that I am so ravenously passionate about: 

“The bodies we were born with are BEAUTIFUL.”

There is no surgery, injection, device, accessory, or beauty product on planet earth that could make you more wonderful or loveable than you are right now.

So let’s get to sharing the love shall we?

Let’s start with an introduction! Leave a comment and tell me what country you’re from. What are beauty standards like on your part of the globe?

I’m also planning to do some interview type essays/articles on this blog, so if you have a story you would like to share about your beauty experience feel free to DM me and I’ll interview you. 

People from anywhere in the world are welcome (and encouraged) to share their stories. This is a home for everyone of every color (except green.)

Whether you’re detailing the reality of toxic beauty standards in your country or explaining how you came to love the skin you're in, both stories are equally needed outside the beauty box.

Come sit with us. We see the world through rainbow tinted glasses. 

For now, have a lovely day, beautiful people!

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

My thoughts on the new upcoming movie "Migration"

It feels wrong to get so hyped up over a movie before it comes out, but I'm literally obsessed with to find more info on this new movie "Migration" from Illumination. After they made that new Super Mario movie and did well, but Disney failed with StrangeWorld and the live action Little Mermaid, I'm glad smaller companies like Illumination and DreamWorks are becoming more popular. According to my bestie, who's a huge Illumination fan, Illumination made more than Disney! Honestly, I'm glad! The smaller companies need a chance to shine now, and Disney is overrated. Yet, I'm afraid to get too hyped over a movie I haven't seen yet because I was excited to see Wolfwalkers, until I watched it and got offended. Same with Zootopia when it came out, hated that too. I really hope Migration turns out to be everything I want it to be!

The main reason why I think Migration looks so amazing, I see ducks and that's a huge plus for me, since ducks are my favorite bird. Also, the setting makes me feel nostalgic in a way. It looks like Duck Duck Goose, a little bit, but it looks like it takes place in the U.S and I grew up in the north eastern part of the U.S. Duck Duck Goose had a different setting, but still looked incredibly beautiful. I'm honestly a huge fan of Duck Duck Goose and I'm glad to see a movie with similar designs and that focuses on the animals, barely showing humans. However, I'm glad that it doesn't feel like a rip off of Duck Duck Goose, because it has a completely different story. Migration is apparently about a family of ducks trying to migrate somewhere warm while avoiding predators, while Duck Duck Goose has a story about a carefree goose adopting two ducklings and learning to become more mature. I think I'm still going to have a special place in my heart for Duck Duck Goose, but Migration looks like it's right up my alley!

Trolls 3 also excites me as well, I'll talk more about that next time I make a post like this. I also keep my word when I say that Disney's overrated. For a while I was like "Oh I'm starting to like Disney" after seeing Encanto and Luca, but that didn't last very long because they went back to making pointless stuff. They're crapping one live action remake after another, of stuff that's not even old enough to be remade, but honestly Elemental and Wish don't look that good either. (Wish looks fine, but the animation is throwing me off). Elemental looks as bad as Strangeworld tbh. Us DreamWorks fans, tho... we're swimming in it! Chicken Run 2, Trolls 3, and Kung Fu Panda 4!? That's the best news ever, because those are my favorite DreamWorks movies (Chicken Run, Trolls, Croods 2 New Age, Kung Fu Panda, and Home are my favs)

Anyway, tell me what YOU think! Do you agree or disagree? I wanna hear others' ideas too.

[average-guy-reviews]

The Little Mermaid (2023)

"The youngest of King Triton's daughters, Ariel, is a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. Longing to find out more about the world beyond the sea, Ariel visits the surface and falls for the dashing Prince Eric. Following her heart, she makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to experience life on land."

While I do enjoy a good Disney film, and I do regularly use their streaming service, I am far from a huge Disney fan. I find theirs, and others, needs for constant remakes or reboots irritating. Yet something about this one intrigued me from the get go. I can't remember when I last watch the animated version, and it's been well over 30 years since I read the original story. Yet here I was, happily sat front row for the Mouse's newest 'life-action' offering.

Up to this point, the live action remakes/reboots from the company have been spotty. Other than Cruella (and even that was close), I haven't enjoyed the remakes. I have just found them poorly made, badly written, or just NOT live action, Lion King I'm looking at you here....it was just differently animated. It wasn't 'live-action'. With this film though the House of Mouse may have bucked the trend.

With four perfectly cast actors in the main roles of Ariel, Triton, Eric, and Ursula, they have given us a live action adaptation that pays homage to the original yet feels fresh at the same time. It isn't a full shot for shot remake but when it was it was delightful and spoke perfectly to my inner child. The scene on the rock with the wave crashing behind Ariel legitimately had me giddily clapping my hands. Throughout the film there were several moments that sent a ripple of laughter through the audience, and at the end a good portion of the viewers were clapping. It is an entrancing movie that will reignite a sense of childlike wonder in your head, even if only while in the cinema.

Halle Bailey, as Ariel, was exquisite. Her voice is so beautiful, and the changes made to some of the songs she sang were smooth and fitted the film perfectly. Her Ariel was a strong yet naive young woman, and she was fabulous in a role that is so iconic to so many people. I really enjoyed her performance, and I look forward to whatever she does next.

Now I need to be honest here....when I first heard that Melissa Mccarthy was going to be in this film as Ursula, I was disappointed. I don't like her. I genuinely cannot think of a film of hers that I have sat through and enjoyed. She'll never read this, but I'd like to apologise to her now. I was wrong. You were perfectly cast as the vile sea witch, and I don't say that to be mean or sarcastic. She brought out the malevolence of one of the most putrid Disney villains in a perfect way that I just did not expect. She was brilliant, and her version of Poor Unfortunate Souls was perfectly pitched to highlight the two-faced vindictive nature of the character while still trying hard to elicit a little sympathy. It didn't work Melissa you were horrible. Thank you.

Eric, played by Jonah Hauer-King, could have been played by Harry Styles, and I have to thank the casting director for NOT doing that. Hauer-King's Prince is a man of the people that is loved and respected, as well as a man out of place looking for his own direction. It was a delightful performance and easily the most believable of the main four. As for King Triton? The big fish of the seas, the king of the underwater folks, and a tough grumpy fella with a little nugget of gold in his heart? I honestly cannot think of anyone else that would have fit it as well as Javier Bardem. Bravo, sir....

But it's not all seashells and shiny rocks. Some of the CGI was lacking, in design as well as quality.....to me at least. I totally understand why Flounder and Sebastian couldn't look like they did in the animation. They were going for a more realistic vibe, and that's great, but the artistic choices for these characters were not well made. I definitely think they could have put more effort, or thought, into them. The worst CGI 'culprit' for me was Ursula in her giant final form. It just didn't look good and, while it didn't pull me out of the story, it certainly didn't add any more depth to the big climactic scene.

Overall, this is a really solid release from Disney and, again for me, easily the best live action adaptation of an animated classic. It has its issues, but it's a decent movie that I genuinely found myself enjoying immensely. It's getting a solid 7/10 with a recommendation to everyone to give it a go. Hopefully Disney have turned a corner with these adaptations, but let's see what they do with the angry blue alien...

[princessrainbowpastel]

✨🎶💕💔🏳️‍🌈💢

AAAA THANKS HON!!!!

Disney’s Hercules/Hercules the Animated Series is my current obsession so yeah lol

✨ what draws you towards your hyperfixation? what is interesting about it?

Well honestly I got drawn in from the villain of the movie: Hades (that’s literally how I get drawn into basically all my fandoms lmao I have an f/o in it and now I’m obsessed lol). But I love the twist they did for the Greek lore of Disney’s Hercules! It’s really interesting and I think Greek mythology is really cool and interesting too! I’m not a huge Greek mythology buff, but the movie as well as the series (and some anons on my Disney blog lmao) have taught me a lot of neat Greek mythology stories and fun facts!

🎶 if your hyperfixation has songs/an ost, what is your favorite song from it?

Lol well I have 3 favorite songs from the movie: The Gospel Truth II (because it’s pretty much Hades’ villain song since he doesn’t sing in the movie lmao), Zero to Hero (a bop and the video that made me fall in love with Hades/made me obsessed with the movie and series lol), and I Won’t Say I’m in Love (a certified banger)

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

…HADES 💙❤️‍🔥 he’s just this weird mix of ugly and handsome and I love that lmao, that seems to be my type lol. Also I just love that he’s different from other classic Disney villains and from what you’d expect him to be like. He’s not some dark and menacing villain that’s all serious and out for revenge, he’s this super laid back, sleazy, fast talking, schmoozing used car salesman of a god lmao. I also love that he has a secret soft side! It’s very rare to see in the show and even the movie (if you squint lol), but it’s nice and it shows that he really isn’t as cruel and heartless as he seems. ❤️

💔 tell us about one of your LEAST favorite characters and why you dislike them.

Oh jeez, that’s a hard one lol. Honestly, I love all the characters in the movie and the series spin off, so there aren’t a lot that I don’t like. I’d say maybe Zeus? I wish he were more considerate of his brother’s feelings and weren’t so naive about the fact that he’s unhappy with his role as a god and that the other gods don’t like him and don’t treat him with the same respect he gets (probably because Hades has done shady stuff in the past but still lol).

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

Heck yeah I do!!! I headcanon Hades as pansexual just because he seems like the type to be into anybody lol, I also headcanon both Hercules and Meg as bisexual because they both give me strong bi couple vibes lmaooo

💢 what do you NOT like about your hyperfixation? is there something you would want to change about it?

The movie? Well, I’d certainly give Hades his beautiful little flowery spring goddess wife. He deserves it, this dude has been through so much with his crazy father and his stuck up brothers lmao. But other than that the movie was flawless! As for the series….I’d change the entire plot. It’s supposed to take place before the movie like a prequel series (like the Little Mermaid animated series), but the thing is: THE ENTIRE SHOW ISN’T CANON TO THE MOVIE. Idk why but it bugs me so much lmao. Like don’t get me wrong I LOVE the show, but it’s pretty much an AU. Like Hades is the main villain of the series and Hercules is supposed to be in highschool training to be a hero (pretty much the series is supposed to take place during the whole One Last Hope montage), but Hades doesn’t even realize Hercules is still alive until Meg runs into him in the forest when he’s 18. Herc is like 16 in the show and constantly runs into Hades and the other gods. Tbh I don’t think Hercules even realized who his parents were until he was like 17 because I figured he had graduated by then and went to travel and find his “true self” and all that. But yeah, anyways lol sorry I always end up ranting about the canon divergence of the show 😂

[varianwinchester]

You know following @thestorytimeguy has made me realize of all the stories and history that have been neglected from different backgrounds. Latino and Aztec/Mesoamericano stories but also African and African American stories. But neglected I mean we hear so often iterations of the Brothers Grimm, Aesops Fables, Hans Christian Andersen, etc. and not those stories. Stories from a racially diverse background.

We are getting a new The Little Mermaid.

I’ve always been distant with these live action remakes because they seem like a downgrade to the beautiful original. Flawed as some of them may be these originals have worth. It is way much more worth than these live action remakes that offer more often than not poor soundtracks, extra time and for what? The same exact story! Nothing new is really not added! And if things are altered the changes feel weird because you know they are changes! And the special effects although props to all the workers, they just don’t have the same freedom animation has and can’t do the scenes already done good justice. They cater to the nostalgia of their older audience and leave their new audiences confused on these attempts sometimes.

I digress, anyways… this “Ariel” is black and yk the rest of her sisters are racially diverse too (I hope this is given a purpose like each sister comes from and rules a separate ocean of the seven seas, that would be cool) but like when Ariel’s actress was announced I wasn’t one of those people who were like “that’s not how Ariel is supposed to look like” but I also don’t see their reasoning. Is this supposed to be representation? Because even though there’s not really a “supposed to” for a mythical creature this is a white story. I do hope there’s a purpose like the aforementioned because then you have your POC with a story that is not their own. That is not REPRESENTING them.

I mean unless you do something exciting with a remake or retelling. Because Disney is doing both with this Little Mermaid- remember Hans Christian Andersen’s little mermaid was some different. I think like despite the story of The Frog Prince being German, the remix The Princess and the Frog put on it- showing the culture of New Orleans, putting role model relationships and a role model princess- is representation going right. Although yeah I agree the whole half a movie as a frog is a bit of the opposite of representation you still have the cast diverse (the crew could use some work but through the movie you can at least tell they did their research). There’s a new trailer of the upcoming Little Mermaid out… and the first teaser was honestly exciting I had hopes anticipating what they might do for this remake. How naive I am. This new trailer showed the EXACT SAME SCENES AS THE 1989 MOVIE. Dude the EXACT same dialogue. I know because I know it like the back of my hand! (Ariel was my sister’s favorite princess) How disappointing it was! I will say maybe a wider view “I-can-show-you-the-world” Under the Sea sequence sounds cool and the way Ursula’s tentacles lit up was real cool.

I had some disconnect when I saw Halle Bailey react to her Ariel doll. Which is amazing don't get me wrong! I really don't know why I felt this, maybe because she said Ariel was her favorite Disney character and now it looks like her. I hope I am not insensitive in saying that I don't quite understand that?

I mean when it comes to dolls I know there's like a whole other history and issues- some I am sure linked to film, so that is a whole other branch in topic. But my feelings I am referring to is besides dolls. More of referring to the argument that it is good for Ariel to be a POC for the young generations to see “themselves” in roles they would want to emulate. I do hope that kids aren’t limited by skin color. I hope that they don’t look at these animated princesses and think “I can never be them, I’m not white.” Be whoever you want to be in heart and outfits/dress-up. (A different story if literally working in parks of course.) It’s not like I don’t understand though what it means to see your color on the screen. Even despite dressing up as Cinderella and Snow White when I was young, having a favorite princess in the former, I still had felt this ethereal connection to Pocahontas. Although not my culture (not anyone's really) it meant something that she looked like me.

I guess that is what they are striving for with this remake. But we have on come so far from the thinking of the 90s to just take that now. On the matter of it doesn't matter what the princess or hell superhero looks like, let me clarify: yes that is a bit of a “colorblind” statement and I still stand by that for I contend it is the right kind of clot blindness for a child to have. But as adults, as movie creators, and occupants of this society that race was built into, we can't be colorblind because you neglect the trials, tribulations, and triumphs behind the race. And that is what this "representation" does.

That's what this new Little Mermaid is. I applaud the representation of movies like Moana and Encanto, their flaws still present, these films gave the adventure and role models and lessons and culture behind the ethnicity of these characters. The cast and characters delivering their own new stories. THEIR OWN.

Like aside from race representation, what I think would be a bit more than surface level representation would be casting queer actors in the roles of Ariel and Ursula. This movie and story is a queer allegory through and through. The mermaid who had body dismorphia, who didn't belong. That was the story when (possibly queer) Hans Christian Andersen wrote it and that essence remained in Disney’s 1989 adaptation – of course in their version the mermaid gets the happy ending well in the OG she did not. As far as I can tell Halle Bailey is not queer. Melissa McCarthy is a strong ally, and in fairness she has performed as a drag queen. Which if you didn’t know the design for Ursula was inspired by drag queen Divine. And she apparently "stays true" to animated Ursula. Which again- mixed feelings after all if you are going to make a live action, make it your own! Not a copy, not Will Smith trying to be Robin Williams’ Genie. Make it Will Smith being Will’s Genie.

But Ursula I think they went the safe route because although the queer community has pretty much claimed the sea witch as their own, the issue of and complexity of queer coding villains arises. Yet I’m still in favor for Alex Newell playing Ursula. That’s based on merit too! Like did you HEAR their performance on Disney’s Pride celebration?? Since maybe with that fan-cast other issues might come about, hear me out, instead of a live action Little Mermaid, what about- another Alex Newell featuring project- Once on This Island?!

Once on This Island is a musical adaptation of 1985 novel “My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl” by Rosa Guy, a Caribbean retelling of Has Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid. It was nominated for 8 Tony Awards back in 1991. It would be an excellent story to put to the screen! A fact that Disney even acknowledged. Disney+ announced a pro shot of the stage version back in 2020 and no one’s followed up, so here’s me following up!

[xoxardnekoxo]

Movie Review: The Little Mermaid (2023)

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Ah, Ariel. My favorite Disney princess. She's "my" princess. Ariel is the princess who introduced me to Disney (I was two years old when the movie came out), and I had a Little Mermaid themed bedroom for years. Bedding, curtains, pillows, toys, you name it. When Disney began making live action versions of their classic cartoons, I was hoping they'd follow suit with my favorite princess. And they finally did!

But imagine my disappointment at the casting... it has nothing to do with race. Those of us who grew up with these classic cartoons have certain expectations for the live action remakes. At the top of that list is the appearance of the characters. They should at least somewhat resemble their animated counterparts. The only character that even halfway resembled the source material was... (stops to think) Ursula and Vanessa. Halle's hair wasn't even red! /facepalm

But this post isn't about the casting. It's about the movie as a whole. As is customary with these live action remakes, there are going to be some differences and more than likely some extras. Let's begin with the first scene - text over water that literally says "But a mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more."

Well dang, that started out on a depressing note. That note is quickly followed by a scene similar to the cartoon with Eric on a ship and dolphins swimming nearby... except the ship's crew is trying to kill the dolphins, thinking they're mermaids/sirens out to lure sailors to their deaths.

Yeah, we get more of the siren lore/backstory this time around. This is the coral moon, which is when mermaids are known to use their voices to lure men to their dooms. Eric doesn't believe this, and we're then told that he was adopted by the king and queen, so he's not actually the biological prince of the island. They totally did that to explain why the queen is Black and Eric is white.

Anyway, we're then introduced to Triton and his daughters... and no, their names no longer all start with "A." A minor point, yet another example of changing a classic just for the sake of changing it. There was nothing wrong with the girls' names before... why change them? And man, Triton be a playa - the girls are all different races!!! But besides that, I wasn't a fan of their tails/seashells. They honestly looked like dresses with fins. Take away the fins and I wouldn't have thought they were mermaids.

We do get to see the great shipwreck/shark scene, and then we're introduced to Scuttle... who is not only now a female, but also no longer a seagull. No, the self-proclaimed human expert is now some different breed of bird that is capable of diving underwater. The story this time around is that merpeople can't go to the surface at all (well, actually, that was also true in the cartoon), so I guess Disney felt compelled to change Scuttle's breed to make Ariel seem more obedient?

Now cue Ariel's iconic song, then she hears fireworks and swims up to the surface and we see Eric's ship for his birthday... then a storm comes up, the ship crashes, fire breaks out, yada yada yada... you know this part. Ariel saves the human, drags him up onto the beach, he wakes up to her singing but can only make out her silhouette against the sun, and then becomes obsessed with finding her. He uses practically every resource in the kingdom to find a girl he barely got a decent look at... much to the chagrin of the queen, who forbids him from going on any more voyages. And then we get to endure a completely unnecessary musical number by the prince about how he wants this mystery girl to find him and how he's basically being called to the sea.

Yeah, the song was completely pointless and I found it to be bland. But anyway, after that, we get the inevitable father/daughter argument that results in Ariel's grotto getting destroyed, and as she's (dry because of no tears) sobbing, Ursula uses her crystal ball to visit her and lure her to her cave. Yeah, her eel henchmen don't speak in this movie, but their eyes do their spy function.

We're then told that Ursula is Triton's younger sister. So I guess that's why, for 34 years, she's harbored a grudge against the Sea King. Sounds like a case of sibling rivalry/jealousy to me.

So yeah, obviously Ursula's grand plan is to use Ariel as bait to get to Triton in order to obtain the trident. She tells Ariel she'll give her legs and if she and Eric share a kiss before the sun sets in three days, she'll be a human forever... but at the cost of her voice. It's not just her voice anymore. It's her siren's song. Essentially, a mermaid without a voice is an empty shell, in Ursula's eyes. Okay then.

Now, a question that's plagued many for more than three decades - why did Ariel not just write down her story for Eric so he understood what was going on? Well, that part gets addressed now. Ursula sneaks a memory loss thing into her spell, so whenever Ariel is questioned about kissing Eric or anyone mentions it to her, she immediately forgets, so she has no idea that's what she needs to do.

So during Ariel's time on land, we do hear her singing - it's meant to be her subconscious. Because Disney had to warrant casting someone with such a great singing voice (according to them) being mute for a big chunk of the movie. Anyway, Ariel does eventually wander into Eric's "hobby room" in the castle where his maps, telescopes, and items from his adventures are. So really, the two are a lot alike - they both feel trapped in their own homes and desire more. So of course they're bonding.

So eventually we get to the "Kiss the Girl" scene, and it's been stated that some of the lyrics had been changed. Actually, some lyrics in "Poor Unfortunate Souls" were also changed, because apparently after 34 years, some of those lyrics don't hold up well.

So eventually Eric leans in for a kiss, but because of the memory loss thing, Ariel pulls away. I mean, she was leaning in at first, but then she's like

Yeah, the lyrics were changed because there was supposedly an implication that Eric was forcing himself on Ariel in the cartoon. Uh..... Ariel was 100% on board for that kiss, and it was the whole POINT! That's what was needed to break the spell and allow her to stay on land! He was hardly forcing himself on her!!!

This time around, if anyone was being forceful, it was Sebastian with all his coaxing Eric to kiss Ariel. Geez!

So then Vanessa makes her debut, and we then have to sit through an annoyingly pointless tune of Scuttle going on about the "scuttlebutt" of how Eric is going to propose... That was super annoying and absolutely unnecessary. Just say it!!!

Enter the engagement announcement party (no, not a wedding, just an announcement of one) at the castle (not on a ship), and of course Ariel's tail pops out, Ursula turns back into an octopus, and the queen is all OMG the sea creatures are gonna come back and kill us!!!

This time, instead of Eric getting on one of the ships brought up by Ursula, Ariel does it and uses the ship's wheel to steer the giant harpoon-like thing at the bow into Ursula. Eric wakes up and Ariel is gone, and the queen is like, "Our worlds weren't meant to be together." Or something like that. Talk about a mood killer.

But then Triton makes Ariel human (of course), and they get married, and set off for those "wild, unchartered waters." And now all the merpeople can come to the surface, so we get to see them and the humans being all harmonious.

And... end. Yeah, no rainbow in the sky created by Triton. What a missed opportunity that was.

So yeah, I didn't see this movie in theaters out of principle, and I didn't buy the DVD/Blu-Ray. I just watched it on Disney+. Some things were good, as I anticipated they would be, but honestly, they could have done so much better. Eric didn't need a song, and neither did Scuttle... and Ariel literally wore the same dress the entire time she was human. You can't tell me that huge palace didn't have more dresses she could wear. And no, we don't see her dinner dress (the pink one)... in fact, that dinner scene never happens. The "using the fork as a comb" thing happens when Eric is showing Ariel the market, when Jodie Benson (the original voice of Ariel) gives her something to eat with the fork.

I'm still not completely on board with all the race/gender changes. By doing this, it just tells Disney that it's okay to do that for every single remake. Snow White is going to be a train wreck... they can't even get the story right for the TITLE. These live action remakes are getting worse, honestly. Changing just for the sake of changing is a stupid reason to do so. There's a reason the classics are classics.

I'm not saying this movie was horrible. But I am saying it could have been better. Could have been worse, too, though, so... kind of a double-edged sword here. Out of principle I don't want to give the movie a high rating because of all the changes, most notably the casting of "my" princess... again, not because it's a race thing, but because it's a principle thing. But regardless, I'll go ahead and give it 7/10. My biggest gripes are the added songs that were more annoying than anything.

[sherbet-shark]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

A twisted wonderland theory ft. @anevilbunnyinthehat and @twistthedias I (Sherbet Shark) 

@pianoperson /@pianostarinwonderland​ pspspsps h-here’s the theory I’m sorry idk which acc you use most for twst ;-;

Sources used: Shel_BB’s Twist fansubs on YT, ENG ver of Twist, JPN ver of twist, Twist Wikia, Disney’s Pinocchio (lore), The Last Unicorn (lore), Cinderella 2: Dreams come true (lore), and various Chats.

Trigger Warnings: The following post contains Dark themes such as Psychological damage, Sensory overloads, Torture, War, Laws, Breach of Animal rights, Human trafficking, and Human rights.

Word Count: 2.4k

This theory does not support the above reasons but rather an idea for finding potential reasons why transformation potions or spells have been outlawed or forbidden within the Twisted Wonderland world using lore and evidence within the game. By clicking the “Read More” cut-off, you consent to read this post and expose yourself to these topics.

Bunny first brought up this theory in our private discord server, with her theorizing that the talking animals are the ancestors of the beastmen we now see in the game. Then evolves into morality and potential dark history along with transformation magic.

      In Twisted Wonderland, many characters say that making transformation potions and spells is banned/outlawed, but there is no reason why. We, the player, have no background in the matter, and it’s implied that this law has been around for quite a while since the law’s passing. Hence the following screenshots of characters stating the matter. The talking animals from The Lion King, Little Mermaid, and many other Disney movies are often referenced by the characters they are based on; Ruggie speaking of a Warthog and Meerkat being the royal guards to the Prince the age of the King of Beasts (Scar). The characters in the game often mention the creatures of their respective areas and stories, talking, and actions the characters have done in their respective films.

  Still, with a slight twist, as seen in the below screenshots, as seen within these pictures, we can tell that the transformation market was huge and growing either by obtaining the materials or hiring a powerful magician to assist in this massive change for their clientele. The Sea Witch comes to mind in this game. The Octavinelle dorm students Azul, Jade, and Floyd, mention her story as someone that nearly perfected her transformation from a mermaid to a human but with the slight setback of her proper form would appear in mirrors. There is a plethora of referencing with the Twist cast of this ability and skill. So, this brings many questions into the light. 

   Did strictly mages or Magicians create these types of magics for animals, or did the people that wanted this ability get the materials for the potions. This previous question then leads to the ultimate question: if the market for this was booming and bursting to life, who decided it was wrong and made it illegal. What transpired to make this a universal law in the world of Twisted Wonderland?  Yet no explicit explanation for the sudden downturn of this desirable commodity.

With these questions in mind, this is where our theory starts. Perhaps the reason for this implementation was a breach of mortality and humanity. An example from another piece of media is 1982’s animated The Last Unicorn. I, Sherbet, have an intense connection to this film. While its appearance may be lighthearted at first, it is very dark on a deeper psychological level. It is very dark but impactful in what I want to speak of within this post of rambles and moral greyness.

    For those that have not seen this movie or need a small recap of the basic storyline, is that the main character, an unnamed Unicorn is the last of her kind and is soon endangered by the Red Bull. She then starts her journey to find out why she is the last unicorn and evade the beast after her. Upon this quest, the mystical beast joins forces and befriends a wizard (Schmendrick) and a woman that loves unicorns (Molly). These two side characters are essential. Now bear with me. The Unicorn, later in the story, is transformed into a human by her wizard companion to escape the Red Beast. 

In the aftermath of what he had done, the wizard is elated that he ‘saved’ the last unicorn, yet Molly, the woman that loves unicorns, yells and criticizes his actions. I was very young when I watched this movie, and I didn’t understand why Molly was upset because the Unicorn was alive and safe, yes? She is physically safe from the Red Bull, yet as I rewatched it. I understood the reason for Molly’s outburst of anger and hate.

  Unicorns are not humans. Unicorns are otherworldly beasts, and in this setting of the story, they are not supposed to feel human emotions. Unicorns are immortal beasts with a protected mentality from human woes. Unicorns are supposed to be pure, oblivious, and unaging creatures. But immediately, as Schmendrick cast the spell to turn the Last Unicorn human, the wizard at the same time killed her, the last free Unicorn. He killed the innocence that these beasts are revered for having and blessed with having. The naive wizard exposed her to so many new things that she should have never been exposed to in the first place. 

   When the Unicorn wakes from exhaustion and realizes what was done, she has a crisis and an overload of sorts, saying she can feel this mortal body dying with every breath. This movie has a somber tone, and not all of these characters have happily ever afters at the end of this animated movie. But this does take the morality of the character’s actions and will affect the others’ lifetime. With this vital moral greyness and psychological damage that both parties would inevitably endure,  I will now bring into this essay a Disney Film that also tackles the same topic but in a more lighthearted manner than The Last Unicorn.

In stark contrast, the other movie I will be discussing is the spinoff of Cinderella. 2002’s Cinderella’s Dreams Do Come True. While is followed movie Cinderella three: A Twist in Time is undoubtedly the most popular of the two sequels. A segment of this is lighthearted compared to the previous movie’s topic of animal transformation, and I still wish to explain my reasoning and how it backs up my theory. This story is in the middle of the film, with Jaq, the mouse, as its star character. The little talking mouse deeply cares for Cinderella and wants to be helpful to her but believes that he is too small to lift the burden on the princess.

    The Fairy Godmother then transforms Jaq into a human man to get what he wishes. Jaq tries to help his friend Cinderella, yet he’s pretty inept in “being human,” he speaks in broken sentences while talking and forgets that he now isn’t a mouse, which leads his mouse friends to be scared of him when Jaq tries talking to them. Jaq has an evolved cognitive ability, and it’s shown in the beginning that the former mouse has a hard time walking bipedally. At the same time, you can argue that he shouldn’t be that inexperienced in walking on two feet since the movies showed him to be able to walk normally while in his proper form.

We can say that the size difference and cognition would be a huge problem for animals going through this tremendous change. Throughout this section of the movie Jaq is torn, stay human while he has to lie about himself and to Cinderella or return to his former self and be content with who he truly is as a mouse. Throughout this show, Jaq must come up with a lie about who he is, and he must learn of the social cues that we humans are already accustomed to, not including the societal norms of the time. Something that Jaq visibly struggles with as time goes on. Jaq then wishes to become his true self and return to his life.

But there is something more to consider in this theory. All animals show some semblance of human attributes. But there are normal animals in the Disney franchise and in real life. These reasons make me think of the possible outcomes of forcing a feral animal into humanity,  another life form into feeling things they shouldn’t, and experiencing things they shouldn’t know. Would making a human into an animal make the person in question lose their cognitive ability to speak, think, reason, and abstract thinking. Would these capabilities slowly deteriorate the longer the person was forced into this other form? Would the power and potency of this magical spell or potion affect the person?  

In contrast, this Disney film is lighthearted in this fictional topic, what if in Twisted Wonderland. These ideas came together and clashed in the aftermath of these transactions—the psychological damage, the choices, the laws, the magical power, morality, and humanity. Must be put into consideration. These previous reasons have led me to theorize that there was a possibility that magicians forcibly transforming humans may have been used as a weapon, most notably as a piece of torture and war. Sam added to this theory that it’s pretty angsty if you think of the difficulty of an animal group morphing into a human population and vice versa. How would society label a former beast as strange or odd in the eyes of other humans if, say, the former beastmen or women had no trace of their true heritage? Say, for example, we take the mouse example, and they do use transformation magic with no mouse ears or tail. No one would suspect that this person was any different from other humans. However, depending on many variables, this person’s former animal would have an isolated life because of their lack of knowledge.

Let me speak more about this taboo magic. Imagine war and war crimes. There are no doubt wars and atrocities in The Twisted Wonderland world, and a canonized example of its history is Lilia Vanrouge and Professor Trein. Let me illuminate that Lilia is a decorated soldier and implied to be very aged. No doubt he has seen, heard, or done things that are atrocities in modern times of Twisted Wonderland. Transformation magic could be a form of torture.

 If you’re a prisoner of war, a wizard could hypothetically turn you into multiple animals and give punishments. Through this hypothetical situation, the powerful wizard or the soldiers would put you through the torturous experience of slowly losing your humanity throughout the duration of their punishment. Another example of a Disney Film that has tackled this transformation problem is Disney’s 1940s Pinocchio. Two cases in this movie are the little wooden puppet himself and the Pleasure Island. Pinocchio’s story is an excellent example of what this theory could have done in this game. Previously a wooden doll, Pinocchio must discover what is right and wrong. 

    Drawing from these details, Pinocchio, now a sentient boy and mentally still a tiny child, he’s starstruck and whisked away by his desire to be human with the glitz and glamor of fanciful lies told by adults. Pleasure Island is a cursed island that turns the little children into donkeys the longer they stay and play on this cursed land. Later in this movie, we can see a scene where the ringmaster sells the children turned donkeys but not before he checks that they can still talk and have their humanity. Because there is a reference and event in the game, Wish Upon a Star. The idea of human trafficking being the reason for this taboo is a viable reason, but since this is Twisted Wonderland, the lore may be different.

  This law wasn’t created to protect animals solely, but to ensure this theorized event would never happen again, it does its best to encompass its protection for all beings.

   Now let’s look in-depth once more. Would implementing this law have a paper contract showing a magician’s and the buyer’s proper consent to show that both parties have permission?

While polishing this theory and taking sufficient evidence with eng TWST, I had a thought come to me, and this would cover the other end of this dark theory but still sorrowful. In Floyd’s chats with Azul, he asks his dorm leader why the Great Sea Witch changed her appearance, and from his words, “She’s cute and strong as an Octopus.” 

     This evidence leads me to think, what if a merperson or beast-men down the line wanted to become fully human, shed their animal-like traits, and form for love or, more like, the infatuation of another person. Changing yourself because you believe that the one you’re in love with would hate you for who you are isn’t a foreign concept, even in this twisted game and in real-life media. The change always leads to the character’s discovery of self-love or an unparalleled amount of regret. This transformation could easily be a small detail that also contributed to the illegality of this type of magic.

But there is a difference between a species with the same capabilities as humans, for example, Mer-people, as we can infer these people have been elusive. However, they can still be classified as humans compared to animals with no comparable cognition.

    While there are slight changes between the Fansubs and Official translations, the message is clear: transformation magic is illegal. You have to be highly powerful to concoct a spell or potion, even if you don’t have magical powers. It’s implied that Crowley, a headmaster of one of the prestigious Magic institutions, has some leeway. These academies have exceptions because some students may not be able to be on land for long periods. An example is the Octavinelle Trio, which has said that they take medicine or potions to stay human. As seen below screenshots.

(Shel_BB’s Fan Sub) (Eng Ver)

(Shel_BB’s FanSub videos, Chapter Two part 26)

(Azul’s chats with Floyd)

(Jade’s Chat with Azul) 

(She_BB’s fansub video; Prologue Chapter 5) 

Note: I looked up the difference between “Transformation” and “Transmutation,” and Transformation is where the genes in a lifeform are altered through gene transfer. Transmutation is changing the appearance entirely through a mutation, and most likely what the ancestors from Sunset Savanna experienced. 

That’s the end of my tangent, please if you have anything to comment or question please go ask it! (As long its not veiled harassment its all good!!) Again, thank you for reaching the end of this theory!! I’m pretty proud of how it ended up looking like and how I worded things. 

[lowkeyclueless5137]

Ok! I think I found out from who is Jack twisted from!

There is this big mystery among the twst fandom, revolving around Jack. The question was always:

From who/what is Jack twisted from?

Now hear me out... I looked over other theories and pieces of fanart and found something similar: Jack was always associated with characters from the lion king story... (or I some cases the wolf from the red riding hood, but we aren't counting them, cuz that not Disney movie)

Which hit wierd with me... like... a wolf man is based off rafiki?(idk if I spelled it wrong, also no hate towards others who associate Jack with them, it's completely valid)

And then I re-watched the twst ep/books 2 and 3...

I noticed that Jack was actually more present and more active in ep/book 3 rather than 2... And it hit me wierd again, cuz why? Literally why?!

So I decided to grab my Little mermaid storybook(with photos ofc)

And that's when I saw this mf:

(Photo from Google)

And I thought: "Wait, he looks almost like Jack's wolf form..."

And that's when it clicked

Jack might be twisted from Max, Eric's dog!

And here are some motives as to why:

Max is often referred as Eric's best friend. I mean... Man legit risked his life to save Max... Jack is considered our friend in ep/book 3

Jack is very loyal to his friends and his values, which makes him sometimes back off from using dirty tricks(as seen in ep/book 2-3) just like a dog...

Max also showed in the movie to not be pleased by the statue on the ship, which was kind of a far-fetched gift for Eric, who most likely didn't want it, making Max to express to a degree Eric'sreal opinion... Jack is aware of our opinion in ep/book 2 and agreed that yes, it was exaggerated from savanaclaw... Aldo in ep/book 3, Jack was mostly talking on our behalf too, showing that he shared a similar mindset when it came to the contracts...

Max helped Eric to notice Ariel on the shore and more often than not, Max was against Vanessa/Ursula, showing that he considered her an enemy against Eric. Max even contributed at busting the Eric-Vanessa wedding... Jack also showed to be protective of us throughout ep/book 3 and also he contributed at busting Azul...

Side note: in the movie, Sebastian and Scully actually ripped off Ursula's necklace, which I found funny cuz Leona and Ruggie destroyed the contracts...

Wolfs also are from the dog family :3 And Jack is often called by the others pup, doggie, etc...

Max was easy excited by things, much like Jack gets excited in ep/book 3 by Octavinelle being underwater...

In ep/book 3, we/yuu/mc represent (by most theories and assumptions) either Ariel or Eric... I would say that Adeuce and Grim Represent Ariel(as they failed to fulfill the contract like Ariel in the story) and we/yuu/mc represent Eric... (bc Eric was the one who defeated Ursula in the end) hence Jack as our companion makes sense.

We/yuu/mc came from 'the land'(another dorm/world/mindset) and so did Jack(same motives -the world part) which makes us 2 the only ones with a 'different background' (motives, dorms and mindsets)

Also Max is super mega fluffy and so is Jack in his wolf form, but that's my opinion

With these motives, I hold my lil argument... I might be wrong, I might be right... who knows... This is my lil shitty theory...

Thanks for coming to my chaotic Ted Talk... bye ✨️

[bigfrozensix]

When it comes to The Little Mermaid II, it isn't one of my favorite sequels, but something I remember kinda disliking about certain parts of the fandom was pitting Melody against Ariel and people saying that Melody was "better" than Ariel because she didn't had a love interest, saved the day and "didn't left her family for a man", there was a sector who believed that Melody's motivations were stronger than Ariel's because apparently "Ariel had no problems" while Melody was bullied by her peers. I mean, both their motivations were valid? Ariel didn't feel like she was part of the sea: she had to hide her interests from her own family, her only friend in the sea was Flounder (even if we take in account the TV series, notice that all the characters Ariel tended to befriend were outcasts, if anything the popular girl tried to take advantage of her) and as we have say plenty of times, Ariel wished to be human way before she saw Eric and her catalyst to see Ursula was Triton destroying her grotto. This trend of pitting female characters against each other to prove which one is better is something I always have hated. Besides, you can't compare a 12 year old child with a 16 year old teenager: obviously Melody couldn't leave home as Ariel did, because Melody is still a child who is growing up, while Ariel's story was one of coming of age, of leaving her home to start a new life - and in fairytale logic, 16 was the equivalent of 18 back then.

(And let's not start that unlike Ariel, Melody wasn't stuck in the deep of a whirpool with a giant Morgana trying to kill her with a trident. The circumstances are very important to consider of why Ariel couldn't kill Ursula herself. Just saying)

Sorry for the late reply, I needed a moment to mentally recharge after my vacation in London.

Ah yes, the age old tale of pitting female characters against each other with the always misogynistic "a female character without a love interes is automatically stronger" argument.

How people can say that with their full chest without realizing they're literally saying "a woman's worth is tied to her relationship status" is absolutely beyond me. Gotta love those faux feminists that think the only way to praise women is by kicking down the "wrong" ones.

I honestly didn't really grow up with the TLM series (Disney shows aired all over the place here until we finally got Disney Channel in 2009), but I finally watched it in full on Disney+ and it's definitely really good at expanding on the world building and Ariel's life before becoming human.

It shows how though Ariel has a good relationship with her father, it's always the human world that wedges a rift between them. A rift that only seems to be getting bigger the more Ariel's interest in the human world grows.

We even see Ariel started her grotto in the first place, because she already knows bringing her human treasures back home results in Triton destroying them. She even admits to being scared to come home when she got stuck to a human item... and if that's not a red flag, I don't know what is.

As someone who grew up with a dad who's a lot like Triton (caring, well-meaning, but having anger issuess) I feel Ariel's reactions to Triton's anger SO MUCH. Loving your father but also being scared of him is a very complicated emotion.

I'm not sure where I was going with this... I just have a lot to say when it comes defending Ariel from faux feminists who don't understand her character.

[fairestwriting]

Hi its my First Time with a request and i am pretty shy + english isn't my First languege but i wanted some hc's with the dorm leaders and jamil watching a Classic Disney movie like watching the sleeping beauty with malleus or the Little Mermaid with Azul???

i will do jamil and kalim in the same paragraph so it doesnt go over my character limit!!

Riddle Rosehearts

Riddle missed a lot on children’s movies because of... obvious reasons, so when you ask him to watch Alice in Wonderland with you he’s actually rather excited for it.

The way he watches it is very... earnest, if that makes sense? He takes the movie rather seriously. He gets you two snacks to eat while you watch it, even, fully intending to have a good time with you. It’s cute.

He thinks the movie is just fine. He finds the animation pretty and may comment on it a few times, though the protagonist does get on his nerves a bit, sometimes, and he doesn’t think the Queen of Hearts was all that bad, which is an opinion he’ll make sure you know.

Leona Kingscholar

It was definitely your suggestion. Leona complains about it but, well, it’s a low effort activity, and he knows he’ll end up falling asleep 1/4 into it anyways.

The songs annoy him. He’s just not a musical fan -- He’d be able to pay attention to the story better if they weren’t singing all the damn time, he says.

Doesn’t actually fall asleep during it because Scar’s plot grabs his attention. He’s surprised to see him kill someone onscreen when it’s a children’s movie, and then he’s grumbling about how it made no sense how the kingdom withered away just because of Scar being king, then heals because Simba comes back. That’s ridiculous and bad storytelling.

Azul Ashengrotto

When you invite him to watch a movie like that, he’s kind of skeptical about whether he’d enjoy himself or not, but he’s fine with doing it for you.

He doesn’t expect to get so invested in it, honestly. It begins with Ariel’s naivety just stressing him out, then Ursula shows up and Azul is ranting at a children’s movie. Why are they framing her as the villain? She’s just doing her job!

You finish the movie and he hasn’t stopped talking yet. Ursula did nothing wrong, she didn’t even coerce Ariel to sign the contract! See, it’s just her fault if she didn’t read the terms properly-- It’s kind of endearing how much he gets into it, really.

Kalim Al-Asim + Jamil Viper

It was probably Kalim’s suggestion. He found this cool new movie and he wanted to show it to his two favorite people in this world! You’re probably having a sleepover along with it.

Jamil is just exasperated. Why are you watching a children’s movie-- You know what, nevermind. Meanwhile, Kalim just sings along to the songs in the background.

Kalim takes the story as it is, he loves Aladdin and the Genie and he won’t shut up about it. Jamil looks vaguely annoyed, he does agree with Jafar in some level, thinking the sultan had it coming, really, but he finds his character so annoying for some reason...

Vil Schoenheit

Vil is an actor, and he’s definitely done children’s movies before, so when you suggest to watch one with him he’s open to it. Sure, there’s merit in every kind of art. He does hope it is as entertaining as you make it seem.

He genuinely finds the aesthetics of the movie quite charming, which he comments on a couple time. He’s mostly silent through it, only speaking up about things like the animation’s quality every now and then, but he does have a sort of vaguely endeared, vaguely amused look on his face.

When you ask him if he liked it, he’ll say he thought it was fine. It felt rather nostalgic, and decently ahead of its time in terms of production quality. A 7/10 maybe, it just didn’t blow his mind -- And they could have definitely given the characters better outfits.

Idia Shroud

When you suggest watching something with him, Idia first assumes it’s an anime, so he’s a bit surprised when he notices it’s this children’s animated movie, but he’s open to it.

He has a pretty good time with it, actually. Hades’ character is amusing, you’ll see Idia snicker at his sarcasm every now and then. And, as much as Hercules ticks him off for whatever reason, his thing with Megara was rather cute.

The singing doesn’t bother him at all either, man’s definitely watched idol anime before so that’s not an issue for him. He actually enjoys the songs sometimes, maybe you’ll catch him humming “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” while he does some coding a couple days later.

Malleus Draconia

Not much of a movie watcher, he has a big preference for books, but he’s interested on your interests, so of course he’ll oblige. He’s never heard of Sleeping Beauty before either, he’s quite curious about it.

He’s oddly enough a lot like Riddle? Asks if you want any food or drinks to enjoy during your movie watching and just tries to make the experience as pleasant as possible to both of you, taking it rather seriously.

Gives very honest commentary on the movie when you ask him about it, going on a tangent about how Maleficent’s inner turmoil wasn’t touched up on enough, how the prince’s actions put him off a bit. He does think it’s a nice movie, though, and he actually likes the protagonist despite her naivety.

if you wanna support my work, you can buy me a ko-fi or commission me!

[doodlingstuff]

Disney Princesses Stories Gone Wrong - Andreil Edition

Some snippets of things going sideways if our favorite feral boys were the main characters of fairytales.

The Sleeping Beauty

Kevin: You have to fight the witch turned into a dragon, go through the forest of thorns and kiss Neil to wake him up and the whole kingdom! Andrew, sitting beside his horse: No, I'm not. Kevin: Why NOT? Andrew: Didn't ask before if I could kiss him. Kevin, eye twitching with despair: His father did this! He's the evil witch-turned-to-dragon. Andrew fights reluctantly and they reach the tower where Neil is waiting for his true love kiss. Kevin, rumpled from the fight: What are you waiting for? KISS HIM! Andrew, shrugging beside Neil: Can't. No consent. Kevin gets tired of waiting and smashes Andrew into Neil's face so their lips brush. Neil wakes up. Andrew turns his knives against Kevin. Neil agrees. When he realizes what Andrew did, they kiss properly. Aaron gags in the background. He would rather stay sleeping.

Snow White

Neil: But how do I know he's the Prince and not another one of you gnomes? He's a midget! Tiny Nicky: Because you already know him. It's Andrew! Tiny Wymack: And we're not gnomes, we're dwarfs, wiseass. Neil: Yeah, but you're all so tiny. What if it's Aaron? I'm not kissing Aaron. Gross. Tiny Aaron: I'm right here, you moron. Neil: Oh right. You're even tinier. LOL Tiny Kevin: Kiss him now for fuck's sake I miss my height! Tiny Matt: Yeah buddy, you got this! Do you need help? Neil: No. Okay, okay. Neil takes off the cristal cover, leans to Andrew, and gets back at the last moment. Neil: Wait. I can't. I didn't ask. Maybe if I poke him from afar it's the same? All tiny Foxes: NO! Neil, flushed: But then how do I know it's okay to kiss him? All tiny Foxes: JUST KISS HIM! Neil leans down, unsure, and presses his lips to Andrew. The bruise in his belly lasts almost as much as their happily ever after.

The Little Mermaid

Andrew, skeptical: So a true love's kiss will make him keep his legs and recover his voice? Aaron: Let's just shove him back to the sea. Kevin: No! We need him to defeat Rikursulo! Aaron: Defeat him yourself. It's not our problem. Neil makes unintelligible sounds on the back. Aaron: See? The shrimp agrees. Andrew looks at Neil: "Yes or no?" Neil nods eagerly. Andrew: No, Neil. I need a yes that I can actually believe. Nicky: Are you kidding right now? Neil rolls his eyes and kisses Andrew. Sebastian-Matt sings in the back with delight. The first thing Neil says is "You're all fUckIng stUpId."

Cinderella

Neil, trying the shoe on Andrew: HOly shIt! You have quite big feet for your size!