#Little mermaid rant

[singswan-springswan]

It's been discussed by people more eloquent than I, but what they did to Eric in the finale of TLM remake was a sin, a crime, a disservice, and if I ever get over the discomfort, it won't be for a long time.

I simply don't understand their reason to take Ursula's death away from him. On top of that, why would they give it to Ariel? Ariel already saved him once before. The fight against Ursula was supposed to give Eric a turn at being the hero. It was Eric's moment to prove to Triton that he really does love Ariel and is willing to fight for her and protect her and---most importantly---that humans aren't inherently evil in the way Triton believes. Ariel doesn't need to prove herself in this way. She's already shown that she's courageous and brave and unafraid to do difficult things to keep Eric safe. Also in the remake... she knows that Ursula is family, and yet this nuance doesn't seem to mean anything to her? She doesn't hesitate to act in a way that she knows will at least hurt her aunt if not kill her outright, and I understand that the drive to protect Eric is strong but it felt really out of character for Ariel to be the one actively impaling her aunt.

I'm not saying Eric should have done it because ships are his thing (they're not. They're Ariel's thing too, even if Eric is more familiar with the way they actually work n stuff). I just think that when you take into account the status of every character at that point in continuity, it makes sense for Eric to rise to the occasion. It's his chance to save Ariel the way she saved him. It's his chance to prove himself to Ariel's father and gain his trust. He would also be the angriest with Ursula and have the least reason to hesitate when it comes to taking her creepy tentacle shebs down. She tricked him, stole his freewill, used a siren song against him, took the love of his life away and tried to kill her. Given the opportunity to stop her terrorism, he should have been given the same role he had in the original film. Instead he just sits on a rock uselessly after throwing one harpoon, and Ariel leaves his side to do all the heavy lifting.

It makes no sense to me. Is this about presenting Ariel as a strong independent woman who doesn't need a prince to rescue her? Because that's such a flat reason. Like I said, we've already seen Ariel prove herself in the rest of the movie, and the new film did a great job developing her character. She doesn't need this moment of triumph at all. Besides that, there is absolutely nothing wrong with not being a fighter. There's nothing wrong with needing help. Ariel's character would not be cheapened in the slightest by needing Eric to be her hero in that moment, especially because we've already established that she was his hero first. She doesn't need to do it all! I'm tired of this narritive that puts all the pressure of only one half of the ship to deliver in this way, either male or female. A good partnership is one that shares the hard things and gives both people room to use their unique abilities for the benefit of each other. This is something the original movie nailed with Ariel and Eric. They were complementary. Neither one was braver or more heroic than the other, but they presented these qualities differently in a way that didn't detract or rob one or the other of purpose. By taking Ursula's death away from Eric and giving it to Ariel in the remake, Eric's purpose in the story in reduced to Ariel's object of interest (I don't mean in the sense that she has no intense feelings for him or that he isn't her partner). The story is no longer about how they overcome conflict between land and sea together, but rather changes to be how Ariel goes on her own journey and along the way acquires someone to love that affirms and indulges her greatest desires. It was unsettling to see this done to Eric's character. It cheapens the sacrifice he made by going after Ariel when Ursula took her, and it makes him seem foolish for trying to stand against this mighty sea power. He's not arm candy. He's not just a lovable dork she keeps around for the intrigue of his mind and adventurous spirit. Eric is supposed to be a triumphant character that prevails over evil---not because he's powerful---but because he's willing to sacrifice for what he loves. Watching him do a number as a wet rat on a rock while Ariel saves the day does nothing to inspire this sentiment of his character for me. In fact, I was taken aback. It just doesn't make sense that they changed this part of the story when there was nothing wrong with it to begin with and it actually fit in line with both the original and new storyline so neatly. I don't understand it and I really don't like it. It wasn't worth what little it added to Ariel's character to take so much away from Eric. Prince Eric fr doomed by the narritive

[theocddiaries]

Why Ariel gave up her voice

Ariel never gave up a voice for a man she has just met and hadn't talked to.

Ariel gave up her voice because she didn't value it. And she didn't value it because people around her didn't value it. They praised it when she used it for show, for singing for an audience that wanted to hear the sound but never listened to her words.

She felt unheard her entire life, misunderstood, alone, isolated. Sure, she has friends, like Flounder, Sebastian and more in the animated series, like Gabriella, her sisters, Urkin, etc. They all loved her but didn't understand her. Looked at her funny when she opened up about her love for the human world. Was even berated by some, like Sebastian and her father. She never felt heard. So, yeah, for everyone else, even the audience, is like: this girl is so stupid, she gave up her beautiful voice for legs.

Because with legs, she can stand, as she always wanted. And she never needed her voice to make Eric fall for her, or the castle's staff, with her personality, always overshadowed by her voice, she won everyone's hearts. With her blubby, spontaneous, happy, curious personality, she made the prince fall for her, made him forget that 'beautiful voice' he fell for (until Ursula put a spell on him, that is). Ariel felt heard for the first time, without a voice.

She didn't give up her voice for a man, but because she was so tired of not being heard, that she never saw the value of her voice, because nobody showed it to her beyond shallow reasons. She learnt, along with everyone else, how important her voice AND words are.

That's why I always felt related to her. I was always heard when it was convenient, if I expressed an opinion the adults around didn't like, I was shut down, belittled and patronized.

Your voice MATTER, will always MATTER. It doesn't matter how way you communicate. Look at Gabriella, in the animated series, she was mute but she still communicated and was heard by her octopus friend.

Please, NEVER let anyone make you believe your WORDS hold no value. Not even yourself.

[alurite-l]

Something I've noticed is that no matter what fandom or community we are in—black people will always always have to make a safe space for ourselves. Every single fandom I was in there were always black people being treated badly by white people and nonblacks and everytime we spoke on it we are told that we are either making it up or causing problems/discourse.

Even in the LGBTQ+ community where niggas preach about being sooo accepting we have to make *our own flags and spaces because we get talked over and forgotten so damn much. You look up queer related stuff and white people show up first (try the trans selfie tag or look up androgynous stuff on pinterest.) You look up queer shows and it's only white people with a black side character or a white person x a black person like we can't exist on our own. White queers calling black people cops for being uncomfortable with certain labels.

Even with fictional black characters they get the same treatment. Marina from Splatoon 2 and Hobie Brown from Spiderman both are victims of nonblack people hypersexualizing them and masculinizing them. Xinyan from Genshin Impact is a complete and utter stereotype of black people—being seen as aggressive and mean and a literal theft. Don't get me started on how yall whitewash the fuck outta them. It's either sexualize them, whitewash them or forget about them completely.

For some reason white people are seen as more aesthetically pleasing compared to Black people and when we look up aesthetics we literally have to type in "black person x aesthetic" or afro punk or afro goth despite us being the creators of some of these aesthetics. Same with cosplaying, white peoples cosplays are seen as more "canon" compared to black people or even people who's race is literally the character being cosplayed.

Fanfiction writers constantly cater to white people despite trying to market their stuff as "inclusive" while black people get shitted on for making character x black reader fics and don't you know weird ass white people still read them??

Yall tell us to make our own things instead of "complaining" about it and we do, then we get hit with death threats and hate. We make our black edits and get told that it's "blackwashing" and the artists get called the n word, we make black movies and our actors get death threats. We make our own original black art with our black OC'S and get told that we're being selfish and "racist" for not drawing other people. We literally cannot exist without you people hating on us and unnecessarily critiquing us.

[Note: If you nonblack or white niggas come up here and being like "well acschually op🤓☝🏾" I will actually hurt you. If you ask "why is this in the x tag" I will hurt you as well. You try n derail and make it about a different race I'm hurting you.]

[femslashspuffy]

Its REALLY funny that starship is more disney inspired as a starkid musical than cinderella's castle

[tending-the-hearth]

nerds (affectionate)

[starzknight]

Disney princess with a bit more accurate outfits...

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[anxious-alien-overlord]

Ya’ll we need to stop spreading the narrative that Ariel gave up everything for a man, because she didn’t. The whole first sequence of the movie after the beginning credits is dedicated to her forgetting about an event she was supposed to go to because she wanted to swim around in a sunken ship and find human things. Part of your world was a song about her dream to be human, and to learn more about their culture.

She’s a headstrong teenager who dreams of going to the human world because she’s fascinated by it! She initially swims to Eric’s ship because she sees fireworks and she’s never seen fireworks before. When she gets there she spots Eric who just so happens to be human and she saves him, longing now to be part of the human world so she could be with him. Longing being the key word here because I think seeing Eric and interacting with him made up her mind about she wanted to do.

She didn’t even know that becoming human was an option until the eels told her about Ursula, then she made the impulsive decision to go see her. In her mind her dad had wrecked the only things she had to represent the human world and kissing Eric was how she got to fulfill her dream. Sure, she falls in love with him along the way but her whole thing was wanting to be human, which she got in the end.

[pickypickypeak]

Nothing new but I’m genuinely so sick of people marking anything as “woke” just to say they don’t like some piece of media. I see more and more people commenting “it’s woke” without actually elaborating and when asked what it means they just answer “look up woke agenda on google it’s all there”. Which tells me you literally have no idea what it means. You’re literally just parroting. You were literally fed into doing that by an alt right youtuber who makes *actual* propaganda videos to brainwash people like you into thinking that white people are the oppressed ones or some shit. And what’s worse, you don’t care about whatever you’re hating on, you’re just doing it for the sake of hating because you think it makes you look cool and edgy? Using all of these big big words Mr. Cinema Man taught you?

Like I’ve seen a post with the Moana live action cast reveal and people were like “ohhh why isn’t she white?? White people can’t feel represented??” which genuinely makes me so sad, because how do these people actually think they did something with these “jokes”? How brainwashed do they have to be to think they said something smart? They don’t even care, they don’t know which movie it is. They just. Repeat. What those cringe ragebait videos told them. And that’s actually scary to me, idk.

And it’s the same with Marvel, Star Wars, DC and literally any movie coming out. It features a non straight character? It’s woke. It features non white characters? It’s woke. It has women? It’s woke. They hide behind “they’re pushing political messages instead of trying to tell a good story” but guess what, this sentence does nothing but show your racism and sexism and just plain blatant stupidity. They told you you can cover them up as “criticism” by saying “it’s woke” or “it’s politically correct”, but they were wrong. It still shows. Trust me.

[memoryaqua]

What's with Adella's hairdo and color scheme?

Adella herself is lovely. But I really don't care for the color scheme and hairstyle that the animators decided to stick her with.

Besides pearl scrunchies getting repetitive, that long front-bun is just...odd. To boot, the shades of gold and green they picked remind me of baby food.

There were probably reasons for all of this in the first movie, possibly related to the complexities of the film's animation. But when the TV series came and they tweaked many of the sisters' designs, the only changes made to Adella's was simplifying her hair and making her the token "fat" sister.

In fairness, Adella's odd hairstyle in the movies does highlight how different hairstyling can be in a society that lives in zero-gravity.

But look at that mermaid behind her! That kind of hairdo would suit Adella, while making her stand apart from the other sisters. "Ariel's Beginning" was another opportunity to give Adella a better design. Instead, they used all of their best new ideas on the background extras.

That pale pastel yellow would be much easier on the eyes than Adella's 1970s-living-room color scheme. The clamshell hair clip, or any of those flower getups, would have been lovely on her.

This funny seashell hairpiece seen a couple times in the TV show would also have worked well.

[unseemingowl]

Watched the little mermaid remake with the kids I babysit for. Don't have many opinions on the film as a whole but damn you were right those leads have CHEMISTRY

They doooooooooo! The chemistry is so real. It is 100 pct. the reason it is my favourite of the disney live action remakes (not that the competition is steep given how generally underwhelming the live action remakes are, but y'know).

If you redo a landmark animated film, you gotta give me some of that heat, some of that tension that is one of the few things that animated film struggle to convey quite as well as flesh and blood actors do.

And boy do they deliver. They're that kind of illustrious kind of cinema couple that actually look like they're having fun with each other. The section of the film where they bond and go on their little date is my jam.

The pregnant pauses. The staring. The way they completely short circuit when they touch in any proper way. The way Jonah Hauer King just absolutely towers over teeny tiny Halle Bailey. I'm obsessed. They look so good together.

Thiiiis! This shit here. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Only thing that makes me sad is that they're in a PG film, because they're acting peak horny teen pining. That electric, I barely know how to manage how to be in your presence, but I cannot bear to be away from you either.

I want to see what it would look like if they'd been allowed to turn up the dial.

[alixfoxx]

You know, people talk about The Little Mermaid being about teenage rebellion, but I think it's more about female autonomy. The main character, a young woman, is not allowed to have an interest in something she's passionate about, but she doesn't care. Her father thinks he knows what is best for her, but she wants freedom. When she speaks out about it, he destroys her work. The only way she thinks she will be freed is to reach out to his enemy, who has also been hurt by her father. However, this puts her in even more danger, but this danger never would've happened if her father just acknowledged her passion. The whole story is about a woman not being taken seriously. Even the other women just view her as her voice and looks.

[ekkotimesthree]

i really resent the growing idea that media with clear cut queer representation is inherently better than its counterparts with just queer themes and allegory. stop patting corporations on the back for the slop they throw on your tray in the hopes you’ll spare them a single dollar. the guy who wrote all the songs in the little mermaid (1989) was a man named howard ashman, and if you didn’t know, he died of aids shortly after the movie made it to theaters, two years to be exact. many of the people who worked on the film talked about how condition worsened as the production chugged along, and how through all of this, he poured his heart and soul into those goddamn lyrics. working tirelessly to tell the story HE wanted to tell. obviously no one would have allowed a children’s movie with a gay main character during the fucking reagan administration amidst the aids epidemic. so instead of a story about a teenager coming out as gay, she comes out as “loving humans”. the rest of the queer allegory is kinda obvious if i’m being honest. the only part that matters for this discussion is the ending. king triton accepts ariel for who she is, and lets her love who she loves. and now to this day, the little mermaid has stuck with queer people (and more specifically trans women, but i digress) to the point you can regularly see mermaid imagery throughout queer organizations and online groups.

howard ashman’s life was cut short by aids, and a huge part of that is undeniably due to the rampant homophobic discrimination. he’s dead, but now his story lives on as one of the most important films of film history. a story that will be remembered long after his death, and probably ours as well. that’s fucking beautiful! and it’s all possible because of queer allegory and storytelling. to act is if this film would have been better if ariel was actually trans or gay is foolish. we’re never going to live in a utopia where anti-queer bigotry is eradicated, and howard stern certainly never got to either. so to write off stories like these for “not actually having gay characters” is foolish as well. to do so ignores the queer history we should be preserving, and continuing to tell. would faceshopping be better if sophie said “i am a transgender woman”? how about the matrix? the only correct response is a resounding no.

if the revolution comes, i want mickey mouse’s head served on a platter.

[theocddiaries]

"Nobody should have to give up their voices to be heard."

I know this is not my typical themed-post, but hear me out, Ariel was so important to me growing up and still is to this day. I was so disappointed for each thing that came out for the new movie, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch it just to get angry.... but.....

Just saw the little mermaid and, against all odds, I liked it. The trailers didn't sell the movie for me and I admit I only watched out of curiosity bc I needed to get my mind off of some things.

Halle made me fall in love with Ariel's character all over again. The movie has flaws that really bothered me, but I am surprised a live action has made me feelt he same connection to a character that made me feel so understood and seen when I was little. Halle's Ariel reminded me of the Ariel from the animated series, which showed a lot more of character to Ariel and made her my absolute favorite Disney Princess.

Overall, I am glad this version finally made some people see Ariel for who she always was: a fierce, loyal, open-minded, intelligent and capable woman with big dreams, caged in a world that for others and her peers might be enough and so magical (even for Eric!) but for her, it restrained her because she always felt like she didn't belong. The fact that they had to spell out the whole 'Nobody has to give up her voice to feel heard', I hope it resonated with future generations whenever they watch this new version or the animated one.

I think the movie came out when I needed it the most, and I am so glad it shut me up with her good, or even better, portrayal of Ariel. I swear, she and Eric are the main reason why I wanna rewatch it once it comes out in good quality.

*SPOILERS!!!!*

The scene when she swims up and finally, for the very first time, goes out to the surface.... Chills. And the facial expression Ariel made right before, it resonated with me so much. She's like: I am sick of 'you can't', 'you shouldn't', 'that's not for you', 'get over this stupid, senseless phase', and she swims so fast yet so unsure, but still does it.

It also picked my attention that when Ursula is trying to convice her to make a deal with her, Ariel doesn't mention her father or sisters, unlike the animated version. In this, she knows she shouldn't do this. She knows it is fishy (heh) but still does it bc Ursula uses how she was belittled her whole life to help her made a rushed/angered decision with fatal consequences.

I was so saddened by this version of Triton, though, it feltk like he was so plain and not layered enough. Just portrayed as this 'angry, very controlling parental figure that doesn't listen to his daughter', for moments, I doubted he loved Ariel at all... Maybe because she reminds him of his late wife so much and it's painful? Even Ariel seems quite surprised that her own dad gave his life for her. Sure they still are on good terms in the end, but I felt the animated version was a bit deeper and complicated than this. Still, I kinda like it? For personal reasons I won't get into, Triton and Ariel's relationship (animated) always reminded me of my own father and me. And this version.... kind of does, too, sadly. It just made me empathise with Ariel a whole lot more, how she was forced on some mentality she deemed very generalized and unfair.

I'm sorry for the rant, Ariel and her story is so special to me, and this movie... I felt like it came out in the right moment for me.

[dootznbootz]

I fucking hate autotune. Not the stylized kind like purposely making a voice distorted or "robotic" that fits the vibes of the song, I mean that twisted and artificial vibrato or just straight up ERASING the vibrato. It makes me want to shove a pencil in my ear.

It's even WORSE when I can tell that the performer/actor (I've seen it the most in movies/shows. ESPECIALLY in live action stuff.) can probably SING just fine. I'm sure it's just the contract that they're in but FUCK. I hate itttttt.

[ramshitposts]

Firmly believe January is the worst month to have your birthday in. there's fuck all happening, Christmas holidays are over, it's stil freezing and it won't even snow anymore because Taylor Swift has to take her 5 minute flights.

And now you're telling me I don't even get to be a Capricorn anymore? I can't even be a cool little goat mermaid because some scientist had to uhm actually astrology girlies and now im a fucking Sagittarius? A Sagittarius? Could I be arsed. I don't even believe in Astrology or your time of birth dictating your personality, I just think goat mermaids are awesome. Also, look at this ♑️ <- is that not a great symbol???? of course it is, it's representing a Goat. Mermaid.

[artist-issues]

THIS representation of a girl really noticing a boy:

Is very different from THIS representation of a girl really noticing a boy:

Just like THIS response to an overprotective parent:

Is totally different from this response to an overprotective parent:

And THIS representation of infatuation:

Is very different from THIS representation of infatuation:

And no. I will not shut up about how people should pay attention to the difference in what filmmakers are choosing to be realistic about from movie to movie, and what they’re choosing to present an idealized version of. Because otherwise, these two movies would be so similar in theme. 

The Little Mermaid portrays: - A realistic reaction of a teenager when her parent is overprotective. She’s flawed and she’s focused more on her father’s inability to understand than her own actions.  - An idealized crush on a boy, where attraction looks sweet, girlish, a little self-mocking, and is based on more than just his looks.

Turning Red portrays:

- An idealized reaction of a teenager when her parent is overprotective. She’s not focused on her own embarrassment or how crazy her mom acted, she’s the middle school martyr who scolds herself for her mom’s over-the-top response and shows very little conscious awareness of her mom’s faults.

- A realistic crush on a boy, where attraction just looks like lust, and lust is funny, and objectifying boys ain’t pretty, but hey, it sure gets a laugh.

At the end of these movies, one teenager gets to be understood by her parent without being completely blameless for all the destruction getting her way caused—and the parent fulfills his job to protect her AND provide for her happiness. And at the end of the other movie, the other teenager gets to understand her PARENT, is justified for the destruction she caused because really she should’ve been allowed to have her way all along—and the parent is only rewarded when she lays off and quits protecting her child.

Unbelievable.