#not The Little Mermaid

[kannedia]

FFXIV Write 2024 - Day 10 - Stable

Asel was all of six years old when she saw a Carbuncle for the first time.

"Mom! Dad! What is that?"

The sun was high and the sky was clear that day. It was a wonderful day, though if one were to ask the young Au Ra all days when her parents brought her into the city were wonderful.

Her mother, Maral, chuckled as she looked down at her daughter Asel. She had one tiny hand in hers and the other was pointed at the summoned creature.

Her father, Kiran, stopped and leaned down to speak to her face-to-face. He was smiling softly. "That's a Carbuncle, dearling."

"They're creatures composed of both ambient and their Summoner's aether," Maral explained as she noticed the confused look on Asel's face. "They help in the Summoner's day-to-day tasks."

"Incredible! It's so pretty! Do you think I could do that?" Asel was looking at both of them eyes wide with awe.

Maral and Kiran exchanged a glance. They knew their daughter. It was entirely possible that she would.

---

A small orb of aether formed in Asel's palm before flickered into and out of existence for a few odd seconds then guttered out. She grumbled bitterly before turning her attention back to her notes.

She was ten. Had been ten for the past month. And had spent the last month near feverishly looking over the beginner's tome her parents had bought her.

The math had not been as difficult as she thought it would be. It was the control that was causing her trouble. The conceptualization as her studies phrased it.

Her mother said she was being hasty in her expectations. Asel on the other hand, had the feeling if she didn't keep to her studies she wouldn't summon her first Carbuncle until she was an adult too.

---

Asel was actually fourteen when she summoned her Carbuncle for the first time. It was a wispy thing. A barely stable form on light and aether that she could only get to last for half a minute at most.

Still, it was a start and it was beautiful.

She would have to thank her father again when he finished work. He had been giving her lesson on aether manipulation, on her asking, since she was twelve.

It had still surprised him when he saw it for the first time. Her mother just grinned and gave her a hearty pat on the back.

---

"Ariel! Get. Off. My. Desk."

Asel's Carbuncle stared back at her like a curious kitten. It had its left paws on her textbook and the right ones on her homework. If not for her frustration, she would just be grateful that it wasn't smudging the ink.

Her first corporeal and stable summoning of the impish creature was when she was sixteen. Her mother and father were happy for her and they had paella for dinner.

It had only lasted five minutes at the time. With practice and a year of careful study, it made the trip to school with her every morning. Asel could only wonder how much further she could go.

"If I'm going to become a capable adventurer then we're going to have to work on our teamwork," Asel stated with a sigh as she shooed Ariel off her desk. It scampered off to her bed and rested on her pillow. "I wonder if all Carbuncles are like this."

[emberwritesinsight]

The discussion around Ariel TheLittleMermaid baffles me bc if my dad literally destroyed a bunch of stuff I collected in front of me in a terrifyingly violent display of anger and I had a witch offer me an out if I could score the boy I thought was hot, my name would be on that dotted line before you can say "poor unfortunate soul". What do you mean she's stupid, her dad ravaged her Special Interest Cave like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, I would also run the fuck away

[artist-rat]

fine dining at the blushing mermaid. with the boogieboys

[scurviesdisneyblog]

Part of Your World pencil tests for The Little Mermaid by Glen Keane, Tony Anselmo, and Dave Pruiksma.

[filmgifs]

THE LITTLE MERMAID 1989 — dir. Ron Clements & John Musker

[colinfirth]

GREEN IS FOR VILLAINY Snow White (1937) Cinderella (1950) Sleeping Beauty (1959) One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) The Little Mermaid (1989) The Lion King (1994) The Princess and the Frog (2009)

[enchantedbook]

'The Little Mermaid' by Sulamith Wulfing, 1953.

[golden-astrum]

rainbow of magical girls 🌈

[baltharino]

The Little Mermaid (1989) Dir. John Musker & Ron Clements

[sboochi]

An update on what has been occupying my brain lately

[agathaharknss]

ICONIC DISNEY CASTLES

[masterhallmark]

Rant incoming

I feel like the problem with a lot of Disney's live action remakes (and arguably Wish) is they're trying to appeal to a crowd that no longer exists, namely the people who used to claim that the Disney Princesses were sexist.

All the interviews tend to include, "Well she's not chasing a MAN anymore" which...almost no one sees the princesses like that, anymore. Virtually NO ONE still believes the princesses are man-chasing sexist caricatures of women.

Cinderella is now hailed as an abuse victim who stayed strong long enough to get help to get out of her situation. Anyone who says she should have saved herself is basically regarded as a victim blamer. And it's very clear in the film she wasn't looking to marry the prince, she just wanted a night off. She was the only one who wasn't in line to meet him. She didn't find out she met the prince until he went looking for her!

Snow White is now hailed for her negotiation skills, ability to calm down after extreme stress (she had a moment of panic and had to cry for a bit, but who wouldn't after finding out The Queen hired someone to kill you?), and ability to take charge of a house of adult men. And again, she was an abuse victim, this time trying to escape ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS. While she dreamed of her prince, it was secondary to her main goal of SURVIVAL. There are also entire video essays about how Snow White gave hope to people during The Great Depression.

Everyone acknowledges that Ariel wanted to be human BEFORE meeting Eric. We all know she was a nerd hyperfixating on humans, and also standing up to her prejudiced father.

We understand Sleeping Beauty wasn't the main character, the Three Good Fairies were, AND PHILLIP WOULD NEVER HAVE BEATEN MALEFICENT WITHOUT THEM! He literally depended on them! WOMEN SAVED THE DAY! But even then, is it really such a sin for a girl to fantasize about romance and fall for someone with corny pickup lines?

We all understand Jasmine just wanted someone to treat her LIKE A PERSON. She rejected every Prince before Aladdin because they treated her like a prize. So why did they need her to want to be Sultan? How did that make her more feminist when she already wanted to be treated like an equal and have a say in her future? Is it only empowering if you want a career in politics?

We admire that Belle, despite living in a judgemental village, was kind to everyone (even though she found the village life dull), and her story teaches girls that the guy everyone else loves isn't always a good guy. What's sexist about teaching girls about red flags? And she didn't start being nice to The Beast until he started treating her with respect and kindness.

Do I really NEED to defend Mulan or Tiana? I think they speak for themselves.

Rapunzel was yet another abuse victim who just needed a little help to get out of her bad situation. In this case, she also needed to learn that she was an abuse victim, and that what Mother Gothel did WASN'T normal, much like many victims of gaslighting.

And don't get me started on the non-princess animals.

Perdita had a healthy relationship with Pongo to the point she was open to express her pregnancy fears to him, and was ready to TEAR APART Cruella's goons for daring to touch her puppies as well as adopting the other puppies. Like, she was so ferocious the goons mistook her for a hyena! She's basically that "I AM THAT GIRL'S MOTHER!" scene from SpyXFamily if Yor were a dog. She and her husband were a TEAM.....but they made a Cruella live action to turn her into a girlboss?! The literal animal abuser!? THAT'S the woman you wanted to put on a pedestal when Perdita was RIGHT THERE!?

Duchess kept her kittens calm after they had been catnapped and was classy as heck. Nice to everyone regardless of social class during a time period where that was uncommon.

Lady stood up to Tramp when she believed he had abandoned her and didn't really care about her. She found out he was a heartbreaker and was like, "Nuh uh. No. You are not doing that to me! You put me through enough."

Miss Bianca from The Rescuers was IN CHARGE the whole movie, and was willing to risk life and limb to save an innocent child. THAT TINY MOUSE TOOK ON ALLIGATORS! And she picked Bernard to accompany her because he was the only one who wasn't ogling her. And then in the sequel SHE DID IT ALL AGAIN! I wish I were as brave as her.

Like, the public haven't accused these ladies of being sexist caricatures since 2014 (Actresses and actors don't count, they're out of touch like the rest of Hollywood) yet Disney is operating under the assumption that the public still thinks that way, hence all the "sHe'S nOt AfTeR a MaN iN ThIs VeRsIOn" talk.

The live action remakes are trying to attract an audience that doesn't really exist much, anymore, and back when it did exist, was comprised mainly of people who didn't actually watch the films. The Disney princesses are no longer seen as sexist, and feminine qualities are no longer seen as weak or undesirable.

[nessa007]

halle bailey and margot robbie’s stylists for their huge press tours absolutely understood the assignment 👏

[shirmirart]

today I offer you a merman prince and a pirate. tomorrow? who knows...

[scurviesdisneyblog]

𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚗𝚎𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚝Ｉᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇɴᴀɪꜱꜱᴀɴᴄᴇ (1989 - 1999)

[violetrains]

Instead of telling men to repress their emotions to appear stronger we should encourage them to sing incredibly dramatic ballads to process their emotions like in fictional movies. Maybe the world would heal faster. And also it would be very funny.

These are my personal favorites.