Line #79 YMMV/TheLittleMermaid


1	For YMMV about the Disney animated movie, see ''YMMV/TheLittleMermaid1989''.
2
3	!![[Literature/TheLittleMermaid The Short Story]]
4	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
5	** The titular mermaid wants to gain an immortal soul like a human. A mermaid can gain a soul if they fall for a human. The mermaid just happened to fall for a prince. However, does the mermaid actually love her prince or is she using him to quell her fear of the CessationOfExistence?
6	** How much does the prince actually care for the mermaid and in what manner? The story states he loved her "as he would love a little child" and that he never thought about making her his queen, though he also insists the mermaid almost drives the image of the temple maiden he longs for but believes he cannot be with from his mind. On the other hand, he also says how much she resembles the temple maiden when telling the mermaid how much her cares for her and how fortunate he is that the heavens sent her to him, hinting he might see her as a ReplacementGoldfish. While he did have a page's uniform made for her so that they can go riding into the mountains together, other times, he treats her more like a favored pet, calling her his "foundling" and having her sleep outside his door on a cushion.
7	* {{Anvilicious}}: Andersen had the mermaid transfigured into a daughter of the air, who after three hundred years of good deeds can go to heaven. The moral adds that every child listening to the story can make her labor shorter or longer depending on their own deeds. P.L. Travers snapped at Andersen in one of her folklore essays: "'But a year taken off when a child behaves and a tear shed and a day added whenever a child is naughty? Andersen, this is blackmail. And the children know it and say nothing. There's magnanimity for you."
8	* {{Applicability}}: This story is open to quite a few allegorical interpretations.
9	** The undersea world of the merfolk can be seen to represent the pagan world--the first stories of merfolk are from pagan Greek and Assyrian folklore, after all--while the human world represents Christianity with its promise of an immortal soul. Compared to the charming, carefree yet soulless "pagan" world of the sea, the humans' Christian world requires suffering and sacrifices, but with the ultimate reward of heaven.
10	** This can also be viewed as a story about growing up. In this interpretation, the merfolk's world represents childhood while the human world represents adulthood. Like most 15-year-olds, the mermaid is eager to grow up and experience new freedom and adventures, especially romantic love. But when she actually enters the human/adult world, she faces a tragic [[InnocenceLost loss of innocence]], is subjected to pain and hardships she never expected, and is never able to go back to the safe, happy world of her childhood. In this light, the story can be seen as a warning to children and teenagers not to go chasing after adulthood too soon--and particularly to young girls not to [[DefiledForever throw away their innocence]] too soon for a man.
11	** Yet another interpretation is about social class relations. In this view, the mermaid represents a person of (literally) lower birth who longs to join the elite world represented by the prince and other humans, but who is doomed to be snubbed by them no matter how much she deserves their esteem. The story can be seen to represent the working class-born Andersen's "fish out of water" feelings among the elite.
12	** Another interpretation based on Andersen's own life is that the story is an early example of HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster The mermaid has feelings for someone she's not allowed to, literally can't speak of her feelings (e.g. "the love that dares not speak its name"), and the prince ultimately rejects her to be with someone more "conventional," his fiancée princess. Andersen himself was bisexual and is thought to have written "The Little Mermaid" after having gone through a similar experience in his life: he fell in love with a man he could never have, both because the man was already engaged and because back then, homosexual relationships were taboo.
13	** Most of these interpretations can also apply to the Disney film, but with a more optimistic spin. The Disney version also has some interesting possible interpretations all its own: see below.
14	* BrokenAesop: A main message of the tale is arguably "Don't place your hopes of spiritual salvation on another person; you can only earn it yourself through your own good deeds." The mermaid's attempt to gain a soul through the prince's love fails, but in the end she earns a second chance through her selfless love, and will earn her soul by invisibly doing good deeds as a Daughter of the Air. This was arguably Andersen's main motive behind the story, since he allegedly wrote it because he was dissatisfied with ''Literature/{{Undine}}'', where a water nymph gains a soul by marrying a human. BUT... to finally be allowed into heaven, the Daughters of the Air depend on children's good behavior, with their years of trial shortened each time they see a good child and lengthened whenever they see a naughty child. So they do depend on others for their salvation after all.
15	* CommonKnowledge:
16	** It's a commonly held belief that the story is set in Denmark due to the author being Danish and ''The Little Mermaid'' statue in Copenhagen. The truth is that the story never actually states where it takes place, and the statue has almost nothing to do with Andersen: it was commissioned in 1909 (decades after the author's death in 1875) by Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen in honor of a ballet adaptation of Andersen's 1837 story that Jacobsen had been personally fascinated by, with Ellen Price, the lead ballerina, serving as the model for the statue's face. In fact, a careful examination of the text indicates the story ''isn't'' set in Denmark: when the mermaid pulls the prince to shore, she sees orange, lemon, and tall palm trees (implying a tropical or subtropical climate) and snow-capped blue mountains (Denmark's highest natural point of elevation is a hill only 171m tall). Moreover, other descriptions used in the story mention vine-covered hills (likely referencing vineyards), crystal-clear cornflower blue waters, and marble statues and pillars reminiscent of Greco-Roman architecture, [[https://www.sevenseasmermaid.com/where-does-little-mermaid-take-place/ all of which accurately describe a Mediterranean setting (and particularly the Italian coast and countryside)]]. Hans Christian Andersen even visited Italy in 1833 and wrote extensively about his travels and what he saw in ''The Improvisatore'', a book published in 1835, about a year before he started writing "The Little Mermaid." The prince in the 1837 story is also described as having coal-black eyes and dancing slave girls in gold and silk, which [[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Stories_from_Hans_Andersen_with_illustrations_by_Edmund_Dulac/The_Mermaid an illustration by Edmund Dulac for a 1911 publication interpreted to mean the prince is from the Middle East]], some countries of which are Mediterranean.
17	** The ending to is frequently cited as a DownerEnding where the [[TheHeroDies mermaid]] [[CessationOfExistence dies]]. That only happens in the original ending. Andersen's revised ending is a BittersweetEnding where she dies but is revived as a "daughter of the air" and given a chance to get into Heaven if she can do many good deeds.
18	** Many describe the story as being a Danish folktale. While Andersen was inspired by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's novella ''Undine'' and Paracelsus's writings on elemental beings, the only thing they have in common with "The Little Mermaid" is the idea that a water spirit can gain an immortal soul through marriage to a mortal. The overall plot of Andersen's 1837 is original and comes mostly from Andersen's imagination, meaning the story would not count as folklore, which is typically informally passed down until there is no single, discernable author.
19	** A more minor case, but the story is frequently referred to as a book. It is actually a short story and as such, tends to be published alongside other Andersen stories.
20	** The titular mermaid is popularly thought of as either blonde or redheaded. The actual text doesn't specify her hair color, but there are subtle hints that she is dark-haired: the mermaid is said to greatly resemble the prince's betrothed, who is described as having long dark eyelashes.
21	* FairForItsDay: Contemporary readers reject the story for its BittersweetEnding in which the mermaid sacrifices everything and wins only the promise of a happy ending in the far future, thinking it would be better as a truly happy ending or a straight tragedy. But Andersen was responding to the story of ''Undine'', in which a water spirit gains her soul through a human--in the little mermaid's story, her eternal life was entirely in her own hands, and the Daughters of the Air tell her that now she will win her ''own'' soul instead of having to rely on someone else to allow her to gain one.
22	* FanficFuel: Just what did the ''other'' Daughters of the Air do to earn their provisional afterlife? Were some of them mermaids too? Other creatures? Animals?
23	* FanonDiscontinuity: Some readers and scholars would have preferred for the story to end tragically with the mermaid being changed into foam and dying, rather than the slightly cloying BittersweetEnding of the mermaid being changed into a daughter of the air with a chance at Heaven.
24	* ItWasHisSled: Possibly ironically due to Disney pulling NotHisSled with their adaptation, everyone knows this story ends with the mermaid dying while someone else marries her prince (fewer know about the BittersweetEnding in which she goes on to Heaven by a long way).
25	* RainbowLens: "The Little Mermaid" is widely accepted to have been written in response to a male crush and essentially reading as a tragic gay story with the "gay" (or, in more modern readings, the "trans") element being instead a mermaid.
26	* {{Squick}}: The mermaid ''[[TongueTrauma having to get her tongue cut off]].'' OUCH!
27	* ValuesDissonance: Modern readers, both Non-Christian and Christian alike, often have trouble with the story's moral of "Even heathens can reach salvation if they suffer enough."
28	** Also, modern readers are not strict Christians like the author and have already trouble with that a mermaid has no soul--what is this "soul" anyway? Consequently, one adaption, from the German series ''Series/SechsAufEinenStreich'', redefined the whole shit the mermaid went through as a SecretTestOfCharacter: by sparing the prince, she proves she had a "soul" from the start (and lives on in varying states of happily ever after).
29	** Funnily enough, the story itself was inspired by Andersen's feeling of ValuesDissonance when he read the novella ''Undine'', which has a similar plot of a water spirit gaining a soul when she marries a human. Andersen was not a fan of the idea that a random human being could be totally responsible for someone's salvation.
30	* ValuesResonance: On the other hand, unrequited, selfless love resonates in any era. Also, the fact that it can be read as an allegory for homosexuality resonates with many for whom love is taboo.
31	* TheWoobie: Dear God, Hans, how much does this poor girl have to go through? For the crime of being born a fay being rather than an oh-so-lucky human, she has to suffer endless pain, has her tongue cut out, commit suicide, and then wait 300 years for her afterlife? And while happy children will take off a year, every tear shed from a bad one will add a day. The story was published in 1837. She could ''still'' be waiting for Heaven.
32
33	!![[Anime/TheLittleMermaid The Anime]]
34
35	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The English dub had the Sea Witch and Jemmy the cat voiced by the same actress, Jane Woods, which gave some viewers the idea that Jemmy was an avatar for the Witch trying to spoil Marina's future.
36	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Marina's song as well as its DarkReprise at the end of the film. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1su5u6bU7k Japanese version]] is a heartfelt song of love for the prince and how Marina feels incomplete without him while the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nMGbOR0XsQ English version]] is similar but has a more bittersweet tone as Marina leaves her childhood and innocence behind, learning that the road to love is paved with broken hearts.
37	* CultClassic: While less known than the Disney version, this film has a devoted fanbase.
38	* FandomRivalry: Between fans of this version and fans of the Disney version over which is a better adaptation. Some fans prefer this version for being a closer adaptation of the original story and preserving its DownerEnding and take issue with the Disney film for [[{{Disneyfication}} altering it]] while fans of the Disney film prefer it for giving the titular mermaid a [[AdaptationalAlternateEnding happy ending]]. Some fans enjoy both versions.
39	* HilariousInHindsight: Thor Bishopric voices Fritz the Dolphin, the best friend of the titular mermaid Marina. Years later, Thor would voice Prince Justin in ''Adventures of the Little Mermaid'', which also features a blonde mermaid named Marina as the titular mermaid.
40	* {{Moe}}: Just like her Disney counterpart, Marina is a very adorable mermaid.
41	* TheWoobie: Marina gives up everything to become human, endures constant pain on land, is tormented when the prince chooses the wrong princess over her, suffers suspicion and ridicule from the prince's parents and Jemmy the cat, and can't bring herself to kill him to save her own life. By the end of the film, you'll more than likely feel very sorry for her.
42
43	!!The Disney spin-offs
44
45	* BadassDecay: Eric and Triton in both the sequel and musical.
46	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
47	** [[ThreateningShark Undertow]] from the sequel. With Melody being a copy of her mother, Morgana, and her sting rays being copies of Ursula, Flotsam, and Jetsam, and Tip and Dash being copies of...[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Timon and Pumbaa]], Undertow is the only new character with some originality. Doesn't hurt that he's voiced by Creator/ClancyBrown.
48	** Benjamin from the prequel. While the movie doesn't sit too well with the fans most agree that he is its saving grace, being an AmbiguouslyGay and yet still very cute manatee.
49	* HilariousInHindsight: In the St. Louis Muny production of the musical in 2011, Ariel was played by Patti Murin and Eric was played by John Riddle. Seven years later, they'd respectively appear in [[Theatre/Frozen2018 the Broadway adaptation of]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen\|2013}}'', with Murin playing Princess Anna, and Riddle playing Prince Hans, who starts as an Eric-type character before turning out to be villainous.
50	* RonTheDeathEater:
51	** Triton has gotten this a ''lot'' more since ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidArielsBeginning'', with many fans now seeing him as an oppressive tyrant who randomly outlaws anything he doesn't like (music, the surface) because, [[FanonDiscontinuity in this film]], he outlaws his entire kingdom from singing or playing any music because of his grief for his own [[spoiler: dead wife]]. Of course, the fact that this is a direct-to-video prequel made ''years'' after the first film, by a completely different studio, with none of the original creative team from the first movie being involved, doesn't stop fans from forming this opinion.
52	** Ariel gets some of this in regards to her parenting towards Melody in the sequel. While Ariel was indeed wrong to lie to Melody regarding her mermaid heritage, many fans are a little too eager to shame her for how overprotective she was of Melody. This ignored the fact that Ariel did try to keep Melody from making the same mistakes she did. Also, Triton was being paranoid about humans in general when he tried to keep Ariel safe, while Ariel was trying to protect Melody from a ''definite'' threat in Morgana. This ''also'' ignores the fact that Ariel and Eric openly state that they never intended to keep Melody in the dark permanently, and were only waiting until she was old enough; it was bad luck that Melody ran away [[DramaticIrony the same night Ariel decided it was time to tell her everything]].
53	** Bordering with a major case of ItRunsInTheFamily and parental worries: Triton may have been paranoid, but his heart was in the right place, and he proved to love her daughter so much to sacrifice everything, including himself, to keep her safe and happy. Exactly what Ariel did: she just needed to be a mother herself to understand how hard being a parent is.
54	* StrawmanHasAPoint: Triton has even more of a point if you've seen ''Ariel's Beginning'' and consider it to be canon. [[spoiler:Ariel's mother was killed when human fishermen came to steal mermaid relics and accidentally(?) rammed their boat into her.]] Even if Triton accepted her passing in the end, that doesn't necessarily mean that he thinks highly of humans. It's no wonder he doesn't like humans--they [[spoiler: killed his wife]]!
55	* TheWoobie:
56	** King Triton in ''Ariel's Beginning''. The guy lost his wife Athena in a pirate attack, and many years later he still can't listen to music without being reminded of that tragic happening. Throughout the whole movie, he looks so sad and depressed about what he had lost, and his strained relationship with Ariel ain't helping him.
57	** It gets worse: by the first movie, his relationship with Ariel is so damaged that she prefers trying her luck with Ursula than trusting him again, he's visibly distraught and blaming himself for her escape and, when finally after years of bickering manages to patch his relationship with his daughter, he's grimly reminded that Ariel forgave him ''at her own marriage''. When he realizes that ''he's going to miss her'', he also realizes that now Ariel has her own family to care for, and he can never, ever get back the time they spent bickering. And then, in the second movie, we find out that he didn't even get to be a grandfather to his (possibly) first granddaughter until she was 12.
58	** Melody in the sequel after being humiliated at her birthday party.

Context YMMV / TheLittleMermaid