Referenced By / The Little Mermaid (1989)

Considering that this is the film that started the Disney Renaissance, as seen below, there are a lot of works that reference it.

Advertising

• A 1998 commercial for Energizer batteries has an announcer say "One of America's most-loved characters is back!" as an instrumental of "Under the Sea" plays, implying that Ariel is going to appear, only for the Energizer Bunny to show up instead. At the time of its release, The Little Mermaid VHS had a rebate offer from Energizer.

Anime & Manga

• Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure: In Episode 20, the Pretty Holic store has a painting of a mermaid who heavily resembles Ariel, but with pink hair instead of red.
• Pokémon: The Series: The episode "The Misty Mermaid" features Misty in a mermaid outfit that's a dead ringer for Ariel's, down to the fact that both girls are red heads.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica has a Whole-Plot Reference on the story arc of Miki Sayaka. She becomes a Magical Girl in the hope of curing her Love Interest Kyosuke's hand so he can play his violin again. However, she discovered the Awful Truth that being a Magical Girl is essentially the same as being a lich, she then becomes unable to confess her love to Kyosuke. Then Hitomi kicks in and confesses her love towards Kyosuke. Upon losing both her love and her ideal, Sayaka refused to purify her Soul Gem and has gone off the deep end, and eventually becomes a Witch resembling a mermaid knight.

Comic Books

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): At the beginning of Knuckles the Echidna Issue #4, Vector sings a parody of "Under the Sea".

Comic Strips

• Off the Mark:
  • This strip features, among others, an alternate ending to the film, wherein Ariel is devoured by sharks.
  • This strip features Ariel at the Betty Rubble center for recovering toons.
  • The Little Mermaid, ten years later.

Fan Works

• Oversaturated World: Oversaturation: "Light": Horse puns make "Whinny" from Disney and seapony from mermaid:
  Mr. Magnet, the drama teacher, had bodysurfed in on a wave of his own making, looking like the human seapony from that one Whinny movie.
• In PreCure in a Nutshell, Cure Mermaid gets the parody name of "Cure Ariel".
• The name for the Lost Voice Plot in Twinkling in the Dark is "It Won't Cost Much; Just Your Voice", a line from "Poor Unfortunate Souls".

Films — Animation

• A Goofy Movie: Ariel makes two cameos during the film - first as a stage prop at Max's school and then as a light in the hotel that Goofy and Max stay at.
• Aladdin:
  • In the original movie, Genie gets his finger caught by Sebastian.
  • In The Return of Jafar, at one point, the Genie turns into Ariel.
  • In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, three Genie Doctors hold up a cardboard cutout of Jasmine's head on Ariel's body.
• Moana:
  • Flounder makes a cameo during "You're Welcome".
  • In The Stinger, Tamatoa, still flipped on his shell, asks the audience to help him up and says they would if his name was Sebastian and had a Jamaican accent.
• Ralph Breaks the Internet: Ariel is one of the princesses that Vanellope meets in Oh My Disney.
• Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken: Chelsea, an evil mermaid in disguise, has flowing red hair and a blue shirt that matches Ariel's human dress. Coincidentally (or not?), this movie came out a month after Disney's live-action remake.
• Shrek 2: Shrek and Fiona are kissing on the beach when a wave washes over them. When it retreats, Shrek is now kissing a mermaid that looks like Ariel. Fiona grabs her by the tail and throws her back to the sea, where she is promptly eaten by sharks.
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: The final shot of Satan's "Up There" song parodies the famous shot of Ariel reaching her arm forward in "Part of Your World".
• Wish (2023): While Magnifico is harnessing the wishes to increase his power, he sees a wish from someone looking for love and says "So much for true love."

Films — Live-Action

• American Pie: Jim says he finds Ariel hot.
• Ant-Man: Cassie has a plush toy of Flounder in her room.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022): Flounder gets captured by Sweet Pete's henchmen, and has his character design modified to star in a bootleg movie called The Small Fish Lady.
• The Pagemaster: Fantasy says she's wearing Little Mermaid underwear.

Literature

• In Wicked Good, one of Rory's childhood photos shows him posing with his grandma and the Little Mermaid at Disney World.
• Mickey from You Have a Match has tattoos of Ariel and Flounder.
• Maya from The Mermaid Chronicles has a picture of Ariel taped inside her locker. She explains, "She's bold and beautiful and represents all that is girl power."
• In The Mermaid's Daughter, Kathleen, who is descended from the original little mermaid, tells her girlfriend Harry about the group of sea witches who have been trying to contact her.
  Harry: What are they like, I wonder? Did he tell you that? Are they half lady, half octopus?
  Kathleen: Why would they look like that?
  Harry: Well, you're the perfect Ariel, aren't you? So all you need is an Ursula. Too bad I'm no handsome prince. Maybe that's the problem.
  Kathleen: I always hated that movie. I couldn't understand why she'd want to leave the sea and go live on land, or why she'd ever give up her voice.
• Lily and Dunkin: Lily has liked mermaids ever since she became obsessed with The Little Mermaid as a little kid.
• Tempest (2011): In Tempest Unleashed, the half-mermaid protagonist thinks, "I might be in the middle of a war with an evil sea witch, but The Little Mermaid really was just a Disney cartoon. Real life in mermaid territory was much more treacherous than Ariel could ever have imagined."

Live-Action TV

• Full House:
  • In "Easy Rider", Michelle refuses to speak to Joey for letting go of her while trying to ride a two-wheeler, and he buys her a video copy of The Little Mermaid as an apology. She declines the bribe because "it's on cable all month".
  • In "Girls Will Be Boys", Michelle plays superheroes with Aaron and Teddy. Teddy chooses to be Batman and Aaron chooses to be Superman. When Michelle chooses to be the Little Mermaid, Aaron tells her "That's not a superhero, that's a fish!"
• The first episode of Charmed's fifth season "A Witch's Tail" is a Whole-Plot Reference to the Disney version. For added points, Phoebe is transformed into a mermaid for the opposite reason to Ariel: she wants to escape from love. And Phoebe is played by Alyssa Milano, who was the inspiration for Ariel's design.
• Another Whole-Plot Reference shows up in Once Upon a Time, when the live action versions of The Little Mermaid characters show up in the third season. Being a twisted tale, it has many references to the Disney film in different ways. In this version, Eric throws an annual "Under The Sea Ball" in honor of the sea goddess, Ursula. The Evil Queen from Snow White, in disguise as Ursula, quips off some lines from the song Poor Unfortunate Soul as she convinces Ariel to become a human and "be apart of his world". Later in season 4, when the real Ursula shows up, there are a few more references to the Disney film including Ursula actually singing Fathoms Below.
• Young Sheldon: In "College Dropouts and the Medford Miracle", when Connie warns Missy to keep her date G-rated, Missy points out that The Little Mermaid is rated G and has Ariel and Eric kissing on the lips.

Puppet Shows

• In Dinosaurs, Earl is taking care of the Baby, who demands to see The Little Underwater Girl. When he puts it on, sea creatures are singing "Under the Water".
• In the Donkey Hodie episode "Being Bob Dog", Panda calls Bob Dog "the dog who has everything", referencing the song "Part of Your World".

Theme Parks

• In the Walt Disney World version of Peter Pan's Flight, Ariel can be seen in Mermaid Lagoon.
• In the Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland versions of "it's a small world", Ariel and Flounder are among the mermaids and sea life in an underwater sequence.
• Among the Disney movies that Donald Duck finds himself in during Mickeys Philhmarmagic is The Little Mermaid, with Ariel (singing "Part of That World") and Flounder making appearances.

Video Games

• In the Aladdin Licensed Game for the Sega Genesis, Sebastian makes a cameo as one of the prisoners in the Sultan's Dungeon.
• In the Bonkers Licensed Game for the SNES, one of the three Toon Treasures Bonkers has to recover is Ariel's voice.
• In Deep Duck Trouble, Glut the Shark appears as the boss of the Inlet level.
• In Infinite Craft, Ariel can be crafted by combining "Mermaid" and "Princess".
• Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian appear in Mickey's Memory Challenge as three of the characters who can be matched.
• In the Nasuverse, the story is referenced as probably the most famous work of Hans, who is a Servant, though he himself considers it one of his own worst works. Perhaps more noticeably, it's the favorite childhood fairytale of Kiara Sessyoin, and is implied to have been part of forming her way of viewing the world.
• In World of Illusion, Glut the Shark appears as the boss of the Sunken Shipwreck level.

Web Animation

• The Most Popular Girls in School: Ariel is Rachel Tice's Halloween costume for a party (worth noting: Rachel Tice is played by an Ariel doll herself).

Web Videos

• The Angry Video Game Nerd: In his review of Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude!, the Nerd points out that the game's "Mustique" track sounds very similar to "Under the Sea". He also points out that Greendog's soundtrack was composed by Paul Gadbois, who also composed the soundtracks for the Bonkers and TaleSpin Sega Genesis games.
• The Happy Video Game Nerd has reviewed the video game adaptation by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System in Part One his review of Disney Capcom games.
• The Nostalgia Critic:
  • In his "Top 11 Disney Villains" video, Ursula is placed in the #6 spot.
  • In the Critic's review of Theodore Rex, after introducing the film's Kid Sidekick character Sebastian, we hear a snippet of "Under the Sea".
• Saberspark: In his video "What RUINED Don Bluth Animation?", Saberspark brings up how The Little Mermaid beat Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven at the box-office, leading to an edited clip of King Triton destroying an object labelled "DON'S FILM".
• SuperMarioLogan:
  • In "Bowser Junior's Happy Meal", Chef Pee Pee attempts to cook Flounder, while singing a modified version of "Under the Sea".
  • In "Bowser Junior Gets Potty Trained!", when Junior wets his bed, he jumps to the conclusion that he's a mermaid. When Chef Pee Pee sees Junior's wet sheets, he isn't fooled, and asks Junior, "Do you see an ocean? Are you Ariel?".
  • In "Cody's Bad Word!", Cody colors in a picture of a mermaid using Ariel's color palette from the 1989 animated film to help with his anxiety. Joseph is offended by this, considering that Halley Bailey has been cast as Ariel in the 2023 live-action remake.
• Joueur du Grenier: The Sudden Musical Ending of the DC Comics adaptation games review, is Seb singing a pastiche of "Under the Sea".

Western Animation

• 101 Dalmatians: The Series: In the episode "Shipwrecked", Ariel's likeness is used for the figurehead on a ship.
• In the 2 Stupid Dogs episode, "Cartoon Canines", Big Dog and Little Dog are shanghaied into a training camp for cartoon characters. During the montage where the two dogs try on different cartoon personas, Little Dog is dressed like Ariel, and Big Dog is dressed like Prince Eric as a sound-alike of "Under the Sea" plays. The Drill Sergeant shoots it down for being too cutesy, and wants classic funny cartoons with lots of butt jokes.
• An episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is entitled, "The Little Merhog".
• Aladdin: The Series:
  • In "Elemental, My Dear Jasmine", Saleen the mermaid briefly turns Jasmine's hairdo into Ariel's before saying that she "looks like every other princess under the sea". Later in the same episode, Saleen turns herself into a human and comments "Legs, what's all the fuss about?"
  • In "Seems Like Old Crimes (Part I)", Genie turns himself into King Triton, with Iago dressed as Ariel.
  • A few episodes have the Genie dressing up as Chef Louis.
• In the American Dad! episode "Francine's Flashback", Stan calls in the Air Force to bomb the ocean so he and his CIA buddies can better catch fish. A dead mermaid surfaces and Stan identifies her as Ariel.
• Animaniacs (1993):
  • In Episode 30'S "Good Idea, Bad Idea" segment, a trick-or-treater is dressed as Ariel.
  • "Mermaid Mindy" is set to calypso music, which might be a reference to this film's "Under the Sea" musical number. In addition, Buttons encounters an electric eel who resembles Flotsam and Jetsam (though this might just be a coincidence).
  • In "Jokahontas", during the "Just the Same Old Heroine" song, a The Little Mermaid-esque scene is shown, with Dot as Ariel.
• Animaniacs (2020): "Global Warnering" features a song called "Here Comes the Sea", which features a similar melody to "Under the Sea".
• Family Guy:
  • In the episode "Peter's Progress", Peter comments that Cleveland's cousin sounds like Sebastian.
  • As one of the show's many jokes about Meg supposedly being ugly, the Disney Universe seen in "Road to the Multiverse" has Meg looking like Ursula.
  • At one point in the episode "Spies Reminiscent of Us", Stewie colors in a picture of Sebastian blue.
  • In the episode "Hot Pocket-Dial", when Joe's legs fall of while he's parasailing, they wind up being found by Ariel. Who promptly eats them.
  • In "Christmas is Coming", Brian tries to explain to Stewie that Meg had her first orgasm while sitting on Santa's lap. Since their show is now owned by Disney, he opts so say that Santa "made her Little Mermaid Moana".
• In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Billy gets sucked under the ocean and meets a reggae-singing crab named Ziggy, who performs "Under the Ocean". After the song, Billy eats him and gets a cramp from the inside as a result.
• Hercules: The Animated Series
  • Ursula has a cameo on "Hercules and the Bacchanal".
  • Sebastian and Flounder are briefly seen in the opening shots of "Hercules and the Big Sink", swimming among the ruins of Atlantis. One of Ursula's eels also makes an appearance.
  • In "Hercules and the Son of Poseidon", Helen complains about wearing a mermaid costume. She is voiced by Ariel's voice actress, Jodi Benson.
• Jellystone!: In "Spell Book", Jabberjaw dresses as Ariel for Halloween.
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • "Kiss the Girl" is parodied as Jeremy and Candace float through the artificial rainforest in "The Great Indoors" as he sings "Set the Record Straight".
  • Two in "Hawaiian Vacation": "A-Prime Calypso" parodies "Under the Sea", and Doofenshmirtz recreates the iconic transformation scene where Ariel surfaces as a human.
• Robot Chicken:
  • A sketch from "Dragon Nuts" features a fisherman catching a mermaid resembling Ariel. He's disappointed that she's not a genie and commits suicide, only for the mermaid to reveal that she's actually a genie who looks like a mermaid.
  • A sketch from "Collateral Damage in Gang Turf War" features Ariel and her sisters mutilating various sea creatures (including Flounder) to use as fashion accessories. King Triton eventually tells them to leave since they're only there to browse, and the girls complain that he's so cruel.
  • A sketch from "Butchered in Burbank" features Ariel singing a parody of "Part of Your World" while swimming around the pollution in New York City's East River.
  • The final sketch of "Stone Cold Steve Cold Stone" has the more "traditional" Disney Princesses doing to war with the more "progressive" ones. Ariel appears in her human form saying that she has "thingamabobs" (which Jasmine believes is her dildo collection) to use in the battle, and later appears in her mermaid form to bring out her "thingamabob": a nuclear bomb.
  • A sketch from "Waking Dead Lobster" features Sebastian asking Eric to pay him for setting up the "Kiss the Girl" number. When Eric refuses, Sebastian pinches his groin to persuade him otherwise.
  • A sketch from "Robot Chicken Lots of Holidays But Don't Worry Christmas is Still There So Pull the Stick Out of Your Ass Fox News Special" features various Disney characters visiting their mothers' graves on Mother's Day. When Ariel asks her father about what her mother was like, there's a brief Flashback Cut showing Triton humping a dolphin before he answers "She was the most enthusiastic one in her pod".
  • A sketch from "Garbage Sushi" features Ariel and Eric spending time on their wedding night.
  • A sketch from "Strummy Strummy Sad Sad" involves Sebastian struggling with the orchestra. The following sketch has a crocodile, a frog, and a flamingo talking about their experiences with Sebastian.
  • A sketch from "Bugs Keith in: I Can't Call Heaven, Doug" involves the Fab Five from Queer Eye (2018) trying to make over Ursula.
  • A sketch from "May Cause Indecision... or Not" involves Ariel walking out of the sea after trading her voice for a pair of legs. She stubs her toe on a rock and is unable to scream in pain.
  • A sketch from "May Cause Internal Diarrhea" involves Ariel going to the doctor to have her throat examined after trading her voice to Ursula for a pair of legs. When the doctor asks her to say "Ah" as she opens her mouth, she is unable to say anything.
• Sabrina: The Animated Series: In "Wiccan of the Sea", Sabrina and Chloe ane turned into mermaids and are roped into taking part in an underwater musical number that's a clear parody of "Under the Sea".
• The Simpsons:
  • In "I Married Marge", when Marge thought she was pregnant, Lisa suggested Ariel as a name if the baby turned out to be a girl, named after the then-latest Disney princess.
  • In "Homer Badman", Homer proposes that the family escape their troubles by going under the sea, and then has an Imagine Spot where the family is dancing to a parody of "Under the Sea" and Homer eats some of fish.
    Homer: Marge, kids, everything is going to be just fine. Now pack your bags, because we're going to be starting a new life... under the sea... [sighs]
    [instrumental]
    [sings] Under the sea, under the sea
    There'll be no accusations,
    Just friendly crustaceans
    Under the sea!
    Marge: Homer, that's your solution to everything to move under the sea! It's not gonna happen!
    Homer: Not with that attitude.
  • In "Make Room for Lisa", Lisa says that the movie was her favorite until Homer taped over it. Coincidentally this episode aired the same night the movie was airing on The Wonderful World Of Disney on ABC!
  • In "The Book Job", Lisa tries think up a story for a teen lit novel. She gets the idea for a story about a mermaid who falls in love with a boy on land, only to notice a Little Mermaid poster on her wall.
  • In "Throw Grampa From the Dane", during the Simpson's family tour of Denmark by Soren, the owner of the house they're staying at, this exchange occurs:
    Soren: (describing the Little Mermaid statue) Created in 1913, The Little Mermaid is a world-famous icon of Denmark.
    Bart: No, The Little Mermaid was created by Disney, right before he created Spider-Man and Star Wars.
    Soren: This is the real Little Mermaid. And she was a very tragic figure.
    Bart: What about her buddy, the crab?
    Soren: There was no crab!
    Bart: He was the only funny thing in it.
    Homer: Got that right.
• South Park: In "Doubling Down", after finding out his ex-girlfriend Heidi is seeing Kyle now, Cartman dreams of him being giant like Ursula in the climax, complete with him wielding a menorah like the trident.
• Tiny Toon Adventures:
  • The gag credit for the episode, "Whale's Tales" is "Mermaid Model - Sherri Stoner", referencing the fact that Sherri Stoner, one of the show's producers and writers, served as the body model for Ariel.
  • In "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian", when Buster wants to talk to the writers about them leaving him and Babs out of an episode focusing on Hamton, a "Mermaid" poster can be seen in the writers' room, referencing the film and the fact that Sherri Stoner served as the body model for Ariel.
  • In the "Toon TV" music video, "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)", one scene parodies the "Kiss the Girl" scene from the movie.
  • In the Direct to Video movie ''How I Spent My Vacation", Babs is underwater and sees some sea creatures, including a mermaid, singing a parody of "Under the Sea".
  Babs: Oops, wrong cartoon.
• We Bare Bears:
  • In "Shush Ninjas", the bears make a speech about the movies that is accompanied by a montage of the bears acting out famous movie scenes; one of them features Panda imitating the iconic scene of Ariel lying on a rock with waves crashing on it.
  • In "Wingmen", Grizz sings a song similar to "Kiss the Girl".

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