#he’s only watched the movie with Prince Eric and the Mulan movie so far

[basiatlu]

Day 27: Costume

Pansy and Hermione decide to set up our boys in a special couple’s costume for the Halloween party - unbeknownst to them, of course.

[lsleofthelost]

this is a thing that’s been in my brain for way too long, so even if it’s kind of half baked i’ve decided to release it into the wild

so, before i’ve watched the descendants movies (can u believe there was a time when i didn’t have all of them marinating in my mind…) i kind of assumed that by Descendants, they meant like really descendants, as in 2-3 generations at least, not just children of heroes and villains. i remembered that a couple of months ago, and thought well, that could make a great AU, where we keep all the characters but we make them a little more distant in generations. and because i love historical dramas, i’ve created a whole fake history in my head.

here’s what i have so far:

The timeline is that King Adam created the Isle when he did, and sent the first batch of villains then. The action of the films that historically take place before that are shifted to take place practically simultaneously or soon after Auradon forms (Hercules, The Sword in the Stone, Mulan, Aladdin, The Sleeping Beauty, Emprerors New Groove, Pocahontas) so all the villains and henchmen are sent there as the first experimental batch. They get an Island from the Olympians, the Island that before was serving as a prison only for the God of the Underworld, Hades. They call it Le Carcéral, which just means The Prison. The magical cage at that point is different, it allows everything to come in, but it doesn’t let anything or anyone leave. So the magically inclined can summon their belongings, even parts of their castles, perform magic, etc. but if they tried to curse someone outside, it would either bounce back inside or just dissipate at contact with the barrier.

During Adam’s reign, there is still unrest in other Kingdoms, and with their strong military (backed by Wei, the Empire from Mulan) and experience in dealing with villains, Auradon helps them to catch and neutralise the threats by sending them to Le Carcéral in exchange for these Kingdoms either paying a tax or joining the Union and also pay the tax but now getting offered military support, trade agreements, political unity etc. So the films that take place during this are: Rapunzel (Corona joins), Frozen (Arendelle doesn’t, they already trade well and have a good military), Alice (Wonderland can’t really join, since it’s kind of like a dimensionally weird space + value privacy in their politics, but they get some trade agreements because they have unique products to export, still pay the prison tax), Cinderella (i’ve long ago decided to call their Kingdom Sujeong, also join; but stay pretty closed off politically, not letting Auradon interfere a lot), Ariel (Tirulia, which is what I think Eric’s Kingdom is called, enthusiastically joins, Atlantea doesn’t, still pretty hostile to humans).

So there are all these new villains and their henchmen, but there is also a pretty steady, if small, stream of prisoners accused of the worst crimes. Treason, practicing dark magical arts (magic overall is still legal), first degree murder, mass murder, drug trafficking, etc. The Island becomes crowded, so the fairies bring up more territory all around to enlarge it. This is also the time where they realise that by enchanting the barrier to let absolutely nothing leave, they made it so the prisoners’ years and even souls are trapped, they are sort of preserved in age and can’t even die. They modify the enchantment but that turns into a huge riot and a lot of people, including the Auradon patrol guards and some volunteers, die, so they reverse it. This is around the time when Le Carcéral becomes The Isle of the Lost colloquially for the prisoners.

Sometime during the calmer times, I’m thinking soon after Corona joins, Belle gives birth to their first son, securing the line of succession with Le Grand Dauphin Marcel. They have three more children, two girls and a boy, but only the girls survive. Elisabeth marries the Camelot prince, and Adelaide marries an Auradon noble who was gaining traction to start a civil war.

King and Queen start being more religious after the loss of their son, and proclaim Catholic Christianity the official religion in the Union. They don’t outright ban practice of other religions, but Agrabah leaves nonetheless, they still house their worst prisoners at Le Carcéral, so they now pay a bigger tax but they are an incredibly rich land, they can afford it. (The Hunchback of Notre Dame takes place around here)

With more religion, they start to introduce and enforce more and more laws against magic.

Marcel marries the princess of Schwarzwald, Charlotte, Snow White’s oldest child, and has a child of his own, while Adam is still ruling, Benjamin. Marcel dies unexpectedly, when Ben is only five, so the title of heir apparent, Le Grand Dauphin, goes to him.

Adam is already in his fifties-sixties when the events of Peter Pan (Auradon and Camelot don’t consider the native population and proclaim the islands theirs, and cleans away the pirates in the surrounding waters), Atlantis (the discovery of Neverland spurs more exploration missions, but theirs is officially fruitless since the members of the crew decide to keep Atlantis a secret from the world), The Princess and the Frog (yes this opens plot holes by being so close in time to Pocahontas, but this is my fictional world so i’ve decided it’s just two different places, so the land Tiana is from is just New Orleans, a country in the Commonwealth of former Auradon colonies. They join but Naveen’s Kingdom doesn’t, since they are majority Hindu), 101 Dalmatians (the downfall, capture and imprisonment of Cruella de Vil make huge news, as she was regarded as The Style Icon of all Kingdoms). The fact that as much as they punish villains, new magical villains, or villains using magical artefacts, are still so active makes Adam outlaw magic fully, with only exceptions having to get the Crown’s personal approval.

When Benjamin is around 13, Adam dies, leaving him with the tension at the border with Aragon, Moors and Ulstead (Kingdoms of Aurora and Phillip). They want to make a bid for overturning the Union and coming out ruling over it. Some reasons are that their House has strong connections, through history and marriage with many other Union Kingdoms, they want to reverse the magic ban, and they own more land than Auradon and have to pay huge taxes for it. Queen Regent Charlottes rule is spent in trying to minimise the threat of war, small battles at borders, and protecting Benjamin. When he comes of age and is crowned King (at age eighteen), he is also continuing that. But he sees an opportunity for peace when he learns that Princess Audriana has been presented to society and has yet to have an official marriage contract. They get married, and pleased to see someone of Amanacer House on the throne and to have their taxes reduced, the war actions seize.

Once the threat that has been hanging over his head for more than five years is taken care of, Benjamin starts looking at the project that his father has been passionate about but been turned away by his grandfather. Freeing the trapped descendants from the Isle of the Lost.

[squishmallow36]

Keeper of the Lost Prepositions - Thirty-one

Word count: 2.3k

tw: Rex's talentless status

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss @kamikothe1and0lny @nyxpixels @florida-floppy-frog @poppinspop @crystallinewalker @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @books-over-boys @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @cotyledon-tomentosa @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees

On Ao3 when I get home and have time to add it or below the cut!

    I know I have a very limited amount of time before Mom gets home and then bad things will probably happen, so I should probably construct my reasoning for doing everything these past couple of weeks. 

    Instead, I’m watching Keefe’s YouTube videos.

    He changed his channel’s name, so if I hadn’t already been subscribed, it would have been way more difficult to find it, so I would be wasting this time on a different channel instead. 

    I won’t argue though. I know I told him to basically do that with all of his social media accounts, but Lord Hunkyhair will always be the superior name. 

    I have a habit of picking out which video I’ll watch next while the current one’s playing. It comes with its own wonderful hazard of accidentally clicking on one before the end of the original one. 

    No, I’m not bitter.

    It’s not like I’ve done it twice today already. 

    Currently, he’s painting something that reminds me of the Everblaze, and when I realized that, a shiver snaked down my spine.

    And then my thumb apparently decided that it’d had enough and chose a different video to watch. 

    Now Keefe’s painting a sunset, but in the description on the video, I had to do a double take. Elvin Runes. Seems my thumb knew what it was doing. Maybe. 

    He says, Hey Dex or Biana or Sophie or any other elf who happens to find this. If there’s another Moonlark out there that finds this that would be hilarious. Anyway, what I was going to say. There’s a lot that I want to say. I should keep this short. Can you go tell my Dad that I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m pan? I think Lord Gassius would love to have another reason that I’m not living up to his expectations. :)

    I don’t believe that Cassius will believe me, even if I do end up telling him. He seems like the type to care way too much about Matchmaking because stars forbid something damages his precious reputation. 

    I comment with a simple acknowledgement that I’ve seen the video, and leave a like while I’m at it.

    Near the end, I realize that the sunset and the water below are the colors of the pansexual pride flag, and smile. 

    The YouTube algorithm suggests a Disney-name-that-tune video for some reason after that. Who knows how it works?

     As a Dizznee, I must complete the challenge with my newfound Disney knowledge. 

    The first one up is “Let it Go” from Frozen. Why was I expecting anything less?

    Next it throws one that I don’t know at me, but says it’s “Heigh Ho” from Snow White. Then it’s “When You Wish Upon A Star” from Pinocchio. That really should have been the first one. It is at the very beginning of most Disney movies.

    A few more rounds pass, and I can get a little more than half. And then it plays “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan, which, even though I haven’t seen it yet, I know from my Disney music playlist. 

    It’s also the hardest to not sing along to it so far. 

   The answer is revealed, and…

    Oh stars. Shang is hot. 

    I narrowly avoid smacking my own forehead.

    He’s. A. Cartoon. Character. 

    I don’t have much time to argue with myself, because the next song is up. I’ve only heard it a few times in my playlist, so I don’t know its name off the top of my head. 

    The answer is revealed as “I See the Light,” from Tangled, and while Flynn’s not quite as unbelievably hot as Shang, he’s not unattractive. 

    And, somehow, it gets even worse. “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid.

    Prince Eric essentially makes my brain short-circuit, so I completely give up and start coloring on one of my pixel coloring apps. 

    Is the Universe trying to tell me something?

    I don’t think three cartoon crushes in a row has a very high probability. 

    That all happen to be guys. 

    Great. 

    Why are you like this?

    Are you trying to make up for lost time? Because that’s not cool. 

    Or are you just now seeing things as they truly are because of Wonderboy’s glorious abs that made you realize that you were, in fact, living in the closet.

    That wonderful, wonderful closet. 

    But the million luster question still remains: gay or m-spec? Because I’m not willing to keep rambling on about how all I know is that I’m somewhere in the land of mlm, but have no idea where.

    Let’s think, shall we?

    Wonderboy. Hunkyhair—sort of. Shang. Prince Eric. I arrest my case.

    But Sophie?

    Sophie was your brain’s last attempt to convince itself that it was straight. 

    And we all saw how that worked out. You’re better off as friends. 

    Amy’s oddly comforting words from yesterday float into my brain. “No matter how many times you change your label, no matter how long you’ve spent with a certain label, no matter what your labels are, you are valid. Remember that.”

    Something like that. It might not be word for word. Memory’s not perfect.

    So why do I care so freaking much about trying to figure all of this out? I don’t know. Maybe I want to confidently describe myself.

    I only have a few more minutes of coloring, finding my mind wandering back to Prince Eric more than once which is always fun, before Mom gets home. 

    I hear a knock at my door, and I say, “come in,” even though I’m certain that something in this conversation is going to go horribly.

    To my surprise, Mom asks, “What do smth and ttyl mean?” spelling out both.

    Why is she not obliterating me from the plane of existence yet?

    “The first one’s an abbreviation of the word ‘something’ and the second one’s an acronym that stands for ‘talk to you later’. Sorry. They’re human texting abbreviations and I was a little preoccupied with Rex nearly jumping on my bed,” I answer.

    “Oh. That makes sense. What did you have to fix for him anyway?”

    “I’m attempting to teach him a programming language and some lines broke from a logic error, so I had to talk him through how to fix it.”

    “I’m just going to pretend I know what all of those words mean. But I’m glad you two are spending some time together. I know Lex and Bex manifesting hasn’t been the best for him. Do you think he’s a technopath?”

    How do I say ‘no, because he’s talentless’ in the nicest way possible?

    “I don’t think so, but some of us are better with hardware than software, so I mean…personally, I’m decent with both, because I usually have to spend more time with hardware from all the gadgets, but recently I’ve been spending so much time hacking into things that I’ve gotten pretty good with software,” I say. 

    Mom asks, “Quick question. What are hardware and software?”

    “Hardware is the physical components of a device, while software is the code running it behind the scenes. I don’t know why though.”

    “Okay. Speaking of you hacking into things, what, exactly, are we talking about?”

    Well, that’s a fun question if there ever was one. 

    “Mostly the registry, which is like every other day at this point between setting up false feeds to visit the Forbidden Cities. And then there’s Watchward Heath, which was only like one and a half times. That was to track down Alvar and Keefe, but I never got through to search for him. What else? I mean, technically there was also Widgetmoor, but not exactly because I just programmed a virus to get through it for me and download her entire database. I can’t think of anything else at the moment, but there might be more.”

    “Virus?”

    “It’s a piece of code that, in this case, lets me expose the weaknesses in her security system, without actually having to do it while I’m there, because she could have gotten suspicious if she saw me actively hacking into something that isn’t the registry, because the council’s security is atrocious.”

     “That sounds…complicated. And you’re teaching Rex how to do this?”

    If he were able to hack into something, society would collapse within days. 

    “Not that exactly. Coding can be used for lots of other things that don’t involve hacking. And he’s still in the drag-and-drop phase of learning how to code. I might be able to find the thing he made if you want to see it.”

    I think she agrees, but I’m too busy trying to sign into my Scratch account. The Technopath gets distracted by technology once again. 

    I smile when I find it, because I didn’t know if he made another account and built the dino game on there instead of on my account. 

    I hand it to Mom and say, “It doesn’t have mobile support quite yet, but this is what he’s been doing. Click the green flag to start.”

   “Oh! The little dinosaur runs—right into a cactus. Why’d he run into a cactus? What did he do to deserve that?” Her smile fell.

    “The goal is to avoid the cactus, but it requires the spacebar, and the mobile keyboard won’t pop up to provide any input. I’d go in and add that but he’d know that I messed with it.”

    I mean, he might not, but I should remix the project and I don’t want to do that because that won’t change the original project.

    “This is really cool. You showed him how to do this?”

    “Technically I’ve shown him how to code a few other projects, but this one he started by himself. I’m assuming it was today but it could have been a while since he started it. I don’t know.”

    “How long do you think this would take you?” Mom asks.

    “Well, that’s kind of a loaded question. The animation of the dino running would take forever, because it’s stop motion, so I have to draw each individually, and have enough costumes for the dino sprite that it’s not too different but different enough that it doesn’t go too slow to be realistic when it’s switching between costumes.”

    I take a breath and realise I should define some things. “Sprites are the different objects that are in the scene, which may or may not be able to interact with any other objects. And costumes are what the Scratch term for the different ways the sprite can look, so it makes animation slightly easier. Other than that, it wouldn’t take very long, although the different cacti might be a little annoying to draw.”

    “Do you have to draw all of this?” asks Mom. 

    “Yeah. There are a couple of sprites that are included with Scratch, but for the most part, you’re better off drawing your own. Even considering my nonexistent art skills.”

    The triplets destroy something downstairs, and maybe, just maybe, this time the Ice Yeti went down. 

    Mom sighs and sits on the edge of my bed. 

    “Thank you for getting Rex out of his funk. I tried everything I could think of but apparently even Aunt Edaline’s custard bursts weren’t working.

    Those are his favorites. As much as he wants to claim that he loves all sugary things equally, those custard bursts are more equal than the others. 

    “Really? Not even the cherry ones?”

    She shakes her head. “I just wish that he would manifest already. Dad told me that he heard someone at the store whispering about how there’s going to be another talentless Dizznee, and a triplet no less. From what it sounded like when he told me, I’m not sure they got out of the store without a broken nose.” 

    I want to smile at the idea of Dad popping a customer in the nose, but Keefe confirming that Rex is going to be doomed to a life of that particular brand of hell is rattling around inside my head. 

    “What’s wrong?” Mom asks, and I’m guessing I went pale because my face isn’t burning alive from a blush. 

    “Nothing,” I say in what is probably the most unconvincing tone in the history of the Universe.

    “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

    I want to nod, but I can’t. 

    There’s a part of me that wants to tell Mom, and another part that knows I have to hide Keefe’s new ability and, in the process, shield her from Rex’s Talentless status for at least a little longer.

    But I also know that I’m absolutely horrible at keeping secrets, and if she finds out that I kept this from her, that’s not going to be fun. 

    I’ll already have Rex that hates me. I didn’t even begin to consider how anyone else could react.

    Please don’t let me make the wrong decision.

    “Promise me you won’t tell anyone. Especially the collective.”

    “Ok,” Mom replies, voice rising like a question. 

    “Keefe’s going to kill me for telling you this.”

    I take a breath, and I start rambling. I know there’s one chance for me to say it all before I break down. 

    “Before he left, Keefe hailed me and somehow we got to talking about how he said the triplets’ hands felt weird. Like, Lex’s were freezing cold and Bex’s were squishy. But when they smacked each other they felt normal. And then somehow that connected with the fact that Lex is a Froster now and Bex is a Phaser. And Rex’s hands felt weirdly empty so I tried to hold on to the hope that he’d be like a Vanisher—.” My voice cracks. 

    Forcing the words out, I manage, “But then he said that Dad felt the same way when he touched his shoulder after one of the tests and I just—.” 

    I bury my face in my hands, not registering whether or not any tears have actually escaped beneath the pit of guilt and anxiety in my stomach. 

    “So that…that means…” 

    I lift my head slightly and nod.

[ducknotinarow]

07 SummerAriel - "Just say it!" - Topic: Aspen

My muse struggles with the truth... Send "Just say it!" And my muse will confess to something they don't really talk about. Bonus: specify a specific topic and that's what they will talk about!

Summer could only watch The Little Mermaid so many times in a row before she was ready to slam her head into a wall. Princess movies? Eh they weren't really for Summer persay. Mulan was okay though. She just wasn't really hooked on them like some could be and for sure no where near how her Sister Ariel was when it came to the movie that also had her name sake in it. She had seen this movie so much she could recite the film line for line. She knew what part of the movie was playing from the musical score alone even. In truth? She only liked the end where they fought against the villain Ursula where the prince rammed a ship into here. Now that part was cool.

Why could that be the whole movie? And not all the singing and ew pinning over the prince. A tad ironic on Summer's end in that same moment. They were simply just passing time in the lair, waiting for it to get darker out so they could head out and hang together themselves. Getting older did give them a bit of freedom but they still had to be careful due to Ariel being well a mutant. Sure they hid that fact when out on the town all thanks to a simple hood to try and conceal her appearance a bit more. The darkness just made it easier to do that. So they were one the what? third movie? Why did they make three of these films? Also if this move was so love by her uncle too why did he name Ari, Ariel and not Melody? Since that was the mermaids kid?

Would that make sense? Auntie Von was Ariel his princess right? SO he be what Eric? sort worked? Ariel became human and was able to be with Eric. Auntie Von became mutant and same deal? Eh questions for her uncle at a later date.

Summer was far to focused on her cell anyway, unaware if her sister knew it too. Not that she was unaware of Summer's well lack on interest in the movies. But she wasn't so engrossed in something else like she had been now. Thanks to Uncle Donnie who actually helped her out not to mention actually gave her advice on top of it. Summer did focus on what she wanted her. And well she liked Aspen, she didn't really have many humans herself to speak too. She liked Aspen's company. Not many other humans got her after all. She grew up feeling like an outcast, the only humans shes seemed to get along with? Was her Dad, Aunt April and her grandma. What did they all have in common though? exactly. Grandma? Old. Aunt April? also old. Her Dad? Old and lame. Aspen was her age though, he loved hockey just like she did. He also loved the fast rides at fairs like roller coasters. Like stuffing his face with greasy foods before going on the tilt a whirl and betting who would get sick first. Summer always won out. No spiny ride out did her Dad on a bike after all.

It was who had her attention on her cell phone now in fact. Mostly they were just recapping their last game and how they beat out the other team in a landslide. Their winning streak had been going strong maybe it was to early to call it but they both felt they be winning the whole season. Of course they were Summer had been making sure to use her Dad's hockey stick and tie her pop's mask around the handle of it. Like she always did for the winning games. Even if they were being stupid lately. Well they always were but it was only an issue when it was impacting Summer personally. Course it wasn't just them lately.

It's when Summer gets the next text from Aspen that brings that up, asking what she was doing that night. Well they didn't fully have a plan it was more lets see what comes up type deal. Just them wanting to hang out outside really. Not like this hasn't come up before but Ariel always gets well stupid? When it comes to the idea. In part Summer thought it was her being cautious of humans. Expect Ari talked to that one dude before with out a worry. So clearly it wasn't that. Despite bad run ins with humans her sister always held a curiosity on them. Summer should know she tends to have to answer for her, or let her sister live through her in a sense at times. Helped with her homework though.

"soooo" Summer started with, she could already tell how this might go. "Aspen talkin' 'bout hanin' out? Wanna? be easier to hit the up the theme park on the pier ya always wanna check out if we got another person with us?" Summer had made the suggestion before. Many in fact. Aspen actually already knew mutants were a thing. He met her pops. That went..well, in that it didn't at all but that wasn't the point right now. And she mentioned her cousin was on before. Summer was sure they get along decently? Maybe. Hopefully.

And Soon Ari was getting weird again. Going on about Summer can hang out with him instead. Blah blah dumb shit that Summer was tuning out already. Why was she like this every time? What was with her sister when it came to Aspen? Hell she wanted to meet Bishop, she tried to convince Summer that Hun might not be all that bad either. She called Jaromir her beloved. She texted Skylar. So what gives? And it seemed Summers own for once silence was getting to Ari.

"Just say it!"

"Fine I will since I ain't 'ike you! The fuck is your problem with Aspen ya haven' even met 'im despite how often I try to get you to! An' don' give me some bullshit about 'im being human cause I know it ain't that!" Summer was blunt and not one to beat around a bush. She never understood the need for flowery talk after all. When getting to the point made far more sense. Sadly Summer? learned the best way to talk? was with well force.

"Fuck ya act 'ike he's the fucking plaque or some shit." Summer continued on with moving to stand up from the couch now. It would be a great deal if her sister and Aspen could get along. Two people who got her and understood her. In a world where Summer felt so lost and unsure where she stood a lot of the time. Never fully getting to be all that much part of any side of it? if she wished she could merge it in the few places possible. And a nice start? would be if Ariel would just give Aspen a chance.

[calliecat93]

Callie’s Disney Princess Retrospective: The Little Mermaid

(Snow White) (Cinderella) (Sleeping Beauty)

By the time of 1989, The Walt Disney Company was in it’s Dark Age. Walt had passed, the Nine Old Men were retiring, and their films were viewed as jokes. The Dark Age tends to get what I feel is an overly harsh reputation, but that’s not what we’re here for. The cold hard truth is Disney was a shadow of its former self. Their films just weren’t getting the same praise as they once did, and now with Don Bluth gaining success, with films like An American Tale and The Land Before Time, they weren’t even the top studio anymore. Their lowest point was the colossal failure of The Black Cauldron and while films like The Great Mouse Detective earned some praise, it was just never enough. They’d start getting some steam with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but considering that they commissioned Richard William’s studio in England over Disney’s own animation studio, it seemed that even the company itself was losing faith in their own talents.

That all changed, however, with the release of their 28th animated feature. This would be the film that changed everything. It brought Disney back into prominence after years of being laughing stocks. It would enter the animation medium into its Renaissance, a time still fondly remembered by many. And for the purposes of this series, it is the film that both resurrected and revitalized the Disney Princess franchise. All of this would be due to 1989’s The Little Mermaid.

Overview

Ariel is a mermaid, but she dreams of one day being able to be part of the human world. Always collecting whatever surface world treasures she can find, to her father’s disapproval, Ariel one day stumbles upon a ship celebrating the birthday of the handsome Prince Eric. It’s love at first sight, but as he is a human, her father King Triton reacts negatively. Hurt, Ariel goes to the sea witch Ursula, who grants her human legs at the cost of her voice. To remain human, Ariel has three days to get Eric to fall in love with her and kiss her. But Ursula has her own wicked plans for Ariel, plans that will endanger both land and sea. Will Ariel be able to get Eric to fall in love with her and become part of his world? Or will Ursula triumph?

Review

I have been waiting for this day for SO LONG. Do you want to know why I decided to do this series, to begin with? Aside from 2020 driving me to insanity? It’s because while the complaints against the Disney Princesses in general have frustrated me for as long as I can remember, there were two in particular that always made my blood boil because they made no sense. Cinderella was the first one, which I already covered. The other? Ariel. I think you all know what I’m referring to here, but let’s put a pin in it for now. We have a LOT to discuss before we get to analyzing Ariel herself. First, let's go over the film.

The film is based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Anderson. Walt himself had actually planned it long before, but sadly was never able to make it a reality. When the directors pitched it, at first it was denied due to Disney having already releasing a mermaid film called Splash not too long ago. But it was allowed to continue to be worked on as a future project and after a great deal of tweaking, expansion, and reworking, it was approved as a feature film to come out after Oliver and Company. There were a LOT of changes from the original story. The sea witch went from neutral to the villain, characters were expanded and added, and of course the story of unrequited love that ended with the little mermaid committing suicide was thrown out all together. A lot of the story basis was still there, but Disney was taking it and making it their own arguably even moreso than with the Classic Three.

The animation is fantastic. Many of the films prior like The Rescuers and Oliver and Company, while they looked nice, had this… roughness to it. I mean they were outright recycling animation for a good while, with Robin Hood being the biggest example. But the animation here is some of the nicest, most fluid that they’ve had in quite a long time. It’s colorful, expressive, and grand in feel. This is especially true with the musical numbers. I mean Under the Sea has SO much going on, and it is a true spectacle! It’s especially prominent when Ariel is mute. Since she can’t express herself with words, the animation had to be on point so that we could still understand her thoughts and feelings. They did an amazing job. From things like her visual glee at being human when going to bed the first night, to her annoyingly blowing her bangs during the canoe ride, turning into excited glee when Eric guesses her name. It helps Ariel feel more like a three-dimensional character and illustrates everything to us that words couldn’t at that point.

The biggest animation challenge for this film would be to convincingly portray the illusion of being under water. They had to convince us that Ariel was living under the sea, and I’d say they did a pretty good job. It is no easy task and trying to describe it is… hard. But I never had any doubt that they were underwater, especially compared to the scenes that were on the surface/ just look at how Ariel's hair is constantly flowing compared to how it sits when on the surface. It’s that attention to detail that I always appreciate. The opening especially, seeing the underwater landscape thriving as we see the silhouetted merpeople until the grand reveal of King Triton’s castle. Not to mention the seashore setting of Eric’s own castle and kingdom, a perfect match for this sort of movie. As someone who loves water/seaside settings, it’s always a joy to see!

While several of these people worked on the Dark Age films, this is really the first film that allows the then-new talent of Disney to shine. The directors were John Musker and Ron Clements, who are VERY important names to the Princess line. They not only gave us Ariel but also Jasmine, Tiana, and Moana. They’ve been attached to many of Disney’s most beloved films and event cult classics like The Great Mouse Detective and Treasure Planet (both of which you should watch). You also have animators such as Glen Keane, who would go on to animate Pocahontas and Rapunzel and work on some of the future princes (The Beast and Aladdin), and Mark Henn who would animate Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas (alongside Keane), Mulan, and Tiana. They both would be the supervising animators for Ariel, and go on to have very successful careers in future productions. 

But this film also gave us what may have been the best decision that the new management ever made. For the music, they hired lyricist Howard Ashman, who chose composer Alan Menken to collaborate with him. I cannot stress enough how important these two’s contributions were for this (and the next film we’ll be discussing) production, especially the former. Ashman became very passionate about this project and was very influential on it’s direction to the point of being credited as a producer. Menken of course would go on to have a LONG, successful career as a composer on many of the Renaissance films. Many of which we’ll be touching on in this retrospective. These guys won two Oscars for The Little Mermaid for a reason.

I haven’t talked a whole lot about the music in these films outside a little bit about the main song. That’s because while not unimportant, the music didn’t really move the story along. Like Someday My Prince Will Come/ is cute, but does it really drive anything forward? Or tell us anything about Snow White that we didn’t already know from I’m Wishing? Not really. Ashman, using his stage musical experience, wanted to use that kind of styling with The Little Mermaid. To use music to add depth to both the characters and to the story. We’re all used to most Disney films being this Broadway-esque spectacle nowadays, but this film was the first to truly do so. Considering how this formula is still being used to this day, I think it’s safe to say that it was VERY successful. Again, the music won two Oscars for a reason. Heck for a LONG time, the music was all that Disney was able to win from The Academy, so that says a LOT as to how good this was.

So now that we’ve made it here, I’m going to discuss the vocal tracks individually and give my thoughts on each of the major ones:

Fathoms Below: Might be the most underrated song of the bunch. It’s in the style of a sea-shanty discussing the legends of what is below the sea. It’s a great intro to the film, letting us know right off the bat what kind of movie we are in for. I know that it sure had me invested~

Part of Your World/Reprise: I’m gonna go more into depth on the song’s meanings when we analyze Ariel, but this song is perfect. It’s the song that tells us Ariel’s wants and dreams and Jodi Benson does such a great job putting so many different emotions into it. The animators also did a fantastic job with the expressions, fully showcasing Ariel’s longing, sadness, and desperation to be part of a world that she cannot. The reprise equally does a great job showcasing her evolving revolve, going from ‘longing’ to ‘determined’. The song is fondly remembered for a reason… and it almost didn’t make it into the film. During screen testings, Jeffrey Katzenberg (the studio head at the time) wanted the sequence cut as the kid audience was ‘bored’ and ‘restless’. The directors and Ashman HEAVILY disagreed and argued back, with Glen Keane ultimately being the one to convince Katzenberg to keep the scene. Thank God for it because this adds such a strong, emotional core to both the story and to Ariel’s character and it would have taken so much away if removed. I love it~

Under the Sea: This was the number that won the Oscar. I… find it the most overrated track tbh. Not that it’s bad, FAR from it. It’s probably the best animation-wise with how much is going on. Sebastian somehow managed to conduct… all the sea life into a mass spectacle that certainly had me convinced to living under the sea. The calypso style is very fitting and fun, and Samuel E Wright sings it with so much passion. I guess that I find it overrated because I just like other songs more, but this is still a true showstopper that’s worth revisiting.

Poor Unfortunate Souls: Aside from I think Cruella DeVille (and even then Roger’s the one singing it), I think that this is the first true villain song in a Disney film. If so, then they started on a GLORIOUS note. I love this song! It was THE perfect song for Ursula. The first half with her fake reformed villain act but with this condescending air to it (Pat Carroll’s delivery with the  ‘Pathetic’ line is perfection) was already grand, but the second half? Pat Carroll just lets loose and goes utterly insane. It is AMAZING and has so much charisma to it that you can’t help but be invested. It’s also very creepy, especially in the end with Ursula's cauldron bubbling and especially how she takes Ariel’s voice. This would inspire many great villain songs in the future and to this day remains one of the all-time greats.

Les Poissons: I never thought that seeing a chef cook would be so horrifying… the song is fine. It’s a silly sequence, albeit morbid from poor Sebastian’s perspective, and Rene Auberjonois did a fantastic job despite the song being pretty short. It’s my least favorite track, mainly because it doesn’t really add or enhance anything. But it was fun… poor Senastian though XD

Kiss the Girl: The love song of the film. I love the animation for this one. I mean what’s more romantic than taking a canoe out on the lake? That’s where I’d want my first date to end! The mood is set so well with the use of shadows and once more, Sebastian is able to conduct a spectacle effortlessly. Once more Samuel E Wright does a fabulous job singing, this time with a serenade style. Even if poor Scuttle didn’t get the appreciation that he deserved. Let the seagull sing, dang it! The only thing that ruins it is the eels capsizing the canoe, jerks! But yeah a beautiful serenade that is bound to convince anyone to… well, kiss the girl XD

And that’s not even getting into Alan Menken’s score! Alan Menken is my favorite composer of all time, so I love everything that he has ever done. I still remember the opening, hearing the instrumental of Part of Your World and immediately became invested in this film. The man is an EGOT for a reason, and this is only one of the many fantastic soundtracks that we’ll be discussing in this review. He also did some additional music for the Broadway version of the film, and there’s a whole body of demo work that he and Ashman did that you can probably find on Youtube, Spotify, or whatever music streaming service you use. Listen to Ashman’s rendition of Part of Your World, you WILL be driven to tears.

So now we get to characters… and HO BOY do we have a lot. For the sake of this review we will be going over King Triton, Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, Ursula, Prince Eric, and as per usual Ariel will have her own section at the end.

King Triton, while not evil, serves as an antagonist early on in the film. By all appearances, Triton is a capable ruler who wields a great deal of power due to his triton. He appears just, and for the most part he is as well as a caring father. The only problem is… well, his anger issues. Triton HATES humans and the surface world. We’re never told why aside from him calling them ‘fish-eaters’ (the DTV prequel suggests it’s due to the death of his wife, but the canonicity is debatable), but considering that his youngest daughter’s greatest passion is learning about the surface world… yeah. Needless to say, they have issues between them. But he is otherwise loving and was even excited that Ariel may have found love until he found out about their species. With how overprotective he is, that was a nice subversion despite how brief it was.

Triton often gets the ‘abusive’ label thrown against him and while I do think that that’s a little too strong, there is no denying that his hatred and anger affects Ariel emotionally. He may have seen destroying Ariel’s grotto as for her own good and is likely the culmination of however long Ariel’s been going to the surface finally boiling over. But to do this right in front of her when she is begging him to stop and outright ridiculing her for saving Eric’s life… yeah. It’s… it’s a horrifying scene that does NOT make Triton look good and is what pushes Ariel into seeing Ursula. It doesn’t matter the reason, destroying your children’s things is something that WILL scar them emotionally. To be far, the moment Ariel breaks down Triton clearly realizes that he crossed the line, but he just leaves because… yeah there was NO WAY that they were reaching a reconciliation at that moment.

Triton has a lot of issues, but the reason I don’t call him abusive and like him as a character is because after the grotto scene, he was clearly remorseful. After Ariel goes missing, he outright says ‘What have I done?” and his demeanor expresses a lot of remorse. If that wasn’t enough, I think that him both selling his soul to free Ariel AND turning her human after realizing how much she loved Eric more than showed that he has learned his lesson. Triton had to learn to allow Ariel to grow up and choose her own direction in life, even if he didn’t like said direction. It’s very relatable to how some parents struggle to let go of their children as they grow up. My only real complaint is, as I said, we don’t know why Triton hates humans so much. If we did and saw him work through it, it may have helped us understand why he was so against Ariel’s passions and not come off as needlessly cruel as he did. Nevertheless, he realized his wrongs and made it right. His hug with Ariel at the end is one that gets me every time.

The sidekicks of the film are Flounder, Scuttle, and Sebastian. IDK why they named Flounder Flounder because he isn’t… well, a flounder. He looks like some kind of tropical fish. Flounder is kind of the kid appeal character, even being voiced by a child in all incarnations except Return to the Sea since he had grown up. He is Ariel’s best friend who goes with her on her adventures, despite almost always being easily frightened. He’s well-meaning, but can cause more trouble like when he accidentally exposed Ariel’s excursion during the concert. But he’s also a sweet little guy and very loyal to Ariel. The kid outright went out of his way to somehow recover the Eric statue, which is ten times his size, and deliver it to her grotto to make her happy. That is friendship. He doesn’t really develop, but he’s a nice supporting character.

Scuttle is… well, dumb. But a fun dumb. He’s a surface creature and thus has more knowledge about surface world items than Ariel does… except he doesn’t. He’s not smart, but they manage to keep him entertaining because he’s so sure that he knows what he’s talking about. Imo, dinglehoppers are a MUCH better name for forks than forks, dang it! He tries to help, like it was his idea to try the serenade during the canoe ride… too bad that he can’t hold a note. Poor bird tried. They also DO allow him to be useful at the end, discovering that Ursula had tricked Eric and he amassed one heck of an army to humiliate her long enough for Ariel to reach the ship. It is one of the funniest AND most awesome moments in the whole film. Scuttle is just fun comedic relief who doesn’t overstay his welcome and his VA Buddy Hackett did such a great job~

But if there’s any character aside from Ariel that we remember from this film, it’s Sebastian. This Jamaican crab is the royal musical conductor and Triton’s advisor. He’s often the one who has to watch over Ariel, which clearly frustrates him on multiple occasions. Tbh, Sebastian probably has the most character development in the film. In the beginning, while understandably upset that Ariel being a no-show ruined his conducting debut (though tbf… NO ONE bothered to make sure she was in place? Really?), he’s mainly upset that /he/ looked bad. After the storm, he’s more concerned about getting into trouble with Triton than about Ariel herself. He knows how much the human world means to her, and while one can argue that Ariel /should/ be more aware of how her actions affect others, Sebastian isn’t much better. He only discourages her to save his own shell, not for her own good. Which eventually leads to him breaking and exposing what happened during the storm when he should know damn well that Triton will explode. Yeah it was because he misunderstood, but still.

However, Sebastian isn’t a bad crab. After the grotto's destruction, he immediately feels guilty and tries to apologize to Ariel, but she angrily dismisses him. He tries to convince Ariel to not go to Ursula, but as she’s still upset she bitterly brushes him off and tells him to get her father since he’s good at that. He therefore follows with only Flounder and at first, panics after Ariel is human. It’s understandable because… yeah, that’s bad. His first reaction is to get Triton to fix this, with Ariel trying to stop him. Once he sees the heartbroken look on her face, Sebastian realizes just how miserable Ariel would be back home. At this point, it's reasonable to assume that Triton will only be stricter about letting her have her ventures, and thus she’d be stuck in an unhappy life. This, along with the situation at least being partially his fault, convinces Sebastian to hold off and help Ariel win Eric over. Which he certainly tries his best. 

One of my favorite scenes is Ariel going to bed and being so excited to experience these new things as Sebastian tries to advise her on getting Eric to kiss her. But he stops when he sees that Ariel has fallen asleep with the biggest smile on her face, and he just affectionately calls her a ‘hopeless child’. The affection in his expressions and Samuel E Wright’s delivery is just so sincere and it really shows that for all his bluster, Sebastian does care for Ariel. The crab is also a seriously talented conductor. Like I said, he put together both Under the Sea AND Kiss the Girl in zero time and they’re both amazing numbers because of it. He really tries hard to help Ariel and once Ursula strikes again, he decides it’s finally been long enough and gets King Triton. Sure that doesn’t go well, but at that point it was absolutely the right call. He also helps fight off Flotsam and Jetsam, willing to put himself in harm’s way to help both Ariel and Eric. 

Sebastian became a much more understanding, more selfless crab over the course of the film, realizing that he needs to care less about saving his own skin and to understand why Ariel does what she does. It’s especially notable at the end. In the beginning, he advised Triton to keep a firm grip on Ariel when he asks if he was too harsh. At the end? He advises him that children have to be free to lead their own lives, which is what convinces Triton to grant Ariel legs. It’s a really nice character arc and this along with Sebastian’s two spectacular musical numbers leaves no question as to why he’s so beloved.

But what’s a great film without a great villain? For that we get one of the best, Ursula the Sea Witch. She is a fantastic villainess. She’s a large octopus woman who used to work in the palace, but for reasons unknown got banished. In early versions, she was going to be Triton’s sister which would have added a VERY twisted dynamic to the whole thing. Maybe that’s where they got the idea for Scar in The Lion King… anyways! Her design was based on Drag Queen Divine who was also going to be the VA for Ursula, but she sadly passed away of an enlarged heart before any recording to be done. After going through various performers, the production staff settled on actress Pat Carroll, who did a spectacular job. You can just tell that she is loving every single second of this role, and she has always happily returned whenever they need new Ursula material like in House of Mouse or in the parks. Just listen as she goes off the chain in Poor Unfortunate Souls that is some amazing acting.

Ursula is confident, manipulative, and a true actress. Her entire gimmick is manipulating vulnerable, insecure people into making deals with her. Deals that are pretty much impossible to keep and thus, she claims them as hers and adds them to her ‘garden’. She targets Ariel specifically because of her passion for the surface world and since she likely knows of Triton’s hatred for it AND of his anger problems, she’s just waiting for the day he screws up and Ariel is vulnerable. I’m gonna go MUCH more in depth with this when we get to Ariel, but this is SO important to note. Ursula struck when Ariel was hurt, emotional, and not thinking straight. It shows just how manipulative she can be. This is who she preys on. She knows how to sway them to act how she wants them to. She’s a saleswoman, and BOY does she sell it. It doesn't help that she gives Ariel very little personal space and manipulates her feelings for Eric to be further swayed. Yet Ariel is the stupid one because she was manipulated by a master manipulator… patience Callie, you’re gonna be able to let it out soon enough…

Ursula works so well as a villain because of how smart and manipulative she is. Like I said, she knows how to prey on the vulnerable and insecure. But she also knows when to get herself involved. After Ariel almost kisses Eric on the second day, Ursula disguises herself and uses Ariel’s voice to hypnotize Eric. And even though Scuttle and his undersea army humiliate her and Ariel gets her voice back, she bought just enough time for the sun to set and the spell breaks. Ursula won. She captured Ariel, forced Triton to sell himself to save his daughter, and claimed ultimate power. It was a truly methodical plan that ultimately succeeded. You gotta give her props for that.

Don’t make any mistakes though. While Ursula is intelligent and confident, she /is/ still evil. I’ve seen people say that she should have won just because they don’t like the ‘abusive tyrant’ Triton. Aside from what I already said about Triton above, Ursula is shown to be far, FAR worse. I mean… I hate to use the term, but she essentially s***-shames Ariel throughout Poor Unfortunate Souls. I mean she outright calls her a ‘little tramp’ after the canoe scene, which in this context is a G-Rated way of calling her a s***. To a sixteen year old. Yeah… plus we saw how power-mad she went once she got the triton, and it didn’t bode well for either land or sea. Triton’s temperamental, but he isn’t a tyrant. Ursula’s only redeeming trait is that she DOES care for her henchmen Flotsam and Jetsam, and their death at Ariel’s hand is what provoked her to go mad with power. This was ultimately her undoing as she was so focused on tormenting Ariel that it allowed Eric to take his ship and kill her. It’s a pretty gruesome Disney Villain Death (we outright see her SKELETON FLASHING at one point), but she brought it upon herself.

If you asked me what villain helped shape many of the ones we got during the Renaissance… I’d say Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. But Ursula was the first Renaissance villain, and she started it off right. She’s enjoyable enough that we love it when she’s on screen, but still detestable enough that we want her to lose. Many complain about doing ‘purely evil’ villains. That villains HAVE to be sympathetic or nuanced, otherwise they are poorly written. While there’s nothing wrong with sympathetic, or even redeemable villains, having a purely evil one is also perfectly fine. Disney is the master of this. Ursula’s motivation is strictly to gain power, but it works because they give her character so much personality and charisma. Petty motivation, but excellent character writing that makes us not mind. I’d say if you want to learn how to do a Pure Evil character right, study Ursula in particular along with Jafar and Hades. They’re all great examples of how to do it right.

Finally we come to our leading man, Prince Eric. So far the Disney Princes have acted more as a necessity than anything. It’s as I said in the Sleeping Beauty Review, Florian and Charming fill out a plot point and while he was more proactive in comparison, Phillip fell into the same trap. Did Eric finally break the curse? Well… yes and no. He's a firm middle ground between ‘necessity’ and ‘actual character’. He’s allowed FAR more than any of the other princes thus far. Eric is a seasman, he loves going out on the ocean in his ships. He’s adventurous, good-looking, and an overall nice guy. We see that he isn’t really into fancy stuff, outright cringing when Grimsby unveils the statue. He also isn’t interested in Grimsby trying to set him up with various noble women. Like Jasmine and to a degree Prince Charming, he wants to find love for love, but on his own time. These are the traits that attract Ariel to him. Plus he’s also heroic, going back to a BURNING SHIP in order to save his dog Max… yeah I’d fall in love with him too.

After Ariel saves him, Eric becomes determined to find her. But he only briefly saw her face and heard her voice. Funny how NO ONE gets on Eric for this while hating on Ariel, but again we’ll get to that soon enough. When he meets Ariel he recognizes her face… but since she can’t talk, assumes that she can’t be the mystery girl. Still, being a good person, he takes her back to the palace to give her shelter. It’s not long before he becomes endeared by her though. She’s pretty, sweet, and even though she can’t talk he has a good time showing her around the kingdom. It's so clear by /Kiss the Girl/ that he has fallen for her, to the point that even Grimsby points it out to him. It gets him to give up on the mystery girl which is VERY important. It shows us that Eric didn’t fall for Ariel because she happened to be the girl he was looking for, but because of who she is as a person. It shows the audience that his feelings are genuine which makes us further root for him and Ariel… too bad that Ursula goes and ruins it.

As far as personality goes, Eric is more fun than his predecessors, but he’s still stuck with the standard prince-like personality. He’s given more lines than all of them combined and has a real charm to him. You can see why Ariel would like a guy like him. He’s kind, fun, adventurous, and even a little rebellious. He is her ideal vision of what humans are like. The end of the film lets him prove himself as well, going out to help Ariel despite the danger and of course using his own ship to kill Ursula. It does cause Ariel to be a bit of a Damsel in Distress, but she DID save him much earlier and she stops Ursula from blasting him to smithereens, so it balances out. It was enough to prove himself to Triton, at least. So Eric is a nice step up as far as princes go, but we’re not quite out of the well with them yet. But it won’t be much longer, heehee XD

There’s other supporting characters that I really don't have much to say about. Ariel’s sisters are nicely designed, but ultimately bland. I think the series and Ariel’s Beginning did more with them, but otherwise there’s not anything to discuss. Grimsby is fine enough, being the closest thing that Eric has to a parental figure (where ARE Eric’s parents in all of this anyways?) and is stuffy, but otherwise a decent guy. Chef Louie is… crazy. That’s all that I can say. This film has a lot of characters, let’s put it that way. But of course, we have one more to go over. The titular little mermaid herself. I’ve been hinting at this throughout the review, so I think you all know exactly how this will go…

Ariel Analysis

I cannot stress enough how massive a step Ariel was for the Disney Princess line. As much as I have defended the Classic Three and standby all of that, there is certainly some repetition going one with them. All three are beautiful, passive, and can’t directly do much to accomplish their dreams. And at least two of them are dreaming mainly about a man, which is NOT a bad thing, but it was certainly getting old. Feminism has also been evolving since 1959, the last time a Disney Princess film came out. A lot had changed in those thirty years. Women in media could now be more proactive, take matters into their own hands, and have their own hopes and dreams that weren’t just about love while still being allowed to find love. Simply put, as much as I love Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora, the times had changed and it was time for Disney to get with those times. Thus we got Ariel, and she was exactly the right princess to take the line into a whole new direction.

The beginning of the film is a pretty clever way to set her up. The Classic Three are known for being angelic singers, and for good reason. It’s pretty much the first thing they do when we meet them (well, as an adult in Aurora’s case) so the concert sets this up. It’s Ariel’s ‘debut” and her sisters all have the looks and angelic voices that fit the archetypal Disney Princess. But then the shell opens up… and is empty. Then we cut to Ariel, who is about to go inside a sunken ship to look for surface world artifacts. It is an excellent subversion, setting up a Classic Princess move and flipping it on it’s head. It’s shown very quickly that Ariel is adventurous and actively seeking out her dreams despite her situation instead of trying to just make do with the way things were and hoping for the best. We also get a fun sequence of her and Flounder escaping a shark, so first time a Princess got an action scene as well.

The film very quickly establishes Ariel’s love and fascination with the surface world. Exploring sunken ships, going to Scuttle to get more information, later we see her grotto that is filled with so many items that we would consider standard, but that she considers treasures. These mean so much to her. She finds the surface world ‘wonderful’. But there are setbacks and consequences for her actions, in this case her forgetting about the concert. She didn't mean to and feels bad about it, and Flounder mentioning the reason why didn’t help. It’s clear that Ariel and Triton have been arguing about this for a long time, the latter failing to understand how much this means to Ariel and is at his wit’s end. His demands for her to stop upset her, causing her to storm out of the throne room and head for her grotto.

This leads to Part of Your World. This song/sequence is vital to understand Ariel’s character. This is the song where she expresses all her hopes and dreams. How she wants to be human. How she wants to learn more about the surface world. How she wants to experience things like walking down a street or finding out how a fire can burn. Throughout the film, we never learn how Ariel got so interested in human culture and just why she’s so passionate about it. But we really don’t need an in-depth explanation because this song conveys so much sincerity and emotion that it makes us believe in her passion. We understand how much this matters to her, and in turn it makes it matter to us. It’s why if it had gotten removed, it would have robbed Ariel of this depth and in turn, rob the film of something essential to its story. Thank God it remained intact.

This is a good time to talk about Ariel’s voice actress, Jodi Benson. Having originally been in Howard Ashman’s failed musical Smile, she was brought in originally as Ariel’s singing voice before being promoted to also doing the speaking the lines. This was not only her voice acting debut, but as far as I can tell her film debut as well. She did such a lovely job in the role. She perfectly conveys Ariel’s passion, drive, and sincerity while still coming off as a sixteen year old girl. Her singing voice has been rightfully praised, and to this day Ariel is often considered the best singer among the princesses. Benson has gone on to do other voice roles such as Barbie in the Toy Story films, Patsy and Ms. Doe in Camp Lazlo, and Aquagirl in Batman Beyond. She has continued to reprise Ariel to this day when needed and has always expressed so much love and gratitude for the film and her part in it, She’s also supported others who have done the role like Auli’i Cravallho (aka Moana) for the ABC Musical and Halle Bailey for the upcoming live-action remake. She’s a lovely woman and may she continue to do well~

Going back to the film, Ariel finds herself at a ship and this is where she sees Eric for the first time. It’s love at first sight. Of the Renaissance Era Princesses, Ariel is the one who gets the ‘love at first sight’ critique levied at her the most. Belle and Mulan of course didn’t have that issue and I usually see Jasmine and Pocahontas be given a free pass in this regard. Now of the five, The Little Mermaid IS the most blatant with the trope, but let’s look at it through Ariel’s POV. This is the first time that she’s seen so many humans up close. Eric is around her age (to my knowledge, at least. His VA was 16 at the time IIRC). It is very quickly established that Eric is jovial, uninterested in things like statues in his image, rebellious as he has rejected all the women Grimsby has arranged him with, and wants to find love for himself. He has many of the traits that Ariel herself has, being a rebellious, free-spirit teen herself. But most of all he is heroic, as demonstrated when he goes back to his burning ship to save his dog.

In other words, Eric is Ariel’s ideal vision of what people are like. She saves him from drowning, the first time that a Princess has saved her Prince, and is able to look at him more closely. She is clearly infatuated and seeing this man, this good-hearted, handsome young man who is everything that she ever dreamed of. This is what pushes her from just dreaming about being human to swearing that somehow she /will/ be human. Yes, she gets motivated by love, but the goal was there before this moment. It just became a solidified goal. One that she is going to make a reality someway, somehow. She even notes in the Part of Your World Reprise that she doesn’t know when or how, but it doesn’t matter. Compared to how fleeting her hopes were in the main song, the reprise is so much more triumphant and determined and continues to show just how important this truly is to Ariel.

Sadly however she still has one obstacle in between her and her dream; her father. The next day she is so happy and lovesick and it’s really cute, but Sebastian knows that this is going to cause major issues with her father. His big Under the Sea plea goes ignored, and Ariel is led to her grotto by Flounder, who has brought her the Eric statue. She’s so happy and acting like… well, a teenager in love. But unfortunately due to Sebastian jumping the gun, Triton finds out and he is enraged. Not only is he angry that Ariel again went to the surface, but she both saved and fell in love with a human. Thus we get the dark scene of Triton, in his rage, destroying the grotto. Every item, treasure, and relic that Ariel has gathered for who knows how long has become nothing but a pile of dust. Including the statue of the man she loves. 

Say what you want about ‘love at first sight’ or Ariel being a lovesick dummy, but this is outright traumatizing. This sixteen year old girl, a girl who aside from forgetting a few engagements has done nothing wrong, had all of her hopes and dreams shattered by her own father all because of his own blind hatred. Imagine being a teenager and your parents destroying everything you love all because they hated something that you loved. Even if Triton regretted it, it doesn’t change the pain that he inflicted upon his own daughter as she breaks down. She’s so upset that she rejects Sebastian trying to apologize and just tells him and Flounder to go away. They comply, leaving Ariel to cry in her now bare grotto… that is, until Flotsam and Jetsam appear.

So.. let’s now talk about Ariel going to Ursula and accepting the deal. First, her going in the first place. When Flotsam and Jetsam bring Ursula up, Ariel… /refuses/ to go. She is aware that Ursula is bad news. She had no intention of going to her at first and outright tells the eels to leave. What makes her agree? The two knocking the remains of the Eric statue in front of her. At this point, Ariel’s pretty much been rejected by her father and all of her treasures that kept her seabound are gone, so… what’s she got left to lose? She follows and naturally Sebastian tries to stop her, but she just angrily tells him to get her father since he’s good at that.

Ariel enters Ursula’s domain, and we come to the scene. Ursula declares to have changed, demonstrates her power, and offers Ariel the deal to become human for three days and it’ll be permanent if Eric kisses her. If Ariel fails, she not only becomes a mermaid again, but she belongs to Ursula. She also has to give up her voice as payment. Now we all know the big criticism against this, that being Ariel selling her voice and leaving behind her family and all that she ever knew and loved… for some prince that she hasn’t even really met yet, let alone spoken to. Now do I see why people dislike this? Yes. It’s a very rash, very stupid decision not just for those factors, but the fact that Ariel is essentially selling herself to the devil for this one thing. None of this is a good thing… but here is the big question, does the film do enough that this makes sense for Ariel’s character? Is this something that I can see her doing?

Yes, yes I can.

Let’s look at this piece by piece. First, Ariel is clearly uncomfortable the entire time that she is in Ursula’s lair. Ursula continuously gets into her personal space, laying on the manipulation at every step. When she lays out the deal, Ariel is at first hesitant. She herself brings up that if she takes it, she’ll likely never see her family again. She’s also hesitant when Ursula lays out the terms of payment, not just because she has no idea how she’d woo Eric without it, but just the concept of losing her voice clearly unnerves her. Look at her face when she grabs at her own throat, she is NOT okay with this. Even when Ursula begins to create the brew and poof sup the contract, Ariel isn’t excited or just jumps to it without thinking. She is VERY CLEARLY hesitant and unnerved about everything. 

So… why does she do it then? Well remember, she’s still emotional after her confrontation with her father. Her father has rejected her in her eyes and destroyed everything that she had worked for. At this point, her dreams and feelings for Eric are all that she has. She is hurt, emotional, and desperate and when we are hurt, emotional, and desperate we tend to make rash, even outright stupid decisions. Especially when we’re teenagers. Ursula waited to strike at this very moment for this exact reason; so that Ariel wouldn’t be thinking rationally.  These are the exact kind of people that Ursula preys on, and as I said above, she knows how to manipulate them to act how she wants. She gives Ariel the offer of her dreams, assures her that she can woo Eric without talking, poofs Eric’s image up at one point, and makes it clear that she’s giving her very little time to think it over. 

With absolutely nothing left to lose and it being clear that her father will never support her dreams, Ariel reluctantly signs the contract. She outright turns her head away when she signs. She KNOWS that she’s making a big choice and she isn’t 100% okay with it. She didn’t just give up her life callously for a man like some like to make out. It was a rash choice, but she had reluctance and fears about it. But it’s the only chance she’ll get to get her dream of being human and being happy, which is what ultimately drives her to make her choice. Given how she risked her life already against a shark, this is in-character for her and shows how far she’ll go for her dreams. And as we’ll see, this is going to have consequences as we near the end of the film.

So the deal is made. Ariel loses her voice and is transformed into a human. Once she makes it to shore, she gets to see her new legs, and for the first time since the confrontation, is happy. She has legs. She is human. The one thing that she had wanted for so, so long has finally come true. Naturally Sebastian wants to get Triton, but she stops him and gives him the saddest, most pleading look that I think I’ve ever seen. This is Ariel��s one and only chance to get what she dreamed of. Triton would not only stop her, but considering what happened before, who knows what else he’d do if he saw her as a human. It is 10% understandable why Ariel doesn't want him involved, especially once it would just lead her back to a life of misery. Sebastian realizes this and agrees to help her, which pretty much gets her to forgive him for what happened before.

Thus, we get to the first true meeting between Ariel and Eric. Of course, Ariel can’t explain who she is because of her voice being gone, so Eric assumes that she can’t be the same girl he saw despite her looking like her. But he sees her in the makeshift dress that Scuttle got her into and assumes that she’s shipwrecked, especially since she can’t walk well. So he takes her to the palace, and Ariel is able to get refreshed and get used to walking on legs. She is clearly delighted by everything. She is now part of the world that she longed for,, and she is loving every second of it. Sure she quickly finds out that forks aren’t combs, but hey she’s learning exactly what she wanted to learn. She is in utter bliss throughout the two days that she’s on the surface, doing thinks like learn to dance and ride a horse-drawn carriage. It’s all she ever hopes it would be.

But of course, Ariel still needs to get Eric to kiss her, or all of her dreams will end. She almost makes it with Kiss the Girl, which despite not being able to talk she made it pretty clear that she was willing and ready for Eric to kiss her. Ursula ruins that, but Ariel HAS endeared herself to Eric and he even prepares to go to her after giving up on the mystery mermaid. But of course, Ursula disguises herself as Vanessa via Ariel’s voice and hypnotizes Eric into marrying her. It’s sad because when Scuttle informs her of the proposal, Ariel is elated. She runs down the stairs, excited and gleeful… then she sees Eric and Vanessa, and you can see her heart break in two. It especially hits hard as she watches the ship take off, broken-hearted. She’s lost the man she loves, in moments she will be a mermaid again, and she will belong to Ursula fair and square. She pursued her dream, and it all seemed for naught.

But once Scuttle finds out about Ursula, Ariel quickly springs into action. With her friend's help, she reaches the ship just as Ursula’s necklace gets broken. This is a nitpick but I don’t like how Ariel ultimately wasn’t very active in helping rescuer Eric. Tbf IDK what she could have done, but I’d have liked to see her stand against Ursula before things go downhill. Otherwise it feels like this and the other events after… kind if feel handed to her by convenience and luck. But regardless she gets her voice back… but she fails to kiss Eric before the sun sets. That’s right folks, the so-called selfish, stupid deal that Ariel made? She failed to uphold it. She reverts to a Mermaid and now belongs to Ursula, and Triton can’t break it as it’s legally binding. So even if you DO think that Ariel made a bad choice, the film shows that yes, it WAS bad and she is now paying the consequences. Sure Triton sacrifices himself to take her place, but that still means that Ursula not only gets power, but her father is now a husk.

Ariel is enraged at this. Despite everything, I don’t think there’s any doubt that Ariel still loves her daddy. She was reluctant about never seeing him again before, and now seeing how her deal has lead to his fate upsets her. One big issue with Ariel is how… well, the film doesn’t make it clear that Ariel grew or learned anything. Sure there are consequences to her actions, but we don’t see her ponder over them. This is the closest we get to her showing regret as she tries to apologize to Triton and outright attacks Ursula for what she did to him. But she doesn’t express true regret for her actions. She doesn’t have a true reconciliation with her father so that the two can reach a resolution. I guess we can blame timing since we’re in the final ten or so minutes here, but it makes the end feel… convenient.

Eric saves Ariel from getting blasted by Ursula, and she manages to save him from Flotst and Jetsam. How? Bu yanking Ursula back and causing her to kill her own minions. Sure it’s not the Big Bad, but again Ariel marks a First in Disney Princess History by indirectly killing a villain. This provokes Ursula to go kaiju and essentially torment Ariel, who is unable to do anything at this point as she’s caught in a raging whirlpool. While one CAN say she’s a Damsel-in-Distress here (hence why I suggested Ariel should have gotten to do more in the wedding crash), she HAS saved Eric twice now. Plus by allowing Eric to kill Ursula, he essentially proves his worth by saving both the ocean AND the surface, and it contributes to Triton’s ultimate decision.

So yeah, Ursula dies, Triton corrects his wrongs by making Ariel human, and Ariel and Eric can live happily ever after. As I said, it /does/ kind of hurt Ariel’s character as she doesn’t really learn a lesson and it feels like she got incredibly lucky at the end. But at the same time Ariel is still a good character, and she marks a LOT of progression for the Disney Princess line. Sure she is a little selfish (though she usually means no harm), but she’s also someone who actively goes after her dreams. She doesn’t have to wait for it, nor does it center on love. Sure Eric is the catalyst, but that’s it. A catalyst. She’s allowed to rescue her prince. She’s allowed to fight against the villain. Sure she’s still emotional, falls in love, and needs her friends help. But she is also a very proactive, curious, and ambitious girl. Her dream was by far the most impossible of the Princesses thus far, but she still managed to achieve it.

Ariel is divisive, and I get why. The film DOES have some narrative problems (minor, but still) and I get why Ariel may rub some the wrong way. Me personally? I love her. She was a refreshing breath of air in the Princess line. She’s different from the Classic Three. She’s a bit more bratty and far less classy, but she also feels the most like a teenager and she follows her dreams in a very different manner. She’s still a good-hearted person, but she’s a flawed person. That’s what I love about her, she’s imperfect. Could more have been done to develop her? Maybe. But her flaws aren’t so bad that she’s a bad character or unlikeable. Her actions make sense and stay true to her character. I understand why she does what she does. I care for her because I see the sincerity in her. I relate to her longing for something that seems out of reach. And while it was nowhere near as conflicted, I know what it’s like to be in conflict with my father who loved me, but never truly understood who I was. But I loved him, he loved me, he ultimately would have let me lead the life I wanted, and in the end that’s what matters. It’s why Ariel and Triton at the wedding always makes me cry. Yeah, watching this two years after my dad passed… really hit hard.

The point is, I cared about Ariel. I related to Ariel. I did when I was a child, and I still do as an adult. Anyone who loves something or someone despite everyone around you not understanding or being against it I think can relate to Ariel and her position. Plus again, she set forward a new direction for the Disney Princesses. It’s a precedent that stands strong to this day. I’ve done my best to shed light onto Ariel, but it won’t convince everyone. If you hate her, fine. I can’t change your mind and tour free to make all the arguments you want. But I’m allowed to stand by my argument, and I am. Ariel is one of my favorites. She inspires kids to follow their curiosity and their ambitions. It teachers parents to accept their children and who/what they love, and to let them go forward in their lives. One can even argue that her film teaches kids to be careful when emotional to avoid the mistakes that she made, but still achieve a happy ending as well. Either way, I think that the hate against this little mermaid is far too harsh and it ALWAYS centers on the deal without taking anything else into account. It’s time we change that.

Final Thoughts

I love this film. The animation is lovely, the music fantastic, and despite a few issues here and there the story is sound. I don’t remember when I first saw it (it came out four years before I was born so not then), but I’ve loved it since that first time. I’m pretty sure I love the ocean and mermaids in general because of this film. Sure it diverts a good deal from the original Hans Christian Anderson story, but honestly? As someone who found that story unnecessarily cruel? I will take this version any day (no offense to those who like the original story, this is just me talking). It is a masterpiece that changed the game for Disney, for animation, and for the Disney Princesses. Ariel was very much a huge inspiration for many of her successors, and I am grateful for all that this little mermaid did.

Upon its release, Disney was FINALLY able to step into the light after spending over 20 years stuck in the dark. The film was a monumental success. The biggest success that Feature Animation had had since Walt’s days. They also finally beat Don Bluth, winning in the box office over All Dogs Go to Heaven, and returned to the top of the animation world. The Disney Renaissance had officially begun, and it wasn’t even close to slowing down. Just two years later, another Disney Princess film would be released. One that would achieve greatness, but also face great tragedy. So come and be our guest as when we return, we discuss a tale as old as time with 1991’s Beauty and the Beast.

Image Sources: Disney Wiki, Animation Screencaps Other Sources: The Making of The Little Mermaid: Treasures Untold

[nooowestayandgetcaught]

1-36 ALL OF EM. ALL OF EM.

THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO HEAR, BRO. ALL FANDOMS.

1. First ship you remember

Peter Pan/Wendy Darling (Disney’s Peter Pan) is my best guess as far back as I can remember. That’s the original OTP next to Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle (DCU) and Ariel/Prince Eric (Disney’s The Little Mermaid).

2. Your newest ship

Hmmm,,, I haven’t really watched anything new,,,,,,, but I mean I did get into Geralt/Jaskier (Netflix’s The Witcher) recently. I really like them.

3. Favourite ship ever

STARES LONGINGLY AT PETER/WENDY

I go between them and Mulan/Li Shang (Disney’s Mulan) and Korra/Asami Sato (Avatar: Legend of Korra) and  Yuuri Katsuki/Viktor Nikiforov (Yuuri On Ice) and Arya Stark/Gendry Waters (GOT/ASOIAF)  for my favorite ships of all time 

4. Favourite m/f ship

I grew up on the His Dark Materials books and I always was a Lyra Belaqua/Will Parry shipper and that has never ever changed. They’re so sweet. I WOULD LIKE PHILIP PULLMAN TO BRING THEM IN THE NEXT BOOK THAT IS SUPPOSED TO COME OUT. DO NOT FUCK AROUND.

5. Favourite m/m ship

you really can’t wrong with Ash Lynx/Eiji Okumura (Banana Fish) except you can and I don’t care,,,, everyone’s alive and fine and not depressed,,,,,,,

6. Favourite f/f ship

do you know how much my heart broke when they refused to do Emma Swan/Regina Mills (Once Upon A Time) EVEN THOUGH everything in canon said they were True Love????? now I’m just pissed,,,,, I can’t let go of them

7.Most innocent ship

OH GOD,,, KATARA/AANG (AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER). THE FLUFFIEST. THE HAPPIEST. THE SWEETEST BABIES.

8.Most fluffy ship

WHAT DID I LITERALLY JUST SAY???

9.Most angsty ship

good god it’s Clarke Griffin/Lexa (The 100) but I still love them and I know I wasn’t THERE for Lexa dying but I’m STILL livid about what they did and how they treated the LGBT+ community and I’m gonna throw hands,,,, ever since it happened and Clexa is mentioned in the show,,, it’s always so painful,,,,, Clarke is not letting Lexa go and tbh she shouldn’t and I’m gonna get mad again

10. Most smutty ship

Smut is optional, not a requirement for my ships.

11. Ship that you would never have wanted in canon but like in fanworks

I don’t fucking trust MCU so they can have none of my ships!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12. Character that you can only imagine in one ship

BOOOOOOOOOOOOORING.

13. Most shippable character

Merlin (BBC Merlin) and Harry Potter.

14. Character that you can’t imagine in any ship

Any character I don’t like.

15. Favourite poly ship

I love love love love Rey/Finn/Poe Dameron. Finnreypoe. Jedistormpilot. I fell in love with Rey/Finn and Finn/Poe through “The Force Awakens” and then saw in the novelization that there was hints of Rey/Poe Dameron and LATCHED onto it. Don’t even fight me with “The Rise Of Skywalker” because it was COMPLETELY a Jedistormpilot movie and that’s all I was there for. Those three characters.

16. Characters that you kinda ship but prefer as brotp FRIENDSHIP

since I think Katniss might be aroace,,, I wanna say Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark and don’t get wrong,,,, I do ship but more platonic ship

17. Characters that you ship and can’t imagine to be friends

Spike himself said that Buffy Summers/Angel (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) dynamic could never be friends and only friends and he’s right

18. Guilty pleasure ship

GUILT IS CRINGE!! CRINGE CULTURE IS DEAD!!! YOU SHIP THINGS TO YOUR HEART’S DELIGHT!!!!! HAVE FUN!!!

19. Ship that you never expected to ship.

I was straightbaited by Black Sails while watching as it aired and never saw Captain James Flint/Thomas Hamilton coming,,,, or them unburying the gays,,,,, I thought the whole time Thomas and James were sharing Miranda,,,

20. Ship that you liked but don’t anymore

at one point I liked Callum/Soren (The Dragon Prince) but I’m over them and I’m over that show and I don’t support Aaron fucking Ehasz

21. Ship that one day you were thinking of and thought “wait,when I started shipping it?”

I DO THAT LITERALLY WITH EVERY SHIP I HAVE

22. Ship that you immediately fall in love with after one scene despite not considering it before.

aahhhh I saw Toni Topez interact with Cheryl Blossom from Riverdale after their confrontation which was like,,,, the first time they ever spoke to each other,,,, but then the diner scene happened, and now I ship them. And they’re canon.

23. Poly ship that you ship despite not shipping some of the characters in it outside of poly ship.

I only ship Ryn/Maddie Bishop/Ben Powell with each other. That’s it. IT’S A CANON INTERRACIAL LGBT+ SHIP. IT’S REAL. I’M SO HAPPY.

24. Biggest notp

Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon (DCU),,,,, oooh don’t get me fucking started

25. Favourite foe yay ship

L/Light (Death Note). That’s a classic. I know Light made sure his ass was murdered but c’mon,,, c’mon,,,, THE CREDITS TO THE LAST EPISODE THO??? DID YOU SEE THAT SHIT???? THAT WAS GAY AS HELL.

26. Characters that you like in every dynamic (lovers,friends,enemies)

we gotta go with Doctor/Master (Doctor Who),,, they’ve been all three,,,,, nobody can tell me otherwise and that’s the beauty of these two! My favorite versions are 1) Thirteen/Dhawan!Master, 2) Ten/Simms!Master, and 3) Twelve/Missy and if you add Simms!Master with the last one then it’s GOLDEN

27. Ship that you expected to ship before reading/watching franchise and you do

I saw gifs and things of Anne Lister/Ann Walker (Gentleman Jack) before I started watching and I already knew I was gonna fall in love AND I DID

28. Ship that you expected to ship before reading/watching franchise and you don’t

this might be a weird one but I really thought I was gonna ship Victor Van Dort/Victoria Everglot or Victor Van Dort/Emily (Corpse Bride) and I just didn’t for either of them. I DO HOWEVER SHIP EMILY/VICTORIA EVERGLOT.

29. Favourite crossover ship

OHHHHH we gotta go with Kate Kane/Kara Danvers (Arrowverse) like look at them look at the gay it’s like SuperBat but the female millennial version

30. Favourite canon ship

Princess Bubblegum/Marceline (Adventure Time)! I’m overjoyed they are canon! I’m not done watching all of this show but still,,,,, and that means we can get Prince Gumball/Marshall Lee to be confirmed canon too?? Yes?? 

31. Favourite non-canon ship

I know we can’t like CONFIRM in canon but Frodo Baggins/Samewise Gamgee are in love and there’s no denying this. They’re canon enough to me.

32. Favourite ship for hurt-comfort

All of my ships are good for hurt/comfort and whump. I don’t discriminate.

33. Ship that you ship in one installment of franchise but not in other (for example in movie,but not in the book this movie is based on)

I ship Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling in the movies for Hannibal related things, even though Will Graham exists in them, but I ship Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham for NBC’s Hannibal 100% and won’t ship them with anyone else

34. Ship that you never expected to ship when you were younger but here you are

I never expected to ship Harry Potter/Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger all together years down the road,,,,, since as a kid I flip-flopped between Ron/Hermione & Harry/Me,,,, er,,,,,,,,, I mean Harry/My OC That Was Definitely Not Me At All and Harry/Hermione but here we are

35. Ship that you have kinda love/hate relationship with

right now it’s Rue Bennett/Jules Vaughn (HBO’s Euphoria) because they’re so cute,,, they really are,,, but they can be so bad together and I hate that! I just want it to work out but Jules doesn’t understand her own feelings,,, and is kinda fucking around with Rue’s feelings,,,,,, and Rue needs to deal with her drug addiction problems first,,,, but let’s see what happens for Season 2

36. Characters that you can’t decide if you prefer as ship or brotp

okay FIRST OFF we don’t “brotp” anything no more because the term was created with homophobic connotations so replace it with “friendship” and honestly I can’t decide if I like Lucifer/Chloe Decker (Netflix’s Lucifer) as a romantic or platonic ship or somewhere between. I haven’t decided.

[vulpesvulpesjenna]

Rank-king; Disney Princesses

Inspired by the Try Guys’ Eugene I want to rank the official Disney princesses in my opinion from worst to best! He made a YouTube video ranking them, and since I disagreed with so many of his decisions, I wanted to make my own list. Justice! So, here is my own list of official Disney princesses from least favourite to my favourite. Like Eugene, I will count Elsa, Anna and Moana as official princesses, even though Disney has them separate. 

14. Snow White Snow White, the first Disney princess from 1937 reflects her time’s ideal woman; she’s cheerful, innocent and loves housework. Which is exactly why I dislike her. Her character is built on being cute and virginal, cleaning up the dwarves’ house just because... why does she like cleaning up the filthy home of strangers so much? I don’t know, I just find she lacks personality. She’s simply the embodiment of the “perfect female” of her time, and that irks me more than anything. Blah, she doesn’t have a personality, so she’s my least favourite.

13. Aurora Very much like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty is just a pretty, innocent and virtuous girl. She’s almost an extra in her own movie (I mean, she *is* asleep almost half of the time). I like her design and the fact that she walks around the woods barefooted and is a countryside girl; otherwise she doesn’t have a lot of personality. Her finding her prince is a tad better than Snow White: at least Aurora meets Philip once before he comes along and kisses her while she’s sleeping. 

12. Cinderella CInderella’s supposed to be amazingly kind, patient and understanding, and sure, that she is. To the point of being a mat that everyone is welcome to walk over. I think she tries to change her own life a bit more than Snow White or Aurora, but in the end, Cinderella is still dependent on her prince saving her. Otherwise she’s, again, this perfect, virginal woman of her time at the cost of having a personality of her own. At least she has a dream and cute little mouse sidekicks.

11. Ariel I think this is my first truly controversial pick; Ariel is loved by the masses, and people will surely be appalled by my choice. But to be honest, even though I love mermaids and red-haired princesses as much as the next girl, I find Ariel to be a bit of a... brat. I mean, she sees prince Eric from afar once and decides she wants to be with him. She’s even willing to abandon her family for him. Seriously? Not to mention acting very childishly and making some very stupid and outright dangerous life decisions by signing Ursula’s contract. And it very nearly ends in her complete demise! She put her whole family and people in danger just because she felt she was not like the other girls. I know people love her, and I do too, but I can’t fool myself into thinking she’s very smart or mature. Gotta give her props for 1) having a personality and dreams of her own and 2) being imperfect, which is what earlier princesses lack. 

10. Jasmine Princess Jasmine is painted to be this rebel in Aladdin. But to be honest, I don’t know if she really is. I like her and I understand her, but again, I wish she was a bit more level-headed. Yes, it is charming how out-of-touch she is having lived in the Palace her whole life, and I do admire her will to explore. I also like how she says what she thinks and doesn’t try to sugarcoat things just because she’s a princess. She has a fighting spirit, which I like. I am a bit bothered by the fact that her most effective weapon against Jafar is her sexuality (nnnggghh), which is one of the reasons she’s this low on my list.

9. Tiana I love Tiana; she’s exemplary in her drive and hard work. But I can’t help feeling like... that’s it? I don’t know, I guess I hope she had something more going on for her. Because at the end of the day I find her to be a little boring. Or I guess she does have personality, but I think it could have been brought up in more interesting ways. It could also be that I’ve only seen The Princess and The Frog like twice. But anyway; she’s great but I kinda wanted something more.

8. Pocahontas I *loved* Pocahontas when I was a kid. She was so graceful, but wild (yeah, yikes...). These days I see the aboriginal-glorifying (also known as racist) undertones in her depiction, and can only cringe. Anyway, she really is a wonderful character none the less; she has wanderlust but also enough maturity to reign it in. She’s curious and non-judgemental. She has a close relationship with nature, which is something that resonates with me personally. She’s wise. She also has flaws; overly independent, reckless etc. I always thought she was a lot older than the character is supposed to be. But yeah, the racism and sexualization can only be escaped so far, which is one of the reasons she’s my number 8.

7. Moana Okay so I’ve only seen Moana once (I know, don’t eat me). From what I remember Moana was a great character; driven, imperfect, brave with a big heart. Anything one can hope for from a Disney princess, really. She really is great. But tbh, her movie just didn’t do it for me. Maui was great, but for example the (other) sidekicks were kinda meh. The music was a bit boring too, IMO. I know I’m alone with my opinion, but this is my list so here we are.

6. Elsa I know she’s really a queen and not a princess, but following Eugene I’ll put her as one of the princesses for the sake of ranking. Elsa is amazing and I relate to her a lot. Comparing her hiding her powers to depression really hit me as someone who’s been struggling with depression for more than 10 years. I get her. She’s very, very imperfect, but also very powerful. I’m pretty sure she’s more powerful than any of the Disney princesses, which is cool as heck. I know she was supposed to be the villain of her movie at first, and honestly I kinda love the sass and confidence and the IDGAF attitude she has at the end of her Let It Go number. She’s also responsible and sensible, which are rare characteristics in a Disney princess (queen).

5. Merida Oh, Merida! Bow-and-arrow wielding, horse-riding, apple-stealing princess with a charming accent! I can’t not love her. She has a lot of the same themes that Jasmine does, but I think they were handled better with Merida. And again, I just love these outdoorsy type princesses. Shes’ capable and determined. She also makes mistakes, even if her mistakes were very frustrating watching the movie. People say Brave didn’t have a real plot or conflict and complain about the Mother Bear thing (yes I’m looking at you Keith of Try Guys), but I disagree. I liked that the movie for once focused on the relationship between a princess and her mom. I’d like to be friends with Merida.

4. Anna Anna is just delightful! Helps a lot that her voiceactor is Kristen Bell, whom I adore. But anyway, I really like Anna; she loves her sister more than anything, she’s brave and willing to face the freezing wilderness to bring Elsa back. SHe’s weird and quirky (though to be completely honest the quirkyness is sometmes a bit forced). Just all around a great gal.

3. Mulan These last three are just arbitrarely in some order; I pretty much love all of them equally. Mulan is like the best female character from Disney ever, period. She’s willing to do anything to save her dad and her country. She’s strong and smart and daring but also sweet and understanding and kind. They succeeded in making her a woman character who possesses a lot of masculine traits without losing her heart, and still being very relatable. Also Mulan is cool as hell. She also has the best sidekick, Mushu.

2. Belle I always get the result of being most like Belle from online quizzes. Because yes, I do have brown eyes and hair (naturally), love books and knowledge, and dream of a brighter future in the great wild somewhere. I related to her ever since I was a child; one of my dreams has always been having a library like Beast’s. Her whole movie is amazingly pretty and has the best music. Also Belle’s Finnish voice (which is the one I heard as a child and still know best) is perfect. Yes, all of this comes down to my personal taste, and I’m not sorry. I love how Belle is a strong female character without being a bad-ass fighter. She does her best for her father, she’s independent, she doesn’t let gossip bother her, she stands up to Beast even though she’s scared, she stands up to Gaston, she stays truthful. These days people like to claim she’s suffering from Stockholm Syndrome; to those believing that, please watch Lindsay Ellis’s video on YouTube on the matter. Also, Emma Watson is not my Belle and I try to pretend the whole live action version never happened.

1. Rapunzel Rapunzel is my idol. She’s crafty and independent and joyful and a dreamer. She’s really imperfect and in my opinion most like a real person out of all the princesses. She’s genuine and wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s amazingly brave, witty and kind of a bad-ass. She breaks out of her narcissistic kidnapper’s grasp. Her romance feels real and organic.  I just really think Rapunzel and Tangled as a whole movie are very underrated. Go watch it.

Honorable mentions to non-princesses - Megara from Hercules, one of my favourite films. Meg is great, and rare with her cynicism and world-weary attitude. She’s so cool and I love her. - Kida, who weirdly is the princess of Atlantis but not included in the DIsney princess line? I’ve never understood that. She’s amazing and beautiful and ugh. - other women of Atlantis: The Lost Empire: Helga Sinclair, Audrey Ramirez, love them. It’s seriously such a good, underrated movie - Esmeralda from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, another one of my childhood idols. Rare a Disney woman in that she’s not ashamed of her sexuality, but not dependent on it, either. She kicks ass. - Jane from Tarzan, she’s silly and cute, and so stylish!

I’m right, you’re wrong, shut up!

[hellas-himself]

Crack Ship Holidays

Halloween Pt.3- Cassian x Feyre

.

.

.

“There,” I say as I step back and look at the mirror I hung up. I hated the damn thing, every year he put it up and every year I jumped when something else appeared in my reflection, but Cassian wanted a haunted house… So that’s what he got. We spent the entire night before decorating, but I still have one more thing to do. 

I walk outside to the backyard where Cassian is finishing up with the tables and chairs.

“Hey, I’m all done,” I say and Cas sets the last chair down and smiles.

“Yeah?”

“So… I have to go get dressed.”

“The sun isn’t even down, bunny.”

“I know but Mor-”

“You’re leaving?” He looks so mortified I feel bad. I take his hand in mine and sigh.

“I’ll be back. I promise. We’ll both be ready before anyone shows up. I’ll help you with the paint and all that.”

He says goodbye- albeit begrudgingly, and I head out before Valo notices.

*

Mor is way too happy when I get to her house. Her hair is up in rollers and she’s dressed in a short white robe.

“Does he suspect anything?”

“We didn’t really have time to talk about that.”

“Christ, you two are like-”

“Don’t fucking say it. We were decorating.”

“Whatever you say, bunny.”

Mor shrieks and runs off before I can swat her arm.

After I shower, I walk into Mor’s room in one of her pretty robes. She looks like she’s up to no good.

“So your costume isn’t here yet,” she says as I sit on her vanity chair.

“What?”

“It’ll be here soon. Promise. Your make up is going to be easy,” she says and she grabs her tablet off the vanity table to show me. “We’ll be done quick. Then I can focus on your hair.”

*

“Darlings! I’m home!” I hear Rhys shout and I glare at Mor through the mirror.

“Rhys?”

“Where else can we get a season one Dany outfit on such short notice that looks like the real thing?”

“But he’s had like what, two days?”

Mor smiles as a knock comes to her bedroom door.

“I told him what Cassian was going to be weeks ago.”

“And what if I said no to Daenerys?”

“I’m always prepared, Feyre, darling,” she says in perfect imitation of her cousin. “Rhys, the door is open!”

Her cousin steps in and he immediately notices my hair. He grins.

“You’re exquisite, Feyre.”

I blush. “Thank you.”

“I stopped by your apartment for your boots,” he says, holding them up before he pinches my cheek. He sets the black dressing bag on her bed and unzips it. “The dragon brooch I did not make but it was too easy to find. I used leftover faux leather from Cassian’s costume to finish that bit that goes over your pants. Don’t worry about the wraps for the hands. They’re more like gloves made to look like you sat there and wrapped your hands in leather.”

“Rhys…” I get up and stand beside him. “This is too much.”

“Nonsense, darling. It was good practice.”

“So… with the wig…”

“The top zips up in the back. The pants are more like leggings. So it’s all stretchy.”

“You’re the best.”

“Thank you, darling.”

Mor steals her cousin away, ordering me to change.

I can’t wear a bra with this top but Rhys is a godsend and lined it with a soft fabric. The pants are so form fitting I’m glad I brought two different sets of underwear to choose from.

“Holy shit,” Mor says as she walks into the room and mockingly gets on one knee. “Khaleesi.”

“Shut up,” I say but find myself laughing. Mor gets up and motions for me to twirl, which I do.

“Get out of here,” she says, giving me a tight hug. “I’m sure your Khal is waiting.”

*

I unlock the door to Cassian’s house and step inside, sighing with relief to be away from the cold. Valo comes running to me and I laugh, scratching behind his ears. I send him off playing with one of his toys. I take off Cassian’s jacket and hang it in the closet before I look for him. He isn’t outside, but I see the lights are going and the smoke machine is on.

The door to his room is open and I hear him muttering curses. I step inside and set my bag on the floor.

“Need help?” I ask and Cassian jumps, turning around. His eyes are wide as he takes me in and I start blushing. I avert my gaze to see the brush and paint in his hands.

“Give me that,” I say and walk over to him. Cas relinquishes both brush and paint but he’s still just staring at me.

“Your hair,” he says softly and I laugh as I open the paint and set the lid down on his dresser. The water bottle and cup I left for this exact purpose is untouched.

“It’s a wig. Sit down.”

Cassian sits down on his bed while I activate the paint with water. I stand between his legs and begin to lightly mark where I have to paint and ensure they’re even on both sides. Cassian’s hands settle on my waist and I giggle when he brushes his thumbs across my skin.

While I begin to paint the left side of his chest and shoulder, he uses his right hand to reach up and twirl a strand of loose curls. I already see the question in his eyes and I laugh.

“Do you know how much work it would take to maintain this color?”

“It’d be worth it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Carefully, I slide out of my boots and climb on the bed to sit behind him. I begin to paint the lines that go down his back and I notice him watching me through the mirror.

“You sure I shouldn’t have covered up my tattoos?”

“For what? This is decorative. And I like your tattoos too much to hide them.”

*

Elain and Azriel are the first to arrive. My sister has brought cookies and cupcakes, and Azriel is carrying an entire cake. They’re dressed up as Prince Eric, Ariel and Melody. Elain has a red wig on styled perfectly but Iliana doesn’t need one. Her black hair is up in a pony tail, and the crown Elain made is identical to the one from the movie.  

“Auntie Feyre,” Iliana says as she picks at her salmon pink dress, “Are you matching my tio? Daddy told mommy that you are.”

“Uh… Yeah, my costume is from the same show as his. Just like you’re matching your mom and dad.”

“Does that mean you’re married?”

I nearly drop the tray of cupcakes. Iliana smiles, reminding me of Azriel when he was up to no good.

“Lia, let’s get going,” Elain says as she walks in from the back porch. “Daddy’s waiting for us outside.”

“I’ll see you later,” Iliana says to me as she slides off her chair. I set down the tray and kneel down to hug her. Loudly, she whispers, “Daddy says I can stay up late because we’re having a sleepover with you and tio.”

I look up at Elain who just smiles.

“Then I’ll be sure to hide some candy for you. We’ll sneak out and share.”

I walk them out and bring the big bucket of candy to leave outside on the doorstep. Az gives me a knowing smile before he takes Iliana’s hand and walks to the neighbor’s house.

*

Cassian is taking shots with the boys when I walk outside. It’s too cold for this outfit but I’ve had enough whiskey that I’m a little warm.

“Jalan atthirari anni!” Cassian shouts when he sees me. I barely have a second to think before he’s got me by the hips and lifts me up. “I missed you.”

“You’re such a dork,” I said which only makes him laugh. “Having fun, my sun and stars?”

“Yeah, but it’ll be better now.”

The way he smiles at me makes me want to kiss him. Badly. But a bright flash interrupts us and we turn to find Mor holding out her phone.

“Perfect!” she says and goes off to pester Rhys and Lucien, who are dressed as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. It doesn’t dawn on me that she’s dressed as a femme Draco until Andromache walks by as Hermione.

Cassian puts me down and takes my hand, leading me to the drinks. We take a shot and then another before I hear his name being called. We turn to see Amren on the porch, leaning on her sword while she talks to a very tall man with silver hair. There’s a beautiful woman beside him who reaches out to touch the pauldrons of Amren’s Mulan costume.

“Oh, shit,” Cas says excitedly, and takes my hand. “Come on.”

I let him lead me to them and I am taken aback by this woman’s eyes and the tattoos on the man’s face.

“Rowan! You made it!” Cassian says, letting me go to shake hands with Rowan before the two embrace.

“Amren was just telling us how she and your brother made it together,” the woman says.

“Oh, yeah. Rhys. He made our costumes this year,” Cas says and casually points over to where Rhys is, “dueling” with Mor. Cassian sighs. The woman fixes her turquoise and gold gaze on me and holds out her hand[LS1] .

“Since these two have no manners, I’m Aelin,” she says as we shake hands. I laugh.

“Feyre.”

“Oh! Our hopefully new art teacher!”

“You’re Ms. Galathynius? I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you that day, to say thank you.”

“It’s perfectly fine.”

Aelin loops her arm in mine and flashes me a smile that tells me she and Rhys are going to get along far too well.

“Have fun boys,” she says. “My new friend is going to show me around.”

Rowan claps Cassian on the arm and I barely manage a wave before Aelin is leading me off.

I introduce her to Rhys and Lucien, to Mor and Andromache. Nearly everyone. Amren and Varian knew her already, as did Azriel and Elain. Kallias somehow had met Rowan before but Thesan was friends with someone named Manon who knew them all. I didn’t ever get a real chance to know any of Tamlin’s friends so this was nice. Being around Cassian’s friends who he’d made on his own, separate from Rhys and Az, made me feel something I didn’t have a word for.

The living room is packed with people dancing but it’s not hard to find Cassian or Rowan. Aelin lights up at the sight of him.

“It was so hard to convince him to dress up as assassins,” she says. “Boring old buzzard… If he had his way, we would be home sleeping.”

“You guys look amazing.”

“So do you! I was Dany last year but season 7. Rowan made the perfect Jon with how cranky he always is.”

“Did you go to Mor’s party?”

“No… My best friend Elide had her house warming party else I would’ve gone. Cassian talks about you all so much, it’s nice to finally put faces to names. Especially you.”

She winks at me.

Aelin jumps on Rowan’s back when we make it to them. Even though he curses, he still holds her up.

“Let’s dance old man,” she says and plants a kiss to his cheek. He walks off, still carrying her on his back.

“Wanna dance?” Cassian asks me and I smile.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

*

I’ve got the cabinet open when Cassian walks into the kitchen.

“Hey, I hope you’re not trying to clean. I’m leaving that shit for tomorrow.”

I laugh and take a shot glass out of the cabinet.

“I wanted a drink.”

Cassian stands behind me and places his hands on my hips and leans over as I grab the bottle of tequila. There are limes in the glass bowl we had set out earlier in the day. I’m surprised there are any left.

“Did you have fun tonight?” I ask him.

“Yeah… I’m… I’m really glad you got to meet Ro and Aelin.”

“So am I.”

He rests his chin on my head and I sigh.

“Sleepy?” I ask him and he chuckles.

“No… But I’m wasted, bunny.”

“No more ‘moon of my life’?” I tease. “I was liking that.”

“Yeah?”

I nod, pouring my tequila in the glass cup.

“Where’s the salt?”

“It’s just for me and the bowl’s all out.” I point at the now empty bowl.

Cassian lets me go and grabs the salt from the cabinet. I watch him roll a lime on the counter before finding a knife and cutting it into fours. He puts salt in his left hand, avoiding the leather wrapped around his palm, and goes to sprinkle it on the back of his right hand but it clings to his fingertips. He tries to shake it off but I grab his wrist.

“Hold still,” I say and lick the salt off his fingers. It’s hard not to blush with the way he’s looking at me. When I’m done, I take hold of his hand and take the shot. I give him a grin.

He pins me against the kitchen counter when he kisses me. He takes the glass from my hand and I hear it against the marble counter. I get on my tip toes and Cassian chuckles and holds me against him.

“I’ve wanted to do this all night,” he says as I place my hands on his chest.

“Why didn’t you?”

He kisses my neck and I hate how I dread the answer.

“Cas?”

He stops kissing me and hauls me onto the counter. He places his hands on my thighs.

“I… I wasn’t sure if you would be okay with that.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Cassian shrugs.

Smiling, I run my fingers through his hair before I kiss him. I feel him wrap his arms around me and I twine my fingers in his hair. Cassian swiftly holds me against him, my legs wrapped around him as he walks to his room. He kicks the door closed before setting me down.

I help him out of that heavy belt before he’s trying to figure out how to take off my top. I laugh and reach back to pull on the zipper, letting Cassian do the rest. We undress in a hurry, moving closer to the bed until I’m completely bare and the back of my legs hit the bed. He pushes me and I laugh as I fall back on the bed and kick him away before moving further up the bed. I lay back against the pillows and reach for him as he settles himself between my legs.  

There’s something different in the way Cassian kisses me. In the way he touches me. As if I were something not entirely fragile, but precious, maybe. I’ve never felt this close to anyone, and the intensity of it would have scared me once- but this is Cassian. I don’t have to be afraid of anything anymore, not with him. So I surrender to this moment, to these feelings that I’ve been so afraid to acknowledge. I surrender myself entirely to Cassian.

I don’t know why there are tears in my eyes when we’re done but Cassian kisses them anyway. I’m afraid to speak, afraid to break whatever spell we’re under. I don’t want it to end. Cassian lays on his back and pulls me into his arms and I can feel how fast his heart is racing. I’m trembling, but it has nothing to do with the cold. Cassian pulls the comforter over us anyway.

“I love you, Feyre,” Cassian says. His voice is hoarse. Not one day goes by that I don’t hear those words from him, but never like this. Never in the act, never immediately after.

“I love you, Cassian,” I say back, my heart ready to burst in my chest. Even saying it feels different and yet… I feel like I’m finally breathing.

[alexsprincessparty]

The Little Mermaid: Alex’s Feminist Crisis

I've been waiting for this day to come, because finally I get to watch My Favorite Movie of All Time:

Clearly we are talking about The Little Mermaid. I'm sure this is going to be a rather difficult one to deal with because this is a film that is often criticized for a not-great portrayal of a female; in fact Ariel is considered by many to be the Worst Princess. Yet, by others, she is still beloved by many. See, Ariel is, to me, Marmite Princess. You either love her spunk, her curiosity, her determination, maybe her red hair; or you hate that she fell in love with a man she knew for a minute, gave up everything she knew (and everything that made her special) to be with him, and was kind of a brat to her dad. These are all very valid reasons to like or dislike Ariel! It's a film that warrants about as much praise as it does criticism (again, Snow White, in my opinion, has more issues than most princess films). So this is probably a good time to weigh those pros and cons. Hold on to your dinglehoppers and get your snarfblats, because we're heading out to Atlantica for a spell.

The Little Mermaid is Disney’s adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen classic about a young mermaid, curious about the world above the sea. In this adaptation, the mermaid is a called Ariel, and she is the youngest (and most rebellious) of seven sisters, who all awkwardly 1. look nothing like her and 2. all have names starting with A. She likes to spend a lot of time going to the surface to show all her weird human stuff (she’s a hoarder with a huuuuge collection of it--she puts most comic book collectors to shame) to her seagull friend, Scuttle. This really displeases her racist anti-human dad, King Triton, who continually forbids her from going to the surface. One night she goes against her father’s wishes and watches a ship above, as they hold a big birthday party for a dashing prince named Eric. Ariel is enamored with Eric. Like, full-on heart eyes. He’s a living Tiger Beat centerfold, John Stamos circa 1989 was shaking (John Stamos circa 2017 just kinda became him). Suddenly a storm arrives, the ship goes down, but Ariel saves Eric. When Ariel returns home, she is hopelessly in love, which leaves daddy curious, but changes his tune when he finds out it’s a human his daughter is in love with. He destroys Ariel’s hoard grotto, leaving her in tears. She is then lured by a pair of eels with a deal--we know someone who can give you what you want. They lead her to Plus Size Icon, Ursula, a caecilian sea witch. She offers to give Ariel legs for three days, in exchange for her flawless singing voice, and if she can kiss the prince before the three days are up, she can keep the legs, but if not, she goes back to Fintown. Ariel obliges, and spends some largely non-verbal time with her prince, him completely unaware that she is the mystery woman who saved his life. When Ariel comes too close to her kiss, Ursula intervenes, disguised as Eric’s mystery savior, and puts him in a trance that leaves Ariel completely hopeless. After her friends intervene and restore her voice, Ursula takes the now-mermaid-again Ariel back to the sea to fight for her father’s freedom, because SURPRISE! she’s got him now, too. With Eric’s help, the evil is defeated, Triton relents, allows Ariel her legs back, and her prince, Happily Ever After, yadda yadda yadda.

WHEW. You can tell I’ve seen this...more than a few times.

The Little Mermaid comes at a pivotal time in the company. Not because it’s the first time Disney has made a Princess film since 1959, but because...well, at this point, things are Not Great at the company. We are coming out of what is called the Dark Age of Disney, where its films are just not going great. The Black Cauldron is a critical and commercial bomb, and The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver and Company didn’t go so great either. Basically, Disney is banking on Ariel to rejuvenate the company. Ultimately, she does, and the Disney Renaissance begins. Because my mom remembers 1989 better than I do (I was born November of the following year), she says that Ariel was kind of like the Elsa of her time. Everyone wanted to be Ariel. In 2018, everyone still wants to be Ariel, as grown-ass women claim to be mermaids. Including myself. Yes, I am calling myself out. But this is just the impact Ariel has had on women of all ages. In fact, Ariel is the most famous portrayal of a mermaid of all time (a fact I mentioned to Jodi Benson herself /humblebrag). For more on this, please watch the Little Mermaid documentary, Treasures Untold. (I can’t remember if this is the one that accompanies the 2006 Platinum Edition release of the film, but it’s eye-opening regardless.)

Let's begin with the pros.

-ERIC WAS NOT THE REASON ARIEL WENT TO THE SURFACE. I REPEAT, ERIC WAS NOT WHY ARIEL WANTED TO BECOME HUMAN. This is a common misconception for anyone who apparently missed the entire "Part of Your World" number. Clearly, Ariel had a fascination with the human world before ever setting sights on Eric, in fact, if she wasn't so keen to explore the surface, she probably would have never even seen him. She needed a motivation to get up there, and to paraphrase another sea-based Princess, the call wasn't out there at all--it was inside her. If anything, Eric was more of a final straw. Also, if Flotsam and Jetsam hadn't intervened, she probably would not have taken such drastic action. Ariel didn't just cry because Triton destroyed her statue of her crush. Keep in mind he destroyed the ENTIRE grotto. All of Ariel's gadgets, gizmos, whosits, whatsits, thingamabobs, dinglehoppers, snarfblats, you name it--all up in smoke. Stuff she probably spent YEARS collecting. I know I'd be pissed if someone wrecked my Sailor Moon collection. (Also it probably meant that Triton would have an even closer eye on her so it was definitely all over for her--I'd cry, too.) 

-In the original Little Mermaid tale, when the mermaid gains her legs, walking is incredibly painful for her. Whenever she walks, she feels the sensation of walking on knives. Ariel, seemingly, does not. I am 100% okay with this. Also, when the mermaid does not get her prince, her sisters cut their hair off and give to the sea witch in exchange for a knife. With the knife, the mermaid is supposed to stab the prince, have his blood pour over her feet, and that will make her a mermaid again. She refuses, because she's not so jealous she would kill over it. Instead, she flings the knife out to sea, throws herself onto the water, and dissolves into seafoam. Whether this is good or bad probably depends on how much of a purist you are for the original, or how much you like despair porn. Personally I don't think the wages of Ariel's (admittedly, crappy) decision should be death, so this is fine by me. Sure, a generic Happy Ending is kind of a cop-out, and it would have been interesting for Disney to play it closer to the original, but Disney won't simply kill off a Princess. Come on, now.

-Animation-wise, this is probably one of Disney's best. This is one of the last of its kind, being 100% hand-drawn. They would revisit this style with The Princess and the Frog and later Winnie the Pooh (2011, not the Many Adventures), but not since Pooh, since I guess CGI is more profitable. Go figure.

-This film also boasts some of Disney's best songs and best score. This is the first film in which Disney worked with the power duo of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. This tradition would continue until Aladdin (Ashman passed away shortly before the release of Beauty and the Beast, but still had songs featured in Aladdin). The only better Disney songwriting duo, in my opinion, might be Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen, Coco). But we do not meet them for a whiiiiile.

-Ariel oozes personality compared to a few of the other princesses we have met so far. She is motivated, knows what she wants, is fearless, and delightfully curious. This also is her biggest downfall, but we'll get into that in a second.

-Ursula, too, is a GREAT example of a villain. Like with Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, her beef is not with our title princess, but with her father, and she uses our princess as more of a pawn in her plan (so, nothing personal). So the woman vs woman issue in Snow White (and later Tangled) is not present here, though it might look like that on the surface. Also, it's been pointed out that Ursula can shapeshift, but prefers to take the form of a plus-sized caecilian sea witch. Basically, she's fat-positive! See, even the villain is progressive. Well, kinda.

-Vanessa (Ursula’s alter ego) is hot. There, I said it.

Do I really need to go into the cons? ...Ugh, it really pains me to criticize this film so heavily.

-It is troublesome that Ariel gave up everything she had for a dude who she barely knew, admittedly. While I insist that Eric was not her sole intention, still, him being the sort of bait (again, remember Flotsam and Jetsam's role in this) and Ariel taking it are all...dodgy.

-Ariel's greatest strength is also her greatest downfall. Her curiosity leads her to a sunken ship and to the surface, thus defying her father (and the iconic "I'm sixteen, I'm not a child" line) and Sebastian in the process. This, obviously, is...not true. Unless this film takes place in Scotland, where 16 is the age of majority (what up Merida), or one of a few African countries (such as Cameroon and Niger), who define the age of majority as early as 15. Which brings me to...

-WHERE ON EARTH DOES THIS FILM TAKE PLACE? For most Princess films, its location is pretty cut and dry. Snow White seems very German. Cinderella, possibly French? Brave obviously takes place in Scotland, Mulan in China, and Pocahontas and The Princess and the Frog in different areas of the North American continent. But The Little Mermaid is an anomaly. Most people just claim Denmark because of the nationality of Hans Christian Andersen (as well as the iconic Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen), but by that logic, you could claim the same for Frozen, however, Frozen takes place in a fictional Norwegian kingdom, not in Denmark. The wildly colorful sea life lends itself to a possible Caribbean setting, Denmark still checks out for the human world. But who even knows, really.

-A few racist caricatures in “Under the Sea”: The “fluke, the duke of soul,” the “blackfish” (who sings), and the Carmen Miranda fish that grabs Flounder out of the blue. I’m under the impression that the “blackfish” was supposed to be an homage to Ella Fitzgerald...but it just comes off wrong.

-I wish we could have had more opportunities to see Ariel conversing with her sisters. She has six of them, there's really no excuse, unless she is purposely distancing herself from them? But like, geez, what would be the beef? Did Attina place her crown on Ariel's vanity seat for her to sit on?

-Can Ariel write basic English? Just out of curiosity.

I do have one complaint that The Little Mermaid kind of set this pattern of mermaid movies being kind of samey, where the mermaid has to become human in order to chase after a man or something of that nature (I love Splash, but that’s one of those films). However, if you're looking for some new kind of mermaid flavor, I might recommend The Mermaid by Stephen Chow (if you can find it subtitled, it's in Chinese), or Freeform's Siren series.

Final thoughts: If you love something, you really have to be honest about it. In my case, I know where the issues lie with The Little Mermaid, and I admit them--begrudgingly. As with many Princesses, Ariel is not without her misconceptions, yet also not without valid criticisms. Ariel's message, on the surface, is that men are to be desired and women should chase after them. But in order to really understand Ariel, you have to dive a bit deeper: If you want something, go for it, rather than wishing and wishing.

Rating: 5 out of 5 dinglehoppers

Thanks for joining me for this (admittedly, difficult) party. Join me for my next one where we look into the misconceptions and misogynists of Beauty and the Beast. No, not that one. Dream Big, Princess!

[icharchivist]

Thanks for the links I'll be sure to watch them. I like watching analysis on Disney movies. Belle is my most favorite Disney princess. Has been forever. I was eager to see the live action movie until I kept hearing all this stuff about Belle being 'better' smarter and stronger. I was thinking Belle was already perfect. Why fix what's not broken? I'm not sure how any of this is an improvement. Instead of appreciating who Belle is and why her nature ended up destroying a curse to save countless -

2 people and redeem one soul who also proved he was a awesome selfless guy underneath that spoiled attitude. We get a character who we’re suppose to be impressed by her talents or, as you put it, how ahead of her time she was. Original Belle would be special yet easy to misunderstand no matter where or what time period you stuck her in. She was role model for her selfless attitude and independent mindest that didn’t go w/the crowd. She saw past images and cared about what was underneath. -

3 Belle was also relatable because she liked what she liked and felt lonely sge didn’t have friends who liked or accepted her. We all have yearnings to escape a place we feel belittled or trapped in. We all want to have at least 1 person to love us for who we are w/o wanting to completely change us first. But in the remake we got Belle the inventor. I’m not going to relate to someone alone for being an inventor. As you said, I feel like they lost what made Belle Belle when they turned her into -

4 into a mini version of her Father. We didn’t need her to become her dad and inherit her dad’s problems. She had her own problems. Just like what they’re doing w/Jasmine. Once again I thought the Aladdin remake looked fun until they talked about Jasmine veing a stronger version. She’s into politics and stuff. Forget that Jasmine wanted to marry for love and stood defiant against her well meaning Father’s picks for a husband. All men who only wanted her for status. That she was brave enough to-5 escape her sheltered world to be herself. That she never once looked down on Aladdin or anyone for being a street rat and treated him like a equal worthy of respect. She’s never once impressed w/material gain and showed more awe for a kind thief’s world then a boastful Prince’s magical parade that enchanted everyone else. That she stood up to Jafar of all villians w/o breaking a sweat. That she forgave so much. That she got her freedom and true love in the end. That’s only 1 movie too.

Yeaaah that’s so true I agree with all you said.

Tbh this is kind of another problem, Belle was more “ordinary” in a way that was relatable: but that was part of what made her this “extraordinary”. She was the “simple bookworm” who had a golden heart and could have people be their best selves around her. And it’s.. good. I mean I think people forgot those movies originally target kids or the kids inside of us. Sometimes it’s just good to tell the kid that even simplest things make them amazing. That they don’t have to be “special”, to be smarter, stronger than everyone else to be taken seriously, that you could just be yourself, that you could still have an impact on people’s lives. 

Like yeah it’s cool to tell kids they can be more too!! It’s important that there are stories that can tell kids “and you can do extraordinary things” but htat doesn’t mean that the likeable ordinary characters shouldn’t exist. And it’s such a disservice to Belle bc she was relatable. Any kids could feel for her journey, for who she was, and didn’t have to feel.. unadequate because y’see they’re not a genuis like her.

Already I feel like we’re losing a bit of her agency by making her an extension of her father, but as it is, it’s just… again that apparently to be considered a “good protagonist” you have to be a step ahead, to not just be a normal person see, you have to be a SUPER person who is more amazing that everyone and super transgressive.

And it’s.. a shame because the original movie carries that on far better. Belle is still weird, and we know the town is being a bit dumb but…. the thing is that, it’s super relatable? Like in the remake tries far more to relate it to the time period (which is in itself silly, the original “La Belle et La Bête” was published in a lady’s magazine for women to read it’s not,, like it was that weird to “teach another girl to read” in that time period in France,,) and they add this stupid plotline of how Gaston is just having major PTSD and that’s why he’s a douche and they have a whole section showing the townfolks don’t trust him blindly and Le Fou has to pay them to sing Gaston and i’m just??? Bc No, the Town were just mindless people who just would push away anyone who’s different. Gaston is your usual bully. The kind who believes they’re more important than anyone. They’re… people you actually meet in your life. 

So by making Belle “more special” while also in a town that is “more justified” it just… feels wrong and fall flat and it just feels insulting.

I don’t know that remake missed all the marks and Belle especially suffered from it and i hate how superficially they took the character. It’s super annoying. 

For Aladdin i admit i didn’t keep track of the remake, i personally think it looks like a trainwreck but i’m also very, very tired about the Disney Remake trend, and extremely annoyed with the “We’re fixing stuff from the original” ones. Because like, for exemple, liking it or not Maleficient wasn’t trying to fix the original, it was another side of the story. Jungle Book took a different approach but didn’t act all smugly about how they were fixing things. But with Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin they keep talking about things to change from the original to make it “more modern and better” and generally it’s not even on like… actual important stuff (i’ve only ever watched Aladdin in French and they don’t have it in it but apparently there’s a lyrics from the opening song that is downright offensive about how barbaric the culture is. Like. Think about fixing that before fixing your “woman problem” Disney.)

For Aladdin,  I really have no idea where the damn remake is headed but yeah i’ve seen them mention how much the new Jasmine is better than the original and c o m o n. You can try to talk a little more about politics without completely  undermining that she was still having an arc in the original, that she didn’t want her life decided for her, and everything you just said. 

idk i feel like they didn’t even get why those characters were liked to start with. They rush into conclusion about what bad role models they are without even taking into account that it’s… not like that people took them. Legit I’ve never thought “Cinderella/Ariel/Belle needed a Man to save them from their lives” for exemple until people started to smash it all over my head when I was a teen. 

Personally my fav princess growing up was Ariel, for exemple. to me she was a passionate person and people around her kept villainizing what she liked, his father litterally destroys all her stuff in front of her in a fit of anger. she is more pressured into doing the family stuff like singing for his father, but her interests are shunned away. What she wants is to explore her passion, to discover new things, to not be locked where her family tells her is her best place to be, especially when her father for exemple completely overlook her boundaries. Saving Eric happened to be one of the catalyst making her want to set it in motion, but she didn’t do it until her father sent her the message that her passion would be welcomed with violence. And yeah she took rushes decision when she was running away from home after her father terrified her, she was pressured in the contract, but the enjoyed herself on Earth, and whatever “she just wanted to find a man” means, she found what she wanted with Eric. he has boats, they can travel if she wants. He invites her to danse, he makes her visit places, she handle a horse, he helps her live more of her dream that isn’t just living a life with him. 

So to me i grew up with Ariel on a pure escapism sense, of living off your passion, of being able to escape an unsafe place to be with said passion, and hell the ultimate fantasy is that her father admited he was wrong and did right by her in the end. Getting the man was a bonus. 

and Ariel also enters a lot in the bashed princesses category because of Eric and it always kinda frustrated me, but when I was a young teen and everyone told me they were bad role models? I just ended up agreeing because “guess kid me doesn’t know any better”. But as an adult now, I feel like kid!me understood it much more, because those raw emotions are what inspired me in my life. Not the man, the passion did. 

Can’t WAIT until they remake The Little Mermaid to “remake Ariel in a Stronger Female Character” even if that’s not what this story need /sarcasm.

So yea long story short I think executives who are trying to say “how to better female characters kids loved” just completely missed why kids loved those characters to start with, and so instead it’s just pushing down our throat “shhh you love it the wrong way, here how you should love it too be More Progressive” and this is just annoying.

So yeah. Wait and see for the Aladdin’s remake but I have very little hope. 

Oh boy and it reminds me everything they planned for the Mulan remake *takes a huge breath* i dont know if i’m strong enough.

Take care!

[paopuofhearts]

For the Disney Survey! Please, do the even numbers!

2: Top 5 Disney moviesPocahontas and Alice In Wonderland.

4: Favorite PrinceIf we're talking legitimate Prince, I would have to say Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty, because he fought a dragon hot damn. [If we're talking honorary Prince, I would go with Milo from Atlantis, because I relate to him far too much].

6: Favorite villainFor official Villain, I would go with Facilier from Princess And The Frog, because he had some of the best creepy things going on [all that shadow play, I love it]. Unofficially, Captain Hook.

8: Favorite heroTaran from The Black Cauldron, because he always seemed to have the most growth and development.

10: Disneyland or Disney WorldI've only ever been to Disneyland in California, sooo I'd have to say that.

12: Favorite park within the resort (i.e Epcot)Does Fantasyland count for this? Because I loved Fantasyland. They had the teacups and the carousel and It's A Small World [which was actually one of my favorite rides, despite the clicheness of it all].

14: Favorite Disney snackThe only thing we ate at Disneyland was the lobster sandwiches [because lobster is bomb and I figured if I'm gonna have one thing at Disney it's gonna be something fancy as fuck].

16: Favorite Attraction/ShowTEACUPS. That was literally the only thing I wanted to do. Teacups.

18: What three locations would you want to stay at overnight in the parksI have no idea.

20: Which character's handwriting do you wish to haveI don't know about wishing to have [I actually really like my handwriting, I worked hard for it], but I do have handwriting similar to Snow White [at least, looking at her signature, so].

22: A character that you are/have been scared of approachingAlright I know it seems like some rite of passage to go as a kid, but I first went to Disneyland with my older cousin when I was 23, so I didn't really have the kind of "fear" in approaching anyone. I did feel a bit awkward waiting to get a Winnie The Pooh signature for my book though, because it was mostly tiny tots standing in line for it.

24: Favorite Disney HotelNooo ideaaa.

26: Planning to do the Disney College Program?I have graduated, so probably not.

28: Ariel or Belle?Belle.

30: Aurora or Rapunzel??Rapunzel.

32: Meg or Kida?Kida.

34: Eugene Fitzherbert or Prince Eric?This one I actually paused on. Buuut I'd probably go with Eric.

36: Li Shang or John Smith?Neither [I really didn't care for them; I was more focused on Mulan and Pocahontas kicking ass].

38: Prince Naveen or Aladdin?Aladdin.

40: How long has your favorite Disney princess been your favorite?I have loved Pocahontas since it came out.

42: Do you have a Disney princess hierarchy? If so, list them from most favorite to least favorite. Otherwise, just give your top 3 favorite princesses.Top 3: Pocahontas, Mulan, and Belle [I would include Alice and Wendy, but since they're children, they "don't count" anymore].

44: Which princess’ personality is most similar to yours?That's a great question.

46: Favorite love song"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" or "Once Upon A Dream"

48: Favorite wardrobeI generally liked Jasmine and Mulan because they wore pants [I hated, and still really dislike, dresses].

50: What character(s) have you Disneybounded as / want to Disneybound asI had to look this up, because I had no idea this was a thing - is this the fashion style site? [When my friends would post these, it would be "character closet cosplay for con breaks?", sooo]. I tend to wear black slacks and plain tops [usually in a basic red or blue - I'm a total NPC looking person] and hiking shoes, so the first one that came up looking like something out of my closet was "Carlos from Disney Descendents" [minus the accessories].

52: What Disney character would you like to be paired with?Someone from Atlantis, they were all pretty chill.

54: What Disney movie cheers you upPocahontas and Mulan, because I can sing along to them.

56: What's the most underrated Disney movieAtlantis, definitely.

58: Favorite Pixar movieUp, definitely, all the way.

60: Favorite non-animated Disney movieDoes Enchanted count? Otherwise I'm chosing Mary Poppins [even if both technically have animation].

62: Last Disney movie you watchedTechnically Star Wars [but if we're talking typical Disney princess type stuff, Frozen, way back when it first came out - still haven't seen Moana, it's on my list].

YAY THANK YOU.

[peachytoto]

disney tag .｡.:*☆

1. favourite character

dang, this isn’t an easy start but my absolute favourite would probably be the lgm (little green men) but i do love marie, toulouise and berlioz from the aristocats :)

2. favorite princess

ugh this is so hard but i love belle because she’s a bookworm like me, and tiana because she’s so underrated and she’s always been indescribable to me. there’s just something that i love about her and really think she’s incredible. i am aware that this reason is quite vague but i’ve just loved her the moment i watched the frog prince.

3. favorite heroine

mulan because female empowerment right there. 

4. favorite prince

omggggg i used to have a huge crush on prince eric, shane and adam as i was growing up but i gotta go with adam.

5. favorite hero

mmmmm this is really hard because i grew up idolising women to feel strong in a society that favours male supremacy and racial dominance (hence, why i admired mulan so much - an asian girl, like me, managed to save lives and that’s been my biggest dream; to help people and save lives as a woman) but i gotta give this to hercules. i really love his transition of character through wanting to be accepted to complacency to an end with nobility; it gives children the right image of favouring good deeds sincerely rather than being a saint for publicity.

6. favorite animal

this is so hard ugh i love animals in general but i gotta go with figaro from pinocchio because he is THE CUTEST THING EVER

7. favorite sidekick

umm i was gonna say syndrome as a joke but ya he’s an asshole so um on a serious note, i’d say mushu. who could ever go wrong with mushu?

8. favorite villain

jafar because his name cracks me up (ja-near, ja-far, ja-wherever you are).

9. favorite original character (minnie, mickey, goofy, etc)

mickey and minnie forever, i love them so much

10. favourite love song

kiss the girl shalalalalallalalala

11. favourite song

danggggg umm colours of the wind (mother nature yo) and all the songs from beauty and the beast tbh. i also love songs from hsm. HAHAHA i ain’t gonna conceal that. my best friend, kazue, is gonna kill me for this but i love arabian nights HAHAHA and prince ali!!!!!!

12. favourite villain song

ooOOoOOoOoo ursula’s “poor unfortunate souls” because i used to replay that song a lot as a child? HAHAHA

13. least favourite song

i have no idea??

14. favorite kiss

LADY AND TRAMP’S INFAMOUS SPAGHETTI KISS!!!!!!

15. the first movie you saw

THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE!!!!!!! 

16. favourite classic

i would say it’s cinderella or snow white ugh i can’t decide. i used to watch these with my grandma so they are definitely my top classics!

17. song that always gets stuck in your head

PRINCE ALIIIIIII FABULOUS HE ALI ABABWAAAAAA (fabulous harry, i love the feathers)

18. favourite pixar film

the incredibles!!!!!! but i also have to include finding dory because my ethan loves that so much.

19. least favourite pixar film

a bug’s life used to scare me a lot as a kid so i’m gonna have to go with that, i’m sorry to any fans :(

20. favorite sequel

high. school. musical. 2.

21. overrated movie

to be honest, i have to say it’s frozen and tangled. no offence but i don’t really understand the hype :/

22. underrated movie

atlantis: the lost empire. hands down. and the emperor’s new groove. these are by far the most underrated disney moves because barely one i know has watched these :( ethan and i have decided that on our wedding night, we’re gonna wear fluffy onesies and have a disney movie marathon. i can pretty much predict what he’s gonna pick but these two are the ones i’m including.

23. movie that makes you laugh

tbh the emperor’s new groove makes me laugh but big hero 6 cracked me up heaps in the cinema

24. movie that makes you cry

gosh :( anything with robin williams (i miss him so much and he’s one of my favourite actors ever), big hero 6 (literally BAWL MY EYES OUT EVERY TIME over tadashi and baymax’s departure) and the lion king (i don’t think i need to elaborate this any further).

25. the saddest scene from your favourite movie

ummmmm i don’t know...

26. saddest death

all deaths are sad to me :( unless it’s a villain’s then ha die u sucker

27. favorite quote

“i’ll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives... MWAHAHA I’LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!!! it’s brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT, I tell you!!! genius, i say... or to save on postage, i’ll just poison him with THIS!” - yzma

28. favourite theme park

i’ve been to disneyland paris and that’s the only i’ve been to so that’s my favourite for now :) would love to go to the one in cali with my ethan.

29. favourite theme attraction

big thunder mountain. i was too short to go on most of the rides so that was one that was okay HAHAHA #shortgirlproblems

30. favourite theme park show

i don’t remember watching any shows... i went like 10 years ago. (jeez i’m old).

i tag you! xxx

[calliecat93]

Top 10 (or 5) most badass Disney Princes in your opinion?

I’m gonna do Top 5 so that I can explain my choices. Also gonna go from 5-1 if that’s okay.Alright!

#5. Anna from Frozen: Most would probably say Elsa, but I can’t agree. Look back at what Anna had to do. She finds out in one day that her sister had these powerful ice powers and watches her run away. She found this out after both having her memory of it wiped years earlier, and having tried for YEARS to connect to her sister and getting pushed away for, as far as she knew, no reason. So what did she do? She decided to face an everlasting snow storm to find her and bring her home. She could have easily froze to death or been killed due to the conditions, but she still did it. And while she needed Kristoff’s help, she mostly held her own. She beat up a wolf with a lute for pete’s sake! And in the end not only did she save Elsa, sacrificing her own chance at being saved to do so, but she got the last laugh on Hans by punching his lights out. Anna had no magic like Elsa or skill in the mountains like Kristoff. She only had her determination, and in the end it was through that and her endless love that Arendelle was arguably saved. She deserves a LOOOT more love than she gets.

#4. Ariel from The Little Mermaid: How could I not mention the first badass princess? SO many people  harp about her being selfish or her giving up for a voice for a man. Which A, the latter is stupid. And B, yeah okay she was selfish... so what? Ariel was the first proactive princess. She chased after her dreams. She fought a freakin’ shark just to get a few human trinkets, and she won!  When she realized that Eric was in danger, despite not being able to swim in her human form, she braved it anyways to try and put a stop to it. When Ursula tried to blast Eric into oblivion, Ariel grabbed her and re-directed the shot at the eels. Heck, while it failed, she tried to physically attack Ursula when she turned Triton into... whatever those weird worm things are. And in the sequel, she grabbed a sword and was ready to strike Morgana when she attacked during Melody’s birth. Ariel set the bar for modern Disney Princesses, and no one should ever forget that... also quit saying that she gave up her voice just for Eric and actually watch the dang movie haters!

#3. Rapunzel from Tangled: In the original movie, she’s a naive girl who wants to get out of her tower. When she does, she holds herself very well. She i a master at a frying pan, uses her hair in many creative ways, saves Eugene just as much as he does her, and int he end stood up to Mother Gothel. Even when bound and gagged, she refused to be controlled by her anymore when just the thought of disobeying her before drove her into a crisis. Then there’s Rapunzel int he animated series... OH MY GOD. She becomes a more adapt fighter, more independent, and refuses to let ANYONE control her life or keep her locked away anymore. Watch the Season One finale because it is amazing in so many ways. And the Season 2 premiere where we learn what kidnapping Eugene means for the poor saps. Rapunzel is a great modern Disney Princess and I adore her.

#2. Moana: Do I even need to describe why Moana is on her? Everything that this girl does is amazing. She teaches herself to sail, boldly goes against demonic forces like the Karamora and Tamatoa, stands up to a demigod and demands that she go with him to save her island, and what happens after Maui finally leaves? After help form her grandma, she decides ‘screw it, I’ll fulfill the prophecy myself’. And heck, she earned Maui’s respect that eh not only further taught hr to sail, but he ended up coming back to help her and let her be the hero. All as we saw that Moana, despite having trouble choosing between her dreams and her duties as future chief, is very much competent as a future leader, being quick thinking and always caring for her people. And she finds a way to have the best of both worlds, using her dreams to help her people find their paths once again. She is VERY close to being Number One, but ultimately there is one greater.

Honorable Mentions: Tiana (consider her Number 6), Merida

#1: Mulan: Anyone whose followed me probably isn’t shocked by this. But my bias aside, lets look at her. She’s a young girl who decides to go to war in her father’s place. She knows that war, or even just being discovered that she’s a girl, means death. She doesn't care, as long as her father is saved. She goes through relentless training, all while being mocked and pranked by other soldiers and Shang clearly having a low opinion of her, before he more or less throws her out. But she decides ‘screw that’ and keeps trying. Eventually, she inspires the others to be better and they al become a capable army unit. Then she uses a rocket on a freakin mountain to wipe out 99% of the Hun army and then saves Shang despite the massive avalance. Then after she’s discovered and decides to quit? She hears the Huns, and decides that she can’t. No deep soul searching or anything. She knows that the Emperor and citizens are ind anger, and she goes to help. When no one listens, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She makes the plan to rescue the Emperor. She reveals herself to Shan-Yu to save Shang. She come sup with the plan to blow him up via fireworks. She faces SHan-Yu, a huge, absolutely cold guy who survived an avalanche, with only a paper fan and SHE WINS. Then she gets praise from the Emperor and pretty much all of China bows before her. I don’t think even of the male heroes have ever gotten that kind of praise from an entire country. Mulan went from a clumsy girl who couldn’t seem to do anything right and felt like a dishonor to her family, to a national hero who proved that no matter who you are, you can become something great.