#i was compelled by the brain worms to write this bullshit at 1am

[chaotic-neutral-ferret]

I might piss some people off with this, but I have incredibly strong feelings about modern interpretations of classical literature. Especially queer literature entirely told through subtext due to the era it was created in. (The Portrait of Dorian Grey is a fantastic example of what I’m getting at, but not what I’m going to be talking about in this post.) And I’m going to preface this by saying this is all my opinion and interpretation.

When you look at classic literature with a modern lens, you take away much of the nuance it comes with. It would be the same if you looked at modern lit with a historical lens. There’s a lack of nuance and ability to interpret that comes with looking at art like that.

Taking a classic and boiling it down to its bare bones by looking at it through a modern lens gives you nothing. You have taken away all the context, subtext, and meaning. When you do so, you’re left with a desecrated corpse of what was intended to be area of interpretation.

This is the part where I’m going to go off the rails a bit by talking about The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. Which, in my eyes, is in fact a piece of queer lit if you’re open to hearing me out.

The Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Andersen and published in the year 1837. Anderson was a very queer man if you know anything about him, and this book is potentially a love letter from him to a man he could not openly love (although that is just speculation).

The book thrives on, in my opinion, very queer themes. Hoping on the absolute most nonsense dream of love and going for it to catch even the slightest glimpse. The curiosity for new things outside of your sheltered life. Finding that your view of identity has changed with the new things you have found. Learning that despite your hoping upon hoping, that even in despair there can be a chance at a new good thing at the end of the tunnel, even if you have to go through hell to reach it. All of these things I find to be queer tropes and themes. (They can be and are used in non-queer media as well, but within the context of Hans Christian Andersens life I find it unlikely that he wasn’t aiming at some subtext.)

The Little Mermaid is a tragedy with some light at the end of the tunnel. She does reach a happy ending, even if it’s bittersweet and heart wrenching. She doesn’t get the guy, and by the end she knows she never truly had a chance. She is curious and bright, willing to risk it all to learn more. She is incredibly compassionate and self sacrificing, willing to do anything to make those she loves happy. She finds identity in this new, intriguing world. And in the end she gets a well deserved chance to get something she wanted, despite all the pain she has gone through.

The story on the surface is about a young woman experiencing first love, and going through an unreasonable amount of suffering for it. On the surface it’s about a young woman who is in a unrequited love with a man who loves another. I find it’s more than that though. It’s a story about finding oneself. About how love can prevail even if it’s not in the way you wanted or expected. It’s about sacrifice and what you get in return, good and bad.

The ending is what really hits home for me. The little mermaid sees the man she loves happy. And even when given the chance to live as a human, she decides that his life and happiness is more important than, what she views as, her own selfish desires. The opportunity her sisters handed to her at the expense of something of theirs, she denies in favor of moving on. And when she dives into the sea with the silver dagger and turns to sea foam on the waves, a door opens up and gives her a chance at a different but equally good life. A life she knows she would enjoy a million times more than a life where she killed someone she loves. She knows that nothing could have changed that the prince would never love her romantically, and decides to live what’s left of her life (in the weird inbetween land) in service of her wish for knowledge and her capacity for generosity.

All of this adds up, to me, to make a subtly queer story. Less about romance than about identity and exploration. While it is narratively about her relationship with the prince and what circles around it, the nuance of the little mermaids character is what makes it a great story. She gives me the vibes of a young queer person exploring themselves and the world around them, experiencing first love and first heartbreak, desperate to learn more and willing to give up everything in pursuit of knowledge. She reminds me, quite fondly, of many people i know, and I love everything about this story.

I am quite willing and open to hearing other interpretations and opinions on The Little Mermaid. This is just my own and I had too many brain worms to contain.