History and Biology of African Mermaid History In the African continent, several cultural beliefs and norms are depending on the regions. In essence, the African culture portrays the mermaid idea in several ways. However, the African culture agrees on some features of the African mermaids. First, the African culture depicts the African mermaid as a female; hence it referred to it as a woman. Secondly, the siren has the power to intrigue, deceive and seduce the male beings. Thirdly, the mermaid can melt vengeance on humankind. Finally, the culture portrays the mermaid as an attractive and mystical being (Alexander, 2017). According to the African mythology, a mermaid is a beautiful woman with a fin-like tail and upper human body. The mermaid …show more content…
The upper part was a beautiful woman’s body with long black hair. The lower half was a fish body with a tail. In essence, the uppermost female body could talk and lure the humankind to drown themselves in the water bodies upon encounter with the mermaids. The lower fish body covered with the fins and a tail helped the African mermaid to move from one place to another in water. It also helped it drag their victims to the bottom end and make them disappear forever. All myths agree that mermaids were mysterious female creatures which could only live in water. In fact, they could not do any harm to the humanity when on land. Biologically, there is no proof that mermaids existed in the world. It beats logic that a human being can breathe while underwater. Since the African siren had a female upper body, presumably it had lungs. Even though it could swim in water using the fishtail, it could not breathe underwater using her lungs. Scientifically, African mermaids never existed and remain myths (Lofties, …show more content…
The Sydney gallows mermaid cannot even dare attack the male humanity. It enticed and seduced the male victims and lured them to drone themselves while pursuing them. While the African mermaid could kidnap and even attack humankind, the Sydney gallows mermaids could appear to the water surface and hope to attract the attention of the men, seduce them and lure them to jump into the water. In the end, the victim would drone and die. The African mermaid could at times attack women who crossed their paths. However, the Sydney gallows mermaid could only victimize men. Again the actions and intentions of the African siren were metaphysical as opposed to the Sydney gallows mermaids (Alexander,
In everyday life, if you go underwater, you either drown or survive but in literature, it is much more symbolic than that. When an author submerges a character underwater, it is baptism. The character often will come up to the surface as a new person like a rebirth. Throughout books, baptisms occur in countless different ways such as a boat accident, a trip to the pool gone wrong, falling off a bridge into a river or sometimes the water isn't even literal
Across cultures and civilizations, the sea has always been an important figure both in the benefits it provides in daily life and its presence in storytelling. In consequence, sea monsters have been important figures in myths and stories whether it be in 1000 BCE Babylonian culture, or in 20th century America. The Babylonian Enuma Elish and Disney’s 1989 The Little Mermaid both feature a powerful female antagonist, Tiamat and Ursula, respectively, and these two figures bear many similarities. In both stories, the female antagonist holds strong relationship to the sea, and has supernatural abilities that aid her in her quest to defeat the heroic characters in the story.
I decided to focus on the Unicorn Tapestries for my Renaissance art project. The Unicorn Tapestries are a series of seven tapestries originally known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, and are tentatively dated between 1495 and 1505 which, according to the book timeline, is during the High Renaissance in Italy and the continuing Renaissance in the rest of Europe. Very little is known about the origin of these tapestries, and they are believed to have originated in the Southern Netherlands in Brussels. They are in phenomenal condition and the colors are still brilliant. Only one of the tapestries is missing a piece—The Mysterious Capture of the Unicorn a.k.a.
The use of female characters in the play was slightly sexist for how they displayed certain women in the production. To illustrate, the female pirate that dresses similar to the men on the ship and participated in the males attempted heinous acts goes unnoticed. That is until the production used a spotlight in the scene to draw attention to her on the top of the ship deck. On the other hand, the men pirates never realized there was a woman other than Ruth.
Symbolic Interactionalism is the study of things to which we attach meaning are the key to understanding how we view the world and communicate with one another. Princess and The Frog is a great movie, it uses symbolic interactionalism to show what a great symbol Tiana’s dad was in her life. Positive sanctions, core values, ethnocentrism, differential association, and The movie Princess and the Frog is about a very hard working girl named Tiana. Tiana has always dreamed of opening her own restaurant on day.
In Marcus Rediker’s Villains of All Nations, pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny are represented as being vulnerable, emotional, extraordinary women. Both being born illegitimate children, Rediker poses an understanding, empathetic treatment of these women, despite their representation of ‘liberty’ emanating from the brutality of piracy. The constant referral to Read and Bonny as female pirates indiscreetly implies that Rediker interprets their participation in piracy as delicate, which is unjust. Females and delicateness were a dominant association in the 18th century. Rather than referring to the two women simply as pirates, Rediker uses the phrase female pirates to imply that their participation on ship was neither masculine nor violent.
Most of the children read about many fairy tales, especially Snow Whites, Sleeping beauty, and Cinderella when they grew up. It is a surprising fact that to discover a hidden, unexpected political intention in the simple plot of fairy tales. That is a feminization of woman. The fairy tale world suggests a male-centered patriarchy as an ideal basic society and impliedly imply that man and woman need to have a proper attitude toward this opinion. However, Jewett’s A White Heron describes a new perspective of fairy tale’s plot.
Most women and teenage girls loved the idea of the mermaid that it grew into a new trend of fashion. Their obsession over this new trend even encouraged them to walk on beaches with mermaid suits and their breast exposed to male voyeurs. Millhauser wanted to justify to his readers that this societal attitude the people had on the creature can get out of hand and lead to madness and instability within the town. For example, a fourteen-year-old girl was assaulted at a party by some high school girls, painted her hips down a green, bound at the ankles and tossed into her into a stream.
In Homer's epic poem,The Odyssey, women are a major part of the story. In ancient times, women were very limited to their rights. They were expected to stay at home all day every day. When men would cheat on their wives it was fine, but when woman cheated they were shamed. When their husbands would leave, they would have to feel lonely while the Husband could go off and cheat.
From its onset with its first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Disney has grown to become a worldwide phenomenon today. But over the years, various parent groups, scholars and film critics have accused Disney for creating shallow, stereotypical princesses whose ultimate aim was to find her 'prince charming ' and live happily ever after. In her article, “What’s Wrong With Cinderella?” in the New York Times, Peggy Orenstein expresses her concern over the effect of princess figures like Cinderella on young girls ' perceptions of themselves and how they should behave (“What’s Wrong With Cinderella?”).
The Little Mermaid which was produced in 1989, was the first Disney movie to challenge the traditional gender roles, for the fact that Ariel wanted to explore, and was more independent and assertive in her desires than the earlier princesses of the 1930’s and 50s films. Also the prince in The Little Mermaid went against traditional gender roles as well, simply because he was more affectionate and loving than his prince counterparts in other Disney films. “Both the male and female roles have changed over time, but overall the male characters evinced less change then the female characters and were more androgynous throughout.” (Descartes & England, pg.566). Disney movies have been for a long time a strong media target for children, and can serve as a way to address stereotypical gender roles (Leaper, 2000).
These songs include “Part of Your World,” “Under the Sea,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and “Kiss the Girl.” “Part of Your World” is sung by Ariel to express her desire to change from a mermaid to a human, and despite the fact that “she’s got everything” her mermaid “world” and all its materialistic “treasures” is not as fulfilling as the humans’ appears to be. The song explicitly describes of a longing for female independence and proof that their degradation by the males is detrimentally affecting their happiness. “Betcha' on land, they'd understand, bet they don't reprimand their daughters, bright young women, sick of swimming ready to stand,” Ariel sings of the unfair and unjust treatment she and the other women of the sea experience and their need to stand against their suppressive dictators and “explore the shore above” to seek a better life. She sings this song in a secret cove that contains all her treasures, emphasizing the need for women to be private with the part of their lives that society deems as “unacceptable” and that does not align with their gender roles and expectations.
Taking into consideration the first and main version of The Little Mermaid, author Han Christian Andersen’s, Little Mermaid, written in 1837, has different characters than the 2006 interpretation of the short story, Aquamarine. From an addition of two new female characters to the subtraction of the royal titles that each character possessed, Aquamarine is based on a twenty first century setting. The plots between the two also greatly differ and even lead up to different endings. Similarly, both mermaids are searching for love and both mermaids asked to be human. Both mermaids have a due date that forces them back into the ocean if they do not find love.
When we think about the villains Disney cinema produces, the first image that comes to mind is the powerful women who use their magic to cast spells, summon forces greater than life, and enhance their agency. Often, identifying the villain in Disney films is easy, since they differ considerably from gender conforming characters due to their physical features, abilities, and style of dress. When examining the villain, one of the characteristics that stand out, is the villains’ dehumanization and non-heteronormativity. As a result, the villains’ stories may not adhere to idealistic social norms, but it’s their own just the same.
The heroine is seen as perfect in every way. However she also is depicted as helpless and naïve considering her role is to be found by a prince and be married happily ever after. It may be a tad bit irrational to call a heroine ignorant but the adjectives description seem to fit idealistically. However in “Beauty and the Beast” this fairytale takes a further turn suggesting that beauty is not only found physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Rather it still indicates that woman should be submissive and obedient to male