Hans Christian Andersen The Little Mermaid Analysis

After Cinderella, by Charles Perrault, we are acquainted with the moral that “beauty is a treasure, but graciousness is priceless. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Cendrillon.2C_by_Perrault) “Without doubt it is a great advantage to have intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense. These, and similar talents come only from heaven, and it is good to have them. However, even these may fail to bring you success, without the blessing of a godfather or a godmother.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Cendrillon.2C_by_Perrault)

Disney movies are constructed in a traditional and a similar way. Throughout the movies, it can be seen that all Disney films have lots of details in common. Whether it is a based on the life of an animal or human, they all have a certain goal they are determined to accomplish. Disney sticks to its own style and bases all the movies created to fit that specific style. In order to make it a true Disney movie, it must portray an identical plot.

The transition from a girl to a woman is created by the socially constructed ideals of femininity often depicted in commercials, books, and mainly films. One of the famous animated princess Disney films, The Little Mermaid can be easily added to yet another Disney film portraying hegemonic femininity. In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, (Ron Clements, John Musker) a beautiful, young mermaid is willing to make a risky deal with an evil sea-witch because she yearns to walk on land and fall in love with a Prince, while secretly the sea-witch wishes for the mermaid to lose the deal. Ultimately, mermaid ends up achieving her dream of marrying the Prince, although the evil sea-witch tries to destroy the plan. Throughout the fantasy/ melodrama film, the main protagonist Ariel reinscribes the hegemonic codes of femininity. Hegemonic femininity explicitly promotes the roles and physical attributes that women have to take in

Fairy tales are a way of using a big metaphor to teach children and society in general about the morals in life. Because of their moral teachings and the extensive appeal to both children and adults, fairy tales are still applicable to the lives of an average person dealing with everyday struggles. Reading fairy tales, like the famously known “Cinderella” by the Grimm Brothers, can help children who are struggling to mature or understand certain reasons for doing something in life. When taking a well-known fairy tale like “Cinderella”, and discovering its history, archetypal elements, and psychological meaning, it can help to come across deeper meanings within a story.

After reading “Mermaid Fever,” the statement that I think this essay makes about societal attitudes is that people will react and behave very strangely to anything that is out of the ordinary. The narrator bases his essay on a public beach, located in a small town in Connecticut, and out of the blue, this teenage girl’s body was washed up under the tide line one summer night. After extensive scientific tests and examinations on the body, the news finally broke out that the girl was a mermaid. The girl was soon transferred to a local museum in town where she would be put on a glass display that will be open to the public. This news brought the whole city together, and people waited in line for hours just to observe this fond discovery. 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.

The movie “The Princess and the Frog” is not your typical “boy saves girl” movie. Instead, this Disney movie presents us with a strong female lead who doesn’t need a man to achieve her goals. In many previous Disney movies, it is demonstrated that a girl needs a man in order to get her happily ever after. Without a prince, she is nothing. In “The Princess and the Frog” the gender roles are presented to us as equal, even reverse at times.

Numerous schools of criticisms have attempted to find the meaning behind most of our favorite childhood stories. From Marxist who pursue the idea of social classes portrayed in literary works, to Psychoanalysts who depict the sexual tensions and desires that are subconsciously embedded behind characters’ motives and actions, to Historicists who try to show the preservation of tradition in stories, many different concepts exist for each fairy tale. The Feminist school of criticism greatly focuses on unveiling the patriarchal system and sexist roles that are displayed in stories, and more specifically, fairytales. Four versions of the well-known fairytale of The Little Mermaid will be compared and discussed while focusing on many distinctive

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author who is considered one of the best and most culturally important fairy tale writers in history. His stories have been translated into over one hundred and twenty-five languages. The cultural significance of Andersen is an interesting topic to analyze. Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, “The Little Mermaid” and “The Shadow”, are culturally significant for many different reasons. “The Little Mermaid” tells a story of a young unnamed mermaid who decides to take control over her own life and destiny. She searches for eternal life through good deeds and sacrificing herself. “The Shadow” is a story about a learned man who tells his shadow to go snoop on another balcony and the shadow returns years later, wealthy and powerful. The man returns home and tries to write stories about good, truth, and beauty. These stories are culturally significant because they provide universal lessons to many different cultures, especially Danish culture.

The Little Mermaid is all about coming of age. In other words Ariel the main character of the story believes that she is old enough to do as she pleases. Ariel loves going to the surface. On the other hand her dad didn’t want any humans to lay eyes on her, as a result of him thinking that they are barbarians. All Ariel wants is to do what she wants when she wants. “I'm sixteen years old. I'm not a child anymore”, said Ariel. Clearly Ariel believes that she is now old enough to do whatever she wants. Her dad thinks otherwise. Ariel doesn’t acknowledge what could happen to her if humans see her. While her dad thinks too much and is to overprotective. This may be the reason why she wants to do what she wants. Her dad has been protective her whole

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. Additionally, Tiamat and Ursula engage in battle in their respective tales, and are defeated and killed in almost identical fashion.

“Cinderella”, the original fairytale, is found in a collection of stories created by the Grimm brothers. The story of “Cinderella” is used in order to display and teach children and adults a way of living. This fairytale reflects values such as perseverance and determination. Cinderella, the protagonist, is an outcast her family, as her father is her only blood relative. She is forced to do housework and is not allowed to take part fun activities or share luxuries with her stepsisters. The stepsisters are greedy and do whatever they can to gain their mother’s approval. They believe they are worthy of becoming the prince’s wife. The prince holds a ball to get to know possible brides to be, and he instantly is attracted

In the end, Ariel from The Little Mermaid trades her tail and loses her voice, so she can live happily ever after with her prince. These actions are not good examples to set for young girls. Women should not have to appease their originality and uniqueness to eventually gain a spouse. It teaches that young girls should be submissive for love, instead it should display equality in love. Ariel loses her voice, her ability to voice her opinions. She fosters the idea to girls that if you are kind, beautiful, and subservient, you will gain love and success. What happens to those people who do not fit into these catergories? Love is much more than physical appearances. How are Ariel and her prince suppose to live happily ever after, if Ariel can not even speak? The prince makes no sacrifice for their love. In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora must patiently wait for her prince to awake from her slumber. Aurora depends on a man to continue her life. She is the epitome of a damsel in distress. Cinderella lives a horrible life, but she is able to live a wonderful live because she marries a Prince of a higher status. But, the Prince only seeks her because of her appearances. The prince does not genuinely know her. These teachings are horrid ideas of love and life for children. It explains many ideals that are unobtainable and

The story is about a young girl named Cinderella whose widowed father remarries but soon dies, leaving his daughter with the evil stepmother and her two daughters. The stepmother prefers her own daughters over Cinderella and has her perform all of the house chores. While Cinderella is kind, patient, and sweet, her stepsisters are cruel and selfish. Meanwhile, across the kingdom the King decides that his son the Prince should find a suitable bride and marry and so invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to a fancy ball. Cinderella has no appropriate dress for the ball so her friends the mice namely Jaques and Gus, and the birds help her in making one, but the evil stepsisters tear apart the dress on the evening of the ball. “At this point, enter the Fairy Godmother, the pumpkin carriage, the royal ball, the stroke of midnight, the glass slipper, and the rest, as they say, is fairy tale

As children grow up, they tend to forget the stories that once made up their lives and look down upon what they deem as “child’s play”; however, these stories raise children where parents are not present. Fairy tales characters for children are the construction workers of the adult world, and as the children mature into adulthood, the gates of imagination are opened and the storybook characters morph into newspaper headlines; suddenly, the clock strikes twelve and the glitz and glamour disappear as the realization that “human nature is not innately good, that conflict is real [and] life is harsh before it is happy” (Tatar 306) sinks in. James Braddock, as he attends the ball, assumes the role of Atlas, holding the weight of the working class

Cinderella is perhaps one of the most famous childhood fairy tale stories of all time. Over the years, numerous versions of the story have been recreated and have been told to children all over the world. The original story of Cinderella follows the life of a young girl who is mistreated by her step mother and stepsisters. Cinderella is magically converted into a gorgeous princess with the assistance of her fairy godmother. She then goes to the ball to meet the prince. However, she has to leave the ball at midnight as the magic wears off and she turns back into her former self. She leaves behind a glass slipper that the prince uses to find her and they both live happily ever after. The main focus of this comparison essay is to analyze the similarities and differences of two movie versions of Cinderella: Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and A Cinderella Story.There are a number of similarities in both versions of the movie. Both movies illustrate the mistreatment of step children, the importance of young girls having a father figure in their lives, and the hope of finding true love and living happily ever after.