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Masculinity In King Triton's The Little Mermaid

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The characters in The Little Mermaid are stragetically designed in a way that conveniently adheres to stereotypical ideas of how males and females should behave, value, and appear according to their gender roles in a patriarchal society that demeans women. In order to do this, the main male characters, including King Triton and Prince Eric, must depict hypermasculinity to dramatically contrast from the creation of their fragile and inferior female counterparts. This is to also exhibit the men’s hypothetical ownership over these women, and using their displayed incompetence as justification of their assumed possession of Ariel. Ariel, the central female character, is depicted as beautiful, because she meets stereotypical standards of beauty …show more content…

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. “Under the Sea” is sung by Sebastian, the lobster who is assigned by King Triton to patrol Ariel as another example of their controlling behaviors. The lyrics include a line that reads, “under the sea, darlin’ it’s better down where it’s wetter, take it from me” which one could assume is rather a sexual innuendo to appeal to its heterosexual viewers. These lyrics compare the greatness of the sea to female genitalia, as Sebastian, a male, invokes his authority of this statement with the last line. “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” is Urusla’s lyrical description of all of unhappy fish who have come to her to improve their livelihood, including Ariel, who in exchange for legs, must give up her beloved

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