Talk:The Little Mermaid (1989 film)

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Plot Adjustment

When it says that Ursula attempts to attack Eric, but inadvertently kills Flotsam and Jetsam in the process, what actually happened was Ariel caused Ursula to inadvertently kill them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.112.98.119 (talk) 18:23, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Setting

I see that the previous "near the coast of Norway" was removed from the plot after I highlighted that there was no source supporting such a location. I agree with the decision, but I would also point out that, according to the official franchise Disney Princess, Ariel's kingdom is situated in the Mediterranean Sea, and moreover Eric's kingdom was indicated to be in Italy (according to the DVD commentary, directors wanted Ariel to emerge from the deep waters and find an invitingly warm and sunny land). Should this info be added to the plot, since it comes from Disney's princesses franchise? Ninahi8 (talk) 20:34, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

References

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• Portrait d'Ariel la petite sirène.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 11:39, 3 February 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 29 November 2023

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change "Her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, however says contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden." to "However, her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, says contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden." 47.205.55.154 (talk) 05:58, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

 Done SSSB (talk) 09:13, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

Controversy and criticism

Sorry, but I don't understand, maybe my english is not good enough, or something, but what the hay? This whole session is based on nothing tengible, and is just interpretation of other people.

• "including topics of gay rights" -> There was no such thing in the film
• (the central character, Ariel, "feels constrained by her patriarchal society" and is "in the closet") -> That's just normal teen feeling, not restrained gay something
• gender fluidity, -> Again, at no point Ariel feels of an other gender...
• and body image issues. -> I can see something in this one. But not before she met and saved the life of Eric.
• Ariel turns to "the only strong female in the entire film and thus Ariel's only female role model," the villain Ursula -> That's the plot, yes, lost teen turning to bad manipulative people, and learning to be stronger
• (who was based on famous drag queen Divine, herself closely associated with gay filmmaker John Waters). -> The apparence and manierism, not the character or way of thinking... Don't mix everything
• Landis invokes Laura Sells and her argument that, "Ariel learns [from Ursula that] gender [is not]...a natural category, but...a performed construct." -> Nani!? Can you provide a film extract or something? Because I don't remember this being on the movie.

In the linked source, it even goes further: the men of her life murder Ursula with a “conveniently phallic” symbol, -> What!? Everything long is now a phalic symbol? The trident is a symbol of power, yes, but not a phalic one... “the ritual slaughtering of the archetypal evil feminine character.” -> Make your mind! Is Ursula "the only strong female" or the "archetypal evil feminine character" ? I mean, she manipulates Ariel, she makes unfair and unclear deals, and she did so to gain power over all the society. It's not being strong, it's being evil (like Scar in the lion king). Ariel is strong, she goes against established rules to show an other way is possible, other strong women can be found everywhere in movies, (Nala is strong too in the lion king, she maintain a working group despite Scar opression, and she fight Hyenas) but Ursula? Manipulation and lies, don't tell me she is strong.

So, yeah, all in all, this is more like (very) personal interpretation of the movie more than anything. I don't feel it's worth of an encyclopedia. I don't say my point of view is the absolute truth, but let's be honnest 2 minutes, and try to be neutral when writing articles... Any thoughts about that? 80.14.34.97 (talk) 13:06, 13 June 2024 (UTC)