Ariel, unlike the first wave princesses, dares to dream beyond the realm of a prince. She dreams to walk on land, learn about thingamabobs, and be where the people are. She also, to my surprise, doesn't passively give up her dream when others attempt to persuade her out of it. I love her curiosity, her sense of adventure, and her acts of deviance against her father's well-intended but narrow-minded wishes. In the beginning of the movie, a sense of wonder twinkles in her eyes when she discusses all of her finding with Scuttle and bravely enters the sunken ship. Ariel teaches girls to be curious about the unknown and to have a hunger for discovery. She was brave enough to fight off sharks, snoop on the prince's birthday party, and to rescue Eric after the shipwreck. Ariel is a princess with zest and teaches young girls the importance of individuality and curiosity.
However, the glaring message of "love at first sight" is so obviously instilled through both Ariel's character and Eric's. Eric even explicitly states, "Oh believe me when I find her I'll know. It will just bam hit me like lightening" when talking about how he will meet his future wife. We also see the twinkle Ariel used to have for curiosity turn to awestruck for the prince. Her desire now for wanting to explore the human world turned from being driven by a want for exploration to an infatuation with a stranger. It would be one thing if she was willing to sacrifice her voice for a passion of exploration, but for a man she does not know seems like a pretty grim message to send young girls. A voice is so much more than pretty singing, which I feel Disney does not emphasis enough. A loss of your voice is a loss to an opinion, a loss of communication, and a loss of personality.
The fact that Eric fell in love with a girl that he couldn't have a conversation with is beyond the realm of reality. Disney then sends the message to kids that love is based solely off of beauty. The entire romance between Ariel and Prince Eric is superficial and should not be endorsed by parents and consumed by children.
In Ariel's defense however, it is a bit unclear if the motivation for giving up her voice for legs is solely for a man or whether part of her chose to sacrifice her voice for the chance to explore the human world. Through my consumption of the film, I was led to believe that from the second she laid eyes on Eric, he became her one and only focus. I can see a potential argument being made that more went into her decision to sign Ursula's contract than wanting to be with Eric, but seeing things this way is something that would extend far beyond the mental capacity of kids. Therefore, I think it is safe to conclude that the message Disney portrays to young girls in this movie is that love is superficial and happens within an instant of physical attraction. While the film's messages started off strong, it ended up sending an overarching negative message about how people fall in love.
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