Trites The Little Mermaid

Roberta Trites is most definitely not a Disney fan. In her article, she launches a scathing attack on Disney and the materialistic and superficial values that Disney portrays in The Little Mermaid. Trites makes her thesis statement abundantly clear from the outset; Disney destroyed Anderson’s classic tale that embodied femininity and valued personal identity and integrity and created a movie based on the idea of superficial love. She is undoubtedly critical of Disney’s version and therefore, leaves no stone unturned when it comes to exposing the shallowness of Ariel’s and Eric’s characters. Trites is relentless in her criticism of Disney in this article and makes numerous searing accusations that this movie conveys the “wrong” message to children, especially young girls regarding love and independence. While I do agree that if you were to examine this movie with a fine toothcomb and analyze every detail, it is probably not the best teaching aid for young children. However, it is first and foremost an animated movie, one that was supposed to be entertaining and cheerful, not a point of reference for parents when it comes to instilling the importance of core values to their kids.

Trites suggests that Disney implies that; if children or teenagers, in the case of Ariel are “needlessly repressed” they will rebel against their parents and develop obsessive tendencies. Triton may have kept a tight rein on Ariel but I don’t think it was “needless repression”. He was simply doing what he thought was best for the wellbeing of his daughter and didn’t want any harm to come to her at the hands of human fishermen. While I agree that Ariel is somewhat of a free spirit and does what she pleases, I think that Disney was perhaps trying to imply that it is important to follow our dreams and that that we shouldn’t be content to remain miserable or dissatisfied in our lives.

Trites also argues that Disney insinuates that teenagers can become independent by becoming dependent on someone else. Personally, I think that this claim has more validity and is often seen in other Disney movies. Ariel’s desire to become free from her father’s control is so she can be with Eric, another strong male character rather than to lead the life she wishes. Both Eric and Ariel are guilty of focusing on the materialistic and superficial aspects of love and this is why Eric is so easily tricked by Ursula. However, the suggestion made by Trites that someone must be perfect in order to be ”loveable” is simply taking it too far. I completely agree with her when she notes that three days is a completely unrealistic time span for falling in love but, we have to remember that this is a movie and Disney wanted to cram as much in as they possibly could while still giving us what we all want at the end, the happily ever after wedding.

Trites focuses extensively on the imagery in this film, something I think that she reads way too far into. Ursula is definitely a menacing Disney villain and like other powerful Disney women, extenuates evil but the references to “Freudian and phallus like imagery” are quite a stretch.

Overall the message I think that should be taken from Trites’ extremely biased and critical article is that we must possess personal integrity if we are to develop a defined sense of identity, sadly something Ariel and so many Disney princesses never succeed in doing.