I’m a 1990’s kid and my favorite Disney Princess has always been The Little Mermaid. I’m a 2000s teenager and I embraced feminism, which sentenced Ariel to the maximum penalty for being submissive and “machocentric.” I’m an adult who cried like a baby at the height of the Little Black Mermaid controversy last week.
The controversy centered on the public’s racist reaction to Halle Bailey’s choice for the lead role. But the dogs bark and the caravan passes. A video that went viral afterwards, a compilation of black girls reacting to the trailer, moved me deeply.
That’s when I managed to watch The Little Mermaid without the veil of pseudofeminism that ended up silencing the most transgressive princess of all time.
Ariel is essentially unyielding. In her performance scene, she does not attend her debut concert as a singer. She doesn’t want to be seen, she wants to see. She prefers to go on an expedition to a shipwreck and collect items to understand human culture.
Ariel’s fascination with people is taboo in the society she lives in, which her father, the personification of patriarchy, suppresses.
The Little Mermaid is an archaeologist who risks her life in search of answers. Archeology is the field of science where the subjectobject relationship is more literal because this character wants to be a subject and not an object.
In her theme song, “Part of Your World,” Ariel expresses her deepest desire to belong. If she wishes so much to be human, it is because she suffers from dehumanization. At no point does Ariel say that she wants a husband. The only thing she has to say about the prince is that he is handsome. Ariel objectifies this man in the same way that men objectify women.
And when Eric’s ship sinks and Ariel saves his life, she turns the tables once again. Who is the damsel in distress here? She subverts her status as a mythical creature and proves how human she is. Ariel pays the price of becoming a real woman. If she idealizes the world of men, she must understand that she will have no voice in this world. It is this world that needs to be transformed.
It’s a breath of fresh air to see my favorite princess return to the surface. May the little mermaid’s rebellion inspire other girls who feel like a fish out of water.
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