The Little Mermaid is always one of those films that people of all ages love - from 4 year olds starting kindergarten, to college students ready for a night to destress. I was super excited to re-watch this one, as I have always felt a kindred spirit with Ariel as she is one of the few redheads in Disney-lore.
My main takeaway from watching the film is it reads as a love letter to the human species. Ariel longs for nothing more than to be out of the water and insists on the kindness and loveliness of every human, despite her father's insistence that humans are not good. Because Ariel is our hero, we are supposed to side with her perspective so of course, as a viewer I too find King Triton's proclamations regarding the terribleness of the human species to be rather bigoted and unprogressive. However, thinking these things has to make a person laugh. This whole thing is ironic because obviously the movie was created by humans. It would be like me publishing an article talking about how great women named Mikaela are. Just a little self-serving.
The thing that shocked me while watching the movie was how much I sided with the "adults" throughout the film. I couldn't believe it when I found myself nodding along with King Triton getting angry at Ariel for disobeying him. And I similarly couldn't believe it when I found myself agreeing with Sebastian who was panicked when Ariel was swimming away with MYSTERIOUS EELS WHO SHE KNOWS ARE EVIL! Like, come on Ariel! Her naivety astounded me throughout. Though she seems to be a curious girl, interested in the world around her ("bright young women. Sick of swimming."), I was shocked by the choices she made.
This naivety was also apparent when Ariel decides to sacrifice everything she knows for Prince Eric, a human whom she has seen from a distance. All Ariel ever mentions is how beautiful he is before she says in an argument to King Triton, "Daddy I love him!" Now, the audience at this point knows a few things about Prince Eric. They are aware that he is friendly to his staff, and they are aware that he is humble (he is practically horrified that someone models a statue after him). However, Ariel is aware of none of these things as she only looks at him from far away before making that declaration to her father. This very statement highlights how shallow Ariel can be as she is basing her feelings of love exclusively on appearance. She is not only shallow, but she is self-centered. She deliberately disobeys her father and leaves the entire palace in an uproar when she decides to leave the sea for her "beautiful guy" after a deal with the sea witch.
In contrast to Ariel, Eric is constantly presented as selfless. He believes himself to have fallen in love with a woman without having ever seen her (as he is in love with the woman with the singing voice who saved his life). He also takes Ariel, a stranger, in and houses her when she is without a voice and helpless. Finally, he slowly begins to fall in love with Ariel when he is watching her enthusiasm at discovering the world, not because she is "beautiful" like Ariel feels with Eric. The contrast in these two characters could be used to highlight the sexism present in the Disney animation studios. Though Ariel is a particularly independent, headstrong female, the qualities that she is lacking are fully present in her male counterpart.
Another thing that stood out is that the female, by the end of the movie, has completely given up her world in order to be in the male world. Though this could be pointed to as yet another sign of a weak-willed female, I would disagree with this particular point. Ariel from the beginning wants to be part of the human world, so her joining it could be seen as her accomplishing her goals. Her aspiration in life was fulfilled and all by her own hard work.
I enjoyed the Little Mermaid on my re-watch just as much as I remember loving it as a child. However, the brattiness of Ariel did stick out to me at a much grander scale than ever before (for as a child I remember loving her and desperately wishing to be her) but even more particularly, her naivety truly boggled my mind throughout.
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