Story Analysis

Story Analysis of 'The Mermaid'

When I was a little girl, I always loved fairytales. Thanks to Disney, I always fantasied being a princess in some faraway land where I would meet my prince charming. Although becoming a princess is pretty much unrealistic, I am still hoping to meet my prince charming one day. Disney has been known for their retelling of famous stories and romanticizing them. 
Even knowing this, their version has always been my favorite because there tends to always be a happily ever after. The Little Mermaid, especially has always been one of my favorite movies out of the princess collection for many reasons; but after actually reading the original story by Hans Cristian Andersen, it has made me realize that there are more underlining meanings to the story than just the princess getting her happily ever after.In the Disney version of the Little Mermaid, Ariel is the youngest daughter of King Triton, who is the sea king. 
Even though Ariel has a ravishing life under the sea, she still longs to live on land with the humans. Ariel falls in love with a human prince, named Eric, whom she saved from a shipwreck and gives up her harmonizing voice to the sea witch, named Ursula; in exchange for a pair of legs to live on land. Ariel is faced with different obstacles along the way; such as, not being able to speak due to giving up her voice, and having to win Prince Eric’s love again after Ursula turns herself into a human and tricks Eric into thinking she is the one who saved him. 
With help of her talking sea life friends, she is able to gain Prince Eric’s love and live happily ever after.Although the plot of both the movie version and the original version by Andersen are basically the same, there are still some vast differences between the two. One of the major differences is the fact that the protagonist does not end up with the love interest in the original version, but ends up with the love interest in the movie. In the original, the prince falls in love with a different girl, whom he thinks saved him from the shipwreck. But as the reader, we know that the little mermaid is actually the one who saved him. There are also some other differences between the two; such as the original version having a darker tone to the writing.
 There are no talking sea life animals, and there are some subtle differences to the appearance of the characters. To me, the biggest distinction between the two though, is their themes and the message that I received from them.

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