Student
A Tail of the Two Mermaids…
Imagine a great castle with tall gold colored pillars and large paintings all around them. However this is no ordinary castle, it’s a castle built underneath the sea. This castle is a gateway to a whole new world with creatures swimming around that you don’t see every day, these creatures are merfolk they are half human half fish. These creatures are the main characters in the short story “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Anderson that was first published in 1837 and the subsequent 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid. Between the two, the 1989 film The Little Mermaid is a better story because it has a better plot and it offers more entertaining characters with a happy ending.
In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid there is a mermaid named Ariel, she is the main character in the film and is simply known as, just the little Mermaid in the short story and does not have a specific name. In reviewing her character in the movie you see some similarities in how they act and their respective desires, but their individual purposes vary.
Her main purpose in the film is to gain the prince’s love and become a human; she reaches out to the evil sea witch so she can become human to ultimately marry the prince. If she is not successful in getting kiss from the prince on the third day that she is granted to be human, she is to forever belong to the sea witch. In the book the Little Mermaid is not named Ariel; she has no name other than Mermaid. Her main purpose in the book is to gain an immortal soul rather than gaining the prince’s love. In fact, the prince ends up marrying a different princess in the end of the story. If she does not marry the prince, she will turn into sea foam and never see her family again.
Looking at the purposes of the Mermaid in both the short story and the film it is clear to see that in the film Ariel’s purpose makes a better story. The plot overall is more entertaining because her quest is to marry
Imagine a great castle with tall gold colored pillars and large paintings all around them. However this is no ordinary castle, it’s a castle built underneath the sea. This castle is a gateway to a whole new world with creatures swimming around that you don’t see every day, these creatures are merfolk they are half human half fish. These creatures are the main characters in the short story “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Anderson that was first published in 1837 and the subsequent 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid. Between the two, the 1989 film The Little Mermaid is a better story because it has a better plot and it offers more entertaining characters with a happy ending.
In the 1989 film The Little Mermaid there is a mermaid named Ariel, she is the main character in the film and is simply known as, just the little Mermaid in the short story and does not have a specific name. In reviewing her character in the movie you see some similarities in how they act and their respective desires, but their individual purposes vary.
Her main purpose in the film is to gain the prince’s love and become a human; she reaches out to the evil sea witch so she can become human to ultimately marry the prince. If she is not successful in getting kiss from the prince on the third day that she is granted to be human, she is to forever belong to the sea witch. In the book the Little Mermaid is not named Ariel; she has no name other than Mermaid. Her main purpose in the book is to gain an immortal soul rather than gaining the prince’s love. In fact, the prince ends up marrying a different princess in the end of the story. If she does not marry the prince, she will turn into sea foam and never see her family again.
Looking at the purposes of the Mermaid in both the short story and the film it is clear to see that in the film Ariel’s purpose makes a better story. The plot overall is more entertaining because her quest is to marry