The Little Mermaid – Andersen vs. Disney

Do you follow a gossip website? Or an entertainment website? If you do then you must inadvertently have come across articles titled “Things You Didn’t Know About Disney Princesses“ or “This Would Change The Way You See Disney Princesses Forever” or something else to that effect.

This post, right here, does not intend to add to such shallow attention seeking posts, but rather justify the Disney version of the grim fairy tales.

As an example, I would be using my favorite Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. Most websites assume that you are unaware of the harsh reality of the real Disney princesses; in case of the Little Mermaid referring to the fact that she killed herself at the end.

 My question is this: How can you negate the possibility of the Disney plot as untrue? Just because the movies are a newer media and are generally accepted to have plot inaccuracies does not imply that the plot crafted by Hans Christian Andersen is more plausible by virtue of being printed in a book at an older date.

Just because the movie shows you a happy ending and the book does not, most websites term the book version as the real ending. Tell me this; is the possibility of a mermaid falling in love with a prince and a sea-witch interfering sound remotely real to you?

Andersen used his imagination to create a plot with a mythical creature as the main character but ended it on a tragic note. Disney, ever the optimist, imagined the mermaid having a happy ending. Both plots are equally real and equally unrealistic.

I read The Little Mermaid in the 4^th grade. As soon as I read the last line, I shut the book in utter disgust; there was an evident cringe on my face. Being a child I abhorred the concept of suicide and was revolted by the idea of a genteel and loving creature as the mermaid having a mournful fate.

I had not watched the movie till then, or many years after that because I was under the impression that the movie would end in pretty much the same way as the book, and I absolutely refused to watch the loathsome plot on screen. When I was a high school sophomore (yes, I watched the movie that late) in the year 2010 I discovered the world of gossip blogs. On one such blog, I can’t remember which one, it was mentioned that Disney movies never have a tragic ending and even the movies based on tragedies had altered plots to make you feel optimistic(guess you could say that I got on the Disney train really late).

My mind immediately ventured to The Little Mermaid. Was it really possible that Disney had given the mermaid a happy ending? I decided to take a risk and rented the movie. Lo and behold, all the hate and aversion that had accumulated in my mind over the years at the very mention of the book, faded away. I told myself, “Disney version is the one that got it right. The book is sorely mistaken.” I knew both versions were utter make-believe but I chose to believe the one that gave me hope and left me with elation in my heart.

Thanks to Disney, I no longer hate The Little Mermaid, just the Andersen version of it.