This has always been one of my favorite Anderson tales -- your breakdown of the story is one of the best analysis I've ever read. I think it's especially poignant to point at the teen rebellion vs rite of passage. It bespeaks to an underlying assumption society has that in order to grow up we must be be rebellious, and that teenagers are just that way.
Ah yes such a good elaboration. Modern society doesn’t have such rites of passage and in order to grow up you have to have a conflict with your parents rather than them nurturing you into roles with greater responsibility (and danger)
Ponyo is actually a really cool take on The Little Mermaid! It's actually more focused on the power of a boy's love to rescue a wild female soul into humanhood; Sasuke is the hero of the story, and it is his love for Ponyo which sets her on a quest to become human. There's also really beautiful themes on motherhood, the value of the "Crone"...
HCA assumed a nineteenth century middle class child would get the message, I think, but also would have known the story was likely to be read aloud to a whole family where the meaning would be discussed.
Holy shit this was one of your best articles! I had no idea the original went like this! I am so picking this up for my little princesses next paycheck, THANK YOU!
Growing up we were not allowed Disney, so the only little mermaid story I read was the original Hans Anderson. As a child I always thought the ending was devastatingly unhappy and I was thrilled to discover that Disney had rewritten it, when I'd see it in a book in thrift shop.
As an adult all those themes you write about make so much sense and the story is very beautiful. But the small child in me, still prefers the happily ever after! 😄
Nonetheless, although my children have seen the Disney movie, I shall of course read to them the original because it is a must that they know it.
we all wish for the little mermaid to have married the prince but in a way it’s good that she didn’t, because she got to him through witchcraft and changing her body which is not the way we ought to pursue love. HCA’s lesson although painful, is valuable.
Definitely if you want a kid to have a positive takeaway from this story, probably going to require adult guidance. As a kid it just did not occur to me that we were really going to get to the end and the idiot Prince still wasn’t going to figure out that she was the one who saved his life. I was absolutely devastated.
I went back to it as an adult and could see a lot of things I didn’t then. But an unguided 10 year old probably won’t.
This has always been one of my favorite Anderson tales -- your breakdown of the story is one of the best analysis I've ever read. I think it's especially poignant to point at the teen rebellion vs rite of passage. It bespeaks to an underlying assumption society has that in order to grow up we must be be rebellious, and that teenagers are just that way.
Ah yes such a good elaboration. Modern society doesn’t have such rites of passage and in order to grow up you have to have a conflict with your parents rather than them nurturing you into roles with greater responsibility (and danger)
Reading this undid and healed a lot of the detrimental disney programming I grew up with. Thank you so much for this! 🧜♀️🙌💚
I’m so glad to hear that!
Ponyo is actually a really cool take on The Little Mermaid! It's actually more focused on the power of a boy's love to rescue a wild female soul into humanhood; Sasuke is the hero of the story, and it is his love for Ponyo which sets her on a quest to become human. There's also really beautiful themes on motherhood, the value of the "Crone"...
Ok I have to watch it now!!
HCA assumed a nineteenth century middle class child would get the message, I think, but also would have known the story was likely to be read aloud to a whole family where the meaning would be discussed.
Holy shit this was one of your best articles! I had no idea the original went like this! I am so picking this up for my little princesses next paycheck, THANK YOU!
THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️
Growing up we were not allowed Disney, so the only little mermaid story I read was the original Hans Anderson. As a child I always thought the ending was devastatingly unhappy and I was thrilled to discover that Disney had rewritten it, when I'd see it in a book in thrift shop.
As an adult all those themes you write about make so much sense and the story is very beautiful. But the small child in me, still prefers the happily ever after! 😄
Nonetheless, although my children have seen the Disney movie, I shall of course read to them the original because it is a must that they know it.
we all wish for the little mermaid to have married the prince but in a way it’s good that she didn’t, because she got to him through witchcraft and changing her body which is not the way we ought to pursue love. HCA’s lesson although painful, is valuable.
This is all so very beautiful and insightful!!💕
Definitely if you want a kid to have a positive takeaway from this story, probably going to require adult guidance. As a kid it just did not occur to me that we were really going to get to the end and the idiot Prince still wasn’t going to figure out that she was the one who saved his life. I was absolutely devastated.
I went back to it as an adult and could see a lot of things I didn’t then. But an unguided 10 year old probably won’t.