Once I was A Mermaid

 In 1990 I was 5 years old and living as a mermaid under the sea with my best friend.  We were transported to this sea every time the music sparked our imaginations! The Little Mermaid was iconic because it was the first princess movie where the girl was not completely isolated, sound like a little kid,  had more than a handful of lines, and had more motive than just falling in love.  The animation and creativity had improved quite a bit too.  It was the beginning of a long, long run of inspiring characters, beautiful art, creativity that blows the mind, compelling plots and story lines that pull at the heart strings of anyone in possession of one, that is, a heart.  

I was completely enamored with The Little Mermaid and I think prince Eric was my very first crush!  I would watch the movie multiple times a day and that went on for a few years.  I would sing every song and pretend to be Ariel.  I would splash in the bathtub like I was singing to prince Eric on the beach about how I would someday be part of his world! It was truly a magical time in childhood.  My siblings hated the movie because I was always singing it or watching it.  To get me to do something or stop doing something all they had to do was threaten to take the hammer to my precious VHS tape.  That happened many times!  I'm proud to say the VHS survived all those years and threats!

As I've grown, I've still carried a torch for this movie, it's characters and story line.  I've always admired her bravery and the relationship with her father, King Triton.  Sorry Disney, I always saw that her motives were more than just a handsome 2 dimensional prince.  That is not a new thing in the remake version.  She always was obsessed with the humans that lived on the surface.  She clearly wanted more, she wanted to explore and experience that world.  She saw the differences and wanted to experience that culture.  She began to see the good in the human world and didn't have a desire to be separate from it.  I think the prince was always kind of a bonus! It certainly helped her motive to make a deal with the evil sea witch. 

"You'll be like 'WHAT?!' when I drop that Scuttlebutt!"................

 

I recently read an article that pointed out that Prince Eric really is the best prince of them all.  The Princes before him merely slayed beasts and gave kisses, and fell in love at first sight.  There was nothing to them really.   Eric likes hard work, works alongside his ship mates, doesn't mind getting dirty and being a regular person.  He gets utterly disgusted at the idea of having a statue made of him.  The others after him.........well.......Aladdin lies to Jasmine until he literally has no way out.  Her life is put in danger because of him, he tries to be something he's not the entire movie.  The beast is such a jerk that he has to be turned into a beast to learn a lesson and has to have the love of a woman he doesn't deserve save him from it.  Prince Navin is so full of himself he has to be stripped of his wealth, looks, etc, to learn a lesson, and he's not even charming.  He can't change until a hard working dedicated woman teaches him a lesson.  Flynn Rider is a thief and a crook.  He's also full of himself and thinks that anyone with a pulse should be swooning at his signature smolder.  He tries tricking Rapunzel the whole time.  

I see a pattern.......all these good for nothing guys get the girl, but isn't worthy of her.  Okay, okay, they are great stories of change, but change in real life doesn't happen in hours, days, or even weeks.  Eric really is the only one who is actually stalwart, brave trustworthy and deserving from beginning to end.  I was loving this article!  Yes!  My childhood crush FINALLY seems validated, haha!  I'm kidding!!

The other thing I love about this movie is Ursula!  She is a true villain!  Melissa Mccarthy is a divine Ursula indeed! She does a pretty good job of recreating the evil witch from 1989.  I think she is right on par with Pat Carroll's original character! There is no question to Ursula's motives, no question that she's bad and evil!  There's no sympathizing with her and there's really not much room to say she's misunderstood.  She's truly bad!  She likes to cause trouble, she wants power and she wants to destroy Triton.  She will use any means to get what she wants.  There's no playing nice with her.  I've heard her character was influenced by drag queen Divine.....well whether it was or wasn't, she's the evil villain.  People walk around acting like that's something to be proud of or should be acknowledged.  Let me remind you......she's the EVIL VILLAIN..........Hmmm......haha.......yeah, you can have that......I'll allow it, hahahaha!!

The remake, or re-imagining of this story, in my opinion was well done.  I've been a huge fan my whole life and I was more than satisfied with the quality of voices, acting, writing, new songs, and even the visuals were stunning.  At first I wasn't sure how I liked some of the visuals, but now I'm stunned more and more every time I watch!  The scenes with the ship were my favorite, as well as many others!!  I absolutely loved every dress in this movie, they were all so perfect!  Every set design was so real and given every detail it deserved!  I loved the setting, and the Caribbean atmosphere and influence.  I actually loved the diversity in the movie. The cool thing about the diversity in this movie is that it's not just there for the sake of being there, it's all explained!  There is specific reason for it and they made it part of the storyline.  The creators took from the original fairy tale, the animated movie and mermaid folklore.  In the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Little Mermaid is a transparent green.  So, I think they took creative liberty with this movie while still preserving it's original storyline, characters and morals! 

The Scuttlebutt song........I thought was very clever and creative, yet annoying!  Hello internet whiners, it's supposed to be annoying, it's Scuttle! It was perfect and preserved the nature of that character! I loved that it moved the story along in a creative way, it brought a smile to my face! I did not mind the change to the species of the bird or that they made Scuttle a girl instead.  I read that the species change was because they wanted a bird that could swim in the water.  They wanted to raise the stakes in the story.  In this story Ariel has never breeched the surface, rather Scuttle meets her at a rock under the surface.  I liked that!  I did not like the way Flounder looked, my daughter thought he was scary.  Sebastian's new look did not bother me, nor did Daveed Diggs' vocal talents. 

Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King were brilliant!  I personally, enjoyed their telling of friendship, love and the connections they shared despite Ariel's vocal absence.  The acting was great and their chemistry could make anyone gush, "so cute, so adorable"!  Very Disneyesque!  A truly magical and elegant telling of the classic fairy tale, but more relatable to real life!  Another great example that you don't need sex, nudity, profanity, or even a voice to show emotion and tell a story of love and friendship. Their vocal abilities are also undeniable!  Halle has a fantastic voice, Jonah is not bad either!  The voices of this entire cast brings to life the beloved favorites and the new favorites.   They breath new life into Alan Menken's, Howard Ashman's, and Lin Manuel-Miranda's artful scores!  

Javier Bardem really makes the father-daughter relationship come alive!  His performance is amazing, he fits the part so well!  The sisters played much smaller roles than I expected, but they don digital, beauty with their colorful tails.  At first I thought the diversity among them might be weird, but after all, we are talking about a fantastical, mythical, fairy tale ocean with mermaids.  They were made to represent the 7 seas and their tail patterns were representative of real fish from each of the 7 seas.  Very cool!  It's ridiculous to judge what should or shouldn't exist in the under sea mythical water world.  We don't know if Triton had 7 different wives, or if mermaids hatch like fish eggs, blah, blah, blah, or how their genetics work, blah, blah! Who cares? It's beside the point!  That kind of blather takes away from the art of storytelling.  It's only distracting if you let it be.   If Ursula and Triton are siblings, how does that work? One might wonder, but again doesn't matter in the grand scheme of the story.  If you think it matters go write your own mermaid story!  

After gushing about this movie for a week to my family and coworkers, I've felt disappointed in the dissonance that is drowning out this wonderful movie and its accompanying music!  The dissonance seems to get louder everyday! It's sad because it really is a good movie! This dissonance is the media's race to race baiting and pandering! It started when Halle was first cast.  There was an uproar of sorts, questioning "why is a black girl playing our white, fair skinned, modeled after Alyssa Milano, red headed, beloved Ariel????"  I say "WHO CARES? Why does it matter?"  I was quite excited to hear of her casting! 

I recall a comment thread on Facebook with the many women complaining about the Halle casting when a very smart man chimed in and said "I doubt any of you women complained when Jason Momoa was cast as Aqua man".  He left a comparison picture of the blond haired blue eyed muscle man next to Jason Momoa, the guy that probably lives rent free in most women's minds!  Haha! Touche my friend, touche! Boy was that a bomb on everyone's pity party! We really like to complain.......I want to go back to being a mermaid!  Sometimes I really love people, this guy had the right idea!  That was the best comment I think I've seen over the years following this production!  In our messed up world today "representation matters"! Okay I get it, it does.  I enjoy seeing diversity in movies.  Did Disney do it to pander to a specific crowd, were they pressured? 

After much research, listening to interviews and following this from the beginning.  I've come to the conclusion that I don't think this began with a race debate.  The audition process was quite long, it went on for months.  It's possible that director Rob Marshall had her in mind, but did not automatically hand it to her.  Rob Marshall said Halle was the first to audition and her version of Part of Your World put them in tears, she set the bar so high, and no one surpassed it.  I believe that!  Harry Styles was in talks to play prince Eric early on, but he ultimately rejected the part, opening the door for Jonah Hauer-King to display his passion and talent for the project.  There is no doubt in my mind that he was the perfect Eric.  I just can't picture Harry Styles in the role.  

After Halle was cast, there was backlash about Prince Eric being white.  I remember a Twitter post

saying something to the effect, "of course they gave it to the white, Jewish guy, Halle needs a brown or black prince."  So, after all of that went on for a year after casting, the movie production faced a lot of set backs due to COVID.  Now it seems that this movie is more about race than about the beauty of this story that is truly for everyone.  Now that the movie is out every interview I've seen seems to make it about giving black and brown girls representation.  The news media seems hyper focused on race, as if Halle is the first black girl in a huge movie!  In the early interviews I think she was handling it okay, but now I think she's taking the bait every opportunity.  It seems that Disney is certainly part of that race war process.  The dissonant part is that it doesn't seem in Disney's interest to start a race war in their marketing campaigns.  Then again Disney has not done a lot in their own interest lately, so, not surprised there. 

Fact of the matter, this movie would have been heavily criticized no matter what they did with it, as are many movies these days.  I've been shocked by some of the angles at which it has been criticized.    An article from the New York Times suggested it "wasn't kinky enough for kids".  WHAT?.....It's a fairy tale for kids! Why does it need to have "kink"? What a weird thing to say!  Another blogger got on its case for not showing the truth about "erasure slavery".  Again, WHAT?.........kids show........hello!!!  If I didn't know any better, I'd think they want to traumatize our children.  The blogger pointed out that in the particular era that the story resides there was brutal and horrific slavery in the Caribbean.  

This blogger was disappointed that we can't tell the truth to our children.  Hahaha haha!  Okay, hmmmm........I don't think this story is taking place in a real place in our world at a particular time, it's a fairy tale!  The kingdom has Caribbean influence, but for all we know it's made up, it's fake, it's a fantasy world!  Just because the story was written in 1837 doesn't mean it takes place at that time.  Disney never actually goes by the story as it's written because if they did, we probably wouldn't want to see it!  It certainly wouldn't be a kids movie.

On a Facebook post another man was concerned about the cat fight scene between Ariel and Vanessa, saying "good job Disney, way to set a good example for little girls by showing a bratty cat fight.  That Ariel isn't very nice". Okay, so, what is it you want here?  You don't want little girls to stand up for themselves and defend what's theirs against lying, cheating, evil, villains? No, just be nice, it's okay if someone cheats you or lies to take advantage of you, just don't make a scene, OKAY!!!!  I thought this scene was perfectly appropriate and I was even thinking, "yeah, you go girl, take your voice back, she cheated you!"  It wasn't even that bad of a fight, I would hardly call it a fight with a few pushes as Ariel grabs the necklace to break it.  It really wasn't much of a fight.  

Another guy makes a video about how "black dollars" are supporting this film.  He claimed that 35% of blacks were seeing the movie compared to only 26% of white audiences.  Again, I'm going to laugh hahaha haha!  How does he figure that?  When I bought my tickets I must have missed checking the box for my race.  Does anyone else answer a race question when buying a ticket?  Is there someone at the theater door checking people's skin color?  How do you even come up with stats like that?  You'd have to know the demographic in every state, county, city and how many go to movies and how many go to this movie.  It seems complicated to do that in our country, let alone multiple countries!  Why is there a division between audiences?  A black audience and a white audience, black dollars and white dollars?  It sounds like he wants to segregate the theaters, and he's black, by the way.  No, we are really all just humans and dollars are just dollars.  

Cognitive dissonance.......we all experience this.  When two ideas contradict one another. We believe one thing, we say we believe it, but then we do or live the exact opposite.  I know sugary sweets are bad for me, but sometimes I binge on ice cream and donuts!  We Americans love our Freedom, we love to celebrate it and talk about it, even brag!  We act like we like the Constitution and yet we are still voting for the same 2 party career politicians and/or new ones that want to dismantle the constitution and take more of our freedom every year!  The country is on fire and no one knows it!  We don't recognize our bondage!  "Ahhh, no one look here, wear a mask over your eyes, everything is alright!"  Okay, okay, you get the point........That's cognitive dissonance!  

Halle Bailey has explained several times that the original Little Mermaid was so life changing and inspiring, yet if she would have seen a black princess, mermaid, when she was a kid it would have changed her life.  So, she admits she loved the original Ariel, was inspired by it and it changed her in some way.  So, skin color really didn't matter as much as she says?  Okay, so maybe a black mermaid would have also changed her in some way too, but I'm hearing a little dissonance.  She pays homage to stars like Brandy, Beyonce, Mowry sisters, and Anika Rose.  They inspired her, especially Brandy's Cinderella.  So, she admits that black women have had a place in film and TV even when she was a kid, but then says she wants to show black and brown girls that they have a place in film and show them they are represented.  All while saying these things she allows the media to treat her like she is the first black woman to be in film, like she's breaking new glass ceilings.  

I understand her sentiment, but it's being drowned out by the dissonance.  I'm white, from a little town in Utah, there were maybe 2 black families in my community.  We lived right next to a Navajo reservation.  I did not have a lot of experience with tons of diversity, but some of my friends were from the Navajo Nation, some were Hispanic.  I remember some of my favorite things to watch were Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Sister- Sister,  Family Matters, The Cosby Show, That's So Raven, Space Jam, Life Size, and Brandy's Cinderella.  Blacks literally dominated much of the entertainment space in the 90's.  Vanessa Williams and Tyra Banks were huge as well as Will Smith and Michael Jordan.  It never crossed my mind that I couldn't relate to them, or that I should feel bad because they had a different skin color.  Yes, I noticed the skin color, but it didn't matter to me, it never bothered me.  Thankfully,I was never taught that, that was a bad thing, or that it should bother me.  I was not ever taught that I was better than anyone else either!

I remember loving John Grisham's realistic fiction about times of segregation where a white lawyer defends blacks in racist cases.  I love learning the rich history of our country even the very evil time of slavery.  I have also had particular interest in the Jewish holocaust.  Those are all very harrowing times, but times that inspire me to be a better version of myself.  It reminds me to always hold the line on evil instead of moving the goal post.  I enjoy reading the real life accounts of those people and find it all very fascinating how it came to be that way and why........and to never engage in that kind of thing.  I find those stories to be good reminders of that dark past and to be aware of how evil can creep in and take over.  Some of my historical heroes are black, particularly Fredrick Douglas and Harriet Tubman.  

I come from a very mixed heritage.........I'm not as white as I look, hahaha!  I have ancestors that were persecuted and killed because of the way they worshiped God.  I have ancestors that were the persecutors.  So, yeah evil exists throughout history.  Many different skin colors and types of people have been enslaved throughout history.  I'm sure almost everyone could trace family lines back to slavery or indentured servitude at some point.........we are all linked.  At the end of the day we are all human.  Our genetics are not all that different.  We are all one family, and the children of God.  

So, why do I care?  Why have I written all of this?  Why am I making a big deal of this, it's just a movie?  I have friends and acquaintances that tell me to boycott Disney.  They might think I'm childish and crazy for still liking Disney.  I'm very aware of everything Disney does wrong, I hear it everyday, and although I agree with much of that, I find it hard to put all of it under one umbrella.  A personal goal I have in my life is to look for the good, to always see the good in things and in people!  I think there are branches of Disney, certain people at every level of production, that still strive to put out good stories.  It's also about the stories........I love great storytelling, it's an art I really, truly appreciate.  I love movies and TV.....I'm fascinated by the way these things are written, produced, and acted.  I love when people come together to tell a story, it's so wonderful!  I love being blown away by incredible talent, it really moves something in me!  I love seeing others' lights shine!  I guess it's a passion of mine!

I really felt that passion and talent shine through in this movie!  I loved listening to the directors talk

about how it all came together.  I'm going to explain what I got out of their comments and paraphrase what I  think they were getting at.  This movie's production was halted by COVID.  Director Rob Marshall talked about how everyone became really divisive and afraid during that time.  He mentioned how hard it was for all them to watch that and be in that.  He saw a chance with this movie to try and represent everyone and really show a unity despite differences.  The story itself is about two very different cultures, warring peoples.  They are afraid of one another, they hate each other, they misunderstand each other.  He said it's really a Romeo and Juliet kind of story.  It's about two people brave enough to explore the unknown, to learn, to respect, and to love, and in that there is a bridge that unites the different worlds.  They learn they can be allies instead of enemies.   I think after all of the divisiveness from COVID, Rob Marshall wanted to put something out there that showed the opposite of what we had just been through.  Honestly, I really felt that when I watched this movie.  I really enjoyed hearing what this meant to him, and how he applied this story to real life.  I loved the stories he relayed about the actors and what they had to do and how hard it was to make this film, I always appreciate hard work!

Why does this movie exist in a new form?  People are asking "why the remakes"?  Maybe they don't have a place in our hearts.  It's just an agenda to make money off of our nostalgia and emotions.  For some, it seems it is ruining their precious childhood memories.  The same people that have issue with the remakes are also the people complaining about how these movies are 2 dimensional, they don't represent race, color, women, or even men very well.  Everyone seems to have gripes to unload about the Disney classics.  For me it's about nostalgia.  It's not a bad thing to hold on to childhood a little.  I find myself, often, thinking of my childhood self and wanting to revisit the way I felt as a kid.  Truth is, our world is torn, broken, and pretty depressing sometimes.  To return to an innocent time in our lives is not a bad thing.  I actually have really enjoyed the Disney remake journey as long as they stay true to the stories and characters.  Maybe this is Disney's way of saving itself.....not sure, but among all the crap and mediocrity they, and others put out, the classic remakes are kind of a breath of fresh air!  

I think these have a place!  Why don't we hear "why do we make a Superman, Batman, and Spider man series every 5-10 years???  Why do we need 10+ Fast and Furious movies?  Why all the Avengers movies?  Aren't we tired of the CGI superheros in their eternal fight scenes that seem to take up the entire movie, violence, explosions, and vulgarity of these movies?  Why do these exist or have a place?"  Maybe those questions are floating around out there, but they don't seem so obvious unless you're paying very close attention.  I have been paying close attention to The Little Mermaid,  so maybe what I see isn't so obvious to many of you out there.  What is obvious are the interviews Halle Bailey is doing with little girls, mostly only black girls.  It's obvious that there is a clear message about the race war and who the target audience is.  These messages are mainly being flung by media, and it's unfortunate that Halle is caught up in their lures, and she's biting!  

Very high praise for all the performances here!  Rob Marshall beautifully expanded their world and I

still want to be "part of their world", haha!  I absolutely love Halle's Ariel, but as an actress representing this movie, brand and character she would be smart to expand her explanations when accepting her honors for being part of this and why it's so special!  I'm glad she feels special in representing color, nothing wrong with that. She has this unique opportunity to unite and represent all women and girls.  She has the chance to reach beyond and stand above the race wars, it's unfortunate she is not taking full advantage of that opportunity.  It all seems so tunneled to one purpose.  What about us white girls who have also been die hard fans our whole lives, who also took our white kids to see you, and we still felt the magic, we still love this movie and we love you!?!  You are representing an idol of ours, you are now going to be part of our childhood dreams and memories.  Overall, you've been well received.  We've accepted you and welcomed you to be part of our cherished childhood! I really think she does feel that for all women and girls.  She has mentioned that a few times, but most of the interviews don't show that and they're not meant to.  The media loves a good race war, they love it so much they will cause it.

My new tag line is "She doesn't look like me and I'm still a fan!"  In the whole grand scheme of things this doesn't really matter all that much, when all is said and done it's just a movie, it's a great movie!  I do think my observation surrounding it is important though.  I thought it would be interesting to document what I've observed.  I don't know how to better sum up where we go from here other than these words:

“Today, I call upon our members everywhere to lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice, I plead with you to promote respect for all of God’s children.......... listen carefully to what I am about to say. God does not love one race more than another.  His doctrine on this matter is clear. He invites all to come unto Him, ‘black and white, bond and free, male and female’ (2 Nephi 26:33).

I assure you that your standing before God is not determined by the color of your skin.  Favor or disfavor with God is dependent upon your devotion to God and His commandments, and not the color of your skin. The question for all of God’s children, regardless of race, is the same, Are you willing to let God prevail in your life? Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life? Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His covenants to influence what you do each day? Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other? Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition? Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?”

- Russell M. Nelson, Prophet and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 

Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

-Isaiah 52:7-8