Is it just because she's a pretty princess? Even for Disney princesses she's a horrible role model.
Belle had her book smarts and didn't take *beep* from anyone
Tiana proved in order to get ahead in life you need to work hard for your goals
Cinderella taught tolerance and patience
Jasmine fought for her own choices
Merida earned the right to her own life
What did Ariel do? Sell her voice for a pair of legs and gave up her life just for a guy
Actually, why they looked up to her is because Ariel actually pursued her dreams, and was willing to go for any cost to achieve them. And for the record, no, Ariel did not only desire to become a human just because of Prince Eric. Actually, compared to the other Disney Princesses before her aside from possibly Cinderella, Prince Eric played the least (though certainly not insignificant) role in Ariel's desire to become human, as she already harbored a fascination with humanity and desire to be among them long before she even met Eric. In fact, all Eric did was give her the final push. And she actually did get to know him so to speak by observing his actions on the ship. And keep in mind, that was BEFORE Eric was even aware of her existence. Other reasons why she is a good role model is that she actually does value her friends lives above even her own, even if she has every reason to let them die (she actually rescued Flounder when he was nearly eaten by Glut, putting herself at great risk in the process, and that's not even getting into her saving Sebastian from becoming Grimsby's meal), she actually owns up to her mistakes, and was actually demonstrated to be compassionate, and she's not afraid to pursue her dreams either, and she actually harbors a moral compass and a conscience. Oh, and for the record, she didn't "give up her life." And BTW, that's just in the original film.
In fact, if any of the Disney Princesses acted as a truly bad role model, it's either Belle or Merida.
For Belle:
In her debut film she basically managed to be, despite intending to be somewhat pure of heart, not even coming close to it and in effect ruining it. For starters, she basically talked very badly about her own home and arrogantly felt she was far more superior to the village for little reason; she basically behaved like a hypocrite by decrying Gaston as being rude and conceited; she made the jerk move of making it seem as though she actually would say yes to Gaston and then basically throwing him into the mud and then waving goodbye mockingly and with some amusement, and to make matters worse, she wasn't even being forced to marry at that time (at least Jasmine had the fact that she was forced to marry by law as an excuse for her actions, Belle doesn't); she behaved like a total jerk to the Beast even after he at least tried to make amends for his earlier behavior to her father by, you know, actually giving her a room and relatively free access to the castle; she deliberately disobeyed Beast and the servants' strict warning about not going into the West Wing (and based on her tone when finding out what the West Wing was, it was out of spite, not curiosity); she nearly and quite stupidly nearly destroyed the Beast's lifeline, that enchanted rose, even though the fact that it was underneath a glass belljar should have made it very obvious that it was not something meant to be touched [something that Belle clearly should have figured out since, you know, she DID deduce from casual observation that the castle was enchanted not a few moments before]; she then broke her end of the agreement by trying to flee the castle, not to mention do so during a snowstorm where she clearly hadn't taken into account the wolves and the elements, nearly getting Beast killed trying to save her butt, and she still blames HIM for the situation even when that situation had largely been Belle's fault (at least Ariel actually owned up to the mistakes she made and didn't blame her father or anyone else for them, not even in instances where her father actually was at fault for it); there's little indication that she even liked the Beast, even after he saved her, until after he gave her a library, which frankly falling for someone for their library is far worse than falling for them for their looks; fortunately she got a bit better by the second half, but then she basically stupidly exposed Beast to a congregated, rowdy, drunk-on-emotions mob that was led by her suitor in a clear attempt at blackmailing her, and this was despite figuring out beforehand that Gaston was trying to blackmail her, and then she gets all surprised when Gaston riles up the mob and has them try to kill the Beast, with the servants being collateral damage, for reasons clearly out of jealousy, even when it should have been extremely obvious even to a preschooler what would happen as a result? In fact, with her actions, you could argue she promoted that you can sell out your friends and do very bad things and even if you don't really own up to it you still get what you want. Oh, and I wouldn't even say she had much book smarts, especially when the only thing in the film she actually seemed to read are fairy tales, not really stuff an advanced reader tends to read (they would have had her reading Romeo and Juliet to Beast had "Human Again" not been cut out). And in Disney Comics, it's even implied she's a misandrist. Thankfully, Disney Comics aside, the future installments for the franchise (including the Marvel Comics, the DTV midquels, books, and all of that) do actually try to make sure she actually matches up with purity of heart, but still...
And as for Merida:
She basically behaved like a man for most of the film for no real reason other than the film itself promoting radical feminism/misandry; She basically ruined a marriage ceremony despite the fact that, while technically arranged marriages, she actually was given a choice of who to marry, which is definitely more than what Jasmine had to deal with for most of her film; and she basically tried to drug her own mom and went to a witch specifically to screw with her.
She is a flawed character but I think that is what makes her so appealing and popular. She isn't a perfect saint who does and says the right thing 100% of the time. Yes she is impulsive, stubborn and selfish. But she is also kind, fun, adventurous, curious, loving and pretty badass. She dodges sharks!
She is also the first really active princess. She rescues her prince not once but twice. She knows what she wants and goes for it guns a blazing. She has passion and doesn't sit around and wait for time to pass by. She goes to Ursula which isn't the best decision but you can't blame her after what Triton did. She did what a lot of kids her age would do. Do something reckless and impulsive after a huge fight they had with their parents.
In short a lot of people can relate to Ariel because she is realistic and not afraid to speak her mind and go for what she wants.
"Notice how I ride side saddle, it proves I'm a lady of quality." Witch Hazel
Agreed on everything EXCEPT the bit about her being selfish. Had she truly been selfish, she would have behaved exactly like Emperor Kuzco in the beginning of the Emperor's New Groove (and if you remember him, he basically had a guy thrown out of his castle window, at a huge height, callously fired his own advisor and even mocked her age, and then he basically made clear not only that he won't care if his summer retreat's development is going to at the very least make Pacha's village literally homeless (since his village will be destroyed to make way for construction plans), but even revels in the fact that they'll be homeless. An extremely unpleasant fellow who, to quote Chris Redfield from Resident Evil 5 regarding Albert Wesker, "didn't give a damn about anyone except himself" and more likely than not actually enjoys people suffering as long as he's not the one suffering from his actions.). Actually, Ariel nearly got herself killed to save Flounder when she was nearly home free, actually saved Sebastian from being eaten by Grimsby even when she was likely still mad at him for squealing, actually told Eric to get out of there before the final battle and save himself, meaning she was if anything extremely selfless.
And while I will agree that her being impulsive and stubborn definitely were her flaws (the only thing I'd change is that you use naïve instead of selfish), I won't say her going to Ursula was actually impulsiveness. Actually, throughout that scene, it was made very clear that she was extremely reluctant to go to her. Had she truly been impulsiveness, she would have basically been like Jafar when he decided thanks to Aladdin's "advice" to wish to become a genie, which is do so with zero hesitation.
And yeah, she was active. Not to mention her dreams were developed independently of Eric, well before she was even aware of his existence. And technically, she saved Eric three times (don't forget the incident with Vanessa).
And it's not just girls that she's easily relatable to. Quite a lot of people actually relate to her of both genders. I for one relate to her quite a lot precisely because, since I am Autistic/Aspergers, I had to go through a lot of hard work to get to where I am today, just like she did regarding becoming a human. And this is coming from a heterosexual male.
[deleted]
Girls and people in general love her because she is freakin awesome and I ❤️ Her and she is a great role model in that she teaches you to follow and achieve your dreams. Also she is my favourite Disney princess!
shareYeah, strongly agree with that. I'm guessing that most of the hate on her is because she seemed to actually like a guy and willingly went for him, especially when the really bad characterization of Belle stemmed directly as a result of the really vile reception Ariel received, as Jeffrey Katzenberg and Linda Woolverton specifically stated.
share[deleted]
Yeah, agreed, and I probably wouldn't say it's even that different from regular 16 worlds back then.
At least be thankful that Ariel didn't try to go to Ursula and bargain to murder her dad or drug him, because that bit is pretty much what Merida did in her film (and quite frankly, if someone were to complain about Merida, I'd have every reason to agree with them regarding that). Even for teenagers, that's generally a sign that they are sociopathic.
As far as why she was obsessed with humans, the TV series indicates that it was because they saved a trapped dolphin.
If anything, there's more of a reason to complain about Belle, since she basically acted like an arrogant jerk in the first half of her film. Not to mention unlike Ariel, she actually did something inexcusably stupid late into her film by exposing the Beast to a gathered mob led by her stalker, even after she deduced his role in instigating said mob in the first place to force her hand in marriage. And unlike Aurora, Jasmine, even Pocahontas and Merida, she doesn't even have an arranged marriage forced on her against her will as an excuse for her jerkish treatment of Gaston (even if he did deserve it). Not to mention she did do quite a few bad things in Beast's castle on her first night (like break into the West Wing despite specifically being told not to go in there not only by the Beast, but even the servants, and knowing full well it was the West Wing beforehand as well). What's worse is that a lot of her behavior would point against internal beauty.
Also surprising many Ariel haters do not suggest she steals the trident to turn her human
Basically Belle is "set up" as the perfect character in story and marketing and is considered the only "smart" princess what if you can not read due to Dyslexia?
I WILL not put Ariel in here at this point despite the fact that she deserves to be defended for it is beating a dead horse to OTHER "people"
HOWEVER
other Princess's have shown literary skills AND NOT ONE OF THEM IS CALLED SMART
These also fall into the catagorey of "minority" so part of the reason why THEY are ignored
AND your take on the "honest trailer?"
Regarding the honest trailer, no, I haven't seen it (unless it's the one where a girl dressed up as Ariel makes a lot of statements about how she's the worst person, in which case, yeah, I saw it), but after reading some posts on the thread about the Honest Trailer, I definitely don't need to watch it to know that it isn't good or even really honest.
And yeah, agreed with the princesses. Even, no, especially going by earlier DPs, we can suspect that Snow White and Cinderella, at least before their dads croaked, were taught how to read (Snow White's a princess, which is a position of power to some extent, so she can afford it, and as for Cinderella, while not technically a princess, she was at the very least rich and her father most likely taught her to read). And Ariel... honestly, Part of Your World explicitly showed her reading a book, and how could she sign the contract if she was illiterate? Only Aurora might not have actually been shown reading or even hinted to be literate in her debut film, and that's mostly because she grew up a peasant unaware of her royal past due to effectively being under a witness protection program by the three good fairies after Maleficent threatened her life. I'd mention the other DPs (more specifically, Jasmine and Rapunzel, who actually acted as a schoolteacher and demonstrated innate studiousness and literacy that would outrank even Ariel and Belle, respectively), but unfortunately, they came after Belle, so it really doesn't have much of an impact if I mentioned them, but the long and the short is, Belle is definitely not even the first DP to know how to read, much less the only one to demonstrate it even if she is the one whose most emphasized trait is reading, as Ariel predated her in that category, and Snow White and Cinderella at the very least were implied to be literate before their father's death even if they weren't actually demonstrated to read (not to mention Cinderella seems to know history enough, since she named Gus the Mouse after Emperor Octavian), and that's ignoring characters like Jasmine and Rapunzel who most certainly were demonstrated to be literate.
And yeah, Belle's set up that way, and it also doesn't help that her own writer, Linda Woolverton, made several cheap shots against Belle's predecessors (especially Ariel, as Belle was created specifically to supplant Ariel) and acted like Belle broke the mold so to speak. Honestly, the only one who actually might deserve the insulting terms stated by Woolverton about only having marriage and love as a motivation or waiting for her prince is Aurora (whom ironically she ruined in that horrible Maleficent movie). Even Snow White, who like Aurora actually did have to wait for her prince for perfectly justified reasons, at least actually did something somewhat proactive, namely flee into a forest, and also helped raise the seven dwarfs, and she had an actual motive besides marrying her prince, which was getting away from her murderous stepmom. Cinderella and Ariel most certainly didn't have the things Woolverton claimed DPs before Belle had. Actually, their goals were clearly given, getting away from her wicked stepfamily, and desiring to become human, respectively, and while it can be in the gray area as to whether the prince played a large role or not in having Cinderella pursue her goal, in Ariel's case, it's pretty obvious that Eric played a very small, yet still significant, role in Ariel's goals, just being the final push for her to actually act on her dreams, and that her goals were formed independently of Eric beyond that.
She's wide eyed and very girly. She swims around with her pretty mermaid tail, singing pretty songs with her pretty singing voice. What's there not to like about her by either young girls or sexually confused boys?
sharevirtually all the Disney Gals do that sans the swimming for most of them
shareWhy do people assume that the only boys who might like Ariel or any DP would be sexually confused? I'm actually a heterosexual male, know full well that I'm male from cradle to grave, yet I actually have a huge amount of respect for Ariel. Not to mention, her film actually had stuff that can be geared towards males who are very certain of their gender/sex, like fighting a shark and an ending that actually was lifted from Die Hard. Just because a girl's the main protagonist doesn't mean the actual work she's in is geared towards girls. Need I remind you that Nintendo's Metroid franchise, despite Samus Aran being a woman, was actually geared towards males? Or that Tomb Raider was obviously geared towards males despite the main protagonist, Lara Croft, being female?
shareNeedless to say the "honest"trailer is not very flattering as are most if not all of them
I'm not saying that every boy who's into DP growing up has to be gay. But Ariel in particular is the most popular among gay guys who grew up watching Disney. I remember being a kid in the 90s and Ariel was a favorite among girls even though most haven't even seen the full movie. There is something about her visually that spoke to young girls. Something about being a 15 y/o mermaid with long, flowy hair and a super tiny waist, singing songs in the blue ocean made her become a favorite among girls...and some boys.
I won't pretend to be well-versed in video games, but Lara Croft in particular was designed to be over-sexualized in order to appeal to young men, the fancy guns didn't hurt of course. Do you really think if Lara Croft was designed to look more like Ariel she'd still be as successful among teenage men has she not had massive boobs and exaggerated features?
Back when I was growing up, also during the 1990s, there wasn't a DP franchise. That didn't come in until the mid-2000s, when I was a teen. In fact, TLM in particular was actually geared towards not only people of all ages, but especially to kids of both sexes/genders (this was even openly advertised in magazines and marketing materials). And probably the only thing off about me compared to normal people was that I was autistic, albeit high-functioning, which is actually part of the reason Ariel resonated with me. Like her, I had to struggle to get to where I am today regarding societal difficulties. I'm actually a bit irritated that they had to make the DP franchise such that only girls could get attached to the characters.
As far as Lara Croft's design, while that may be true, I definitely know Barbie possessed a similar body type to Lara Croft, and she was actually geared towards little girls (in fact, her body type was actually particularly infamous for being the major subject of complaints by various parents, claiming Barbie's dimensions provided a "warped view of women." Her bust and waist were particularly focused on), so I'm not too sure about that. Maybe Barbie was intended for adult males back when she was created, but I do know that today and during the 1990s, it was definitely geared towards girls.
Barbie is a doll that plays dress up (a stereotypical feminine game). Lara Croft shoots bad guys with large explosive weapons while looking like a 90s teenage boys wet dream (sex and violence). They really aren't that similar.
shareDoesn't Barbie dolls' designs have the sex part down, at least? That's one thing she has similarities to with Lara Croft even if it was likely unintentional.
EDIT: Also, for all those Ariel haters who have nothing good to say, especially regarding the Honest Trailers and Nostalgia Chicks, and the like, all I can say is if Ariel was truly like what you claimed Ariel to be, she'd be behaving like Jerome Lloyd (aka, the guy who most likely will become the future Joker in the Gotham series) behaved in Gotham in this scene, shortly it was revealed he had been the one who murdered his mom:
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nB_CA_dG4s (Why did you kill your mother, Jerome?)
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b7_8EwGCKsE#t=131 (full scene, though you might need to go back a bit).
No, she's not a role model? So what? Must everything be a role model? Must Disney create role models? Shouldn't role models come from real life rather than animated characters?
And she is a role model. In the way that she had a dream and was very determined to make it come true. Meaning that with determination and(hard work) your dream can come true too.
She also didn't want to follow the route her parents wanted for her but wanted to live her own life. meaning that you should always do what you want to do as opposed to what is expected of you or what someone else wants you to do.
I think that can be considered role model material.
Disney knows full well that young girls worship their animated characters, so YES, they have a responsibility to create role models.
I found Ariel to be willful, defiant and rebellious. I also feel that the entire metaphor is a sexual one as there's no chance of Ariel *spreading her legs* if she remains a mermaid. She knows what she wants and she's prepared to give up her special gift in order to get it.
Girls like Ariel because she's a cleverly disguised bad girl.
You know, Phyllis Schlafly would disagree with you. And BTW, at least it's better than girls being lied to about whether women got an education before the 1960s or not, and inferring that before then, only "rich white males" got any literacy at all, or education. And actually, Jasmine actually fell for Aladdin, and it's implied that when she fell for Ali, it was because she recognized him as Aladdin after the latter gave himself away with "do you trust me?"
And clearly you haven't heard of Pocahontas, Mulan, Merida, Anna, or Elsa, since they didn't go with Princes (actually, Pocahontas just went with a regular British guy, whether John Smith or John Rolfe is depending on whether you prefer the original film or the sequel; Mulan likewise just married a general with no ties to the Royal Family, and Merida, Anna, and Elsa never married any guys at ALL, never mind to a prince).
One last thing, none of the DPs who DID marry a Prince ever indicated that the reason they married them was because of their material wealth (ironically, Jasmine actually came close to doing that in one of the earlier storyboard reels before they cut it out).
[deleted]
You know, Snow White, Aurora, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas (kind of), Rapunzel, and Anna/Elsa actually were of royalty (Oh, I forgot one character who didn't marry a prince as well: Rapunzel didn't marry a prince either. Actually, she married an infamous thief, Flynn Rider), so it really wouldn't have mattered either way if they married a prince or not. There were only three DPs who actually never were royalty to begin with, and only one of them, Tiana, was arguably NOT rich by any definition. Cinderella came from a noble family (She lived in a Chateau, and pretty much the only reason she's not the owner of the Chateau is because his stepfamily basically stole what was rightfully her inheritance upon her father's untimely death, possibly being murdered by his stepwife, and was then forced by them to become what was effectively their slave. And besides which, her stepmom is known as LADY Tremaine.), Belle may have at least been rich enough to not even need to worry about getting a job or even working on the farm. Tiana needed to own a store just to "make ends meet."
share[deleted]
First of all, I'm a male, a heterosexual male not to mention, so don't ever claim that I'm a "queen."
Second of all, Snow White is in fact of royalty (her wicked stepmother is a queen, remember? And her deceased father was a king.).
Third of all, if you honestly think that about Ariel, I strongly suggest you not watch Beauty and the Beast, because Belle basically disses on her own village, arrogantly thinking she's superior just because she knows how to read and pretty much hates on the "provincial life." At least Ariel didn't insult her own species or home when desiring to be among humanity. And BTW, considering she saved Flounder and Sebastian each on two separate occasions, and the former instance nearly got herself killed by the shark just when she was home free, and the latter was AFTER she became human, that basically shows she DOESN'T view herself superior to anyone else. If she did, she would have been content to letting them die and taking sadistic glee in it, like Kefka did here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usN_NXPUt40&feature=player_detailpage#t=361
Oh, and I sincerely hope that you aren't American, because you do realize what Ariel did is effectively the same thing as what immigrants desire regarding the American dream. Seriously, what's your problem, anyways? And BTW, material wealth played zero role in Ariel's love for Eric, or for her desiring to become human.
On a last note, want to know what REAL brainwashing is like? How about sitting through several semesters where professors try to push left-wing garbage that is also proven to be utterly false, like claiming that women could not get any education at all until they "took power" during the 1960s, or spreading a lot of anti-Christian thought, or claiming that free sex and second-wave feminism was the best thing since sliced bread, or claiming that somehow Marxist thought was a good thing, or even slagging on our Military? Heck, maybe you should take a look at just how brainwashing films like the Happy Feet movies actually are, while we're at it, or the Matrix trilogy, for that matter:
*http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1408419/posts
*http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/03/22/6-kids-films-filled-with-green-propaganda/
I can assure you, while the Disney Princess franchise unfortunately has had a history of promoting elements that come close to creating Queen Grimhilde clones, the individual princesses aren't like that at all, and their individual films certainly don't brainwash people.
After seeing Little Mermaid some people wanted to be animators or careers in ocean be it oceanographer Icktologist even actors singers
And 25 years later we STILL ask why Ariel is the way she is why she wants to be a clearly flawed human where as the others are not "crucified " for their actions in their films
Hell one Princess who is forgotten goes out with the NOT the rich guy Kida and how successful was that film??????
Pocahantas seemed quite proud of her heritage how successful was that film???
list is not as short as you think
Basically the public follows a mob mentality of following the crowd and or being told what to like which explains why some films succeed when they CLEARLY should not have
Check out the IMDB poll of films that broke 200 mil when they SHOULD NOT have surprised Phantom Menace was not on list
AND THAT'S MY TWO CENTS
Technically, Kida's not an official DP, but I see your point.
And honestly, I actually LIKE the fact that The Little Mermaid manages to promote humanity AND the seas in positive lights, especially humanity, and without very many heavy-handedness. Most films that feature some element of the environment as a factor usually treat humanity in a really distasteful light with a very heavy hand and often imply that the non-humans are far better. Like the 1999 Animal Farm movie, or the Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes movies (which, BTW, also painted businesses in a very unflattering light as well as a false light), or Avatar even (and by that, I mean that James Cameron movie). Or, even if they DO promote humanity in some positive light, it is for their committing warped, depraved actions, like with the Matrix movies (especially the sequels).
And good point about Phantom Menace and the Prequel Trilogy, and I was somewhat disgusted with the whole "non-attachments" rule prevalent throughout the trilogy, considering it actually made the Jedi no different than the Sith (in fact, ironically, Palpatine actually practiced non-attachments to the letter and he was a Sith Lord).
Lol Cinderella taught tolerant and patience? You would tolerate and be patient with people who called you stupid and made you do things for them that they can do for themselves?
I think that Ariel can teach people not to settle and be okay with where you're at. To explore the world and not be afraid to. But that's just me and I noticed you didn't list the other princesses. What about Auroa? Snow White? Rapunzel?
Ariel has a lot of spirit and courage, and she follows her dream of becoming a human. i don't see anything wrong with that.
shareOh great another one of THESE posts.
I was 7 years old when The Little Mermaid came out. I originally didn't want to see if because I thought it would be boring. I ended up watching it at school on a rainy day and fell in love with it. I was in awe of Ariel and the story and the music.
I liked Ariel (and I still do, she is my favorite!) because she loved to sing, and I loved to sing. She loved music, just as my mom and brother did, and I loved music as well. I think TLM is very loved because of the fun characters and because of the unforgettable soundtrack (the best one! Aladdin is a very close second!). Tbh, I didn't pay much attention to "oh she gave up her legs just bc of a guy."
Ariel was curious and a big dreamer, something that I could relate to. She had her own hobbies and her own interests. She wasn't satisfied with just staying in one place, she wanted more. She educated herself with the things of land.
When I was a kid, I appreciated the romantic part of TLM, but it wasn't everything to me. Some people don't give Ariel enough credit!