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Literary elements of the little mermaid
Literary elements of the little mermaid
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Mermaids, Fairies, and Witches are some of the most prominent mythical characters in today’s entertainment. Folklore from other countries and cultures affects how we portray these creatures in our movies, books, and TV shows. One such country is Scotland that is filled with tons of different folklore. Scottish Folklore has many stories about these three well known creatures. The most commonly known folklore from Scotland has had a huge impact on some of the most well known entertainment in the United States today. One of these creatures, the mermaid, is the mostly widely known creature from Scottish folklore (Harris 10). People all over the U.S. enjoy different forms of entertainment that depict varying versions of mermaids. Scottish folklore tells of violent creatures of the …show more content…
These dark underwater creatures are said to have many different magics as well (Harris para 12). These powers vary from the ability to predict the future, curse human beings, or even granting wishes (Harris para 10-11). The mermaids are also said to be beautiful of face and voice, shown by the way human men often tried to capture the mermaids and bind them to the land (Harris para 13). The effect of these folk tales on today’s entertainment can be found in some of our most popular and well known movies and plays. Today, we have changed the way we look at mermaids, but if you look at some of the popular movies you can find the influences of Scottish Folklore. In Peter Pan, when Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids, he tells her that they are very cruel and like to drown people (Barrie scene 3). The mermaids in this story are shown to be very dark and even murderous. Even with this acknowledgement that the mermaids are not nice creatures, they are still shown as beautiful with long, flowing hair (Barrie, scene 3). The movies don’t even have to show the mermaids as evil creatures
Selkies are Celtic fairy-tale creatures that are half-seal and half human. Stories about these mythical creatures originate from the Orkney Islands of Scotland. A selkie becomes human once it takes off seal skin. Most stories that revolve around selkies are usually about a selkie falling in love with a human man who takes away their seal skin in which the selkie ends up marrying. Even though there are male selkies, most selkies in stories portray a woman.
Most women in their childhood had probably dreamt of being a princess and meeting their charming prince. As Walt Disney’s figures have been influential in this sense, the ideal portrayal of princesses still attracts young girls who imitate them, their lifestyle and their physical appearance. In Sleeping Beauty (1959) and in The Little Mermaid (1989) the narration is focused on the search for true love, personified by a prince, for self-accomplishment. It is crucial to differentiate the representation of femininity of the two protagonists in the two movies to better understand if the role of Princesses has changed over those last thirty years. The main figures in both movies
Later you will see myths of hairy creatures in medieval Europe. In the European myths, the hairy creature does not have horns or a tail and more closely resembles the bigfoot we know today. Bigfoot has been a myth and a traditional part of folklore for centuries, but real sightings of the creature have only started in the early 1800s. Stories and sightings then became increasingly common as the years went by.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The medieval times were filled with many events that have helped to shape our society today such as the rise of the bubonic plague, the birth of feudalism, the growth of the Catholic Church, and among these is the beginning tales of mythical monsters. The stories of mythical monsters were spurred by the imagination of men who saw an unusual creature or something unexplainable. A world renown German physicist by the name of Albert Einstein claimed, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” (brainyquote.com) Mythical creatures were founded by the creativity of very bright individuals who wanted to entertain people by telling elaborate stories that contained a strong antagonist. Mythical creatures also allowed society to have heroes because with every evil monster there must be a savior to slay the hideous beast. Although many different monsters have been mentioned the Dragon, the Kraken, the Basilisk, and the Griffin were among some of the most popular and well known creatures.
A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future.
Although Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” published in 1837, contains many patronizing nineteenth-century attitudes towards women, a value system that at least acknowledges the legitimacy of femininity shapes the fairytale. Unfortunately, Walt Disney’s 1989 film version of “The Little Mermaid” eliminates the values that affirm femininity in the original story (Trites 145)
They play a role in putting emphasis on themes such as a woman’s passive nature and their beauty. Fairytales are a mode of enhancing the difference between the genders and supporting the dominant gender. Disney films and children’s fairytales put a high amount of emphasis on the theme of feminine beauty ideal (Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003). It is a social construct that believes that the greatest asset a female has is that of her physical attractiveness and a female should strive to achieve and maintain it. This leads to one believing that females are oppressed, devalued and objectified, particularly in a patriarchal society (Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003). According to Baker-Sperry and Grauerholz (2003) women find beauty to be empowering and like to engage in rituals that enhance their beauty. Bordo (1993) believes that woman and adolescent girls achieve a high social status and maintain their self-esteem by engaging beauty rituals through the course of the day (as cited in Baker-Sperry & Grauerholz, 2003). The importance of female beauty ideal and physical attractiveness in society is emphasized in many Disney films and children’s media. According to Chyng (2001) many films emphasize the importance of sexuality and often-female characters are portrayed as overly sexual (as cited in Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, & Tanner, 2004).
Folklore is very important on a culture relating to legends, myths and fairy tales. The generations will keep telling the legends, myths and fairytales to the next
The “disneyfication” of The Little Mermaid perpetuates negative aspects of American cultural ideals, losing the moral integrity and lessons intended to be taught from the original fairytale. Works Cited Mortensen, Finn. A.H. Hauberg. The Little Mermaid: Icon and Disneyfication." Scandinavian Studies.
In both Hans Christian Andersons “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney’s version of the story, the main character— a young and beautiful mermaid— waits anxiously for her fifteenth birthday to venture from her father’s underwater castle to the world above the water. As the story carries on the mermaids priorities change; her modest and selfless nature is revealed towards the end in Andersen’s version. However, Disney’s version encompasses a rather shallow ending and plot throughout. The theme found in comparing the two versions reveal that Andersen’s substance trumps Disney’s entertainment factor in fairy tales.
world we live in. Mythical creatures are created by people’s imaginations, hopes, fears, and most
broken cloth and come together in groups of three. These witches have many animals. But in this play a cat, and a toad are used - who are actually evil. spirits who have taken this form. In Macbeth we hear about the owl quite often.
"Myths and Legends." Origins of A Mermaid and a Magic Comb. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
When anyone thinks about a children’s fairy tale the most common ones that can come to mind is “Little Red Riding Hood”. Fairy tales convey a hidden message to children. Like how in “Little Red Riding Hood” the message is to not talk to strangers. Fairy tales have been created to help children understand things in a fun and enjoying way. Not every kid can learn and understand things the same way; it all depends on what they have been taught and exposed to in their life. There is controversy between the way these messages are conveyed to young children, like how in “Little Red Riding Hood” the story ends with Riding Hood and her grandmother being eaten by the wolf which can be frightening to children but it explains to you the bad things
Magic and witchcraft is nothing new for societies. It can be dated back to earlier centuries as early as to the 340 caves in France and Spain during the Upper Paleolithic times. Early beliefs in magic and witchcraft were believed to alleviate the unknown fears caused by unexplainable natural catastrophes. People that did not understand why misfortune struck their town would become anxious and afraid. In order to calm down the nerves, town leaders began to explain these misfortunes through tales of magical powers from the worlds beyond. Tales of explanation ranged from sea monsters to property guarding ghosts. The most common tale would be the one about the sea protector Sedna. Sedna’s father forced her to the bottom of the ocean by chopping