Disney's portrayal of the sea witch Ursula is also another typical stereotype. Like many of Disney's more modern evil women, she is represented as overweight and powerful. When Ariel seeks her help she informs Ariel that it will cost her her voice then and that to 'get your man' you dont need a voice. Rather, she suggests that Ariel needs to remember the powerof 'body language' and that men dont 'like a lot of blabber.. on land its much preferred for ladies not to say a word.' Ariel seems to have got the message as we soon see her voiceless, batting her eyelids and feigning helplessness in an attempt to show her dependence on the Prince.Of course unlike Andersens mermaid Ariel does get her voice back although through no doing of her own (it is the prince who kills Ursula). 'Eighties heroine that she is, she means to have it all: voice, soul, legs and husband ’ (Ross 2004: 56). In the end of the story, with no real cost to herself Ariel gets her man and everything else she 'wants' too. She is handed over from her father to her husband her goal of

An Interpretation of a different Kind

Walt Disney’s 1989 contemporary film version of The Little Mermaid and consequent story books were a return for Disney to the traditional story genre. Not since Sleeping Beauty in 1959 had there been a traditional story reworked in the Disney formula. Perhaps the fact that The Little Mermaid was a box office hit encouraged Disney's consequent string of traditional stories such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.

Like Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid, Ariel too is interested in the world above and she wants to experience it all. In fact the ' verb ‘want’ falls from the lips of Ariel, ... more often than any other’(Warner 1994: 403), that is until she loses her voice to the Sea-witch Ursula. Disneys Little Mermaid, it is presumed, already has a soul. Her interest in the world above is in all the interesting 'stuff' they have. After she rescues the prince and falls madly in love, her interest turns from material to romantic desire. In Andersen’s tale the Little Mermaid’s focus is on both the prince and gaining a soul whereas in Disney’s version Ariel’s focus turns from materialistic wants to a singular focus on the Prince. Disney turned the story from a 'meditation on spiritual values into a much more conventional tale in which the heroine is rewarded at the end with a marriage- an ending that Andersen specifically rejects’ (Hastings 2004).

marriage becomes a reality. 'The underlying message creates a startling incongruity: Children, especially girls, can gain an identity independent from their parents by becoming dependent on someone else' (Trites 1991:146) In fact Ariel, although rebellious and singing songs about 'women sick of swimmin ready to stand' is far from standing on her own two feet. Ariels destiny is decided by characters stronger and more powerful than herself. Andersen's Little Mermaid takes responsibility for her own actions. She chooses not to kill the prince but instead chooses a painful but noble course.Some would argue that she is a victim but any many ways she is a far stronger role model for females than Ariel. Perhaps the most worrying message from Disney's The Little Mermaid is that it 'depicts women as either self effacing or evil, incapable of creating their own responsible power without either depending on men or stealing power from them' (Trites 1991: 152). These messages are far from the values portrayed in Andersen's story and rob both The Little Mermaid and representations of mermaids throughout history of their true beauty and power.