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| Feautures of the texts. | Hans Christan Anderson (published 1998) | The Disney film | Picture book adaptation by Ian Beck. (Published 2005) |
Female character - Youngest Mermaid.
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"but the youngest was the loveliest of them all. Her skin was pure and clear as a rose petal, and her eyes were as blue as the deepest lake" "She was a strange child, quiet and thoughful" Gracefull, pretty, baby blue eyes |
Red hair, big bright blue eyes. Perfect skin. Long eye lashes.
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"Her skin was as pale as the palest rose petals and her eyes were the colour of the ocean itself" -Browny reddy coloured hair shown in the illustrations, not in the text. |
| Male character - The prince. | "jet-black eyes" "Handsome prince" |
Very dark hair, bright blue eyes. Typical "tall dark and handsome" male |
Is given a name - "Prince Caspar" Brown hair and blue eyes shown in the illustrations. |
Sea witches image.
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Brutal harsh description. "enormous eels were writhing about, exposing their gross, sallow underbellies. Here the witch had built her house from the bones of shipwrecked men".
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Perceived as horrid. Is an obese octopus. Intention is for her to be viewed as greedy and perhaps foolish. Skin color is a grey rather than the whiteish brown of the other characters. |
Not mentioned in the text to a great extent. However, illustrations show a skull and eels, but they are faded in the background and not all that brutal to look at. |
| First opening scene | Description of the ocean and palace. | We straight away are introduced to the fisherman and humans of them telling us a stroy about the "mer-people" who live under the ocean. It then goes on to show the ocean and surroundings. | Brief description of the youngest mermaid and her beauty. |
| Language use/Tone | Casual and accessiable to all. Very brutal and honest. Isn't trying to sheald children or the reader from the harshness of the text. - Story is told slowly with a great deal of in depth description of the characters and surroundings. |
Not very complex. Accessable to all children of all ages. Includes a musical element. |
- Not as much physical description as Andersen's text . The illustrations tend to tell the story more than the text itsself. - The text only tells the main points of the story. Fast pased story line. |
Price for human legs.
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Cut off her tongue so she looses her voice. Pain like a knife cutting her legs every time she takes a step. |
Witch takes her voice box.
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Took the mermaid's voice (no mention of cutting off the mermaid's tongue) Pain like a knife cutting in her legs every time she takes a step. |
| Who rescues her from the beach once she has legs. | Prince finds her and takes her to the palace. | The prince and his dog. | Two girls see her with no clothes and believe she was in a shepwreck so they take her to the palace to be fed and clothed. |
First time speaking to the prince.
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Once she has legs and is on land, after she has lost her voice. The fact that they had met the first time when the mermaid saved the prince is only refered to by the prince later on in the text. | When she rescues him from the sinking ship he hears her singing, and they meet, however, he feels it's a dream of some sort.
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The text explains that they see each other briefly as the prince opens his eyes and stares into the mermaids eyes. |
| Conclusion. | Mermaid goes into a cloud and has to earn an immortal soul in three hundred years by doing good deeds. | The sea witch is defeated and Ariel gets to become a human and live her life with the Prince. | The mermaid breaks the spell by being un-selfish and throwing away the dagger, and lives happily back in the mermaid kingdom with her family and friends. |
