The Little Mermaid and Frozen: Construction Of Female Subjectivity

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There are two versions of “The Little Mermaid” available, the classic one by Hans Christian Andersen, and the modern fairy tale that most of us know by Walt Disney. Although these two have similarities, the differences in the storyline and the portrayal of characters reflect a lot about the change in the times. Another modern Walt Disney animated film will be discussed in this paper as well, and this movie is “Frozen.” These stories show different perspectives of a strong female character and how it was further challenged and defined further along with the stories.
Female subjectivity changes along with the generations, considering different factors and social movements. Female characters in stories and movies already had the stereotype of what is expected of a woman or a girl, which usually involves patriarchal views and less autonomy for the female character. These were more rampant in the earlier literary works, where the adventure belongs to male characters always doing exciting things and saving the world. As the years go by and the feminism movement is more widespread, changes in the way female characters are portrayed are seen gearing towards gender equality and empowerment.
In the story of Andersen’s Little Mermaid, the beautiful and youthful mermaid is a part of a family, having a father, five sisters, and a grandmother, who has raised her well and in abundance in their under-the-sea palace. The build-up of the story before the mermaid sees the prince is evident, making their meeting more engaging. The longing of the mermaid is towards the prince and another issue that brings sadness to her heart is not having a soul, which is comparable to humans on land who can see heaven after death because of having a soul. During the first part, it was scenes of longing, sadness, and contemplation of what she wants in life, and if she will choose to be just like her grandmother and her older sisters who have seen the land but eventually went back and appreciated their seas more. From being the known beautiful mermaid with the most wonderful voice, she dared to decide on giving up everything, most especially her voice and the chance to be able to be with her family under the sea for a pair of legs. These were not without consequences, and she would still be in pain while she has those pairs of legs but she still decided to push through with it, in hopes of gaining a soul if the prince falls in love with her and chooses to marry her.
Here, we see the courage and the decision-making of the little mermaid in enduring the consequences and pain of her actions for the prince and a soul. The hardships do not end there though, and she still faces pain while she is on land, aside from the goal of making the prince fall in love with her. The prince has shown affection, but it was not clear at first if it was romantically. His feelings are affirmed during their conversation that the prince is actually in love with the woman she saw by the church when he “drifted” from the shipwreck, but since the little mermaid is very fond of him, he considers her as an option. This shapes the character of the little mermaid as an option where the male character is the one with the privilege to choose, while the ladies are left waiting and just accepting their fate and the consequences of a series of decisions that were made by the characters.
In the overall story, the female character exudes strength with the decisions that she had made including the unselfish ending where she chose not to kill the prince, sacrificing her life for him, again. Although the little mermaid in this version did her best and sacrificed a lot of things, the decision still lies on the prince and takes away the power from the little mermaid. In a way, when she was castrated by her tongue, voice, and fins, she also lost the autonomy over her life.
Although the classic version of “The Little Mermaid” was in an old setting, not very modern and in line with the world and beliefs nowadays, the portrayal of a strong female character was with her enduring will and goodness of heart. From the quiet and self-reflecting mermaid who is always dreaming, with the challenges that she faced she is shown to be more accepting and braver with what is to come as her fate. The way that the strong female character was portrayed was not very in line with feminism and women empowerment in comparison to the other pieces that will be discussed.
The Walt Disney version of “The Little Mermaid” starring Ariel was portrayed in quite a different light. Here, she is bolder and without much background about her family, only her father, the king of the sea. This is also animated so the audience can appreciate the story visually to making it more children-friendly. The character of the little mermaid in this version is more outgoing and thirsts for adventure and something more than what she has at sea. She is also not the typical princess who is conservative and extremely well-mannered. Aside from thirst for adventure, she is also portrayed to be willing to learn with eagerness especially towards those things on land.
The same with the classical version, Ariel gives up her voice to get a pair of legs to be able to live like a human being and be with her prince. The process of her transformation was not as painful and gruesome as Andersen’s version, but still, her voice is taken away from her. The love story between the prince and Ariel goes on and eventually they fall in love. There were also challenges but the villain was mainly Ursula, the sea witch. There was black magic used to hypnotize the prince Eric, but it was clear to the audience that the prince truly loves Ariel, the little mermaid. He was tricked so that Ariel will not be able to accomplish her mission. Then with the kidnapping of Ariel by Ursula, king of the sea also got involved to save his daughter but this changes when Ariel confronts Ursula and fights back.
The fight scene involves Ursula, Ariel, and Prince Eric. The little mermaid fighting back is also a fresh picture separating her from the usual females who are seen as damsels in distress who need the male character to save her. There is a mutual respect and some form of equality felt with the scenes that have unfolded. In this particular scene, prince Eric has shown humanity and not just the usual stereotype of an invincible and strong male character, where Ariel can show her capabilities and part in the making of the happy ending in the story.
Throughout the movie, we see the support of Ariel’s fish friends, and there was ...