Individual Otherness in Disney′s The Little Mermaid with
Regard to Social Hierarchy and Gender

by: Marthe Stoll

Content

1. Introduction 4

2. Representation of Social Hierarchy 4

2.1 Elite characters 5

2.2 Non-elite characters 7
2.2.1 People on land 9
2.2.1.1 Grimsby 9
2.2.1.2 Louis 11
2.2.2 Merpeople 13
2.2.2.1 Sebastian  13
2.2.2.2 Flotsam and Jetsam 16
2.2.3 Conclusion 16

3. Representation of Gender 17

3.1 Male elite characters 17
3.1.1 Prince Eric 18
3.1.2 Triton 21

3.2 Representation of female characters 24
3.2.1 Ariel as the ‘ideal’ woman 25
3.2.2 Minor female characters 26

4. Representation of ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ women 27

4.1 Ariel and Ursula 29

5. Conclusion 32

6. Reference 33

6.1 Bibliography 33
6.2 Internet Resources 33
6.3 Filmography 34

1. Introduction

In my research paper “Individual otherness in The Little Mermaid with regard to social hierarchy and gender” I will shortly discuss the role of royal characters and compare them with the so called non-elite figures by analyzing four figures. The next point will be the examination of gender and thus of male and female stereotyped characters with regard to royal male figures and superior and inferior female ones. The last point will be a discussion of the’good’-‘bad’ relationship by concentrating exclusively on Ariel and Ursula.

2. Representation of social hierarchy

In Disney’s animated movies “people are ranked according to attributes such as gender, skin color, and wealth as part of a naturalized world order”¹. One can state that it is due to values as their worth, their ability and their authority² that they have either a high or a low social status and that these features portray a character already at his very first appearance as ‘above’ or ‘below’. Disney’s privileged characters in The Little Mermaid are actually white, American, heterosexual,³ with no villainy at all and “never abus[ing] their authority”⁴, while the subordinate characters are mostly coloured, not attractive and accept the hierarchical class system to which they have to submit. Moreover, it is suggested that only a prince and a princess can live happily ever after while the subordinate characters are content with their own lives as servants, sailors and menials.⁵ When having a look at the people on land and the merpeople in The Little Mermaid, it catches one’s eye that these two worlds are contrasting spaces with contrasting characters living there. But, no matter if they are of a high or low social standing it is always the same features on which this standing depends, namely on their appearance, their behaviour and their way of talking. In the following there will be given a few examplary features of elite characters whereupon several non-elite characters will be analyzed a little bit more detailed in order to emphazise their difference to superior persons that are actually always presented in the same way, which is why the latter are only decribed rather shortly.

2.1 Elite characters

Many little girls dream of being a princess and/or of marrying a prince in the future⁶. Disney’s response to such desires is the creation of royal characters having idealized attributes, so that the need for marrying a prince might still be intensified for young girls⁷. Disney suggests that life with a prince is harmonious and beautiful, which is why Prince Eric is presented as an ideal person young girls might dream of. This implies that being a royal character is something good, because you are respected, wealthy and also powerful. For example, King Triton is rather rich which can be seen by his splendid castle as well as by his golden trident. Since he is wealthy, he is powerful, which is why Disney disseminates the idea that “wealth is a common way to move up in the world”⁸ and that poor people have no other chance than being inferior⁹. Luckily, Ariel is his daughter and thus a princess, and so she has a high social standing that she can, nevertheless, only keep by marrying a male royal person¹⁰. What strikes is that her “place in society is lower than it should be“¹¹ stressing that being female and royal is not as advantageous as being male and royal. This is also shown by the fact that Ariel needs Triton’s blessing in order to marry Eric, because otherwise “aquatic peace”¹² cannot be guarenteed. It is thus noticeable that in The Little Mermaid there must be a ruler who keeps everything in order and balance and who is sagacious, kind and powerful, because any “other arrangement is unworkable”¹³. Even if non-elite villains attains power, this rule will only be temporary and fateful because “they are ill-equipped to rule”¹⁴.

Another point is that elite characters never have to change socially in order to be happy, because they are already in a position that is superior to others. Ariel, for example, is still a princess before and after the marriage to Eric. Furthermore, elite characters are always searching for their own self-satisfaction¹⁵, which is approved by everybody, and so “Disney’s fetish for supreme individualism discounts any concern for others”¹⁶, which is why unfair or poor social circumstances are never questioned. This very value of self-contentment without any concern for others is even rewarded by preferences like marriage and power.¹⁷

2.2 Non-elite characters

[...]

1 Hoisington, Deana Michelle. Chapter 4 – Analysis. 1996. http://www.his.com/~ajp/analysis.htm

2 Artz, Lee. Animating Hierarchy: Disney and the Globalization of Capitalism. Global Media Journal. 8th June 2004.

3 Hoisington. Chapter 4 – Analysis.

4 Artz.

5 Presley, Ben. Disney reflects gender/racial issues in cartoons. http://www.theimpactonline.com/news/2001/11/09/
Campusfeatures/Disney.Reflects.Genderracial.I.shtml

6 This ‘Princess Syndrome’, as Tim Hunter calls it, “has historical roots in the courts and aristocracy of medieval Europe” and peak in modern fairy tales. Hunter, Tim. Every little girl wants to be a princess - or so Hollywood would have us believe. August 2004. http://www.pkmeco.com/princess.htm

7 Many little girls thinks that they will live happily ever after only with a prince, since this is suggested in many Disney movies (e.g. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast). So, it is understandable if parents criticize these films, because they evoke that happiness cannot be completely reached in a ‘normal’ life but only somewhere else. Cf. Snow, Vera. An Enlightened Princess. 2004. http://www.justformom.com/articles_full_text_ page.php?article_id=552

8 Hoisington. Chapter 4 – Analysis.

9 This implies, in a way, that Disney does not (want to) nourish the American from rags-to-richesdream, but that he propagates a class society.

10 Heritage or marriage, by the way, is the only way to achieve a superior social status, which is why not everyone can have it, although most, like for example Ursula, want it. Disney says that, if you are not royal, selfish and only think about your own dreams and wishes, as Ursula does when she tries to become ruler of the ocean, you will not succeed but fail. Cf. Hoisington. Chapter 4 – Analysis.

11 Wallace, Sarah. Is Ariel a Heroine?. November 2001. http://studentweb.tulane.edu/ ~twhitney/sarah.doc

12 Artz.

13 Artz.

14 Artz.

15 It is true that Ursula has also only selfish motives she wants to satisfy, namely that she wants to rule the ocean, but she is no privileged character, which means that she is not royal or does not marry a king, and so she has not the ‘right’ to get her own self-satisfaction without being punished.

16 Artz.

17 Cf. Artz.