Heatherrr
2011-12-01 12:30:20 UTC
The Disney movie version of The Little Mermaid has several moral lessons. Some of the moral lessons were learned when Ariel let her father and sisters down by not showing up for the concert. Ariel got herself into a lot of trouble by continuing to swim to the surface, when her father told her repeatedly it was dangerous. King Triton (Ariel’s father) needed to remember the importance of better parental communication with a teenager. Teenagers don't know as much as they think they do. The bottom line is you need to obey your parents. They know what they are talking about.
“Ariel was sixteen, the age when a mermaid was supposed to be thinking about marrying a merman and settling down.”(2) Let’s be serious, kids don’t need to believe that they should start thinking about who they need to marry at such a young age, things like that show why teenagers these days are getting pregnant and are trying to settle down. Just because it’s what a mermaid is “suppose” to do doesn’t mean that in reality that’s what a teenager should do too. The story book doesn’t setting a good example for young kids. There are meanings in the story that adults understand that kids won’t.
The Little Mermaid changed herself from being a mermaid to a mortal and that sends a bad message to kids because it tells them that you have to change yourself for someone else. That shouldn’t be the case. You need to love yourself for who you are and if the other person can’t accept that then what good are they really? Ariel was too concerned with what she thought the Prince Eric wanted which was a human. Money and good looks aren’t everything and Ariel is blinded by all of that. Kids don’t need to be influenced by that. Ursula had Ariel sign a contract that stated she could be a human for 3 days while giving Ursula Ariel’s voice, and if after three days, Prince Eric does not love her, has not kissed her, she belongs to Ursula.
When Prince Eric found Ariel as a human he took her to the castle, fed her, and gave her nice clothes. Ariel was living every girls dream. Though, it’s not about having all the money and luxury that Ariel was going to have if she married the Prince. Was it real love that Ariel felt when she first saw Prince Eric as she looked in his eyes? Or was it dollar signs? Maybe Ariel is a gold digger. Whatever it is we know that Ariel learned many lessons that every teenager will someday face like, don’t act on your emotions, the consequences can be extreme, don’t follow your heart, lead it, put others before yourself, the most important lesson that Ariel learned was to forgive others and to forgive herself.