Love Defined by the Little Mermaid Essay

What is the ultimate purpose of a exquisiteytale? According to Bruno Bettelheim its purpose is to show children that a struggle against severe difficulties in sprightliness is unavoidable, is an natural part of valet de chambre existence-but that if they do non shy away, but steadfastly meet unexpected and often un unsloped hard transmits, they master either obstacles and at the end emerge victorious(8). Disneys The Little Mermaid fulfills this purpose children mark Ariels struggles and because they identify with her they facial expression as if they struggle and triumph with her (Bettelheim, 9).Ariel is a real likable character, shes witty, beautiful, and children washbasin relate to her. well-nigh of the obstacles and struggles Ariel faces ar things children face in their own lives, for manakin Ariels desire to be independent and entrap herself. Although The Little Mermaid conforms to Brunos formula, it also determinees children other life lessons that may non be hea lthy or appropriate in the long run. In this case the messages sent to children concerning romance and cognise provide children images and behaviors that teach them confessedly love is spontaneous, passionate, for attractive flock only, and is happily ever after.What is a real life definition of love? Love is a multiform and profound concept that bumnot be easily defined. Robert Sternberg informs love by breaking it into three different concepts k instantern as the Triangular Theory of Love (as cited by Miller, 246-50) intimacy, passion and commitment. The Triangular Theory of Love defines intimacy as feelings of warmth, understanding, communication, support, and sharing that often characterize amiable relationships(as cited by Miller, 247).Passion is physical arousal and desireoften taking the form of sexual longing, but sight be both strong emotional hold that is satisfied by ones partner (as cited by Miller, 247). And last but not least commitment is defined as the decis ions to devote oneself to a relationship and work to maintain it(as cited by Miller, 247). When these three concepts argon put together in different combinations you get different types of love, eight to be specific (Miller, 249). The type of love that is shown in The Little Mermaid is infatuation, which is passion with no commitment and no intimacy.Ariel go in love with Eric the very split second she lays eyes on him, she knows nothing about him but believes she loves him. This example of love at first sight teaches children if you are strongly attracted to someone the first duration you construe them that this simple attraction, often times physical attraction signifies love. But what is it about Eric that attracts Ariel to him? Is it his dark hair, perfect smile, his dimples, his be and the fact that he is dancing? Possibly, but what also needs to be taken into account is who he is being compared to.The other men on the ship are either old, fat, scrawny, bald, boyish looking , have odontiasis missing or are dressed badly. Eric is the complete opposite of them. Another aspect to look at this from is what Miller, Perlman, and Brehm refer to as the misattribution of arousal, which is in basic form misplacing or exaggerating our attraction to others (251). They explain that we can be aroused by something positive or negative, not knowing we are aroused by it and past attribute another event or person as the reason for our arousal (251-252).Which is what happens in the movie, just minutes before seeing Eric, Ariel has an argument with her yield. The argument is about her missing the concert and swimming up to the surface. The argument seems one sided because Triton does all the talking and doesnt let Ariel explain herself. She swims off to where she keeps her hookup of human things that she finds on her adventures with Flounder, her animal sidekick. She pay offs to sing about lossing to be human so she can experience lying on the beach, walking on two feet and feeling the warmth from a fire. afterwards she sees a ship passing over and swims to the surface, partly out of rebellion and partly out of curiosity. Her emotions are already aroused before she sees Eric. Furthermore, she has already made up in her mind that she wants to be human Eric just becomes an excuse, the reason why she should become human. Ariel experiences a misplaced attraction Eric makes her emotions make sense. The problem now is Eric has no idea she even exists. On the other side, Eric too experiences a similar form of misattributed arousal. Eric has a conversation with Grimsby about finding a wife.Eric is obviously under a lot of pressure to resolve down but he wants to find the right girl. Not to long after this conversation the ship is struck by lightening. Everyone escapes and makes it on the life- boat, but Eric swims concealment to the ship to save his dog Max. The ship blows up and Eric falls in the water. Ariel indeed saves his life by swimming him safely to shore. This is the very first time Eric sees Ariel, they have no conversation, shes just looking into his face singing. Ariel is startled by Max and goes back in the water.Eric realizes that she is the one and instantly falls in love with her. Now that Eric knows that Ariel exists all she can do is wait for him to come save her from a life under the sea. Marcia Lieberman says that most of the heroinesare merely passive, submissive, and lost(p) (388). And she goes on to say, many of the girls are not merely passive, however they are frequently victims and even martyrs as well(390). Ariel doesnt do anything after saving Erics life. She swims around the castle in lala demesne, daydreaming and fantasizing of her prince.But not only does this show her passiveness, she is also portrayed as a victim. Her father doesnt understand her he wants her to live a life under the sea but refuses to see how unhappy she is with that life. After Triton finds out about Eric he destroys Arie ls collection along with the statue of Eric. Ariel is then left with no other choice but to go behind her fathers back and see Ursula, the sea witch. Ursula offers Ariel the chance of a lifetime, to be with Eric, but it doesnt come without paying a price. Ariel has to give Ursula her voice, go away her to seduce Eric with her beauty.This message tells children that love is based on beauty. Ursula tells Ariel that she has her looks, her pretty face, and not to underestimate the importance of body delivery. Basically telling her that her beauty is her most valuable asset, perhaps her only valuable asset(Lieberman, 385). Thus, indiscreetly telling her to disregard the importance of character, integrity and individuality and to counselling on being beautiful. Ariel is young, has big down in the mouth eyes, red full lips. Long flowing red hair, a perfect body, she is half naked and has fair skin.Compared to all the other characters Ariel has the most sex appeal, and being that childr en relate to her over all the other characters, children want to be like her. But not only does Ariel have sex appeal she has a winsome and friendly personality. She is caring, adventurous, independent, good-tempered, and outgoing. The problem with this image is children, mainly girls may be predisposed to imagine that there is a link between the loveable face and the lovable character, and to fear, if plain themselves, that they will also prove to be unpleasant, thus using the patterns to set up self-fulfilling prophecies(Lieberman, 385).Ursula for example is atrocious, fat, old and has a mean personality. Children may begin to opine that ugly people have ugly personalities and cant have true love, and pretty people have pretty personalities and are the only people who can experience true love. Jillian Cantor and Leta McGaffey needlelike explain it in this way, women are won by sensitive men with chocolates and flowers, men are dazzle with beauty and wit, and life is not comple te without a happy marriage and children.This single, narrowly defined situation leaves many people in the dust with, so it seems, little chance for romance and love. If you dont fit into this story line, you seem to be destined to die alone-and miserable about it. (327). Obviously this is not true to real life, but it is the message being sent to children. In real life relationships, true love is based not only on attraction, but a healthy, stable balance of commitment, trust, care, intimacy, and passion. stunner and romance fade and if that is the only thing sustaining your love, love fades as well.Ariels goal is to get Eric to kiss her. Notice Eric doesnt have to tell her I love you he has to kiss her, which is in itself very sexual. Kissing can lead to many other things, but at the same kissing can just be kissing and nothing more. But this hints that there is some sexual attraction, and sexual need associated with love, and that without a magical kiss love doesnt exist. Eric doesnt know Ariels name until they are in the boat. He is confused over if he loves her or not, if she is the girl who saved him, but he doesnt know the girls name, he knows nothing about her.This portrays men as shallow because he is playing strictly on beauty and not character, at least Ariel knows his name and a little about him, making women seem as if they care more about character than looks. Anyone who has grown up audition or watching fairytales can predict the ending of The Little Mermaid. It has the ideal perfect ending for a love story and fairytale. The girl is saved by her prince charming, the villain is defeated, there is a celebration (usually a wedding) and there is a magical kiss.Eric saves Ariel from Ursula and is in turn rewarded with Ariels hand in marriage. Marriage is the fulcrum and major(ip) event(Lieberman, 386) in this story. It is at the end, but nonetheless the major event. It is when everyone gets what they want. This is where the story ends it shows nothing of the married life. Marcia Lieberman observes that fairytales focus more on the courtship in relationships and not married life, which she says can cause children to develop a deep-seated desire to be courted, since marriage is literally the end of the story(394).Children will begin to think relationships end in happily ever after, when in real life no relationship is perfect, at some point there will be some kind of stress or pattern in the relationship, weather an argument, financial difficulties or infidelity, it will happen. So if these are the messages being sent to children with The Little Mermaid, isnt it setting them up for disappointment and failure? If children believe this is the way things should be, they will explore out those things and when they are faced with true love in real life they wont name it.Or if children feel unattractive or unworthy they may not accept love when inclined to them because they have been conditioned to believe love is only for p retty people, not average or ugly people. This outlook on love isnt healthy for children, or anyone for that matter. Bettelheim would argue that a more complex plot would confuse children, but I believe this oversimplification confuses children even more. Yes love is hard to explain to children because love doesnt happen the same for everyone, but should children be focusing on love at such a young age?If the ultimate purpose of a fairytale is to show children they can overcome lifes obstacles, why not present them with obstacles they are facing at the moment? Like the struggle of establishing themselves as individuals by defining who they are. Those lessons are the lessons that should be taught through any fairytale, not lessons telling children that love is spontaneous, passionate, for attractive people and happily ever after. Works Cited Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment.