Why is The Little Mermaid still one of the best stories for children? If you’ve been a fan or at least saw or heard of the story before, find out in-depth the positive impacts of the classical story and the lessons it has to teach.
First published in 1837, The Little Mermaid was written in Danish and titled Den lille havfrue. It is a literary fairy tale with a plot drawn from Hans Christian Andersen’s imagination rather than a specific folktale.
The book’s animated version, released in 1989, was and still is one of Disney’s most popular. But why? If you’ve wondered what makes The Little Mermaid a classic, this article takes an in-depth look at its lessons and how they teach them.
Impulsiveness isn’t always good
The first and most important lesson that The Little Mermaid teaches is that impulsiveness isn’t always a good idea.
In the animated movie, Ariel gives up her voice in exchange for legs. Although this fulfills the mermaid’s lifelong dream of being able to walk on land, her decisions come with a considerable price. Aside from giving up her voice, she abandoned the people she loved and didn’t think about what could go wrong if she couldn’t meet the evil sea witch Ursula’s terms.
Ursula would be able to keep her voice and soul. In exchange, her father, King Triton, had to exchange his soul for his daughter’s. Although the movie ended happily, this can’t be said for all situations where people act impulsively.
The main takeaway was that you should think before you act and weigh the risks and rewards.
Curiosity and research
The Little Mermaid comes to life as Ariel remains curious about everything human. But on the other hand, humans are usually fascinated with things we don’t always experience, like the sea.
As the movie shows, keeping yourself curious and learning about interesting things is essential. Ariel usually collects human items and asks a seagull friend, Scuttle, to tell her what they mean. However, Scuttle always gives her the wrong interpretation or meaning for whatever she brings him. Since he lacks research, he often misleads Ariel, who quickly follows what he says even though he’s wrong.
This backfired when she met Prince Eric seated at the table and used the fork as a hairbrush, just like the seagull explained.
Stay alert and watch your surroundings
In the earlier part of the movie, Ariel and her fish friend Flounder can be seen swimming around an abandoned shipwreck. While the ship looks creepy enough, the two venture further to seek treasure.
While Ariel successfully found treasure, this came at the risk of them almost being eaten by a shark. Although it isn’t wrong to venture and explore the world, it’s important to stay vigilant and be careful, especially in unfamiliar situations. Ariel even told Flounder not to be such a “baby” when both should’ve been more cautious about venturing into the abandoned shipwreck.
Communication is important
As the movie shows, the communication between Ariel and her father wasn’t that great. However, both of them did have faults.
The first fault was Ariel missing the grand performance, which frustrated King Triton with her since she was supposed to be the show’s star. The second fault was with King Triton, who didn’t want to listen to his daughter about her feelings regarding humans.
Although King Triton might have had reasons why he hated humans, Ariel felt frustrated that her dad couldn’t listen to her, and they couldn’t even agree to disagree.
Fate: If it’s meant to be, it will happen
Although the story of The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale, and it’s hard to believe that things like fate happen, at the end of the day, if something is meant to happen, it does happen.
The Little Mermaid shows that although Ariel lost her voice, and her voice was what Prince Eric first noticed about her, they were still meant to be together, and in the end, they did end up with each other. Although not everyone gets what they want in life, this doesn’t mean there’s nothing for them. On the contrary, the story shows that, in the end, what’s meant to happen will happen, no matter how impossible it might seem.
In summary
The Little Mermaid is a classic story that brings to light some lessons that are hard to swallow. If you’ve forgotten the story, or it’s been too long since you’ve watched The Little Mermaid, try watching it again.
As an adult, you’ll find The Little Mermaid story different from how you saw it as a child.
