KataraLover I ADORE Ariel but I wouldn't go so far as to call her complex. I do think she's a good role model because she teaches people that they shouldn't be afraid to go after their dreams, which many people are afraid to do because I think many people are afraid of what they can be. I wouldn't say that Ariel is thee best role model but she is a good role model, I think all of the Disney Princesses, even the ones I don't care much for, are good role models in some way, even Elsa. FINALLY, someone else who agrees that Ariel is selfish but no more than the average person. Let's face it, her attitude is really typical for a lot of teenagers, not just girls. I'm glad that someone else admits that Ariel does change because only someone who is completely heartless or idiotic wouldn't learn what they did what wrong in Ariel's situation, of which Ariel is not. I think Ariel is very clever, she just made some bad decisions. But at least she was aware that Ursula was evil and was actually very skeptical about her but only did it to make her dream come true. She didn't know she'd be hurting a lot of people, there was no possible way she could have known that. All she knew was that she would be hurting herself. She really does care about her friends and family. She shows concern for them and even if she's not always considerate, let's face it, no one, especially a teenager, is considerate all the time. But she even considers not taking Ursula's deal because she realizes she'll never be with her father or sisters again. She finds it hard to leave her father, even after what he did to her collection not too long ago. People are really too harsh on her and I still stand by that no matter what they did with Ariel, people would still find reasons to hate her. Amazing article and I feel privileged to have had this published on my birthday!

quishy11 ^ Happy birthday KataraLover! :D

cruella ^^Well, Happy Birthday! Consider it my present to you. :) I'm happy you like it and agree with it.

cruella Thank you, MalloMar.

8804 @KL: Happy Birthday to you!!!! Nice timing of this article, eh?

cruella Lol thank you, and yeah I guess I timed it perfectly.

Tygers_Eye Okay, this surprised me. I was expecting this to be another Ariel defense article... which it is, okay. But from one of the rare people who don't feel too strongly one way or another. Well, unfortunately, I do feel strongly. I can't help it. I still don't buy it. 1) To me, Ariel's "stupidity" is not just making one bad decision, it's how she consistently acts throughout the movie. She makes bad decision after bad decision, and doesn't seem to learn from it. She gets out of it unscathed (usually because someone else manned the helm), then throws herself into the next dangerous situation like the last one didn't just happen. 2) "All teenage girls are selfish and egocentric so she is selfish in that sense, but no more selfish than the average teenager." I really strongly disagree with this. I hate teenagers as much as the next person (hated them when I was a kid, hated them when I was one, and hate them now), but this is a Hasty Generalization. Have you met every teenager on the planet? Do you know what every single teenager is really like? Plus, besides Elsa, EVERY Disney Princess is in her teens. Do they all act like this? Another problem is that "teenager" is a social construct, and a modern one at that. Until 1950's America, there were no teenagers. You were a child until you were old enough to marry and work independently, then you were an adult. (It's still like that in many parts of the world.) Then during the economic boon of 1950's America, when better education programs and economic prosperity allowed parents to keep their kids in school up to 18 instead of pulling them out to help with the farm, many companies saw there was a "no man's land" between small children who lived with their parents, had lots of pocket money and a desire to spend, and adults who were able to get themselves around to buy things but actually had financial responsibilities. They saw that there was this whole age group of older kids who had the same spending habits of little kids, but were not so dependent on their parents that they had to wait for their working, financially responsible parents to take them places. So, they came up with the concept of the "teenager" and started marketing lots of superfluous stuff to them. Eventually the concept of the "teenager" took hold within the public conscious, and to this day a lot of our economy runs on teenagers spending their parents' hard-earned money on stuff they don't need because advertisements cater to and/or attack their fragile child egos. The idea of the "teenager" is socially constructed and socially maintained. If, for whatever reason, we took "teenager" out of our vocabulary and the social and economic environment changed so that most kids only get an 8th grade education (at most) and have to help the family work around the time they hit puberty (and possibly marry and start a family as they did throughout history and still do in many parts of the world), you bet your buttons the common "selfish, bratty teenager" personality type that plagues our society would disappear, or at least significantly soften. Plus, the cultural attitude toward teenagers in many other Western countries (especially Scandinavian ones, where one of my sister's best friends is from) is that they are just young adults who are capable of making good decisions but simply lack life experience, and treat them accordingly. Guess what? In general, they are much better behaved and make better life choices than many teenagers over here. What's more: "Also the movie 'The Little Mermaid' focuses primarily on HER fulfilling HER dream, so of course she would be thinking a great deal about HERself during that time. What do you think my problem with this movie is? It's true that other Disney Princesses have moral failings, make bad decisions, and even have their selfish moments, but the difference is their movies force them to learn, grow, change, and deal with the consequences of their actions. Ariel's movie treats her as being entitled to every little thing she desires, has other characters bail her out in her pursuit of it even though she blows them off and takes them for granted, and then just gives her her way at the end. Not cool, Disney. 3) I don't think so. My point of contention is that Ariel blows off and takes her friends for granted BEFORE she sees Eric, not after. She drags Flounder into the sunken ship against his will, manipulates him into staying when he wants to go, and doesn't keep an eye on him even though she knows he can't swim that fast (as he tells her), so I don't give her any points for saving him when she dragged him into danger in the first place. She also misses Sebastian's concert and isn't sorry that she humiliated him (if anything, she crosses her arms and scowls when he dares to reprimand her), and ignores him to go to the surface to see the fireworks. All before seeing Eric. I'd give her a pass for her post-sighting Eric behavior if it wasn't the exact same way before. Plus, I don't count the television series as "canon" because it was made after the film, by a completely different studio, without any of the original writers or filmmakers' involvement. From the original movie, Ariel is NOT loving or caring toward her "friends." She just takes them for granted and for some reason that I can't fathom, they put their lives on hold (and on the line!) to help her without getting so much as a nod of thanks. "Did Ariel learn her lesson"? I still don't think so. She consistently throws herself into reckless, dangerous situations through the film, doesn't seem to learn her lesson, then after her Daddy and Eric save her from Ursula's deal, she's back to mooning over him like it never happened. Doesn't approach her father, apologize, nothing. To quote the Nostalgia Chick: "She doesn't really change. She doesn't learn anything. Ariel wants something. There are obstacles. Ariel gets what she wants. The end." To quote the Nostalgia Critic: "Despite her causing all this trouble, she gets exactly what she wants. She whines and complains, and in the end, she's rewarded for it." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8aVYWn9XHw I definitely agree that she isn't a good role model, when all's said and done. Other Disney Princesses show a drive, passion, and determination to get what they want too, but they ALSO show consideration for others and show sound judgment in other areas, or at least learn to by the end. So, I like them better.

cruella Well, thank you for your input, but I think we'll just have agree to disagree. Alright?

_CatWoman_ I agree with Tygers_Eye, but overall great article! II love your neutral based opinion.

Tygers_Eye I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just couldn't stop myself.

cruella Thank you _CatWoman_. It's alright Tygers_Eye, I know you hate Ariel and respect your opinion. But I'd rather this not turn into a fight between Ariel lovers and haters.

KataraLover I showed good retrain on avoiding a fight by not reading Tygers_Eye's comment. From now on I'm never going to read Ariel hate comments again because they do nothing but cause me unnecessary stress and headaches.

8804 ^^^ I'm going to follow your lead.

cruella Good for you guys! I think the Ariel feud has gone long enough.

Sk8er__grl I think they are overreacting about Tygers_eye comment. It's an opinion article, so she has the right to voice her opinion. If THAT comment started a fight, it wouldn't be at the fault of Tygers_eye because she never called out the Ariel fans. Heck, she even apologized. Sooo, can I give [b]MY[/b] opinion without anyone being mad, or would I apparently be starting a feud for Ariel fans to get angry over...XD

Silverrose1991 ^Elana, they are just avoiding her comment because it will upset them and this will launch into an argument. Nothing to fuss about.

cruella ^^Exactly. there's nothing to worry about.

Sk8er__grl ^Well, that's sort of what I'm saying about Tygers_eye comment, I see nothing wrong with it, so I feel that it was no point of mentioning it since this is an, "opinion article." Hence, opinion. That will usually start fights. If they both didn't want to start fights, I don't think they should have wasted the time commenting. Er, if I may... 1. Is Ariel stupid While I don't think bad decisions necessarily make you stupid, it's how she goes about these decisions in my opinion that make her dumber then some of the other mistakes you mentioned. Merida made a dumb decision by going to the witch, but she righted her wrong in very clever and well-thought out ways, while Ariel again acted stupidly by attacking Ursula. (Again, she doesn't think things through) some might say it's brave, but I found it just stupid. I don't think Tiana kissing a frog for money was stupid, actually. It was a bad decision, but when Ariel made her bad decision by going to the sea-witch she apparently missed the sea of polyps on her way. (At the end she says: "I didn't mean to daddy! I didn't know!" HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW!?! There was a sea of polyps and Ursula gave a visual representation of transforming mer-people into them. She's just...*sigh* dumb) And while Belle DID make a stupid choice at going to the west wing, Belle shows a lot of sings of intelligence through the movie that Ariel really doesn't. Belle reads, knows how to care-fully deal with an angry Beast, knows first-aid, etc. Another problem I have with Ariel's intelligence is more a plot hole. When Ariel is an Ursula's layer she signs a contract showing she knows how to write, yet on land she can't write a simple note at Eric about her situation? 2. Is Ariel selfish Yes...all teenage girls act like Ariel, but who says they aren't selfish? I agree with Tygers_eye that Ariel compared to other princesses who are also teenagers is a huge difference in immaturity and selfishness. Merida changed her mother which was selfish, but in the end she righted her wrong and was willing to marry in the end for her mother. In the end, I don't think we see any sort of change like that in Ariel. Tiana was stuck in her own little world on her dream in the beginning, but in the end gave it up for Naveen's happiness. The movie focuses around Ariel, but she does SO many selfish things other then chasing after her dream without telling anyone and I still think it was out of spite. Missing out on her father's concert for the millionth time, making Flounder go in the boat with her after he was scared, not saying thanks to Sebastian after he risks his life for her, only showing sings of gratitude for her father after she gets transformed, etc. 3. Does Ariel care about her friends You could say that at heart she might have cared for them, and I will admit she has like...one scene of caring for them...but she has an awful way of showing it. When Flounder is scared at going in the boat, she teases him and makes snarky remarks about his fear. "Just stay out here and watch for sharks" yes, she didn't know about sharks actually being there, but I think that goes back to both her stupidity and selfishness. She didn't know if sharks would be in that area, but she doesn't check before making that teasing mark at Flounder and she takes him along without caring about his safety. About Sebastian, he constantly risks his life and job for her well being, and Ariel never seems to give a crap. Ariel never asked him to do any of those things, but she just pats him on the head and goes to bed. 4. Does Ariel develop See, I think Ariel only was on good terms with him because Triton gave her what she wanted. As soon as she's a human she's now all happy and THEN she finally says she loves him, she didn't do that when he was keeping her in the ocean so she doesn't get eaten by humans. She's not heartless, but she's definitely uncaring of others. That's my problem with her, more or less. 5. Could you tell me how she is complex in your eyes? :) Anyway, good article. I like how you had indifferent feeling on her.

cruella Thank you. I wouldn't call her extremely complex, but I think she's more complex than the classic princesses. Because with the classics they were pretty flawless in their personalities and kind of one dimensional. Also they all had very similar personalities. But Ariel behaves much more like I would expect a normal teenage to, and the fact that she is a flawed character adds dimension to her that the previous princesses didn't have.

KataraLover I don't think being flawed makes you complex. A complex character is someone who is difficult to write, has had a hard life and has become hard to understand because of it, or is just complicated. I don't think Ariel is any of these options, despite my love for her. I don't really think any of the Disney Princesses are complex.

cruella I think flaws add to the complexity of a character. I mean if they're perfect they're pretty one dimensional than. But, I agree that none of the princesses are very complex, which is honestly why I've never been a huge fan of the DP franchise. I do think some are more complex then others.

quishy11 About Ariel and Sebastian... Here's how it goes... "This has got to be, without a doubt, the single most humiliating day of my life." (Ariel pats him.) "I hope you appreciate what I go through for you, young lady. Now, we got to make a plan to get that boy to kiss you..." I think she patted him to say "it's alright, don't be humiliated." Even though she had no idea what he went through! He never told her! He also went off the topic quickly. To Ariel, it would sound like he was saying, "I hope you appreciate that I'm dealing with being humiliated for you, young lady." Not, "I almost died for you, do you appreciate this?" Ariel had no idea he almost died. She was going to sleep, and she patted his head to say "it's ok, don't worry," (or at least I thought). So I don't really understand why people criticize this action so much.

KataraLover Plus it's not like she could ask him what happened to him. She has no freaking voice!

cruella ^ I agree. I'm sure if he had told her he was nearly killed, she would have felt bad.

Sk8er__grl Like I said, it's more something of interpretation. Ariel didn't seem very caring when patting him. No eye contact, no small moment of gratitude, no little wink or even a petting on his shell. It just seemed more, "yah yah goodnight *giggles*." It's not so much the action that bothers me, but more the actions she didn't make. After all Sebastian did go through I don't feel she gave much gratitude for it. But again, that's interpretation. I read deep into characters. (And basically anything)