Well, if the conversation is still going on, then I have to put in another plug for Ariel. The bridge to "part of that world" goes like this:
What would I give if I could live out of these waters?
What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?
Betcha on land, they'd understand
Bet they don't reprimand their daughters.
Bright young women, sick of swimmin'
Ready to staaaaaaaaaaaand!
I think that song makes a lot of sense, and I think even young girls get the irony. Ariel lives underwater, and believes that "on land they don't reprimand their daughters". Even young kids know she's got it wrong, and it underscores in a really literal way the dissatisfactions of childhood (and particularly of adolescence).
I guess you could write a fairy tale about a girl who had nice parents, who grew up respecting their superior judgment, and then, eventually, became an independent person who was able to enter into a mutually respectful relationship with another person... but how dull would that be? would a story like that get passed on and on, and speak to people from childhood through adulthood? Fairy tales are dark - even the cleaned up disney versions - and that's what makes them relevant.
So in the little mermaid - Ariel defies her father. In a way she's right (because she's a strong, curious teenager) and in a way she's wrong (she's impulsive and insufficiently cautious). Her father is right about some things (he loves Ariel, he's a good father, and he wants to protect her) but he's wrong about others (he thinks that all humans are bad, he's overly restrictive). So the plot springs out of those tensions, and in the end, they're resolved such that she's an adult, she's in a good relationship with a good man, and she has reestablished a loving relationship with her proud father who respects the woman she has become.
(this is the plot of a lot of stories - "dirty dancing" being, maybe, the most recent version. if princess stories resonate with a kid, it's for a reason, and it might not be the stupid "pink clothes, weak female" reasons that you think).
What would I give if I could live out of these waters?
What would I pay to spend a day warm on the sand?
Betcha on land, they'd understand
Bet they don't reprimand their daughters.
Bright young women, sick of swimmin'
Ready to staaaaaaaaaaaand!
I think that song makes a lot of sense, and I think even young girls get the irony. Ariel lives underwater, and believes that "on land they don't reprimand their daughters". Even young kids know she's got it wrong, and it underscores in a really literal way the dissatisfactions of childhood (and particularly of adolescence).
I guess you could write a fairy tale about a girl who had nice parents, who grew up respecting their superior judgment, and then, eventually, became an independent person who was able to enter into a mutually respectful relationship with another person... but how dull would that be? would a story like that get passed on and on, and speak to people from childhood through adulthood? Fairy tales are dark - even the cleaned up disney versions - and that's what makes them relevant.
So in the little mermaid - Ariel defies her father. In a way she's right (because she's a strong, curious teenager) and in a way she's wrong (she's impulsive and insufficiently cautious). Her father is right about some things (he loves Ariel, he's a good father, and he wants to protect her) but he's wrong about others (he thinks that all humans are bad, he's overly restrictive). So the plot springs out of those tensions, and in the end, they're resolved such that she's an adult, she's in a good relationship with a good man, and she has reestablished a loving relationship with her proud father who respects the woman she has become.
(this is the plot of a lot of stories - "dirty dancing" being, maybe, the most recent version. if princess stories resonate with a kid, it's for a reason, and it might not be the stupid "pink clothes, weak female" reasons that you think).
