When I take on a character to embody I always do my research. I have seen the little mermaid a billion times as a child but as an adult the experience is very different. I set aside my pre assumptions about what I think I know and then I flip it over and view it from a new perspective. I think many of us don't realize the great impact that the stories we memorized as a children would have such a big effect on our adult life's.
Like many other's in my age range (30 to 40) I grew up watching Disney movies repetitively. Disney made me believe in magic and wish on shooting stars. I once believed that some ultimate love would free me from my dull and uneventful upbringing and I would be rescued by some handsome prince and run off happily ever after. I found out too soon that life is more like a Tarantino movie in the way that it is comediclly dark and clever. It's only happenstance that you survive covered in blood and trauma to be greatful that you survived at all and then you can be happy.
I'm embarrassed at the fact that in my youth I was an Ariel. I was just completely fascinated with all things far apart from myself. I was always more instrested in other cultures and other places in the world while I felt my own world was a trap. I took for granted that I grew up on the coast of the gulf of Mexico that was just the smell of fish and petro chemical plants to me. I felt insignificant growing up in black culture assuming I would always be held back and down and embarrassed by my creole blood line that was know as dumb voodoo believing hicks that couldn't be trusted. By the time I was 13 I knew more about China, Japan and how to be a cool and popular teen from advice from 17 magazine than I knew about the state I live in.
In the Disney Little Mermaid it appears that Ariel gives up her voice for Eric but truly she's giving up her voice and the entire world of her own to live on land. In Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 story every step she takes with new legs in this new world resembles being pricked by sharp knives. She doesn't marry the prince he chooses someone else and she attempts to kill the Prince to get her voice back but can't bring herself to do it and kills herself instead. She turns into sea foam when she dies and as her spirit floats in the sky, she eventually earns a soul by carrying out good deeds for a whole 300 years before ascending into heaven.
The more I think about it Ariel becomes a villain herself in her pursuit of killing the prince due to her plan going all wrong. She has been manipulated by the sea witch to kill the prince to receive her soul back but you cannot convince me that rage and scorn from being rejected by the prince isn't playing a part.
Many of us make that same mistake. We fantasize that we are going to find the perfect life and happiness outside of ourselves and then we blame the outcome on that man or woman that didn't make us happy , or that new place we moved halfway around the world that turns out not to be the Utopia we imagined. We become bitter and angry at the world around us for not giving us what we thought was promised to us. We build resentment and lose hope on ever being happy.
The little mermaid kills herself instead of the Prince for 1 or both of these reasons: Either because she has lost all hope that her fantasy failed her or because deep down she knows that she set all these events in motion when she sacrificed all she was to try and be something new she assumed would bring her happiness. Rather she takes responsibility for her actions or sees herself as a victim is un important to the consequences but vital to her ability to recover and see the lessons of her choices. She could have explored forever but without ever knowing who she truly is she would still be lost and incomplete.
Don't misunderstanding me now.... I myself at heart is an explorer in the way I approach living my life. I love new places and cultures and discovering new things. Where I went wrong in my youth is that I didn't embrace the base of who I actually am first! I didn't learn to appreciate or see the beauty of my own culture, the hair that grew out of my head, the sand beneath my feet and how valuable I was purely in my existence and my talents. I well hid that I was smarter than I pretended to be most of my life because I didn't want to push people away by appearing smart and boring. People assumed I was dumb anyway because I was pretty and big breasted and I played the part to please them. I didn't see my creativity and talents as enough due to constantly comparing myself to other's so I waited late to harness my true potential.
There is a saying that the easiest and most profitable way to success is to become an expert at what you are naturally good at and meant for. Therefore in order to reach our truest potential and success we must first become an expert of ourself. We must study our hearts and talents to the extent that we see all of our possibilities and become powerfully confident in ourselves in reaching them.
Life is not a fairy tale and there is no place you can go, no love you can meet that will complete any of us if we don't explore ourselves first. It will be difficult and disappointment searching both inside and outside of ourselves regardless but if we start at square one instead of running to square 30 we will build a stronger foundation for ourselves and make healthier choices throughout our journey.
For those of us that were the Ariel trope in the story it is never too late to decide to start an expedition into ourselves.
Like many other's in my age range (30 to 40) I grew up watching Disney movies repetitively. Disney made me believe in magic and wish on shooting stars. I once believed that some ultimate love would free me from my dull and uneventful upbringing and I would be rescued by some handsome prince and run off happily ever after. I found out too soon that life is more like a Tarantino movie in the way that it is comediclly dark and clever. It's only happenstance that you survive covered in blood and trauma to be greatful that you survived at all and then you can be happy.
I'm embarrassed at the fact that in my youth I was an Ariel. I was just completely fascinated with all things far apart from myself. I was always more instrested in other cultures and other places in the world while I felt my own world was a trap. I took for granted that I grew up on the coast of the gulf of Mexico that was just the smell of fish and petro chemical plants to me. I felt insignificant growing up in black culture assuming I would always be held back and down and embarrassed by my creole blood line that was know as dumb voodoo believing hicks that couldn't be trusted. By the time I was 13 I knew more about China, Japan and how to be a cool and popular teen from advice from 17 magazine than I knew about the state I live in.
In the Disney Little Mermaid it appears that Ariel gives up her voice for Eric but truly she's giving up her voice and the entire world of her own to live on land. In Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 story every step she takes with new legs in this new world resembles being pricked by sharp knives. She doesn't marry the prince he chooses someone else and she attempts to kill the Prince to get her voice back but can't bring herself to do it and kills herself instead. She turns into sea foam when she dies and as her spirit floats in the sky, she eventually earns a soul by carrying out good deeds for a whole 300 years before ascending into heaven.
The more I think about it Ariel becomes a villain herself in her pursuit of killing the prince due to her plan going all wrong. She has been manipulated by the sea witch to kill the prince to receive her soul back but you cannot convince me that rage and scorn from being rejected by the prince isn't playing a part.
Many of us make that same mistake. We fantasize that we are going to find the perfect life and happiness outside of ourselves and then we blame the outcome on that man or woman that didn't make us happy , or that new place we moved halfway around the world that turns out not to be the Utopia we imagined. We become bitter and angry at the world around us for not giving us what we thought was promised to us. We build resentment and lose hope on ever being happy.
The little mermaid kills herself instead of the Prince for 1 or both of these reasons: Either because she has lost all hope that her fantasy failed her or because deep down she knows that she set all these events in motion when she sacrificed all she was to try and be something new she assumed would bring her happiness. Rather she takes responsibility for her actions or sees herself as a victim is un important to the consequences but vital to her ability to recover and see the lessons of her choices. She could have explored forever but without ever knowing who she truly is she would still be lost and incomplete.
Don't misunderstanding me now.... I myself at heart is an explorer in the way I approach living my life. I love new places and cultures and discovering new things. Where I went wrong in my youth is that I didn't embrace the base of who I actually am first! I didn't learn to appreciate or see the beauty of my own culture, the hair that grew out of my head, the sand beneath my feet and how valuable I was purely in my existence and my talents. I well hid that I was smarter than I pretended to be most of my life because I didn't want to push people away by appearing smart and boring. People assumed I was dumb anyway because I was pretty and big breasted and I played the part to please them. I didn't see my creativity and talents as enough due to constantly comparing myself to other's so I waited late to harness my true potential.
There is a saying that the easiest and most profitable way to success is to become an expert at what you are naturally good at and meant for. Therefore in order to reach our truest potential and success we must first become an expert of ourself. We must study our hearts and talents to the extent that we see all of our possibilities and become powerfully confident in ourselves in reaching them.
Life is not a fairy tale and there is no place you can go, no love you can meet that will complete any of us if we don't explore ourselves first. It will be difficult and disappointment searching both inside and outside of ourselves regardless but if we start at square one instead of running to square 30 we will build a stronger foundation for ourselves and make healthier choices throughout our journey.
For those of us that were the Ariel trope in the story it is never too late to decide to start an expedition into ourselves.
