From Fairytale to Film: The Little Mermaid

From Fairy Tale to Film: The Little Mermaid

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re discussing “The Little Mermaid,” from fairy tale to film.

For this video, we’ll be looking at how Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 story evolved into a Disney treasure, reflecting the titular mermaid’s transformative voyage from sea to land.

Chapter 1: Treasures Untold

Premiering in 1989, “The Little Mermaid” ushered in a new golden age of animated Disney classics. This wasn’t the first time that the studio considered an adaptation of the fairy tale, however. Between the late 30s and early 40s, Disney nearly collaborated with producer Samuel Goldwyn on a package film entitled “The Life of Hans Christian Andersen.” Similar to “Song of the South,” the author’s life would’ve been depicted in live-action while animation would be utilized to bring several of his stories to fruition. Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen, who worked on the finale of “Fantasia” and the 1924 publication “Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen,” conceived gothic concept art for Disney’s proposed “Little Mermaid” segment. The project was always on shaking footing, though.

Between story issues, World War II, and the Disney animators’ strike, the production sank by the 1940s. Goldwyn would produce a 1952 “Hans Christian Andersen” movie, albeit without animation. Over the decades, the Disney studio revisited several Andersen stories that had been considered for the package film, including “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” “The Snow Queen,” and “The Little Mermaid.” After Jeffrey Katzenberg approved Ron Clements’s pitch for a “Little Mermaid” animated feature in the mid-80s, Nielsen’s concept art and story material was uncovered from the Disney Archives. By chance, some of Disney’s original ideas for a “Little Mermaid” adaptation lined up with Clements’s two-page treatment. While not without their differences, both deviated significantly from Andersen’s fairy tale, which is far darker than some may realize.

Chapter 2: From Fins to Feet

In the source material and the 1989 film, the Little Mermaid has several older sisters and a widowed Sea King father. There’s also a prince who catches the mermaid’s eye and a Sea Witch who grants her legs at a price. None of these characters had actual names in Andersen’s fairy tale. Ariel was simply the Little Mermaid, Ursula was just the Sea Witch, and so on. Also missing were supporting players like Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle. Where 16-year-old Ariel is forbidden from going to the surface world, Anderson’s mermaid is allowed to get a glimpse of the human world upon turning 15. Going above water, the mermaid falls in love with a prince, who she rescues from a violent sea storm on his birthday.

Clements and co-director John Musker were inspired by Nielsen’s seastorm art while developing their version. In Andersen’s fairy tale, the prince has no memory of the mermaid after she leaves his unconscious body by a temple. For the unmade version, Walt Disney suggested that the prince should briefly see the mermaid and hear her sing to him. Coincidentally, the 1989 film included a similar first encounter between Ariel and Eric. While Andersen’s mermaid is drawn to the prince, that’s not her sole motivation for wanting to be human. The mermaid’s grandmother, who’s absent from the 1989 film, tells her that humans don’t live as long as mermaids. However, humans possess souls that live on in the afterlife while mermaids turn to seafoam after dying.

Clements and Musker dropped the immortality angle, feeling Ariel’s love for Eric and the human world would be enough. In both versions, the mermaid visits a sea witch who makes her a potion that’ll turn her human. There are several differences, though. Unlike Ursula, Andersen’s Sea Witch doesn’t have an alternative motive to overthrow the Sea King. She’s morally ambiguous rather than a straight-up villain. Ursula’s potion also comes with very specific conditions, like a strict three day window. Andersen’s version lacks a three-day deadline, although the mermaid has to get the prince to fall in love with and marry her to receive a soul. If the prince marries someone else, the mermaid will turn to seafoam and perish.

Andersen’s mermaid doesn’t just sacrifice her voice to the witch. She loses her tongue! Obviously, Disney didn’t go that extreme. Walking on legs is also a much more painful adjustment for Andersen’s mermaid, who feels like she’s being stabbed with each step. Although she can’t talk, the mermaid grows close to the prince, who’s still determined to marry the girl who rescued him. Eric is similarly resolute, but he gives up pursuing his mystery girl in favor of Ariel, not realizing they’re one and the same. Using a human disguise, Ursula hypnotizes Eric into marrying her. The wedding is stopped, Ursula is defeated, Ariel becomes human, and they all live happily ever after. This is where Disney pretty much jumped ship from the source material.

In Andersen’s story, the prince believes that the girl who rescued him at the temple is also the princess that he’s arranged to marry. The prince thus marries the princess, never learning who the mermaid truly is. The mermaid’s sisters strike another bargain with the Sea Witch, giving up their hair for a dagger. By murdering the prince and dousing her feet in his blood, she can become a mermaid again. Unable to go through with the act, the mermaid throws the dagger and herself overboard, turning into seafoam. While not the happiest ending, the mermaid’s actions allow her to become an earthly spirit. If she spends the next three centuries doing good deeds, she’ll be rewarded with a soul and ascend to heaven.

Chapter 3: A New Voice

“The Little Mermaid” mirrors Andersen’s life in many respects. Andersen wanted to be an opera singer, but his voice wasn’t strong enough. He felt like a fish out of water in society, especially when it came to his love life. Given Andersen’s lifetime of unrequited love, it’s not surprising that he ended “The Little Mermaid” on such a heartbreaking note. Disney isn’t the first studio to give the fairy tale a happier ending. In a 1958 Shirley Temple version, Neptune allows the mermaid to live on with her family, although she still doesn’t get her prince. Even in the unmade Disney version, Walt felt that the prince shouldn’t end up with the mermaid, who’s given a tragic end.

Of course, Walt also said, “We don’t need to do Andersen literally.” As tonally different as they are, Andersen’s fairy tale and the 1989 film are both about passionate heroines who go after what they want. Where one is more of a cautionary tale, the other encourages its audience to pursue their dreams. At the same time, both versions delve into the sacrifices people make to achieve those dreams. Although Ariel becomes human, she still must say goodbye to her family and friends. The father-daughter theme wasn’t prevalent in Andersen’s story, but it provides one of the film’s most emotional arcs as Ariel and Triton part ways. In that sense, the Disney version preserves one of the fairy tale’s key themes while taking another route.

If you want a Disney adaptation of an Andersen fairy tale that goes all the way with a bleak ending, we’d recommend Roger Allers’ beautiful take on “The Little Matchgirl.” However, a movie doesn’t necessarily need to be a faithful adaptation to be a good adaptation. For many, the 1989 film is the definitive “Little Mermaid.” This is largely thanks to the original aspects that Disney brought to the story, from Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s Oscar-winning music, to the fleshed-out characters, to the heartfelt resolution that perhaps resonated more with parents than with their children. Sometimes, the best adaptations are the ones that strive to be different. And in a story about a mermaid becoming human, changes are only appropriate.