Fan Art Friday: The Little Mermaid (Disney)

Welcome to my second Fan Art Friday! This time, we'll dive into the magical underwater kingdom of The Little Mermaid, one of the most memorable Disney classics that touched our hearts when we were children. Released on November 17, 1989, this incredible film tells the story of Ariel, a mischievous and dreamy mermaid, who is a princess and the youngest daughter of King Triton, the ruler of the mermaid kingdom, Atlantica. However, she is not entirely happy with her life under the sea, as she is very curious to know the world of humans, ignoring the warnings of her father and Sebastian the crab that contact between mermaids and humans is forbidden due to their cruelty towards marine life.. She even has a collection of human artifacts in a secret grotto with her best friend, Flounder the fish.

Ariel's desire to be part of the human world grows stronger after she meets Prince Eric, with whom she falls in love at first sight and saves him from drowning when his ship is wrecked in a storm. With the help of the evil sea witch Ursula, who takes her voice in exchange for human legs, and defying her father's wishes, Ariel finally reaches the human world and meets the prince of her dreams. But she only has three days to get Prince Eric to give her a true love's kiss and be human forever, or she will be condemned to live as a polyp in Ursula's cave. Her friends Flounder, Sebastian and Scuttle (a seagull with a wrong understanding of humans) help her win the prince's love and a permanent stay on dry land. Ursula will do everything in her power to prevent this, as she wants to get rid of King Triton and become the new ruler of the seas. But as it happens in Disney animated stories, heroes and love always conquer evil .

The film is based on the story of the same name created by the Danish writer and poet, Hans Christian Andersen, who was very famous for his children's stories such as The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Snow Queen and others you may know. In both cases, the protagonist meets a handsome prince with whom she falls madly in love from a distance and saves him from a shipwreck. However, the tale has a darker background that Disney decided to omit in its adaptation aimed at a more familiar and childish audience. Unlike Ariel, the Little Mermaid in the tale (where the characters do not have names) suffers terrible pain every time she walks on her legs (as if she were walking on sharp blades) and tries to marry the prince not only because she loves him, but also to gain an immoral soul, because mermaids do not have one. Tragically, the little mermaid does not stay with the prince because he marries with another princess (mistakenly believing that she saved him), she dies and dissolves into sea foam upon the waves. However, she returns as a spirit of the air and by her efforts gets another chance to get an immortal soul doing good deeds for three hundred years.

The Little Mermaid was very successful and began a new golden age for Disney named Disney Renaissance (1989-1999), resuming the trend of adapting fairy tales about princesses to animated films. It has a sequel called The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, starring Melody, the daughter of Ariel and Eric, who has a great fascination with the sea and wants to be a mermaid (the complete opposite of her mother), but she has to face to Morgana, Úrsula's sister. An animated television series was also made in 1992, focused a year before the events of the first film and follows the adventures of Ariel and her friends under the sea. Later in 2008, a prequel was released called The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning with a similar theme that shows the life of Ariel with her parents and sisters, before the death of her mother and that King Triton banned music in Atlantica. And in May 2023, a live-action adaptation of the animated classic was released, starring Halle Bailey as Ariel.

I love the fantasy stories that Disney has created, but this one is my favorite because it shows us an incredible underwater world inhabited by mermaids, mythological creatures belonging to legends and folklore that have inspired a lot of fantastic stories for books, movies, TV series and other media. Many of us dream of being mermaids and living in a magical sea kingdom thanks to these stories. Others want to find true love and share our lives with that person, like Ariel with her prince. That's why I decided to make this tribute, gathering a collection of incredible Fan Art from the community .

I don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things could be bad - Ariel.

Teenagers. They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you - Sebastian.

Did you know that Ariel makes a cameo in another Disney movie? We can see her in Wifi Ralph alongside the other Disney princesses, when Vanellope enters the website of Disney fans.

Yes, I’ve Had The Odd Complaint, But On The Whole, I’ve Been A Saint - Ursula 1989 & 2023.

Isn’t This Great? The Salty Sea Air, The Wind Blowing In Your Face. A Perfect Day To Be At Sea! - Prince Eric.

Far Better Than Any Dream Girl Is One Of Flesh And Blood. One Warm, And Caring, And Right Before Your Eyes - Grimsby.

Cover Image: Disney Redraw by @BombStaticz