The little mermaid - Story behind the story

[primiita]

im the little mermaid's fan and i do really love the Disney version but... the original art is soooo breath taking for the simply and unique! my gosh!

[LeoDeGrand]

I think it's fine Disney did their own version. I like coming away from a film happy which is why I tend to not watch films I know have sad endings. I end up being bummed out for the rest of the day :/ And by leaving the original story, it's left to someone else to do an adult adaptation like they've just done with Snow White.

[DefyGravity464]

"I really really like this mute girl that I met on the beach!"

DId anyone else crack up at that? xD

[RockMegaBarbie]

I think Disney made a huge mistake when making a happy ending to the little mermaid. It's just my opinion. I think it kind of ruined the original meaning of Hans C. A.'s moral of the true story. Regardless of if the ending to the Disney version is better suited for kids & ovbiously happier, Hans C.A. would have wanted children to know that when it comes down to it "love" is very un fair & painful & not everyone lives happily ever after. Not even a pretty & gentle Princess with Kindness & Beauty.

[wuhnderland]

As good as the movie is, it's still, in my opinion, a Disneyfication of a classic Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. The original is much more tragically poetic and emotionally powerful -- the story is truly about true love (consummate and sacrificial, if necessary)

[ofrah1]

Maybe if feminists watched this documentary then they would realize that the fairy tale and its Disney adaptation were not meant ever to subordinate women as seductive and muteless but rather reflect what Hans Christian Andersen had to endure emotionally: his inability to conform to another world and the pain of unrequited love.

[RockMegaBarbie]

Instead of a sugar coated hollywood version. The Original story has so much more depth & meaning. It tells children that somethings are not always what their cracked up to be, This would let children understand the difference of what true love is or isnt when they mature & get older. The little mermaid is a story of sacrafice & being un-selfsh towards others you love. Making sure you are remembered as a good person who will want happiness for loved ones. Even if you cant ever be apart of it.

[DannaPrincessLove]

i think that its gorgeous and sad the original tale but i really prefer the disney movie, i like more the happy endings...

[jzc11024]

I just got the hans christian andersen complete fairytales from Barnes and Nobles. Love the real tale of the little mermaid.

[kevincito600]

i love the little mermaid and is exitant knowin the beind of the history

[pecahalloween]

Cut her tongue it's horrible!

[Persona100Duh]

The 1989 version is lovely in its own way but I, personally, LOVE the original tale. Even though I didn't find the original story until after the film (of course), the original story that Anderson created really made me see the mermaid for who she was and what she longed for with a much stronger impact than the film ever did for me. It's more tragically beautiful but both versions are great. :3

[vinnielegostudios]

If there were Content girls in Anderson. Then I'd use a girl in Lego The Little Mermaid named Marry. To describe her charactor she would be Eric's friend.

[jzc11024]

THE ORIGINAL IS ALWAYS THE BEST(VHS)

[GOREFANATIC27]

They didn't mention that all of Ariels sisters tried to save her from her fate by confronting the sea witch and receiving a special dagger which they give to Ariel and they tell her to kill the prince in order to save herself

[demon19il]

@GOREFANATIC27 Yeah, that's the ending I know as well, I wonder why they didn't talk about it, it's so much more tragic and beautifull. The way I know it, Ariel went to the prince's bedroom after the wedding, where he and his bride were sleeping, but she just couldn't kill him cause she loved him so much, so she killed herself instead.

[pecahalloween]

@demon19il little mermaid's sisters give their hair to the sea witch in exchange for the knife, so the Ariel can kill the prince but she can't.

[sakurasoh]

Thanks. Love those interviews

[mooshkamae]

who is the guy who talks about Hans Christian Andersen? 

[1987AnimeBoy]

@mooshkamae

Ejnar Askgaard, the curator of the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense, Denmark.

[mooshkamae]

@1987AnimeBoy thanks



[Evaspie]

Lol, glad they didn't cut off her toung XD

[71crm]

If it would make Hans Christian Anderson feel any better....I would marry him.....I find that a fertile imagination to be a very sexy quality in a person...I see a lot of myself in him, we're both misfits.....btw I don't like how they said Ariel just gave up her family because I once heard someone say that you can never give up something that makes you who you are...even if you wanted to!

[NoelleBaby606]

i cnt help but think tht if disney had made the little mermaid in 1941 it wld have been a little better

[xxRedRose]

kids in the old days werent so weak hearted as they are now. death and unhappy endings were not so strange to them as they are to us these days because of poverty, war and such.. The original story breaks my heart because she dies, but I would have prefered it anyway because it has a depth that the 1989 happy ending version lacks. Life doesnt always go your way, and children should learn that at an early age to avoid problems in later life.. but thats just me

[watermelon668]

wtf in the original she is on the boat during the wedding, cuz she was his best friend. And after she dies or whatever the prince looks for her for ages and when he finds her shoes on the edge of the boat he is deavestaed and realised how much she loved him and how much he loves her back, the wife is terribly upset to cuz she was her friend.

[watermelon668]

if anyone had 2 knockoff the little mermaid im so glad it was disney

[pandaluver189]

i think i would have loved walt's version just as much as i love Andersen's and the 1989 one. i just love the story in general. not to mention the soundtrack has to be one of my favorites

[oOoWaltDisneyOoO]

wow this was really interesting :) thx for uploading this

but i have ever wondered, if Ariel would have kissed Eric (for example in the boat) would she got her voice back or would she have lived with him without her voice? 

[zxJohnHistory91xz]

I seen this movie like sometime many times. You noticed that in the book novel that the Memarid had to kill the prince that she love I heard of that quotes before. In the disney movie they have to put a happy ever after ending theme, without no death or anything. Is that what fairy tales is all about for kids stuff. Huh.

[lhoplaura44]

@fahmad27 whats the difference? im confused

[pitatenichigo1011]

i love the art in this video! it's so beautiful!

[RadicalDreamer17]

Well, that's the thing with Disney... They're great and all... but they tend to oversimplify the stories they adapt (and also entirely focus the movie on the love story).

Indeed, it's too bad Disney got rid of the Ariel's searching for a soul storyline...

Ariel's dying would have been maybe too depressing I guess... but her searching for a soul was great... and they got rid of that.

[Gernam12]

@RadicalDreamer17 Well when you actually listen to the full commentary, the film was going to be a lot more complicated near the ending, but the budget really bit them down hard as well as deadlines.

[squirebuffy]

that was amazing to watch. thank you so much for uploading!!

[71crm]

Very sad, but inspiring!

[friendofthelulz]

I wonder why the 40s version had her just dying, with no mention of gaining a soul...

[squirebuffy]

@friendofthelulz because it wasnt designed just or kids.

[kadler20]

OMG

Ariel at 5:37-5:38

XD

[phantomisle]

In the Andersen version she becomes sea foam and in the 1941 version the mermaid dies completely and in the 1989 version she becomes a helpless little polyp in the ground in ursula's lair if she failed.

[LadyRhapsodos]

It makes me sad that they navigated away from the importance of the mermaid's longing for a soul. They basically said that a finite, physical relationship is worth more than the beauty of being whole, and I think that WAS a big reason the movie didn't really live up to Mr. Anderson's original story.

[Gernam12]

@LadyRhapsodos Her longing for a soul was replaced by her curiosity for the human world. She wanted to branch out and explore new places beyond her wildest dreams. So in a way, she still has this spiritual reason for wanting to become human, the prince and the rejection of her dreams just act as a tipping point for this. So they didn't really lose too much from the original tale.

[LadyRhapsodos]

@Gernam12 But her orginal desire, in the Anderson story, wasn't to become a human, just to have a soul. She only wanted to be a human because she loved the prince. Even so, the fact that she lived happily ever after with the prince in the disney loses the whole message. Its that love shouldn't be convienent or selfish, and one must atone for poor choices. She paid for her mistakes, and loved the prince enough to die for him. That is a much more powerful message.

[Gernam12]

@LadyRhapsodos Maybe so, but that still doesn't diminish the power of this other method; to say it didn't live up to his tale is a big statement. He designed his tale as a story that reflected his own life, and thus, no one but him could have possibly conveyed the story how he did. In film adaptations, the purpose is to not overshadow the original story, which many fairytale movies have done so multiple times; to the point where many of the original books fall into obscurity.  (Cont.)

[Gernam12]

@Gernam12 If the film directors had made a film similar to the original story, the worth of the original would have fallen into obscurity, however this conflict helps strengthen your resolve and love the original story even more.

At the same time, this message stretches out to newer audiences whom, along with this story, grow up and eventually find the original story, thus solidifying their own love for it. (Cont.)

[Gernam12]

@Gernam12 To them, the story starts out as more than physical love, but as a longing for freedom, and that connects to them while they're young. And when they grow older, the original tale is there with the message of wholeness which captures the adults way of adapting into life.

They're both splendid forms of entertainment, and neither should be undermined by the other, or a disappointment.

[KendallHartz]

I don't know why jarvisel got so many thumbs down, he/she is right. Hans Christian Anderson WAS bisexual. He did have relationships with men as well, one man in particular who I believe was a ballet dancer. But the relationship did not last so long either, so guys----don't think by giving someone a bunch of thumbs down you can ignore the truth and the facts.

[fahmad27]

The 1989 version is so much better!

[AzulaLover1]

Yes they made a version of the movie before disney's and she did die but disney's version is so much better and Ariel is so much more beautiful then the old little mermaid

[Gernam12]

@fahmad27 Is the comparison necessary?

[rochelimit55555]

@fahmad27 what is the 1989 version?

[tscastro114]

Kay Nielsen was credited visual development artist for "The Little Mermaid" even though he had no involved with the production with the 1989. I believe that was a good thing to do since it was his artwork they were using. In fact, Nielsen only work for the Walt Disney Studio was being the Air Director for the last two segments for Fantasia, "Night on Bald Mountain" and "Ave Maria". Sadly, he was laid off from the studio in 1940 and died in 1957, about 32 before "The Little Mermaid was released.

[Wurstwasser14]

GOT THE DVD! ; )

[ready2fly22]

I thought he was moer lonely. He did have a woman love him ,but he kept chasing after soeone eles. by the time he realized that the other woman loved hims she died.

[xoxMixedBeautyxox]

so sad she really died

[Andiscribbles]

So interesting!