Ariel vs. Cinderella

Disney’s debut three princesses, Snow White, Aurora, and Cinderella, have come under pressure for perpetuating traditional gender roles and being passive. Enter the “second wave” of Disney princesses: Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, and Mulan. These ladies are supposedly independent and much more modern than their “first wave” counterparts. Let’s see how they compare: Ariel vs. Cinderella.

First, the biggest difference between Ariel and Cinderella is that Ariel is rebellious. Both princesses are stuck in a situation they do not like: Cinderella is forced to be a servant in her own home, and Ariel is trapped under the sea when her heart longs to be on land. However, Ariel actually does something active about her plight. While Cinderella stays in her tower, lamenting her torn dress and dashed wishes, Ariel constantly steals away to the surface to collect human things and ultimately takes matters into her own hands by enlisting Ursula’s help.

And with this rebellion comes a hunger for adventure that Cinderella lacked. Ariel ventures on her own, with a male side kick of course, into the depths of the ocean to pursue her heart’s desire. While she cannot physically be a human, she seeks proximity to her wish by collecting human gadgets, and she bravely explores forbidden places to get them. She even runs across a shark, which gives a high speed chase, much like the cat and mouse scenes in Cinderella; however, Ariel, the main character, is the one being chased, not two side characters.

There is also a lick of the feminism movement in the film. When Ariel sings about her longing to be “where the people are,” she claims they are “bright, young women, ready to stand,” which is a sentiment not expressed in Cinderella. Ariel wants to be a young woman who stands for her own choices, like the people on land, presumably us, the humans.

While Ariel and Cinderella have their differences on the surface, in the depths of their hearts, they are more or less the same. Both of the princesses were instantly charmed by a handsome prince, and both wish to end up falling in love with and marrying him. Although Ariel rebels from her father and wishes to be above the sea, her greatest desire as depicted in the film is to marry Prince Eric. She started out as wanting freedom from her father’s rule under the sea, but once she rescued Prince Eric from drowning, she fell in love, and her wish to become a human suddenly revolved around being with Eric, a powerful man. Similarly, Cinderella’s wish to get out of her tower and to dance at the castle became much more meaningful when she found out there was a possibility that she could marry Prince Charming. It’s love at first sight, and in the end, a marriage into happily ever after.

Now, the fact that Disney made an effort to change tradition is a good start. While watching the movie, I did not feel as confined, as in Ariel did have more space to do her thing, whereas Cinderella was very limited in what she could do all day. There were definitely feminist ideals at work in The Little Mermaid that were not present in Cinderella, which make it a little better. It is also good for girls watching the film to realize that exploring is good, and that you can go actively chase whatever dreams your heart desires.

However, not everything is fine and dandy. One line, unrelated to this topic of gender disparities, that irks me is when Ariel says to Triton, “I’m sixteen years old! I’m not a child anymore!” Ohhh, honey. Sixteen is not old. I remember thinking 16-year-olds were old when I was little. Not anymore. It’s lines like these that make me realize that I have grown, and I won’t be child anymore. *cries*

But anyway, on a more serious topic, I still don’t think Ariel is a solution or a good substitute for Cinderella because she is still very much under the control of men (down with the patriarchy!). She literally gives up her voice, her personal identity, to make her wish come true. She sells her soul to the devil to be a human…so she could be with a man. A man! I mean, if that man really loves her, he wouldn’t care if she were a mermaid. Just saying. Her whole life still revolves around her obsession with Prince Eric. This obsession still teaches girls that marrying a prince is a good reward for being rebellious and whatnot. On second thought, that’s actually a terrible lesson. It teaches girls to run away from home and to run after a guy, all at one time. I don’t think that’s what anybody should be doing, boy or girl.

Final verdict: at the core, Ariel is no better than Cinderella. Disney made a little tiny bit of progress with The Little Mermaid, but not much. Ariel is adventurous, but still confined by the limits of her own heart. But I guess these things take time, or else the conservative world will die of shock because*gasp* women can actually act on their own accord! How scandalous! At least we’ve made some progress.

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