Tag Archives: Hans Christian Andersen

Andersen’s The Mermaid: A Tale of Female Sacrifice

2011, Mermaids, , , , , ,
Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Mermaid.” The Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. (Cover)

© Copyright 2011, Alison Haberstroh, Victoria Macdonald

Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Mermaid.” The Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. Illus. Maxwell Armfield. Trans. Mrs. Edgar Lucas. Ed. F. D. Tilney. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1910. 9-35.

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Mermaids have been a part of popular culture dating back to their date of origin in 1000 BC in Assyria. For centuries they have been interpreted in many different mediums (including folklore and film) and portrayed in different societal roles. This exhibit examines by example the way in which their roles and moral representation in pop culture have morphed through the ages. Specifically this presentation focuses on Hans Christian Andersen’s short story, The Mermaid (1837), and Disney’s film, The Little Mermaid (1989), to demonstrate how evolving time and an ever-changing societal moral code have defined these two distinct interpretations of mermaids.

 Category

Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was knowledgeable on mermaids as they appeared frequently in popular culture during the period in which he lived. Andersen used elements of traditional mermaid characteristics, but still created his own personal version that is original in its story.

Since the time of early mythology, fantastical creatures of the sea have had a place in the oral traditions of folklore. Merfolk exist in stories from all the world over, and are represented in a multitude of forms. Their top halves are human-like, while their bottom halves are fish-like. This combination of sea and land forms appears time and time again in real life accounts and in fictional tales of mermaids in contact with humans. Living in the ocean, the merfolk may rest on the waves or a rock in the water and be often disguised by the water or as a fish.

In Andersen’s story, the Mermaid holds a fascination with humans. She begs her grandmother and older sisters for information about the wildlife, the greenery, and the scents. From the time that she was young, she was desperate to find out as much as she could. When she turned the age of fifteen, she was allowed to approach the surface of the water to view the world from above the waves. Her adoration of mankind grew until she could no longer sustain the thought of being a mermaid. Despite her Grandmother’s clear warning to steer away from thoughts of life above water, and her insistence that she honour her commitments as a mermaid, the Mermaid pays no heed and determines the land is where she wishes to be. She must be loved by the Prince as though she is a family member, yet she dares to risk everything to take advantage of the opportunity to win his love and affection. She approaches the Sea Witch to help her in reaching her goal.

The natural ability to entrance men with her loveliness and siren-like voice is a key characteristic of a mermaid. With her enchanting voice, she sings to fishermen. Traditionally, mermaids offered these men safe harbour from harm. Andersen’s mermaids have beautiful voices, which he describes as being clearer than any mortal voice (Andersen). During storms on the sea, they sing to the fisherman, bidding them no ill will. It is this lovely voice which the Mermaid sacrifices in order to be in touch with the Prince to discover love and happiness on land. Essential to her character, her voice defined one of the key features of mermaids and their purpose to living in the sea. On land, her ability to prove her love and dedication to the Prince relied only on her physical beauty. That which made her unique was no longer an option for her, and the Mermaid was punished for her unfortunate lack of understanding of reality and the human world. Without her voice, she is able neither to convince the Prince of how she saved his life, nor seduce him with her voice. The Sea Witch has bargained with the Mermaid for her sexuality and it has not paid off for the Mermaid.

In some versions of stories involving merfolk, the merfolk make actual contact with human life. These tales have been passed on through the ages, allowing mermaids to maintain a certain reputation of both trickery and safety. In some stories, the mermaids are the thought to have carried men out to sea and to not have allowed them back (Waugh). In others, she is merely a flash on the ocean, and a good story at the local pub as fisherman regale one another with tall tales. Andersen’s Mermaid has the opportunity to have the Prince perish at her hand, but she chooses instead to release herself from the promise of love.

There are many instances of sexual undertones in Andersen’s story. Although the Mermaid has made many sacrifices, she is not emotionally mature enough to engage in a relationship with the Prince. This story is meant to be a warning to girls to wait for what will naturally come to them, as Andersen intended. The Mermaid’s fascination with mankind, and the initial motivation to approach the Sea Witch, in the end undid the Mermaid and her contact with her family.

 Illustrations

Maxwell Armfield (1881-1972), a British artist, illustrated the collection of Andersen’s stories. The book is bound and decorated intricately with gold leaf. It features an illustration from one of Andersen’s stories, and is enticing to the viewer. One is able to see keen detail in Armfield’s work inside the book, especially. The graphics are printed in colour, and display a wide range of shades and tones. Armfield has exercised extreme care in imagining life for merfolk. The Mermaid’s long, flowing hair masks her body partially and adds to the allure of the mermaid. The clothing of the Prince, and the structure of the ships, are intricately illustrated. They demonstrate the grandeur and exoticism of human life to which the Mermaid is attracted.

"A big three-masted ship lay close by."
Just in front of her stood the handsome young Prince

 Context

In the time period between the first publication of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Mermaid in 1873 and Disney’s interpretation, The Little Mermaid in 1989, much has changed in the way of moral structure between the two stories.

At face value, the moral seems to be that with great sacrifice and change comes great reward. The issue is whether that moral is even universally realistic. And this begs the question of whether Andersen’s interpretation has a deeper meaning.

In Andersen’s version, the Mermaid experiences monumental sacrifice before she is rewarded. The Mermaid rescues the Prince from drowning and immediately falls in love with him. The unfortunate issue in this scenario, however, is that the human Prince could never fall in love with a woman of the sea. Being infatuated with the Prince, the Mermaid desperately tries to change herself to accommodate and gain the Prince’s affection. The Mermaid sacrifices her impeccable singing voice in exchange for a potion to convert her mermaid tail into a pair of legs. Although it brings the Mermaid excruciating pain at every step, she sets forth to find the Prince. While he is attracted to the Mermaid it is not enough to terminate his arranged marriage and despite the Mermaid having sacrificed the fundamental aspects of herself is to entice the Prince, it is inevitably not enough.

It is at this point in the story that the mermaid suffers a broken heart. Through all the trouble and turmoil through which she has gone in order experience freedom and love, it is clear that she made her sacrifices in vain. She can’t bring herself to kill the Prince and return to being a mermaid, so she instead kills herself, ending her life after rejection.

In order for the Mermaid to be rewarded for her personal sacrifices, she must first live through the pain and torment, and also be forced to make impactful decisions. Only after she has experienced all that she had in her life under the guide of humanity is she given the opportunity to return to the world as sea foam in the afterlife. She becomes a daughter of the air and by performing good deeds, she will one day gain access into the Kingdom of God.

At first look, it seems that Andersen leaves the reader with a similar moral to that which Disney presents. By sacrificing the key aspects of yourself to conform to society’s picturesque standards, you will eventually be rewarded with acceptance. The Mermaid went through extreme pain and upheaval to gain this acceptance and eventually it paid off—but only in the afterlife. It is this key detail of the reward in afterlife that makes Andersen’s moral appear deeper than originally interpreted.

Upon closer analysis, Andersen’s imparted moral is in fact suggesting the opposite message to that of Disney’s film version. The Mermaid is rewarded for her sacrifice but not during her lifetime. She may find fulfillment only in the afterlife. This underlying meaning comments on the fact that not in reality is such an accepted transformation possible. While eventually the Mermaid was rewarded, she does not find happiness as a result of her actions during her own life in the real world.

Andersen’s moral can be interpreted as one which is darker and more realistic. In reality, despite how great of a sacrifice or outward change is made, one can never fundamentally change the essence of who one is, and can therefore never find true acceptance and happiness in the altered form.

Disney’s version interprets Andersen’s moral at face value, however. To begin with, the protagonist Ariel has to go through no great lengths to gain the love and acceptance of the Prince, unlike Andersen’s mermaid. While Ariel is forced to change to accommodate the love of the rescued Prince, her mild-by-comparison sacrifice pays off.

In this interpretation, the protagonist also makes a deal with a sea witch, Ursula, sacrificing her beautiful singing voice to gain human legs, though without any physical pain. Ursula tries to gain the Prince’s affection herself, not because of love, but to gain power of the sea. She attempts to trick the Prince out of marrying Ariel. Ursula’s trickery is short lived and although there is much chaos and excitement, no real suffering is experienced by Ariel. Ursula is eventually killed, and Ariel and the Prince live happily ever after.

In the end, Ariel is granted the human life that she wished for from the start without having to experience the traumatic pain, rejection, and even death, that Andersen’s mermaid underwent. The significant changes Ariel makes to be accepted by the Prince cause her to be successful, and she is rewarded with human love and life.

Stereotypically, Disney’s messages are known for being positive and seemingly morally right, thus making Andersen’s moral seems quite grim by comparison. However, if one were to really look at the morals presented in each of these interpretations, one would find that the roles in this particular story are reversed.

Andersen presents the more realistic message: one cannot achieve true acceptance by falsifying one’s genuine identity. No matter how much suffering and sacrifice one undergoes, there is no real reward in fundamental change.

Disney’s version portrays a more censored moral: one is able to achieve true happiness and acceptance by undergoing extreme change for the one they love. Through minor sacrifice and patience during said change, eventually they will gain the love and respect of those they changed for.

While Andersen’s moral seems more negative and dark than Disney’s, the truth and realism behind it make it a much more valuable lesson than Disney’s. The moral presented in The Little Mermaid is deceptively false and packaged as morally positive despite its true nature.

Conclusion

The Mermaid in Andersen’s tale is a sexualized, symbolic figure of female sacrifice, following the desire of her heart and making choices which suit her want for love and human form. Flouting social conventions of the sea, she makes a decision to pursue a different life despite the clear risks involved. Ever seductive, mermaids throughout history have proven to have a grip over humans. By delving under the surface and exploring the deeper meanings behind the morals presented in these two interpretations of mermaid’s tales, one gains a greater understanding of the way in which the ethical message of a decades-old tale changes through the process of “Disneyfication.” Upon making this analysis, one is able to determine which moral is more poignant and realistic past face-value.

 

Selected Works Cited

Auerbach, Nina. Woman and the Demon: The Life of a Victorian Myth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. Print.

Cashdan, Sheldon. The Witch Must Die. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Print.

The Little Mermaid. Dir. Ron Clements and John Musker. Perf. Jodi Benson. Disney, 1989. Videocassette.

Meyers, Robert W. “The Little Mermaid: Hans Christian Andersenʼs Feminine Identification.” Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 3.2 (2001): 149-59. Scholars Portal. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Mortensen, Finn. “The Little Mermaid: Icon and Disneyfication.” Scandinavian Studies 80 (2008): 437-54. ProQuest. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Triste, Roberta. “Disney’s Sub/version of Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.” Journal of Popular Film & Television (1991): 145. ProQuest Library Search. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.

Waugh, Arthur. “The Folklore of the Merfolk.” Folklore 71.2 (1960): 73-84. JSTOR Arts and Sciences 3. Web. 15 Oct. 2011.

 

 

Female Maturation in Andersen and Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”

2011, Mermaids, , , , ,

 

(c) 2011 Brandon Kates and Antonia Wales

Hans Christian Andersen. “The Mermaid.” The Mermaid and Other Tales. Trans. Edgar Lucas. Illus. Maxwell Armfield. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd.; New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1914.

Introduction

               Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Mermaid”, is a literary work whose plot focuses on a mythical archetype (a mermaid) and her desire to attain the love of a mortal prince. The text we will focus on for this exhibit is The Mermaid and Other Tales, a collection of Andersen’s fairy tales edited by F.C Tilney, illustrated by Maxwell Armfield and translated by Mrs. Edgar Lucas. It was published in 1914 as part of a series called “Tales for Children from Many Lands”, which implies it was intended for a child audience. We compare this to Disney’s adaptation of this fairy tale, entitled The Little Mermaid, which incorporates the original version in terms of the plot, but sanitizes and commercializes it in a way to appeal to the contemporary child. The portrayal of female maturation through this fairy tale differs between variants. The first section, focusing on the The Mermaid and Other Tales text is written by Brandon Kates and deals with female coming on age in Andersen’s “The Mermaid”. The following section is written by Antonia Wales and compares the differences between the Disney and Andersen versions.

Andersen’s “The Mermaid”

               The Mermaid and Other Tales is a collection of stories that was part of a series called Tales for Children from the Many Lands and was written by Hans Christian Anderson and illustrated by Maxwell Armfield. Hans Christian Anderson was a Danish writer and poet from the 19th Century, well-known for his children’s literature and his works have has influenced much of postmodern pop culture. Although this work contains many tales such as, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “The Swinehead”, “The Mermaid” is the only one mentioned in the title indicating significance to the author.  Earlier in his life Andersen wrote both Agnete and Merman and The Little Sea Maid, demonstrating a fascination with mermaids. Perhaps one reason was his apparent struggle with his own sexuality and that he had a history of falling in love with women who he knew he could never have (Nikolajeva). He may have considered himself an outsider (like the Mermaid) who could never really fit into a world he perceived to be outside of them.

Depiction of Mermaids through Maxwell Armfield’s Illustrations

Armfield’s depiction of the mermaid seeing the prince’s ship

               The illustrator of The Mermaid and Other Tales, Maxwell Armfield, chose only to do two illustrations for “The Mermaid”. In the first illustration is located in the frontispiece and depicts the mermaid seeing the ship for the first time. The flag on the approaching boat is Swedish, while Hans Christian Anderson is from Denmark.  They are both Scandinavian countries with body of water between them, perhaps furthering the notion of having one’s desire obstructed. His fascination with the sea is apparent in both his work and choice of subject so much so that a statue of The Little Mermaid has been placed in the Copenhagen Harbour in his honour (Mortensen 438).

The mermaid meets the prince as a human.

               The second illustration done by Armfield depicts the mermaid meeting the prince after she has been transformed into a mermaid. An interesting thing to note is that the prince is shown to be Asian through the use of stereotypically Asian features like his clothing or shoes. The ships are not Scandinavian like in the frontispiece, but instead are Asian-insipred like the prince. The Little Mermaid is shown as being completely naked aside from her long hair.

               In The Mermaid, mermaids are described as beings possessing fish tails for legs and having the upper body of a naked human. One could think of the mermaid as adolescent in her desire for experience, but she has an inability to follow through due to her body and soul’s limitations. For example, the mermaid desires the prince, but is unable to attain the prince’s requited love and the immortal soul that becomes possible from being a human.

               Being underwater like the mermaids may be a metaphor for not facing reality. The mermaids experience a life of innocence under the sea. The mermaids are allowed to “play all day in the great hall of the castle” (Andersen 17), which shows they are very childlike. Mermaids also experience of a long life with no soul or afterlife, which also implies an easy, hardship-free life. The Little Mermaid’s quest for a human soul that allows her to go above the simple life of mermaids may be related to Andersen’s strong religious background. He may have made the mermaid’s world so childlike and out-of-reality because the alternatives of human life, hardship and having a soul, reflect a very Christian morality

Female Coming of Age in “The Mermaid”

               A Bildungsroman, or a coming of age story, is a story or novel that focuses on an adolescent’s experiences that focuses on a young character and their experiences that lead to self-discovery and maturity (Pettigrew). The mermaid in “The Mermaid” is an adolescent character who begins the fairy tale at fifteen years old. Through the story, the mermaid faces many personal and physical challenges that cause her to become more mature and adult-like.

               At the beginning of the tale, the mermaid is very child-like, but through her struggles, she becomes more mature. While living underwater, the mermaid was fascinated with the human world and her sense of curiosity interfered with her sense of reasoning (Cravens 638-639). Once the Mermaid experienced life above the sea, she began to experience a sense of love and lust toward the Prince. At first, she hides from and becomes timid every chance she has to reveal herself to him (Dahlerup 418), which is indicator of her child-like reaction to her new feelings. When she realizes that she cannot stay in the human world, she reacts in another adolescent manner by running off and bargaining with the sea witch. By not carefully considering the consequences of the deal, she agrees to exchange her voice for becoming human and would not be allowed to go back home.

               The maturation of the Little Mermaid developed through the pain that she endured.  She saves the Prince from drowning at her own risk and then must listen to him speak of his desire for another woman. He treats her more like a child or pet that he permits to sleep outside his door (Dahlerup 422).  Upon seeing her sisters, she realizes what she has done to her life.  In the story, her sisters then beg the witch to allow the youngest to return, but only if she killed the Prince, but The Little Mermaid endures watching the Prince marry another.  She knows that she will die, but out of a sense of morality she allows another to live happily ever after, while accepting her own terrible fate.  Despite not getting the Prince to marry her, she is rewarded with immortality for good behaviour, which is a common theme among fairy tales (Mortenson 439-440). She has evolved from a selfish, naïve and inquisitive mermaid into a self-sacrificing, wiser and moral soul.

Transformations in Disney’s The Little Mermaid

Disney’s film depiction of The Little Mermaid

               Andersen’s The Little Mermaid was adapted from a literary fairy tale into an animated film of the same name by Walt Disney in 1989. The film, although maintaining many of the same characters and plot, diverges from the Andersen original through the portrayal of its characters and the values it promotes. The key change between variants is the ending, where, in the Andersen tale, the mermaid dies and becomes a daughter of air. Ariel, the protagonist in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, however, marries the prince and lives happily ever after.

               Many Disney films, such as Snow White, Bambi or numerous others, focus on the coming of age story trope, where the hero faces a challenge and overcomes it, thereby leaving childhood and entering adulthood. While Andersen’s literary fairy tale does not focus on female maturation (Trites 152), it portrays a very different message than the Disney film. As fairy tales change over time, place and medium, the representation of mermaids, the story of The Little Mermaid and the depiction of female maturation all reflect cultural ideologies from when the variant was created.

Transformation from Mermaid to Human: The Transition from Child to Adult

               In both the Andersen and Disney versions of The Little Mermaid, the protagonist want to transform herself from a mermaid into a human to transcend from her world into another. The motivations for this transformation are different. The mermaid wants to become human to gain a chance at an immortal soul, while Ariel wants to transform because of her materialistic obsession with human culture and, later, the prince.

               In the Andersen tale, going to the surface is a right of passage at the age of fifteen, which implies that his tale is in part a coming-of-age story for the mermaid. In contrast, Ariel and her sisters are banned from going to the surface by their father, which feeds Ariel’s obsession with human culture and interprets this as being forbidden from falling in love (Trites 146). The transformation between mermaid and human requires the sacrifice of a voice from both mermaids, but it is depicted as being an extremely painful existence for Andersen’s mermaid, while being much simpler for Ariel. The mermaid endures the suffering to gain an immortal soul, while Ariel does it so she can be attractive to the prince (Trities 148).

               The protagonists go from being a child in the family, the discovery of humans to reaching adulthood in some form of self-actualization, which characterizes a coming of age story (Mortensen 445). By shifting between sea, land and later air, Andersen’s mermaid’s journey into adulthood is shown as she takes responsibility for her actions (Mortensen 445) and actively shapes her own identity by choosing to die rather than kill the prince (Trites 148). Ariel’s journey, on the other hand, culminates with the prince destroying the witch and her father allowing her to become human. There is a scene where Ariel emerges from the water as a human, which implies rebirth as an adult. Disney attempts to show this through a separation between Ariel and her father, but she is not truly self-actualized, as she does not earn her independence, but is instead transferred to the prince (Trites 151).

The Roles of  Adult Figures and Love in Maturity

               There are a lack of female role models for Ariel in The Little Mermaid. This is contrasted with Andersen’s original which contained the grandmother, sisters, daughters of air and even the sea-witch as positive feminine characters (Bendix 285; Trites 152). Instead, the film focuses on the relationship between Ariel and her father Triton. While the original tale had some form of matriarchy, Disney’s version is a more overt patriarchy, with Triton being controlling over all aspects of Ariel’s life and displaying this in rages towards her (Bendix 286).

               Both of the mermaids see the prince as a way to transcend from their lives in the sea, but their perspectives towards love and their purpose for loving the prince differ. The mermaid in Andersen’s tale sees her love for the prince as a way to gain eternal identity through mortal love (Trites 146). The Disney mermaid, on the other hand, equates love with marriage and sees marriage as her goal as she is incomplete without a man’s love (Trites, 146). The Disney version portrays Ariel as having matured because she experienced love, while Andersen’s variant depicts love as coming after maturity (Trites 148).

Reflecting Cultural Ideologies of Female Maturation

               The main aspirations and eventual fates of the mermaid and Ariel reflect some of the goals of womanhood or adulthood at the time and place they were created. Andersen’s mermaid sacrifices her body to earn the reward of the immortal soul, which reflects both upon Christian morality, as well as a reflection of Andersen’s life circumstances (Bendix 283). The delayed gratification of gaining an immortal soul after 300 years with the children of air is also indicative of the values during Andersen’s lifetime (Mortensen 447).

               Similarly, Ariel’s materialism, marriage of the prince and happy ending are all indicative of Disney’s corporate culture and the idea of female maturation in the modern day. While releasing The Little Mermaid, Disney also sold various merchandise related to the movie (Bendix 280; Mortensen 448) and this continues with the Disney Princess line of merchandise, which is reflected in Ariel’s obsession with human “thingymabobbers”. In the end, Ariel gets a happy ending, which reflects the American dream and Disney’s wishes come true slogan (Bendix 289). By having Ariel’s goal as marrying the prince, Disney offers marriage as the ultimate goal of womanhood and as being compulsory for a happy ending (Trites 151).

Differences in depiction between Armfield’s illustrations of the mermaid in “The Mermaid” and Ariel in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”

               The physical depiction of the mermaid’s attire also varies between mediums, which implies a difference in how the adolescent female form is depicted. In the two images of the mermaid in The Mermaid and Other Tales, the top of the mermaid’s body is naked, covered only by her long hair. On the other hand, Ariel in the Disney film wears a seashell bra to cover her chest, which simultaneously censors her body, but also further sexualizes it by having the bra resemble a bikini. Despite Disney deeming the naked mermaid as inappropriate for children, Ariel is still sexualized (Trites 151). This reflects a strange dissonance in Disney’s approach towards sexuality and it’s appropriateness for children.

Conclusion

                The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale that has been through many adaptations since it was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1836 in his native Danish (Nikolajeva). The children’s anthology of Andersen fairy tales, The Mermaid and Other Tales, provides an English translated and illustrated version of  the story aimed towards American and British children in 1914. The Disney film also is also reflective of the culture it was created in, with the changing of the ending and the depiction of characters. We have compared the depiction of mermaids in both of these variants, as well as how female maturation is depicted in each version.

               Because The Little Mermaid is a tale that shows a character maturing from a child to an adult, it is enjoyed by many children. Society should understand and be aware of the messages and images portrayed to children, especially girls, about female maturation and life goals. By better understanding that the time, place and medium of a work can influence how it is shown and interpreted, readers and children can be more aware that what is shown in a text is not necessarily what they should strive for.

Works Cited

Andersen, Hans Christian. “The Mermaid.” The Mermaid and Other Tales. Trans. Edgar Lucas. Illus. Maxwell Armfield. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd.; New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1914. 9-35. Print.

Bendix, Regina. “Seashell Bra and Happy Ending: Disney’s transformations of ‘The Little Mermaid’.” Fabula 34 (1993): 280-290. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.

Cravens, Gwyneth. “Review of ‘The Little Mermaid’” Nation 254.18 (1992): 638-640. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

Dahlerup, Pil. “’Little Mermaid’ Deconstructed.” Scandinavian Studies 62.4. (1990): 418-428. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.

Dulcie Pettigrew “Bildungsroman or Novel of Education”  The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Ed. Jack Zipes. Oxford University Press, 2006. Web. 12 Nov. 2011.

Mortensen, Finn Hauberg. “’The Little Mermaid’: Icon and Disneyfication.” Scandinavian Studies 80.4 (2008): 437-454. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.

Nikolajeva, Maria. “Andersen, Hans Christian.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Ed. Jack Zipes. Oxford University Press, 2006. Web. 16 Oct. 2011.

Trites, Roberta. “Disney’s Sub/version of Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid”.” Journal of Popular Film & Television 18.4 (1991): 145-152. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.