Read on Twitter
Watching and re-watching my DVD collection because virus and I have some thoughts about The Little Mermaid in particular feel free to mute
I cannot stand when people say that Ariel gave up her undersea life for a man. No!! She gave up her miserable fishy life for MAN. As in humankind!! Eric was a happy coincidence and means to an end. URSULA pushed the "sacrifice for love" narrative.
She had already sung "Part of Your World" before she even knew Eric existed. She'd been longing to leave her boring life for a long time, and she was an impulsive, emotional teenager with archaeological interest in life on land.
She could stick it to her strict dad, hang out with her crush, and explore all in one go with Ursula's offer, so of course she took it! In Eric she sees a chance to start all over again as a human girl, just like she's always wanted.
As for Ursula, I think one of the reasons she's so iconic as a villain is because she's got so much personality and unspoken motives that we never actually learn beyond "she's evil/greedy." She's both, but on screen we never learn about her past with Triton/the castle.
( I'm aware that in other supplemental materials we learned that she was a member of the royal family and court and was kicked out for witchcraft and possible cannibalism, which makes so much sense, and adds to the revenge she wanted, but we didn't need it to understand her.)
As an aside, the movies from this era weren't afraid of using obscure, complex or foreign language in their songs like they seem to be these days. No wonder I had to wait for the sing-alongs to know all the words.
And as for Eric! We see more characterization for him on-screen than I think almost any other Disney prince except maybe the Beast/Prince Adam. It's understandable why she falls for him right away! I think I'd have a little crush on him if I saw what she did too lol.
He's humble, has high standards, enjoys sailing and adventuring with commonfolk, plays the flute, puts his life in danger to save his dog from a burning ship, and is just a liiittle bit dumb. (Eric were you unaware that people can lose their voices or what, come on man)
He also appreciates Ariel's weirdness/enthusiasm like when she took the reins in the town, openly compliments her despite being somewhat shy, and he didn't hesitate to pull a Call of Cthulu on Ursula at the end. Badass.
(btw for the purposes of this thread I don't consider Aladdin a Disney prince because he isn't really, not the same way Adam, Eric, and Phillip are. He -becomes- a prince but doesn't start as one.)
