The Little Mermaid Discussion

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thedisneyspirit
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Farerb wrote:I've been reading the Disney Princess book and I know it has been mentioned before, but it says that the film does take place at a mediterranean country:
The Disney artists moved the story from the frigid Baltic of Andersen's native Denmark to a warmer, sunnier that suggested the Mediterranean, probably off the coast of southern Italy. Elements in the costumes and building suggest an equally vague time in the late seventeenth or eighteenth century. Musker says, "Rowland Wilson- he's a great draftsman-designed the Prince's palace. He did a drawing that we loved that combined these Mediterranean elements, making it a palace unlike any other Disney fairy tale palace, with the whitewashed stucco. He was really going for a warm southern Mediterranean feel that he thought would be attractive to a mermaid who'd been stuck all her in life in the cold ocean."
Hello, this was in the DVD commentary according to a friend of mine who listens to them. Personally I get too bored lol cuz I get annoyed that these old guys are talking over the movie dialogue and I am too busy paying attention to my favorite movies. But Ima take my friend's word for it.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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How Sherri Stoner Became “The Little Mermaid”
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/h ... e-mermaid/

In Her Own Words: Jodi Benson on The Little Mermaid
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/i ... e-mermaid/
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by Disney Duster »

That was cool! Great to learn all that about how they made Ariel partly out of her! And she created Slappy Squirrel! Great article!
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Disney's Divinity
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I've seen Pat Carroll in a few things lately. Two different appearances on The Carol Burnett Show, the second I saw was better than the first. And last night I watched a special on Mary Tyler Moore from 2015 that included her as one of the people commenting on the story of MTM's life. She talked about how MTM was one of those people audiences loved and were "protective" of, and how rare that sort of love from people is to get as an actor / personality.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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That's very cool. I think that comment on the love and protection from audiences is really noteworthy. I know I talk about Cinderella all the time but I wanted to say one of the joys of watching the 1965 version I always watch is Pat Carroll as Prunella. She's one of the very best things about the film! If she and her sister had just been 15 years younger! But she really makes the most of her role, even kind of giving her reasons to be sympathetic and love her.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Yeah, her take on the stepsister was one where you felt sorry for her in a way. In one of the episodes of TCBS that I saw her in, she was in a very pretty blue dress and she reminded me almost of Rue McClanahan at moments.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Yeah, you feel sorry for her. I'm glad she looked so pretty on that episode. If only I could find a pic!
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Farerb
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Just something random that I thought about today - Does anyone know why they decided to name Ariel Ariel? A bit weird considering that before the movie, it was mostly a boy's name, and they didn't even used the female versions Arielle or Ariella.
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Sotiris
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Ron Clements named her after the female character Ariel in Footloose which was spelled the same.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Thank you :)
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by Wonderlicious »

Sotiris wrote:Ron Clements named her after the female character Ariel in Footloose which was spelled the same.
That's interesting. I'd assumed that they'd named her after the sprite Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest (a role which has alternately been played by men and women).
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Wonderlicious wrote:That's interesting. I'd assumed that they'd named her after the sprite Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest (a role which has alternately been played by men and women).
I thought that, too.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by rb_canadian181 »

If anyone is interested in doing a deep dive into the musical score, melodic themes and composition style of Alan Menken's score for The Little Mermaid, this podcast is a must :D

http://www.artofthescore.com.au/podcast ... le-mermaid
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Wow, I never would've noticed the similarities between "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "A Whole New World," but I agree. I've always noticed the similarities between Ursula and Genie though, both are the showstopper characters of their respective films and both play fairy godmother types with a twist (Ursula wanting something in return and Genie being a literal slave). And I agree with them that not all villain songs are so good--and that "Be Prepared" is definitely the weakest. I always felt that was a minority opinion because of TLK's popular, I just never enjoyed it the same way I do PUS and Gaston (or Mother Knows Best); even Mine, Mine, Mine is more fun, even with Ratcliffe being a much lesser villain than Scar. I've always felt the songs that are sung by the characters in the film are the worst ones in TLK... It's definitely more of a Tarzan-type film, where the music is better when it sets the mood as background music.

Also interesting to know about "Bevruga sevruga" and how sturgeon are harvested being related to Ariel's voice being similarly harvested. Ursula's song sounding carnival-esque makes sense, it ties into the whole madness aspect of the character, imo (including the Shining strings that play at certain points involving her). Ursula has always come across as a touch unhinged--I mean,look at this shot of her in Vanessa's body when she's afraid Eric is about to kiss Ariel. Ursula's personality inside an Ariel-esque body makes the expression she wears look utterly deranged ax crazy. And good point about how her theme never really "ends" properly on its own until "Ursula's Defeat," how it's always leading up to something else, until then.

I wasn't able to listen to the whole podcast yet. I have the last 30 minutes to go through (I had to stop when they were talking about "Les Poissons"). I couldn't keep track of who's who and which is speaking at any given time, but whoever talked about how Scuttle is so forgettable is right. He definitely fades fast from the memory, and that's for the best, imo. I hate to say that because Buddy Hackett seems like a nice guy, but Scuttle was always the weakest thing about the movie to me. It's funny though, there is one Scuttle quote that I've used pretty often in real life without meaning to, from the "Kiss the Girl" scene: "NOTHING. is. HAPPENING!!" I rarely even quote it deliberately, it happens when waiting on slow Internet usually. :lol:
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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I didn't listen to the podcast, but for a while I thought "I can show you the world" and such sounded like "Poor unfortunate souls." Also, it is beluga and sevruga that are caviar. I hope they know the rest of the spell like larynxis(referring to the larynx, which is what holds the vocal chords and is "the voice box"), glossitis(when the tongue becomes swollen, like the original sea witch cutting out the mermaid's tongue), laryngitis(sickness where you lose your voice) and voce(Italian for voice) are related to the voice as well.
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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Van Partible wrote:In the 2003 Johnny Bravo episode, "That's Entertainment!", Little Suzy tells a Disney-esque story where, naturally, she plays a mermaid! For that particular segment, we designed the whole thing to look and feel like a Disney movie. We even had the original character designer of The Little Mermaid," Dan Haskett re-imagine Little Suzy as a Disney mermaid!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?stor ... 7557878725

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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by Disney's Divinity »

I don't think we've ever had a thread here about clipart, but my favorite clipart used in merchandise of Ursula was one that was common in the '90s that you almost never see used anymore. It's this one:

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I always thought that drawing--also used in some of those children's books that re-create the movie--encapsulated the character pretty well. I put the Maleficent picture there because I'd had the thought as I was looking at that clipart image the other day that it sort of reminded me of that concept art of Maleficent. Not as far as facial expression goes, just in the diagonal movement, having a sort of trail weaving away behind them, etc.

Another clipart of Ursula mostly used in the past was the one where she's sort of sprawled out and lounging on the ground in a sort of flirtatious way that I always liked. For anyone who has seen that old Disney Villain snowglobe figurine from back when that has Chernabog looking down over the globe, the Evil Queen inside, and Ursula along the front bottom below and in front of the globe (with two other villains standing on either side of her)--that's the pose of Ursula I'm referring to. Unfortunately, almost the only clipart of Ursula you see used these days is that one where it's like she's sitting with her tentacles curled under (like someone with their legs crossed) floating in the water. I don't hate it, but it never looked as nice as the others to me and doesn't really translate how fun the character is. It makes her design (the tentacles) rather mundane.

I think it's weird they never made a clipart image of her in her iconic pose (hands clasped and tentacles curled in loops around her head).
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Listening to most often lately:
Ariana Grande ~ "we can't be friends (wait for your love)"
Ariana Grande ~ "imperfect for you"
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

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I always liked the first Ursula clipart you posted, too, and see the similarity between it and the Maleficent one. That Ursula one was used like two or three times in Little Mermaid storybook I own! I unfortunately don't know the second Ursula pose. But I do know the "sitting and crossing her tentacles" one and I have always liked that one, too. I liked it so much as a kid I used to try and sit like that sometimes!
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by VanessaFan »

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One thing that just hit me when I was making screencaps and this Vanessa gif... That is Ursula in disguise, using Ariel's voice as her own, but the magic that flows from the shell, is that Ariel's voice or Ursula's dark magic?

In the Official Disney Junior Novelization, the scene is described as:

""Suddenly, Eric stopped. He heard a voice singing - the voice he had been looking for! He ran back out to the balcony and looked down toward the sea. He saw a young maiden walking along the sandy shore. She had long hair and was wearing a shell necklace. It was hard for him to see many details through the thick fog. The girl's necklace began to glow. A stream of light flowed out of the shell as the girl continued to sing. The light traveled up to the balcony and right into Eric's eyes as he stared down at the maiden. His eyes begin to glow, and he was immediately hynotized. Prince Eric was under a spell. It was the work of Ursula's dark magic!"
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Re: The Little Mermaid Discussion

Post by Disney Duster »

It's really both Ariel's voice and Ursula's magic to me! Like Ariel's voice is inside the shell but magic that mixed with her voice is coming out!
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