Making part of the list of classics from the House of Mickey, “The Little Mermaid” arrived in theaters in 1989 to present the story of Ariel, the princess of Atlantis who had the desire to leave the bottom of the sea and live among humans on earth.
The plot, which was responsible for starting the Renaissance Era disneyis an adaptation of the plot presented for the first time in the pages, more precisely, in the short story that receives the same title as the animation, written by the DanishHans Christian Andersen in 1837.
With that in mind, we’ve listed below 5 differences between the book and the movie “The Little Mermaid” that you need to know about. Check out the list!
1. What the characters are called
In the readable story, the characters are referred to in a less impersonal way, as they are not given names and are called only by their titles, i.e. The Little Mermaid, The Sea King, and The Sea Witch. Meanwhile, in the plot that can be watched, these figures are called Ariel, King Triton and Ursula.
2. The motivation that drives the story
One of the main differences is what encourages Ariel to try to live on the surface. That’s because, in the animation, she falls in love with Prince Éric, and the impossible love between the mermaid and a human is what triggers her to make a deal with Ursula to gain legs. In the short story, the character wants to marry a man to become immortal, since, if she didn’t, she would live until she was three hundred years old, but then she would turn into sea foam.
3. Ursula’s evil
In the film, Ursula is the exiled witch who makes a deal with Ariel in order to fulfill only her evil desires and return to the royal palace. In the book, the villain lives on the bones of drowned sailors, but this is her greatest act of cruelty, since who explains to the princess that she can become immortal is her own grandmother, while Ursula only helps the daughter of King Triton to rise to the surface as a ‘human’ without receiving anything in return.
4. Ariel’s transformation
Ariel’s transformation into a human happens painlessly in the animation, as her legs just magically appear, while her voice is stored inside a shell by Ursula. In the history written by Hans Christian Andersenchanging the tail into legs is described as painful, while the mermaid loses her voice from having her tongue cut out of her mouth.
5. Surface visits
The mermaids’ relationship with the surface is quite different in the two works. In the film, Ariel and her sisters are not allowed to explore the place, and if they do, they are seen with bad eyes, since they are not complying with the king’s orders. In the tale, visits to the top of the sea can be carried out without any problem after the mermaids complete 15 years of age.
Source: Recreio
