Disney Princess Article: Ariel hate is out of hand

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posted by RoseOfRapunzel

Guilty, I'll say. I was a user who baffled Ariel with hate. I could see many flaws with her because a lot of people were pointing them out, but now I see she's just underrated. True, I still think Merida has a much better personality by comparison, but Ariel is gaining so much hate, it's starting to make me want to come to her defense.
Ariel is pretty guilty to my calculations, she was forbidden to go out to surface and showed up to her concert while everyone depended on her. Ariel did wrong things, but she does have some good points.

When Triton turned into that thingy near the end of the movie when Ariel didn't kiss Eric in three days, Ariel spit out "Oh I'm sorry Daddy! I didn't know!" I think she really meant she was sorry but at the same point she had defense because she was tricked. Ursula never said anything about any of her family getting hurt, and I'm sure she has enough affection to her dad, even if she thought her dad couldn't see how she saw things.So to Ariel's defense, she was tricked by Ursula.
Ariel loves her dad very much, proof from telling him she loved him while she and Eric wed. At the beginning she felt like no one could see how she felt about human things.

I'm pretty much on Ariel's side now, I can really understand how she feels, and a lot of other praised movies have the same position as Ariel. She doesn't think humans are bad, she wants to get to know them. Like us, let's put it into a stupid drama sequence: you know how some people at school who are in the popular group have that clique, well let's say there's a mean girl who appears to think she's better than everyone else and never let's her clique talk to anyone 'below their level.' Then there is someone who reaches out to them and doesn't listen to the mean girl or whatever.
Pretty stupid story, we've all heard that before. But anyways, Triton is the mean girl (auyyeeeeee you go triton) and Ariel is that person who talks to the 'lower level' people.
But of corse Triton has a waaaay better reason not to talk to humans, his wife died from them.

Once again I believe she has done some wrong things but some you aren't looking deeper into Ariel's side of the story. I doubt that none of us has not acted the like the way she did at least once in a lifetime. Her problem is understandable, therefore so is Triton's. This hate she receives riles me similar to my reaction to Merida. Just because they aren't ever making horrid mistakes doesn't mean they do it because they want to be mean, they are normal and act before they think, which is an average trait to have. Bottom line, Mission: Impossible theme song. Ariel has her own side of the story.

DUH NUH - the end

wavesurf, NikkiSarah and 10 others like this

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Silverrose1991 [i] He just wants her to stay away from the surface because he fears for her safety. [/i] Oh yeah, just like he worried her when Flounder told him about the shark.... Oh wait: he didn't. So why would he worry about th surface when the sea proved to be much more dangerous, full of villainous sea witches who are going to manipulate you into signing a deal. And nothing justifies Triton generalizing all humans as a "barbarian" race and saying they're better dead, "one less human to worry about". Sounds like many racists in this world. [u]This is something that annoys me: people always try to make excuses for the oppressive parents, saying they just want to protect their children. No! Quoting Sebastian, "children must be free to live their own lives", even if that means taking risks and adventuring in the unknown.[/u] About the second part, I'm just going to ignore that since it's not really relevant to this debate, is it? Though i agree that it would be interesting to see Ariel have a negative experience with the world above. But I don't exactly see it as Eric saying "no" to her: why would he do it? She's his guest and didn't do anything wrong.

Silverrose1991 BeastlyBeasts - Weren't you saying just the other day you loved Ariel. Frankly, I just ignore your arguments because you're so contradictory and changes your opinion every two minutes. Annabethandco - Reprimanding is ok; but yelling, losing your temper, destroying someone's else personal objects and trying to instill your prejudiced, racist ideals into your child isn't, and that's exactly what Triton was doing, no matter the word Ariel chose to use. Also, Ariel's kingdom isn't the entire ocean, it's Atlantica. And I'm sorry but your argument about Merida doesn't make sense: why would the extent of her kingdom influenciate in the amount of freedom she has? Besides, the kingdom seems big enough for me. Tygers - I'm sorry, I accidentaly ignored your first point. [i]And immediately says "But who cares? No big deal. I want more!"[/i] And...? She is just saying the truth. She recognizes she has more than some people around her, but material possessions doesn't matter to her.

BelleRose829 ? May I just say, Tygers_eye, BeautifulBeast and Annabethandco have great points you guys seem to be overlooking. ARIEL IS MY 3RD FAVORITE AND I WUV HER SO MUCH!!! She is still selfish though (I da best way possible :3) I'm not much for arguments, I just like/ agree with everything but, I think both people are at fault here Ariel is AWESOME so leave her alone but Ariel is selfish accept it. Tbh yeah she is liked all around the world and it wouldn't hurt to have some haters, but at the same time ARIEL DOESNT DESERVES haters. It is a cartoon after all. Haven't you ever wanted something so much you would leave your entire life behind just for a chance at it (Ariel defense) Shouldn't Ariel respect that her father is concerned for her? Yes (maybe they should have done a heart felt daddy-Ariel scene) she does love him as she says at the end but at the same time "Children got to be free to lead there own life." "Right our own story, follow our hearts" -Merida even if it means she could get hurt Ariel has to learn for herself what she did was wrong (which I guess you can assume she does) I like her. I also like Merida :3 why da hate? You should appreciate.

Silverrose1991 Frankly, I don't think I'll keep debating this because, tbh, I think Maryksand has some great articles concerning Ariel (included the ones I linked about and the ones in her [url=http://expelled-from-heaven.tumblr.com/guide/]tumblr[/url]) and wether she is selfish, spoiled and etc, she has made every point imaginable, and she's much, MUCH better at argumentating than me. Seriously, her analyzing skills simply blow me away everytime, and I almost always agree with everything she says. I also thought Ariel was selfish, but reading her "guides and reviews" in tumblr proved me wrong). Seriously, just read this tidbit from her article: [i]"... literally values knowledge more than her well being but dropping said bag in an instant once her friend is in danger and rushing to his rescue.[/i]" This is just pure brillance at analyizing a narrative.

purplerose17 Guys can we PLEASE stop being so negative about everything! It breaks my heart to see amazing characters torn down into nothing but bad traits. What happened to all the articles about why we love our favorite princess? What happened to Fanpop being a place where we could freely be a fan of whatever we were a fan of and be accepted? So can we please STOP criticizing everything and be able to love our favorite princesses! Isn't that why this club was started?!?!

Silverrose1991 ^ know, I know, it makes me sad too, how some people just harbor a frankly disturbing amount of hate for a fictional character, and overlooking all their good points.

BelleRose829 ^you were arguing too silverrose. You guys all make good point but neither of you guys are listening to one another. Does this happen often? I haven't seen this many arguments lately. All I know is (for this argument) the Ariel lovers need to accept that she is selfish (but still great) and the Ariel haters need to accept she has her good points too. I don't really get why this why started I mean it was just a very well written article on good traits of Ariel. I mean EVERYONE has their good analysis, but why can't we just except all views of it. Accept the good, the bad, and the truth.

Silverrose1991 ^But I'm not being negative: I was defending Ariel. Nowhere in Purplerose's comment it says anything about arguing.

BelleRose829 ^sorry, I didn't mean to be so forward and rude but arguing itself is negative. You could be arguing over who loves each other more but that itself is negative. Contradicting is unwanted. The fact of disagreeing with someone is negative. So why can't we just accept all thing good, bad and truthful? (Whilst still having slightly different opinions) I understand if you just think I'm being stupid...

purplerose17 ^ I meant to say in that comment that we should just stop fighting and accept each other's opinions, and fighting doesn't happen if we all focus on the positive instead of the bad.

BelleRose829 ^agreed!

RoseOfRapunzel Okay guys, thank you for making these nice war over comments I thought that everyone ignored my [b]get out[/b] comment, well, just a stop this war thingy. It's really a war over your opinion, it depends on how you look at Ariel, facts are given, but how you feel is based on perspective. Ariel is selfish for some parts, but she can be nice too. I've realized this a while ago, my sister is an Ariel person (6 years old) and for her age she explained beautifully why Ariel isn't what I used to think. Seriously, a six year old persuaded me to change my mind.

Silverrose1991 Ok, let's just stop. I'll prolly write a Ariel defense myself, anyway.

Tygers_Eye Oh ... I'm sorry to help perpetuate all the arguing. I really am. I keep taking time off fanpop, resolve to be more positive next time, come back on, try to stay positive, then the topic of Ariel (or Frozen or CGI) comes up and then I snap. I don't know why she bothers me as much as she does, but Ariel just triggers my temper button. I'm very sorry to Ariel fans. If you like her...Good on you! For me? Well... It'll take more than a six-year-old--heck, it'll take nothing less than Ursula's hypnotizing spell to change my mind. I've felt this way all my life.

Silverrose1991 ^A six-years old? What do you mean? There is nobody that age here.

RoseOfRapunzel It's okay Tygers_Eye. You can't love everything.

shanyuisboss There goes all my preaching about positive thoughts.... Thanks London for sharing a POSITIVE article with us

BelleRose829 @silverrose she was talking about RoseOfRapunzel's comment on her sisters love for Ariel. Glad we got a positive conversation back.

Persephone713 I agree completely, and dont feel bad RoseofRapunzel, This happens everytime I write an article about Ariel, there are some very biased people on here with unjustified hate for her and it shows in alot of these comments. SHE IS NOT SELFISH, NEVER WAS, IS NOT, NEVER WILL BE. If you think so that is in your head and you don't know the definition of selfish and are not a " Little Mermaid" fan, or Ariel fan. I agreed she has flaws, but being selfish is not one of them. You guys are seeing her in a false light. I too am sick of the Ariel hate and the double standard between her and Merida-which instead of bashing her, I am just neutral about her, don't have any opinion on her anymore, maybe you Ariel haters should try it. @ Shanyuisboss- it is sad that there can not be positive thoughts, and @purplerose, that is also something I have been saying -since when is this a spot for ripping apart Disney Princesses?. Thank you for writing and making points that I have always wanted to in a reasonable fashion and I agree with the majority of what you said- I still think Selfish is not the correct word Impulsive is a better word if you look both up in the dictionary-So that is something I think people also need to get over is using the wrong word for her flaws. You did a great job RoseofRapunzel. Impulsive: actuated or swayed by emotional or involuntary impulses; or acting momentarily not continuous. Plus often times when someone acts impulsively they dont mean to hurt anyone and Ariel didnt mean to hurt anyone, she want something more out of life, and she ended a prejudice, followed her dreams. Plus her dad was not helping by having a strong hold on her, and then breaking everything she collected. Selfish people care about NO ONE at all but themselves.- That would be why the Prince was turned into a Beast and had to learn to care and love someone else, and that would be the motive Ursula had for tricking Ariel. That would define all the Disney Villains.

Annabethandco ^Ok my last point (I won't even bother replying to Gus because it's obvious Triton is trying to keep her safe from people he believes are barbarians)! Persephone, Ariel hate is not unjustified. Ariel is selfish and that's the long and short of it. She's also reckless and doesn't really have much regard for her own safety.

beth_zaira Woaw I never really noticed the amount of hate Ariel had, till I came to join fanpop that is. Great article by the way! Honestly I like Ariel and I absolutely loved her as a kid, so for me to hate her is like hating a family member or a part of me because I grew up with Ariel! Sure, she didn't make the best decisions but I wouldn't call her a horrible character for that. What I'm seeing is that some expect her to be absolutely perfect, kind hearted , non bratty etc etc over the fact she is a princess , but I think it's her mistakes and sudden actions that made her more real than the princesses before her and relatable for a lot of people. Overall , like it or not I believe Ariel paved the way for the modern disney princesses we have now. She broke the perfect stereotype and was a rebel in a sense, isn't that what the new generation of princesses consist of?

Persephone713 Annabethandco- actually that's in your head. And you are completely wrong, and I am finally sticking up for Ariel and saying it. YOU GUYS ARE WRONG AND DELUSIONAL, and only hating her and seeing her in a bad light cause you want to. That's it, that's exactly what you guys are doing, it doesn't matter what you say, you hate her you are biased and your hate is UNJUSTIFIED and its OBVIOUS. Cause I have never seen anyone call Ariel selfish before coming on this cynical spot and according to the definition of selfish she is far from it. So go back to school and learn something.

Silverrose1991 ^Stop! Stop arguing! This is not taking us anywhere! And Persephone, it's rude to call people delusional. Would you like if anyone called you that? No. So don't call people delusional! A last point, though - Annabeth, neverthless. it's wrong of Triton to think humans are barbarians because they have fish in their diet. And by definition, oveprotective parents are abusive.

Persephone713 You're right Im sorry, but I will always stick up for Ariel when I hear people using that RUDE and inappropriate word that doesnt describe her in any way what-so-ever, because I am sick of it- she is many things, and flawed but not that. Im done.

RoseOfRapunzel I don't know why I just feel like commenting CRAPSICLES