Deep Thoughts about The Little Mermaid

Deep Thoughts About Stupid Sh*t: A Pop-Culture Podcast

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Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to podcast!

In 1989, 13-year-old Tracie and 10-year-old Emily got to witness the Disney renaissance in real time when they saw The Little Mermaid in the theater. The Guy girls were captivated by the unparalleled animation, the show-stopping musical numbers, and the unexpected sight of their stepdad tearing up at the end. But underneath the beautifully constructed film was the uncomfortable lesson that Ariel gave up her voice for a man. But as Tracie shares in this week’s episode, that’s not the only way to look at this adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale/allegory for unrequited gay love. The sisters talk about how Disney gave Ariel the happy ending that Andersen couldn’t imagine in his lifetime and that many trans GenXers and Millennials saw themselves in the mermaid who dreams of being human. The film still has problems with consent, fatphobia, and underage marriage–but contextualizing the movie makes it feel better to sing along.

Don’t be a poor, unfortunate soul! Take a listen to this episode!

TW: discussions of parental abuse, nonconsent, and fatphobia.

Mentioned in this episode:

The commentator who defended Ariel by saying she gave consent by proxy

Our theme music is "Professor Umlaut" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Learn more about Tracie and Emily (including our other projects), join the Guy Girls' family, secure exclusive access to bonus episodes, video versions, and early access to Deep Thoughts by visiting us on Patreon or find us on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/guygirls

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1. Deep Thoughts About the Little Mermaid (00:00:00)

2. The Little Mermaid (00:16:07)

3. Unpacking the Little Mermaid Theme (00:28:24)

4. Mermaid, Rape Culture, and Fat Phobia (00:45:32)

5. Discussing Patriarchy in the Little Mermaid (00:57:34)