Anyone who knows me understands how I feel about a lot of Disney movies...particularly the princess ones. That's a whole different rant, and I don't need to bore anyone with repeating it here.
So BeeBoo watched The Little Mermaid with her cousin up in Michigan when we visited a little while ago. She liked it all right, and I figured the cousin-ly bonding outweighed any real negative effects. My watching it, however, did give rise to rants about the morally suspect nature of a movie that teaches little girls that if they disobey/completely defy parental authority at the ripe and terribly mature age of 16, they'll get to marry a prince. Not just a nice guy. A for real prince. I ranted for a while, joined by one of my wonderful aunts who feels the same way about the whole thing. After this episode, I jokingly taught BeeBoo to say "The Little Mermaid is morally suspect!"
Today when we got to BeeBoo's friends' house to play while Momma went to class, I heard familiar Disney-ish music downstairs. My friend told me they were watching The Little Mermaid until the younger of her kids got up from her nap. Despite my efforts to be passive, I must've made a face. She said "I couldn't remember if you were a fan or not...." I said "No, I'm not, but she's seen it before. It's fine." So my friend looks down at BeeBoo and says "Do you want to go watch The Little Mermaid with us?"
Innocently, BeeBoo looks up and replies: "Little Mermaid morally suspect!"
Now, I know that she only repeated it because I taught it to her. It still made my day!
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3 comments:
oh i loved this story. and i hate the little mermaid, not for moral reasons, but just because the music annoys me.
I actually loved The Little Mermaid when it camed out, but I was eleven and hopelessly romantic. Not two and in an impressionable stage.
And as I've gotten farther along as a parent I've gotten a lot more moderate. We still asked Mr. Fob's sisters not to get S-Boogie Barbies for her birthday, and they actually complied, but she has occasionally seen some Disney movies. At least she doesn't watch them every day. She does have a few Princess things too, and I even bought her some Princess pajamas at DI because they were only $2 (and if she wants something 'princessy' I'd rather have it be something not public). Anywho--I'm conflicted on this whole issue, because once they hit preschool and such it gets a lot harder. But we talk about things and we provide a lot of other positive role models and plenty of gender-neutral toys. And I buy dress up dresses and sparkly crowns (NOT Disney brand) since she wants them. Raising a girl is hard!
I really love that you got her to say that. I, too, loved that movie when I was young and spent hours playing Little Mermaid in the jacuzzi in the backyard. I had never thought about it until Valerie pointed out that she didn't suffer any real negative consequence as a result of her disobedience. Maybe I'll just read my kids the original H.C. Andersen story.
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