Trites, R. "Disney's Sub/Version of Andersen's The Little Mermaid." Journal of Popular Film & Television 18.4 (1991): 145-53. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 June 2011.
In this article Trites makes a comparison between Andersen’s version of “The Little Mermaid” and Disney’s version. Trites starts by stating the main difference in these two versions that lie behind Ariel’s motive in meeting a male human being. Andersen states in his version the Mermaid’s believes that finding a male mate will result in gaining heaven, whereas in Disney’s version her focus is merely on finding true love and therefore discover a new identity separate from her father. Trites goes on to show various examples that prove Disney’s version to be a bad influence in the lives of little children.
Trites continues his article stating that Disney distorted the original version of “The Little Mermaid” only to prey on the minds of children regarding their freedom, emphasizing on how they could be self-sufficient, not having to submit to their parents. Among these examples Trites focused on how Disney used the idea that a woman’s need to depend on someone to gain her identity, someone, in this case, other than her father, which would result in a feeling of being independent of him and therefore be seen as an act of rebellion. However, in the original version of “The Little Mermaid” the quest to find her male mate was not an act of rebellion, but an act that was encouraged by not only Ariel’s
