Film Analysis: The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid in 1989 marked the beginning of an era known as the Disney Renaissance. This period lasted between 1989 to 1999 during which Disney underwent a creative revival in producing successful animated films based on well-known stories, which restored public and critical interest in The Walt Disney Company as a whole (Wikipedia, "Disney Renaissance"). This film tells the story of a teenage mermaid princess named Ariel. She is an adventurous spirit with a fascination for the human world above the surface. Her love for Prince Eric causes her to make a Faustian bargain with a sinister sea-witch Ursula which later becomes the cause for havoc both for humans and the merpeople. Finally, peace is restored and Ariel being transformed into

The Little Mermaid was made in the 1980s, a decade that focused on the accumulation of wealth and materialism. Expression used to describe them were "the 'me' generation" or "yuppies". Madonna's song "Material Girl" message exemplified the values of this decade ("Life in the 1980s"). The focus from civil rights and women's movements shifted as they had reached many of their goals. But there were also drawbacks as Ronald Reagan, a strong opposer of reproductive and abortion rights and many other liberal social services programs assumed presidency in 1980 ("1970s and '80s Were a Period of Change in American Society"). Hence, like Ariel, even women in America society during the 1980s were able to rebel and empower themselves but only to a certain

Looking at the sociocultural scenario of the 1990s in America, it was a time when the country was booming in the electronic age after The World Wide Web was born in 1992. According to Newell, was a time when women outnumbered men in terms of college populations and graduations and held jobs in almost all the streams as men ("From Snow White to Mulan: A Semiotic Look at Disney Heroines"). Ironically, through Mulan was based in Imperial China, women in the U.S. were not allowed in combat roles until January 2013(Fishel, "Military Leaders Lift Ban on Women in Combat Roles"). The 1990s also marked the advent of Third-wave Feminism in America when Rebecca Walker coined the term in her 1992 essay (Wikipedia, "Third-wave Feminism"). In this manner, Mulan was a representation of all various socio-cultural elements that coloured the 1990s, a feminist stance, breaking stereotypes and the advancement of women bringing them almost on par with