I was involved in a musical stage production of the classic Disney film, The Little Mermaid. As I watched the beloved tale come to life before my eyes, I started thinking of how not many people see the spiritual allegories that the story contains. Hence, the conception of this blog.
The Little Mermaid has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. The idea of being a spunky mermaid who finds true love with a human prince is a perfect, exciting fairytale that appeals to those of all ages and backgrounds. I think that most little girls dream of being Ariel, and I was no exception. It wasn’t until I got older, however, that The Little Mermaid is a deep story that contains some profound Christian allegories.
The Story
The Little Mermaid tells the classic tale of a mermaid named Ariel who wants to become human more than anything, much to her father’s disapproval. When she falls madly in love with the human Prince Eric, Ariel decides to take fate into her own hands.
Desperate, Ariel consorts with the evil sea witch Ursula, who agrees to give Ariel human legs — for a price. In order to remain human, Ariel has three days to get Prince Eric to kiss her, and what’s worse, she has to give her beautiful voice to Ursula. And if Ariel does not fulfill the agreement, she will belong to Ursula forever.
When Ariel fails to get Prince Eric to kiss her in time, Ursula takes her down to the depths of the sea where she keeps her victims. Then Ariel’s father, King Triton, the king of the sea, comes to the rescue in an attempt to save his daughter from Ursula’s destruction. But because Ariel signed her very soul away in a binding contract, there is nothing Triton can do — except to give himself to Ursula in Ariel’s place. Triton gives his own life to save Ariel, and yields his mighty trident to Ursula, who is triumphant at last as the ruler of the sea. But her reign does not last long, as Prince Eric kills her. With Ursula’s demise, all the souls of her victims are free, including King Triton.
It is not a happy ending yet though, as Ariel is once again a mermaid. When King Triton sees how much his daughter longs for the human world, he himself grants her the gift of being human. Ariel and Prince Eric are married, and so they all live happily ever after.
The Allegories
There are several different meanings and allegories that can be taken from The Little Mermaid.
The Salvation Story
When you stop and think about it, The Little Mermaid has a pretty obvious allegory to the salvation story, much like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Ariel is like any fallen, sinful human — rebellious, wanting her own way, not listening to her father, much like we rebel against God. Because of our sin and rebellion, our souls belong to Satan. Just like Ursula, Satan wants nothing more than to keep us in bondage for all of eternity. We used to be legally bound by this destiny, but because Jesus sacrificed Himself in our place just as King Triton did for Ariel, He broke the curse of death over our lives. And in the end, Jesus rose again and defeated both death and Satan, allowing new life to anyone who is willing to accept Him.
Satan Taking Our Voices Away
Ursula’s conditions included Ariel giving up her beautiful voice, which was her greatest gift. Our voices are very powerful weapons that we possess, and God can use them in a mighty way when we use them for His glory. One of Satan’s biggest strategies is to take Christians’ voices away and subject them to silence. It is a way of trapping people and keeping them in bondage so they cannot speak up for themselves and use their voices to proclaim God’s message. But God can and will break Satan’s hold of silence and over our lives and give us our voices back.
Also, when we allow Satan to have ownership of our voices, he can use them to do his own evil work, just as Ursula uses Ariel’s captured voice to entrance and control Prince Eric to do her will. We cannot let Satan have this power because it is God’s desire that we use our voices for Him
Waiting for God vs Doing Things in Our Own Power
Ariel wants to become human so badly, and when she doesn’t get her way with her father, she resorts to Ursula. While God never misunderstands us like King Triton misunderstood Ariel, there is a lot to be learned from this part of the story. Sometimes something we ask God for isn’t the best thing for us, or it isn’t the right timing, and when we take matters into our own hands, disaster ensues. When Ariel got her legs from Ursula, she basically had to sell her soul in return. But when King Triton gives her legs at the end, it is a gift, no strings attached, and given in love. Also, King Triton gives her a beautiful dress to wear when he transforms her, but Ursula gives her nothing to wear at all. This is a great example of how much better and more fulfilling it is when we wait for God to give us our hearts desires compared to doing something in our own power and letting Satan into our lives.
Also, when we allow Satan to have ownership of our voices, he can use them to do his own evil work, just as Ursula uses Ariel’s captured voice to entrance and control Prince Eric to do her will. We cannot let Satan have this power because it is God’s desire that we use our voices for Him.
Falling to Temptation
Ursula ultimately wants to defeat King Triton and rule the sea herself. She knows that the key to Triton’s downfall is his daughter Ariel, and so she sets out to bring Ariel down. Ursula could just flat out kidnap Ariel and ask for King Triton’s soul as ransom, but she is a very smart villain, and makes her attack far more powerful by appealing to Ariel’s greatest weakness — her desire to be human. When she makes her proposition to Ariel, Ursula knows just how to manipulate her by using what Ariel wants most as the bait. Even though Ariel knows it is wrong to consort with the sea witch, the temptation of making her dreams come true wins out over what she knows is right.
When Satan wants to bring us down, often times he uses things that appeal to us to rope us in, and then it turns out to be evil in disguise. Even though it may look like a glamorous thing, it ultimately will be our point of destruction. Just like Ursula played with Ariel’s emotions, Satan knows what our weaknesses are, and he will do everything in his power to use them to his advantage and bring us down. We may know in our hearts that it is wrong, but the appeal entices us so much that we fall into that temptation.
Ursula never actually cared that Ariel wanted to become human. She just saw a point of weakness and used it to her advantage in order to bring Ariel down, and ultimately dethrone King Triton. But Ariel thought that Ursula’s offer was a gesture of goodness, and that at last her life would be perfect, and that was far from reality. In the same way, even though what Satan’s path offers often seems like the best thing and that he wants you to live your best life and have fun, it is all a trap to keep us in Satan’s clutches.
Conclusion
I find it intriguing that so many well-known, beloved, classic films have such distinct spiritual messages, and The Little Mermaid is no exception. In fact, it has some of the clearest allegories in I’ve seen in a “secular” film. The fact is, God can influence the stories people tell, even if they are not even meaning to write an allegory that reaches people for Him. In fact, secular films sometimes tell a more profound spiritual story than films designed specifically by Christians to reach (or preach to) people.
What is God’s role in secular filmmaking? Maybe He is there with Hollywood’s screenwriters and directors, inspiring them to tell His story without them even being aware of it. And maybe it’s because God’s story is the greatest story of all, and even the best earthly stories can only hope but shadow it. Storytellers write these about these things because it is the story for which their soul yearns, even though they might not know it is God’s story that they desire.
They may think they are writing about a simple little mermaid named Ariel, but what they create turns out to be so much more.