Did The Little Mermaid Need Cosmetic Surgery?

Recently a Venezuelan clinic has advertised cosmetic surgery using the Little Mermaid, Princess Ariel, as the featured spokes-person, or spokes-mermaid? She swims to the office and has her fins surgically changed to legs, breast augmentation, and facial surgery! This ad has created controversy worldwide in newspapers and blogs. Objections range from statements about sending the wrong message to little girls to comments about copyright infringement, and the trend of cartoon characters becoming more and more sexualized. So I decided to do a little research on the fairytale.

In the story, the Princess Ariel opts to become human, giving up her tail, in order to be with the man she loves. In the process she loses all her friends in the sea. The original Hans Christian Andersen fairytale was a message to behave and stay where you belong. In fact, in the original story, the little mermaid does not marry the prince. The American made movie seems to promote taking risks to get what you want. Sort of a “follow your bliss” statement. My niece watched this movie years ago. I asked her to think back on what she thought. At 8 years old, her take was that she would have rather been in the ocean with her little friends. Now at 16, my niece defiantly states that Ariel should not have cosmetic surgery for the sake of a man, but perhaps the change would be warranted if it had been to please herself. I chuckled wondering if my niece said that to be polite knowing my work.

I wonder about the value of using a children’s story to advertise a service that requires a mature decision making process. I have to agree with my little niece. If you want cosmetic surgery, be sure you are doing it to please yourself.

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