Review Assignment: Poor Unfortunate Students

Muggle media depicts merfolk in various ways, but they have one thing in common: they are human from the waist up and fish from the waist down, and although they have their own language, they can speak human languages.  In the movie "The Little Mermaid", they can't develop legs unless a magical being does it for them.  In the movie "Splash", they could be totally human or human/fish hybrids depending upon whether their legs are dry or wet.  If their legs get wet, they turn into a fish-like tail.  If their tail dries out completely, it turns back into legs.  In the TV series "Mako: Island of Secrets", they also have tails or legs depending upon the presence or absence of water, and if the water comes from the Moon Pool, located on Mako Island off the coast of Australia at the time when the full moon shines down the cone of a dormant volcano, it can turn a land person into a merperson.  In the TV series, merpeople are not allowed to associate with land people, whereas this is permitted in "Splash", and in fact the mermaid, named Madison by the man she saves from drowning, ends up being his life partner.

Source of information about the TV series: http://h2o.wikia.com/wiki/Merpeople.

In our world, Merpeople are much less humanlike than any Muggle depiction of merpeople (at least the ones who live in cold water) and they never change into humans.  They have gray skin, yellow eyes and green hair. They speak their own language – "Mermish" – and there is no record of their trying to speak human language.  They are sentient enough to be classified as Beings, but when the Centaurs refused to be given the same classification as Hags and Vampires, the Merpeople did the same thing out of solidarity with the Centaurs; so they are classified as Beasts.  They make music, jewellery and weapons (spears) and they domesticate some magical marine creatures such as Grindylows, Hippocampi (for transportation) and Lolabugs (for makeshift weaponry).  Their relationship with magical humans had some rocky moments – when the current Minister for Magic underestimated Mermish – but it has since improved: in particular, the colony of Merpeople in the Black Lake cooperated with the second task of the Triwizard Tournament and they showed up for Dumbledore's funeral.

Source of information about Merpeople:  http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Merpeople.

Review Assignment: What’s That Word Again?

I agree that Ariel is too dependent on a man – for a certain period of time – but this isn't her fault.  Before she ever met Eric, Ariel was fascinated with the world of humans – she collected all the human-made objects that fell to the bottom of the sea – and she longed to become human and to live on the land.  Meeting Eric and falling in love with him strengthened her desire to become human, but loving a man doesn't necessarily make a woman dependent upon him; love can exist within a relationship between equals.  It was circumstances beyond Ariel's control that forced her to become dependent upon Eric: the stubbornness of her father Triton combined with the evil machinations of Ursula the Sea Witch.  Since Triton, who could have turned Ariel into a human, was opposed to the idea, the only way she could become human was to make a deal with Ursula: Ursula would take away Ariel's voice but turn her into a human for three days.  If, within those three days, Ariel could get Prince Eric to kiss her, she would be able stay human; otherwise Ursula would turn her into a sentient seaweed.  It was this constraint that forced her to be dependent upon a man; otherwise she wouldn't have needed him to become human.  Although she did fall in love with him, this relationship could have been one of equality instead of one in which she was dependent on him if only her father had been more reasonable.  When Triton finally came to his senses and turned her into a human, she married Eric and the relationship then did become one between equals.  Furthermore, she saved his life, a turnabout on the usual idea of a damsel in distress being rescued by a man.

Review Assignment: What the People Know

Ariel is neither a model for feminism nor does she perpetuate sexist ideologies.  She is not a conscious feminist, because she doesn't talk about women's rights, male oppression or any of the other things one usually reads in feminist literature.  But she behaves in a way consistent with feminist ideology.  She wants to live out her own dream rather than the life her father Triton wants her to live.  Her dream is to become human and to live on the land, and as a sign of her fascination with the human world, she collects all the human-made objects that fall to the bottom of the sea.  Triton, who could have turned her into a human, is opposed to the idea and refuses to do so.  She rebels against him, even missing a concert in which she was supposed to perform, in order to collect more human-made objects.  In a rage, he destroys her whole collection, but this doesn't deter her.  Her desire to become human is strengthened by seeing Eric and falling in love with him, but gender-friendly feminism doesn't prohibit a woman from falling in love with a man as long as their relationship is one between equals.  She saves him from drowning, a turnabout on the usual sexist idea of a damsel in distress being rescued by a man.  But then, thanks to her father's stubbornness, she is forced to make a deal with Ursula the Sea Witch.  Ursula takes away Ariel's voice but turns her into a human for three days, with the understanding that if Ariel can get Eric to kiss her before the three days are over, she can stay human, but otherwise Ursula will turn her into a sentient seaweed.  It is Ursula and not Ariel who utters sexist ideology, and it is the terms of the deal that Ursula imposes upon Ariel, combined with Triton's patriarchal stubbornness, that forces Ariel to become dependent on Eric, at least initially.  Once Triton comes to his senses and turns Ariel into a human, she marries Eric and the one-sided dependency ends forthwith.  The message conveyed by this movie is that sexist ideology, whether practised by males like Triton or females like Ursula, is destructive of happiness, whereas rebellion against this ideology, even if it is practised without being verbalized, is conducive to happiness.  This movie is not yet as pro-feminist as Frozen, but it is a great improvement in this respect over the earlier ones we studied in lesson 1.