Metaphysics – My World View December 10, 2009

“Goodness and hard work are rewarded”

I believe this is how the world works. If you are hardworking, earnest, and kind, then things will work out the way they are suppose too. The Little Mermaid is a perfect example of this.

The Little Mermaid wanted to live on land with the handsome Prince and gain an immortal soul. So the Mermaid did what she had to in order to live outside of the sea. Although she had to sacrifice her voice and with every step her feet ached as if she were walking on glass, she kept doing what she had to do.

However, the Little Mermaid was unable to win the Prince’s love. On the evening of the Prince’s wedding, the Little Mermaid have they chance to returned to the sea, but only if she killed the one she loved. The Mermaid refused, and her good deed was ultimately reward with an immortal soul. Had the mermaid shed the Prince’s blood, she would have lived a long life, but she never would have earned a soul. One must work hard and do the right things, it can’t be one or the other.

 The Little Mermaid did have each of her dreams realized. She lived on land with the Prince and she was able to attain an immortal soul, albeit not exactly as she had hoped. The Little Mermaid shows use that by working hard and doing the right things, one will be rewarded.

The Little Mermaid – Resolution October 12, 2009

“The culmination is the lighthouse toward which the dramatist steers his ship, and the resolution is the safe harbor towards which that lighthouse guides him. ” - The Tools of Screenwriting

Unfortunately, the prince married another. After the ceremony, the little princess lingered on deck and leaned over the edge. She sees her sisters rising out of the water. They said, “We have given our hair to the witch, that you may not die this morning. She has given us a knife. It is very sharp. Before the sun rises, you must plunge this knife into the heart of the prince. When his warm blood falls upon your feet, they will grow together again and form a fish’s tail, and you will once more be a mermaid and return to us to live out your three hundred years. But either he or you must die as the sun rises.”

However, the little mermaid could not kill the prince. She flung the knife into the water, and then threw herself from the ship into the sea. She began to feel her body dissolve into foam. However, as the sun’s rays feel unto the princess, she did not feel as though she were dying. The little mermaid saw that her body, now transparent, and that she was rising higher and higher out of the foam.

She was among the daughters of the air. One said, “A mermaid does not have an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she winds the love of a human. Her eternal destiny depends on the power of another. ” The daughters of the air explained that, though they do not have immortal souls, they could earn one by doing good deeds for three hundred years.

The daughters of the air said, “You, little mermaid, have tried with your whole heart to do as we do, You have suffered and have endured and raised yourself by your good deeds. Now by striving for three hundred years in the same way, you too may obtain an immortal soul.”

The mermaid joined the daughters of the air, “After three hundred years, we shall gain immortal souls,” she said aloud.

The Little Mermaid – Conflict October 12, 2009

“Conflict is actually created not by histrionics and excessive behaviors but by a character wanting something that is difficult to get or achieve.” – The Tools of Screenwriting 

As stated in objective, what the little mermaid wants is clear: she wants to be with the prince. What makes her objective difficult to achieve is the simple fact that she is a mermaid and he is a human. 

The little mermaid goes to a sea witch, and the witch already knows what the princess wants. “You want to get rid of your fish’s tail and have two legs instead, like human beings on earth, so that the young prince will fall in love with you, and you may gain an immortal soul.”

While the sea witch is able to give the princess a potion to make her have two legs, nothing is ever too easy in fairytales…

The Little Mermaid – Objective October 12, 2009

“The character’s want or desire or pursuit usually focuses and intensifies as the story evolves; it is not a static, unchanging want.” - Tools of Screenwriting

What began as mere curiosity of the world above the sea, evolved into a full-blown infatuation. The little mermaid princess is head-over-heels in love with the prince and is obsessed with finding a way to be with him. 

After her encounter with the prince, her only comfort is sitting in the garden and gaze at a marble statue that resembles her prince. One evening, her sisters take her to the palace where the prince lives. Every evening after, she spends in the waters near the palace.

One day, she asks her grandmother if humans didn’t drowned, if they could live forever. Her grandmother said, “they too must die, and their lives are much shorter than our own. We sometimes love to three hundred years, but when we die, we become foam on the surface of the water. We do not have immortal souls. Human beings have souls that live after their bodies have turned to dust. Their souls rise up through the clear, pure air beyond the glittering stars. As we rise out of the water and behold the earth, they rise to unknown and glorious places that we shall never see.”

The little mermaid said that she would give up hundreds of years to have an immortal soul, and asked how she might gain an immortal soul.

Her grandmother said, “unless a human being loved you so much that you were more precious to him than his father or mother. All his thoughts and all his love would have to be fixed upon you, and he would have to take you for his bride. Only then would his soul glide into your body, and you would obtain a share in the happiness of mankind. He would give a soul to you and retain his own as well.”

After this conversation with her grandmother, the little mermaid’s objective is clear: get the prince to love and marry her so she can win an immortal soul.