Without a doubt, my favorite movie of all time is Disney's The Little Mermaid. It is the first movie I ever remember watching and it has had an incredibly profound effect on me, especially when I was much younger. At first, the enchantment came from images of magical merpeople, Ursula and Triton's supernatural powers, and thoughts of another world beyond what I had initially experienced. That movie eventually inspired me to become a magician and mystic in the most gradual of senses.But it was more than fantasy tangible to my senses that inspired me from this movie. It was also the central plot of the story.
Ariel is not content to exist as a siren like the rest of her family, nor is he content with the world she lives in. She feels a deep calling within herself to explore reaches of space that are far beyond her physical abilities to accomplish. She is fascinated by the things she does not understand and she wants to know more. She desires adventure, excitement, and daring escapades in her life to fill the void she feels. Naturally, her family does not understand her vocation, despite their loving efforts, and her friends (while happy to support her) are not the most daring nor helpful friends one can find, given their small statures. Ariel feels as if she cannot truly relate to the world around her and as such, she dares to broaden her horizons.
By chance, Ariel discovers and rescues a human being, the encounter drawing her further into fascination with her desire. Sadly, her family doesn't understand and Ariel, tired of dreaming, decides to take matters into her own hands and magically changes herself to fit her desire. Now finally able to live her dream, Ariel finds happiness. Unfortunately, she is met with great adversity, but Ariel will not give up. She fights as hard as she can to fulfill her desire, and when she cannot fight any longer, her man nips her problem in the butt with the mast of a ship. At the calm of the storm, Ariel is given a second chance to fulfill her dream and she ends up living happily ever after.
What a whimsical story filled with hope for a child. That movie inspired me to try to live out my dreams and I have been doing a pretty good job of that so far. What a nice idea? To follow your dreams despite the odds that present themselves and end up living happily ever after is truly a wonderful and hopeful message that has served me well. Thank you Disney.
A while back, I watched this movie again after a long time of not knowing where it was, and I wholeheartedly expected to be as enthralled as before. For some reason, the message did not ring true again. This time, I was left with a feeling of disappointment. Everything about the film was the same, don't get me wrong. It's just that the same story that inspired me to pursue the impossible so long ago now left me with a bittersweet taste in my mouth.
Instead of seeing a powerful young woman that took control of her life and weathered the storm to attain her heart's desire, I saw something completely different. I saw a hormonal little girl who had everything she could ever want but still would not be satiated from her lust for greener pastures. I saw a troublesome and rebellious child that a no mind for her responsibilities, no concern for a family that loved her, friends that would die for her, or her world, a world of deep, pure magic. Ariel simply cannot be swayed that the Utopian society she lives in is truly worthy of her, so she looks for something she thinks is better (when given comparison, it isn't).
Then to top it off, Ariel has no control over her sexual desires and immediately believes her lust for a man that she has never even spoken to to be true love. Heaven forbid her father (who loves her to pieces) try to persuade her otherwise, she is going to have her way or throw a tantrum and run away like a spoiled brat instead of trying to resolve her relationship with her family. Then she practically says: "There is a sea witch in town who can make everything better? Oh boy! I better jump on that bandwagon!" and ends up trading her voice (her best feature, mind you) for magical plastic surgery. So instead of being a beautiful mermaid princess who can speak her mind and voice her opinions, Ariel has become an ordinary human girl without a dime to her name and no way to even express herself.
Of course, we are dealing with Disney here and Ariel's hopeful beau, Prince Eric, finds her by chance and takes her in without a second thought, but they actually fall in love despite the fact that Ariel cannot even function on her own in his world.
Things get bad and Eric ends up being mind-raped by the shape shifting sea witch and after a struggle aboard a wedding ship involving a myriad of sea creatures, Ariel's voice is restored too late for her dream to come to fruition. Then things escalate as every person (or animal) that Ariel has ever loved throw themselves in harms way against Ursula with Ariel nearly being vaporized by Ursula's Trident blast, only to have Eric save the day by impaling the sea witch. Triton them goes to bring Ariel back into a human and marry Eric and the rest is history. UGH! What a disappointing story!
Our title heroine has remained a static character the entire picture and did not deserve her happy ending. Ariel did not take responsibility and vanquish Ursula herself. Eric did. Ariel didn't learn a hard lesson about thankfulness or appreciating the people in her life who sacrificed themselves to protect her and she certainly did not even say "Thank You" to her father for giving in in the end. Ariel was and remains a spoiled brat accustomed to having her way by the time the movie is finished. But this is not just a negative movie review. Far from it. There is a message behind my new-found criticisms.
The point I am trying to make here is that beyond our immediate desires, wishes, lusts, and what have you is usually a great life that we are completely missing out on because we are too focused on those things that we do not believe we have. We ask for miracles all the time and actually receive them, only to never realize they have come about. Then we keep spending our energy with wishing and never realize how wonderful our lives truly are.
Ariel is a beautiful princess mermaid with a gorgeous voice, a loving family, the best friends that one could ask for, lives a life of constant adventure, is adored by all in her world, and lives in an undersea utopia. Surely that would be better than most people in the real world could ask for. But for some reason, it does not satisfy Disney's red headed heroine an she ends up running away from home, betraying her loved ones, consorting with evil people, and nearly gets herself killed. All of that for a dream that even she is not even sure she deserves. But of course, being Disney, Ariel naturally has a happy ending despite her lack of perception.
The same thing with so many people in our world. How many times have you seen tabloids describe celebrities who have millions of dollars, are loved by the masses, have loving and extremely attractive partners, and blossoming careers yet are always making the worst decisions in their lives. This even occurs with the common man as well, even more frequently. Surely this must stop.
A guru might argue that it is because these people desire things of a worldly nature, they will never find satisfaction and so continue in a cycle of unhappiness, but I do not completely agree with this.
In a neopagan circle a few weeks ago, I was asked to intuit a message from God Herself and I was told that my desires were not egocentric nor unworthy of me. My desires, in fact, supported the divine agenda. As I contemplated this message later on, I realized that all desires to better one's self and find happiness support the divine agenda. They all lead to the attainment of Divine Realization and possibly Deification in the long run. Sadly, when these desires are not met, people tend to make unwise decisions in the belief that they will never have their desires realized.
In my own life, I dreamed of being a magical adventurer for most of my life. I wanted to travel to the reaches of the universe, battle monsters and find something numinous. Afterwards, I found in me a natural talent in Astral Projection and began journeying through the Astral Plane doing the things I had wished for. For some reason, however, I was not satisfied. I wanted to travel in my physical body, not an astral body of light. As such, I missed out on even greater experiences because I was never thankful for what I had received. It wasn't even until recently that I even realized this fact. Pity.
Our desires have already been met. Divinity, inherent in us all, is the beginning and end of all desires. It is the source from which we live, move, and have our being. As such, we already have all we could ask for, though we often do not realize it. It is time to be thankful for the things we have. It is time to acknowledge that we grant our own wishes daily.
LVX Amor!
