Little Mermaid Timeline & Themes
A lot of us know story of The Little Mermaid as popularized by Disney, but where did the fairytale originate? What other adaptations exist? What themes are common throughout the iterations of this tale?
1837
The original fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen is published. In this version of the story, the Little Mermaid does not have a name. She dreams of her 15th birthday, when she will get to swim to the surface of the water for the first time. On this day, she sees and falls in love with a prince who she then saves when his boat sinks in a violent storm. The Little Mermaid learns that humans do not live forever, but have eternal souls, so she goes to the Sea Witch for help to become human and gain an eternal soul. The Sea Witch sells her a potion which will exchange her voice for legs, but causes her immense physical pain. She also must win the love of the prince in order to obtain a soul or she will die. The prince instead falls in love with another woman, and the Little Mermaid is given a chance to kill him in order to become a mermaid again, but she refuses. She dies and becomes an elemental spirit and learns that she will gain a soul after 300 years of doing good deeds because of her selflessness in not killing the prince.
1961
The Shirley Temple Show on NBC airs an adaptation of The Little Mermaid in season two, episode 22 with an alternative happy ending.
1989
Walt Disney Pictures releases the animated musical film adaptation of The Little Mermaid. This version of the story shares many similarities with the original, but has some key differences. The little mermaid is a princess named Ariel who is fascinated by the human world. She falls in love with Prince Eric from afar and saves him from a shipwreck, after which she goes to Ursula the Sea Witch to get her help joining the human world. Ursula transforms Ariel into a human for three days in exchange for her voice, during which time Ariel must get “true love’s kiss” from Eric to remain human permanently. If she fails she will become a mermaid again and belong to Ursula. Ursula, planning to use Ariel as ransom to steal Triton’s trident, sabotages Ariel’s attempts to get Prince Eric to fall in love with her. After her failure, Ursula kidnaps Ariel and Eric kills Ursula to save her. Ariel’s father turns her into a human permanently so she can marry Eric.
1992
The Little Mermaid animated TV show airs on CBS until 1994.
2000
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea the sequel to the Disney film is released.
2008
The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, a prequel story in the Disney franchise is released. In addition, The Little Mermaid musical premiers on Broadway in New York City
2022
The first official teaser for the live action remake of The Little Mermaid was released on September 9th, 2022. Mixed reactions emerged and caused discourse on social media. Some people reacted by posting videos with "#NotMyAriel" attached to protest the princess’s change in the depicted race by criticizing political correctness and canon accuracy, while others rejoiced in the prospect of a Black woman playing the iconic, red-headed mermaid with many young Black girls seeing themselves represented.
2023
A live action remake of the 1989 adaptation will be released on May 26th, 2023!