Culture is a vast part of who we are. It exists in all countries and amongst all nationalities. Culture gives us a sense of who we are by a defined set of values that the local society holds important. Culture affects many things. It affects one's perceptions, their beliefs, how they will react to different situations, and how one thinks. Different cultures provide different values. The Japanese culture is very different from the American culture. These differences can be seen in two different versions of The Little Mermaid: A Japanese version from the late 1970's and the 1989 Disney version of The Little Mermaid.
The anime version of "The Little Mermaid" follows the original story more than the Disney version does, although it still misses the general idea of the story. Often the story "The Little Mermaid" is viewed almost entirely as a love story. The little mermaid falls in love with the prince and becomes a human to marry him, and in failing to do so turns to sea foam. An author in Scandinavian studies pointed out in one of his articles that the goal of the little mermaid was to become immortal, not to fall in love (Dahlup).
In the original story, the little mermaid goes to her wise grandmother and asks her about mankind. Her grandmother tells her that when man dies, his immortal soul goes to a higher place than any mer-person has ever gone to or seen, and the mer-people become sea foam and continue up onto the land in that manner (Cravens 638). While man goes to heaven, the mer-people ascend to earth. "The little mermaid, recognizing that her death means she will never again perceive the beauty of the world, asks (her grandmother) how she can win an immortal soul" (Craven 638). Her grandmother explains that the only way to attain a immortal soul is to have a human fall in love with you so deeply that his immortality will fuse with your being.
This idea of fusion with ones being could be seen as marriage, and the coming together during the night of marriage. In today's modern times, the night of marriage no longer holds the significance it use to hold. In the old view of marriage, two young people upon their waking sexuality could be with another and explore their sexuality within the safe boundaries of marriage. In today's society, these values no longer exist. Young teenagers experiment with sexuality and many teen's lose their virginity before leaving high school.
One author believes "the Anderson story is a parable about sexual awakening. When the mermaid loses her tail, its 'like being pierced through by a sharp sword...and as the mermaid walks on land her feet are bloodied...'"(Noah, 46). In losing her tail, the mermaid is sacrificing her virginity, and possibly also her innocence. Both versions of the little mermaid by-pass this idea of sexual awakening and leave the story as just a love story.
In both the Japanese and American cultures, the discussion or representation of sexual matters is fau paux. In America any violence or sexual connotated scene is marked and labeled so that parents don't have their children seeing such movies. An animated movie with any sexual connotations or violence is just unheard of. In fact, the rumor of a phallic representation in the main movie poster of the Disney movie had everyone in an uproar.
Disney often times "sugarcoats" the stories with it's use of furry animals instead of people. The American audience likes this. Everyone remembers the lovable Bambi. Some of the Disney movies are strictly animals, such as "Bambi," "The Lion King," and "Robin Hood." "Robin Hood" stepped beyond the boundary's of Disney's furry animalism, using an entirely human myth and making it a menagerie of forest animals. Even when the film is not "furry animal" ridden, it always has a lovable furry animal that the audience cannot help but love. "Beauty and the Beast" had chip, the lovable little china cup, "Aladdin" had the notorious Abu, "Pocahontas" had Meeko, and the most recent "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" had the goat Djali.
Innocence is maintained through Disney animated films. Even outside of Disney animation, the violence is minimal. In "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (Warner Bros) the violent scenes are "sugarcoated" by the animated half of the movie. When the toons are killed, they are just dissolved in a substance. When the detective needs a gun, it is with animated comedic bullets. And when the bad guy is killed in the end, he is run over by a rolling machine, but is unharmed...he is a toon.
The Japanese approach to animation is very different. Sexual connotations and violence are predominant. "You can only take so much of Disney's cute, fuzzy animals...This is about death, sex, love and war" (Marin, 70). That is how one man described the difference between anime and the traditional American animation. The "postapocalyptic, violent, [and] intensely sexual" anime style just isn't' seen anywhere in American animation (Marin 68), though anime is becoming very popular in American culture.
The two different family structures in the movies are representative of the cultures behind them. The anime family is true to the story, having the little mermaid, Marina, (in the anime version) with her father, king of the sea, her grandmother and sisters. In the anime version, the family is very matriarchal, as is the sea in Anderson's story (Dahlup). This representation is also true to the Japanese culture. In their culture, the elders are respected. Since the little mermaids oldest relative is a woman, the sea becomes matriarchal. The power of the sea is also held by a woman. It is not the king of the sea that controls it, it is the seawitch who causes the storms and mishaps of the sea. The seawitch is represented as a snake in the anime version, naturally evil. Her evilness is as natural as a child's innocence. It is not this way in the Disney version. The Disney seawitch is a obese and lazy octopus who is bent on taking control of the sea. In the Disney story, the mer-world is entirely patriarchal. Their little mermaid, Ariel, has no grandmother. She has only her overbearing and overprotective single parent father.
Both family structures are reflections of the societies and cultures that made them. The Japanese culture respects their elders and has a balance between matriarchal and patriarchal influences. The children are curious and eager to explore, but not shown to be "difficult" children. Marina swims to the surface of the water before her "coming of age" right to do so, and saves a prince from drowning. Her father is furious with her, but is calm when he reprimands her. Her grandmother steps in and points out Marina's heroism in saving the prince, and suggests her "coming of age" ceremony be celebrated. Marina's father, though he is angry with his daughter follows his mothers wishes, respecting his elder.
There is even a sense of harmony between the good and evil forces at work. The seawitch is evil, and there is no doubt of that in the anime version. But there is no conflict between the seawitch and the king of the sea. They seem have a mutual respect for each other. I believe this may be in part due to the religious influence of the Japanese culture. These harmonies do not exist in the Disney patriarchal version. It is a truly American tale in all manners. Ariel is a truly difficult teenager, and irresponsible. This is shown in one of the opening scenes when she is supposed to be singing at a concert for her father, but is instead off exploring a sunken ship. Her father is a single parent. He has no elder to consult or follow, as the grandmother figure is left completely out of the Disney story. When Triton learns of his daughters disobedience in going to the surface of the water, he is furious. Unlike Marina though, it is one of Ariel's many trips to the surface. When her father reprimands her, he loses his temper, and sends a Jamaican crab to watch over Ariel to keep her out of trouble. This is very typical of the single parent sending their children to school and to day-care because they are too busy working.
In addition, there is also no harmony between good and evil. Ursula, the seawitch, holds no power over the sea, and the entire plot revolves around her obsession to be ruler of the sea. Her evil is not natural, as she is driven by greed to have what is not hers. She employs business savvy to trick Ariel's father into giving up his right to reign. It seems as if Ursula and Ariel's father could be two big shot businesses at war with each other.
In this Disney version, there is no "coming of age" story to be told. In fact, the reason for Ariel's fathers fury is because the mer-people hate the "fish-eating" landdwellers. In fact, the Disney version doesn't even seem to follow the original story in many ways. One of the major differences is the traditional Disney happy ending in which the little mermaid doesn't die. One critic pointed out : "The Disney folks have turned The Little Mermaid into a rousing celebration of cultural assimilation" (Noah, 46). And indeed they have. You have the Jamaican crab Sebastian, the single parent father who hates the "other side," the love story, the many different colors of fishes and types of underwater sea creatures, and of course the Broadway soundtrack. Noah was right in his argument, Disney's "The Little Mermaid" is indeed a story of cultural assimilation, of a the little mermaid trapped in her mer-world wanting to be "part of [his] world."
anime version stays true to the general folk-tale of the little mermaid, and follows traditional Japanese Archetypes. The "all suffering female and weak passive male" (Barrett) is present in the anime version. The story itself is about the suffering little mermaid who goes through trial after trial trying to win the love of the prince to gain immortality. The prince is indeed a weak passive male; though he stands up to his parents, he will follow and obey their wishes. His parents went so far as to trick the prince into coming to see them in order to get him to go see his future bride. In the Disney version, Prince Eric is not at all a weak passive male, it is due to him that the seawitch is killed. He becomes the hero of the story.
The "prodigal daughter, forgiving parent and self sacrificing sisters" is also see in the anime version. Marina's sisters return to her at the end of the movie with their hair cut off. They sacrificed their long hair for a knife from the seawitch to have Marina return to them. They tell Marina "Father and Grandmother are worried..." This signifies her "forgiving parents." None of this archetype is present in the Disney version. Ariel is a mischievous little mermaid, and her father is always furious. He forgives her at the very end of the movie, but not before. Ariel's sisters aren't even mentioned in the Disney version, they are shown at the beginning of the movie as part of her family, but that is the extent of their involvement.
These archetypes are also present in the original story of the little mermaid. I believe this is due to the "legend" quality that lives on in many older civilizations. The Japanese have many of their own myths and legends. America has none.
The liberal attitude of the Japanese culture regarding sexual connotations can be seen in the actual anime. The mermaids wear no tops covering their breasts, but their hair conveniently covers them. And when there is a scene that happens to show one, it is just a line, and certainly not emphasized. The Disney animators gave Ariel matching seashells to keep her covered.
There are other things that are shown or not shown. The scene when the seawitch makes the potion to turn the little mermaids fin into a pair of legs is completely cut out in the anime version. One can see the witch start the potion, and the next scene is Marina leaving the seawitch's home through the doors, holding a vile and her eyes closed. It is understandable that they don't show this part, after all, the little mermaid is supposed to have her tongue cut out. The Disney version on the other hand shows the entire scene, but of course they don't have her tongue cut out. They have Ursula magically steal her voice with ghost hands.
Then there are the kissing scenes. Kissing in American culture is no big deal, you see people on the street kissing their boyfriend or girlfriend. The whole plot revolved around Ariel getting Prince Eric to kiss her, "but not just any kiss, the kiss of true love" (Ursula, Movie). There are two scenes when they kiss, or almost kiss. When Ariel and Eric are in a boat, and when Ariel's father gives her permission to live with Eric at the end of the movie. There are no kissing scenes at all in the anime version. I found that quite odd, but found out it is "because [kissing] in movies is not recognized as a virtuous Japanese custom according to health by social convention" (Kasza: Tajma, 330).
These "virtuous Japanese" ideas can be seen in the colors used for the animation. Generally, the females are to be passive and good-natured, and "warm" colors are used to depict them (Rolandelli, 1287). The males are to be adventurous and intelligent, and are often depicted in "cool" colors (Rolandelli, 1287). Marina has pale yellow hair and a pale blue-green tail. The prince on the other hand wears dark blue and white. Also in the anime version, the characters "paled" against the darker backgrounds when they were under the sea, and when they were on land, the backgrounds paled. Though, with the exception of the one time Marina wore the prince's clothing, she is always "pale" to the background. Disney was the opposite, the characters always stood out from their backgrounds. And one can hardly consider Ariel's flaming red hair as passive.
Disney's little mermaid is indeed a tale about America. Maybe it is because of the lack of "American fairy-tales" that Disney feels they have to make their own out of the old ones. The movies has a the troubled teenager and a single parent. There is also class and race struggle, as the little mermaid wants to be part of a world that she doesn't' belong to. And of course, the warring big businesses represented by the king of the sea, Triton, and the seawitch, Ursula. Their little mermaid is indeed an all-American tale.
The anime version leaves the fairy-tale as it is. There is the romantic love story and the poor little mermaid who fails in her quest to gain the princes love. She goes through the trials and hardships that she must, a true heroine.
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